Generating summer readers

Christine Carrillo

From playing the guitar with a plastic spoon he held in his mouth to

executing all the good punch lines, Groark stole the show from the man

who gave him life.

Acting as his mouthpiece, ventriloquist Randel McGee managed to keep

the children entertained for a 45-minute variety show, not minding that

the creation to his right was really the center of the show.

As part of this year’s Costa Mesa Library Summer Reading Program,

which began June 26 and will continue through Aug. 14, children ranging

in age from infancy to adolescence were drawn into McGee’s puppeteering

world.

In full costume, McGee, who created the character with his wife, moved

Groark with ease, giving the illusion that they weren’t one and the same.

“When I hit upon this idea, I realized I couldn’t make quick changes,”

McGee said. “But I wanted the illusion that he was his own character.”

And McGee achieved his goal, according to his audience.

“How did the dragon talk?” asked Zach Stephan, 6, of Costa Mesa.

With questions like that looming in their minds, many of the children

became focused on finding the answers.

“It sort of creates an enthusiasm for reading,” said Rupinder Athwal,

a children’s services librarian and organizer of the event. “The

performances will sometimes increase their interest. Like with puppet

shows, the kids want to get puppet books.”

The performers scheduled as part of the program often tailor their

shows to fit their audience by either introducing books in their shows or

tapping into their audiences’ interest with story telling.

McGee also tailored his show for the predominately Latino audience by

conducting the performance in both English and Spanish, and included them

in some of his skits as well.

“The dragon wanted to marry me,” said Salina Gilliam, 8, who played a

brave girl in one of the skits. “The dragon wasn’t scary.”

And although he may not have been scary to everyone, they all seemed

to agree that he was entertaining.

“I was a dog, and I had to be nice and sometimes scary,” said Carlos

Najera, 6, of Costa Mesa. “It was funny.”

With a constant roar of laughter rumbling through the usually quiet

building, the ventriloquist of 24 years felt good about his performance.

“I get a real satisfaction of just seeing the children respond and

give a good laugh,” he said. “There’s a power in laughter.”