Kids Successfully Hunted Monsters at Butterfield Library

Colossal uproars repeatedly erupted from the children's room at the Butterfield Library in Cold Spring last Tuesday. These outbursts took place during author Jason Edwards' StoryPlay and Monster Hunt programs, and strangely, they were exactly the response Mr. Edwards was looking for.

"I don't create programs for kids to just sit around and stare at me," he explained. "I like to get them up and in on the action!" And in his StoryPlay interactive children's theater program, that is exactly what occurred. The participants, some as young as three years old, all created their characters, made up their own lines, and took part in the tale. There was lots of growling, screeching, bellowing, and laughing, as Mr. Edwards guided the kids through a madcap yam about a boy who had a monster in his room and the ensuing ruckus that occurred when he searched for someone brave enough to help conquer it.

Mr. Edwards followed up this misadventure with an equally animated Monster Hunt program. Now, it isn't often that raucous children are encouraged to roam freely in a library and pour through the stacks of books, but that's exactly what happened when boisterous adventurers between the ages of 7-12 took part in this program. In the Monster Hunt, which is based upon the concepts and characters from Mr. Edwards, book, Will Allen and the Great Monster Detective, kids built library research skills by tracking down coded clues, which were hidden in books throughout the library. When decoded, the clues instructed the children where to find the monster's secret lair, and how to catch it. Maureen McGrath, Programming & Outreach Coordinator at the Library, said, "We absolutely loved it! The parents and kids all thoroughly enjoyed themselves, and in addition to the fun, the kids learned a lot about how to use the library." Upon the successful capture of the monster, everyone was rewarded by being commissioned as deputy detectives in the Monster Detective Agency.

Mr. Edwards, the creator of these programs, is a man of many hats. In addition to storyteller and monster hunter, he is also an author, teacher, father, coach, and an authority on children's anxieties who possesses a B.S. in Psychology and a M.A. in Education, and has more than 20 years of experience helping children. He originally wrote Will Allen and the Great Monster Detective to help his own daughter deal with some debilitating anxieties.