Editor’s Note: Spiders and Snakes and Flies, Oh My!

By Sharon Verbeten

I really do have an indisputably fun job. Like most of you, I plan and execute programs for children that may or may not involve mess, live animals, food, noise—or all of the above—and live to tell the story (and file the obligatory statistics!).

As crazy as it gets—eighty-five kids in a hot room jam-packed with five live animals, zookeepers, and screaming babies—we usually take it all in stride because, well, it’s what we do.

Sure, there’s usually a literary component somewhere, maybe a storytime or passive poetry program. But while the rest of the year is, by comparison, fairly staid, summer allows for all our craziness to fly free and proud.

This past summer, I hosted Bug Week at my branch library—complete with a spider scientist (and live specimens!), a happy birthday celebration for the Very Hungry Caterpillar, and a dance party with Tedd Arnold’s Fly Guy. It was great fun—for both the kids and me!

By the time you read this, summer will have passed, but hopefully our memories will live on, inspiring future programs. This year, bugs. Next year . . . ? &

Sharon takes a swat at Tedd Arnold’s Fly Guy character during a visit to Brown County Library in Green Bay, WI, this past summer.