other people’s creativity

i love to throw a good library party. i also love it when other people get into the spirit of the party as much as i do. yesterday, (as some of you may be aware) the final, 13th book in the series of unfortunate events by lemony snicket was released. to celebrate/mourn this publication, we had a wing-ding of a party. we fashioned disguises from paper bags to fool count olaf, we typed various fine dialogues discussing all phrases beginning with v.f.d., we searched for (and found!) the sugar bowl, but my favorite section of all was a visit from uncle monty and the incredibly deadly viper.

there’s this snake guy, see. apparently, about four years ago, he was just like any other ordinary guy who loved snakes when someone gave him the idea that he should travel around to different locations–schools, libraries, birthday parties–and show his snakes to kids and grown-ups and talk about the snakes. our library was the very first location he approached to see if we would be interested in such a program and apparently we said yes. he now does snake shows as a full-time job and he is still (perhaps even more) crazy about snakes. he had come to our library just this past summer to do a program on snakes, but i got this crazy idea at the last minute to invite him to bring a snake to the lemony snicket party. he even went so far as to have us mail him a copy of the reptile room so that he could learn more about the book and get into character! i wasn’t exactly sure how i was going to incorporate him into the show, but when he arrived, he had a great plan. he covered one of our tables with black fabric and arranged some herpetolgical tools on top, along with an old-fashioned looking suitcase propped open with a bright green stuffed toy snake perched inside, and other various props. then, at the beginning of the party, he hid under the table with the snake he brought (a boa constrictor with about a 6 inch girth). i began the party with mandatory friday afternoon “homework” (activity sheets printed off of the official website), then after everyone had gathered together, i began explaining the different activity tables around the room, pointing out the incredibly deadly viper. after i had finished talking about the other tables, i drew their attention back to the snake table with a gasp, “oh dear, there’s a real snake back there!” he had (according to our plan) guided the boa out from under the tablecloth and it was slithering (sort of) across the floor (really, it wanted to go back under the table, but he did a good job of keeping at least part of the snake visible). one person sitting on the floor near the table hopped up and ran across the room! after everyone was sufficiently alarmed, he emerged from beneath the tablecloth and apologized to everyone that he, uncle monty, had allowed the incredibly deadly viper to escape, and then all of the kids had to come over to pet the snake. the whole under-the-table idea had been cooked up entirely by the snake guy. i loved it! and it worked perfectly. the rest of the party went swimmingly, but the snake guy was definitely the crowning touch.