Man uses magic to get students reading

Bobby Head laughs while assisting storyteller Mark Daniel with a trick during an assembly Tuesday at The Byrnes Schools in Florence. “It is the wonderful progression of two things I love: performing and reading,” Daniel said of his Magical Storyteller act.

By: | SCNow
Published: September 23, 2008

FLORENCE — A strange egg, fireflies, a pterodactyl named Erkyl and a rabbit named Hemi helped storyteller Mark Daniel on Tuesday show more than 100 elementary students at The Byrnes Schools the magic of reading.

Daniel visited the school to promote reading through his program “To Catch a READasaurus,” a 45-minute show that blends storytelling, puppetry and magic to teach children that reading can be fun and exciting.

“You don’t want kids to feel like reading is a burden,” said Brandis Winstead, the school’s lower school dean. “If our kids can catch the magic (in reading) it will benefit them for a lifetime.”

Winstead said Daniel’s show has become a tradition for Byrnes and is used as a catalyst to get children excited about reading. Daniel is a full-time children’s performer and lives in North Carolina.

Daniel began with magic tricks with participation from students. He then brought out his friend, Erkyl the Pterodactyl, to do their take on one of the student’s favorite books: Dr. Seuss’ “Green Eggs and Ham.”

He used a strange egg, Hemi the rabbit and his magical gifts to create a surprise in the telling of “The Spiderwick Chronicles” written by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black.

Daniel closed the show by encouraging students to use their imagination when he performed scenes from Eric Carle’s “The Very Lonely Firefly.”

Daniel said he has loved reading and magic from an early age, and hopes the children learn from his show that reading can be entertaining.

“I hope that they walk away with an excitement and understanding that books are so incredibly magical,” he said. “If it turns on the spark for a reluctant reader (or) helps them understand the books that they already read are magical, then that’s great.”

When creating his shows, Daniel said he picks eight to 10 books he likes or are popular to highlight for the year.

From there, he said, he’s able to design a show that entertains and motivates children to become lifelong readers.

“The magic of stories (and) the magic of great books captures the ‘READasaurus’ in all of us,” Daniel said.