Children tell tales together in Valley Stream

The reader’s theater program at the Henry Waldinger Memorial Library allows children to practice their reading skills and become better public speakers.

Children’s librarian Jaclyn Kunz started the program last summer for third- through sixth-graders, and it has met once a month ever since. This summer, there were four sessions followed by two final performances for parents and other kids on Aug. 10 and 11.

Each session, the children come and are given scripts based on popular children’s stories. They each get a part, then spend time studying the lines and practicing how their lines should be read.

Kunz said while the program is mostly for fun, the children do enhance their reading skills. They get to go over words and understand the emotion behind words and phrases. She added that there is no pressure to memorize the lines as children get to read the story with the scripts. There are no props, costumes, or sets. It just gives the children the opportunity to become better and smarter readers.

Samantha Barnwell, 11, who has been a regular participant, said the children help each other out a lot with saying their lines and pronouncing words. They work together to make each performance a success. “You have to depend on other people,” she said. “It’s a team project. It can’t just be a one person show.”

For 11-year-old Eric Nelson, he likes that the program allows him to be creative. “You get to express yourself,” he said, “and try to feel the character.”

Eric said he has acted in class plays at the Robert W. Carbonaro School, so he really doesn’t get nervous when performing in front of a group at the library. When Reader’s Theater held its two performances earlier this month, he said he went up to the front of the room with confidence.

Samantha said she was a little nervous, so she has a trick to overcome her fear of the audience. “You just have to pretend that they’re not there,” she said.

Because of the use of scripts, 11-year-old Marissa Mastromarino said it is important not to let the paper cover her faces. Otherwise, she said, the audience won’t be able to hear what she is saying.

At the two performances, children read “There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Trout” by Teri Sloat and “The Pout-Pout Fish” by Deborah Diesen. “They’ve been doing such a good job,” Kunz said, “that we decided we wanted to have a real performance and invite other kids to come.”

And if any of them did have some stage fright, she said, no one would have known. “They always act like they’re nervous,” she said, “and then they get up there and do fantastic.”