By Elaine Rassel
The Marcus Public Library had a magician, Jeff Quinn come and entertain the kids on Wed. July 14. A show by a magician is not an easy one to report on as the magician really does a good job of having his audience wonder if they really did see it or did they think they saw it?! The hand is quicker than the eye!
Jeff wanted to make sure his audience was ready he was looking for those that smiled, could sit at attention, and be able to volunteer when he asked. Yes, the kids were all ready! He held up a ring and before you could say you saw one ring, there were two rings and then three rings. He asked the kids if they really saw just one ring as he had more than one in his hands. At this point, they couldn’t figure out how the extra rings appeared!
Ropes seem to be what a magician likes to puzzle people with. He held up two lengths of rope with one being longer than the other. Before you knew it, there were more than the two ropes with the longer rope being quite a bit shorter than before. Is this where the other rope came from? He called for a volunteer to help him with all he had to do. A girl came upfront and quickly she was holding his ropes, a red wand, and the rings. She was confused as was the audience as to how the red wand changed color to a yellow one and then to a blue one. All the while these wands were changing color, so were the lengths of rope! She went back to her place slightly confused!
He had a book that told how to make a chocolate chip cookie. Somehow a real cookie came out of this book that only had an illustration of one.
He wanted to see how smart the group was. He had three cans a red one, a yellow one, and a blue one. All three cans set in top of each other and there were no insides to the cans. He held up each can so we could see they were empty. Waving his magic wand, a ball came out of the top can. How could it when the can was empty? Then several balls came out of the other cans. He stuffed the balls in the cans, picked up the cans, and we could see through all three cans. What happened to the balls that were stuffed in the cans?
He held up a good sized square frame. Touching it, it became a circle, then a diamond, then back to a square. Kids couldn’t figure out this one even though some had some suggestions!
He needed a volunteer and it must be a brave one. Of course, everyone held up their hands! He had a girl holding a blue bag that he said held a real animal. The bag shook like the animal was trying to get out. He reached in the bag and brought out a white scarf with a bear printed on it. Then he continued to go in the bag and bring out other scarves with these yellow, blue, and red scarves all having a bear printed on them. Then the bag really shook and the kids thought something was still in the bag. The girl holding the bag wasn’t sure. He told her to reach in and see what was in it. She brought out a stuffed bear that she could keep for her helping him!
He had a normal sized pillow that he held up. He took the “pillow case” off the pillow and now a smaller pillow was present. Each time he took off the pillow case, a smaller pillow appeared. Finally, he had a pillow so small that he could put it in his pocket. What happened to all the other pillows that the pillow cases once covered?!
He brought a banana out that he decided to not eat. He decided to smash it! Then he put a scarf over the banana and guess what? The banana came back to life as a whole banana again!
His conclusion of the magic program was when he took a white scarf and put it inside a see-through tube. Then he put a blue one, a red one, and a yellow one in the tube. He told us he was going to show us some butterflies. Each time he pulled one out, there was a butterfly printed on it except the last one that had a peacock on it!. How did all these scarves get in the tube when we saw him put only one in it?!
He gave the kids a magic bookmark before they left.
Wednesday, July 21 is the last day for the summer Library programs. Laura Jones from Cherokee will be here to entertain us with “Animal Tail Tales!” at 1 p.m.. See you then!