Ike Goes Under Library Spell

Magic Mike visited the Amherst Public Library last night where he presented his program Trick-A-Nosis, an evening of magical mind games. I had never been hypnotized before and was curious to how the whole thing worked. Plus Mrs. Ashton had cookies and lemonade which was reason enough to be there.

Mike started off the program explaining how hypnotism works and a bit of history on the subject. Then he proceeded to hypnotize several volunteers. He had us singing "Happy Birthday" like opera stars and even speaking in alien languages. Mike even had me glued to my seat, literally! Wow, I just know that I woke up feeling like I'd been at the doggie spa for a week.

I think the audience had a good time and the volunteers even got a nice parting gift, just like on Jeopardy. I got a nice travel mug but I could have used a dog dish. In keeping with his stage name, Mike performed a bit of magic for us including a quick lesson in escape magic. After an audience member secured him into a strait jacket, Mike showed us his Houdini side by escaping in record time. Mrs. Ashton is consulting with him on the posibility of getting more strait jackets at the library.

For more info on Magic Mike check out his web site at http://www.magicmikeproductions.com/

See you soon at the library.

Love,

Ike

Chilling Out With Ike
With temperatures moving from pre-heat to broil it was too hot to think about reading. I had to find someplace to cool off and even the pool was like a warm bath and reminded me of being at the dog groomers.

With heat like this I needed to find a place where I could really cool off and I found just the spot. Imagine if we had a big enough piece of ice to cool down the whole library. Well I found someplace where ice is no problem - a hockey rink!

Here I am watching a hockey game. This place was great. I brought my own stick along just in case they needed me to suit up. Check out the big picture up there on the wall. Anyone who can tell me the connection between hockey and Amherst Baseball wins 10 bonus points.

Between games the Zamboni came out and cleaned off the ice. What a great job that would be. Suddenly I got hungry for a snow cone.

I did go down to the skate rental but I couldn't decide if I should rent two skates or four skates....hmmmm.

Anyway, hockey is a great way to cool off.

Check out some of the great hockey books Mrs. Ashton has at the library. My favorite one is "The Magic Hockey Stick" by Peter Maloney.

Watch out! The Black team is about to score! Hey I have to get back to the game. Come see me soon at the Amherst Public Library!

Love,

Ike

Helicoptor Checks out Storytime

The drone of a helicoptor along the treetops couldn't drown out the stories as the Amherst Public Library presented weekly storytime at Amherst Township Park today. Mrs. Stanley's voice rose to the occasion as she told stories about the babies who crawled away, a cookie mystery, a parade, and even Hank the snake to the more than 63 people who gathered in the shelter house.
Mrs. Ashton made a flag using a little magic and some red, white, and blue scraps of material. Mrs. Stanley added a white paper star and wrote "50" on the star with a pencil. When the flag magically appeared out of the bag we all said the "Pledge of Allegiance".

Thank goodness we didn't have to add 50 stars to the bag because we needed every star we had to make Fourth of July headbands. Even the dogs who were there all wanted a headband like mine. Someone noticed a cat trying to sneak up and hear the stories. I think it was a little intimidated by me, you know I've been working out.
Lots of kids, and a variety of animals enjoyed a great morning sharing stories, dodging helicoptors, and just having fun.

Eveyone left a little starry eyed today. See you at storytime next week!

Love,

Ike

Happy Fourth of July

Have a happy and safe holiday while the library is closed.

Love,

Ike

Ike Sees Stars at Library

I was seeing stars today at the library as more than 58 people listened to Mrs. Stanley tell stories at storytime today. We saw photos on the television that she had taken from last year's Amherst Jamboree Parade. Everyone made a hat to wear with crowns and red, white, and blue stars. Hey, you don't have to wait for a parade...come down and see us at the library. See you soon.

Love,

Ike

Scallywags beware! Ike is mapping a path to the library

I hope you've been reading this summer or Mrs. Ashton will have you walking the plank. Here I am with Polly the parrot during our craft activity last Wednesday. Everyone made a great pirate map and lots of kids wrote pirate stories. Mrs. Stanley was laughing at all the great stories and names kids came up with for their pirate ship and what the pirates ate. Some of the pirates ate raw fish because no one knew how to cook. People wrote about flowers as big as skyscrapers and pirates even going to Disneyland.

Stop by the library and see me soon matey!

Love,
Ike

Ike Rocks the House !

I have one word to say about Guitar Hero.......FREE BIRD!









Ike and I can both play at the same time. What a great place this is. Too bad Mrs. Ashton can't get past the beginning level. It must have something to do with her age.







ROCK ON!

Love,

Ike

High Flying Storytime

Ike and I went out to Township Park for storytime today with Mrs. Stanley. We had more than 50 people there to hear stories about vacations. We traveled in a car to get there but talked about other ways to travel like boats, airplanes, trains.

After the stories Mrs. Stanley got out a parachute and man, what a ride that was. Ike got a little motion sickness but I loved it. One time I flew so high I did a back flip.

We like going to the park because we always see new friends. Maybe we'll see you next week at the park!

Come visit us at the library.

Love,
Ike

Storytime Rocks

Can you believe we have more than 700 kids signed up for summer reading! That's not counting teens and adults. Today we had storytime and the room was filled with more than 80 people. Wow.

Mrs. Stanley told stories about going on vacation. We even saw a short video about a Ferryboat. I was a little tired from my long trip to the woods this weekend so I did nap a bit.

That's me sleeping on the cardboard box. Do you see me?

Next we all colored a picture of different ways to travel. Mrs. Stanley's niece, Jacquiline, was here with our friend Michael and they were great helpers. They even gave us a preview of one of the books because they remember it from when they were little. We colored a picture of a plane, like the one Jacquiline flew on from California.

We now have two kids from California signed up for summer reading. How cool is that?

Thanks for helping today.
See you at the library.
Love,

Ike

Weekend with Ike

Hi Friends,

I spent the weekend doing some undercover work. I was trying to "Get a Clue" about local wildlife. Living in the wild can be tricky and you have to know your surroundings. Many birds love to eat wild berries like these I found here......I'd rather have a dog biscuit myself.

Here I am trying to blend into my surroundings. Many animals depend on camoflage to protect them from preditors. Wait a minute is that poison ivy? .... I better get back to the library.

I hope Mrs. Ashton has calamine lotion in the first aid kit.

See you at the library.

Love,

Ike