There is good news if your son or daughter has the need to read during spring break. The St. Albert Public Library is cracking the spine on its newest reading game this Friday.
The Trouble with Tricksters is a kind of scavenger hunt that puts the young adventurers face-to-face with mystical creatures like a phoenix and griffin. These sinister scoundrels have escaped from the library’s Enchanted Forest with a wonderful treasure. It is up to the detectives to help the unicorns, the fairies and the sapphire dragon get it back before they and the forest lose their magic and all the enchanted creatures disappear entirely. Children in grades one to six can participate.
Sylvia Scott, library assistant in children’s services, is looking forward to the game because it always sounds like so much fun.
“We always think of something different to do,” she said. “The magic has left the forest because of this enchanted object that the rapscallions made off with. It’s a very pretty object and they wanted it, so they ran away.”
Once registered, children must first decipher what has gone missing by reading a clue from the dragon, written in Dragonese. Then they will be directed around the library to find all the tricksters in order to get clues to the mysterious magical object through reading games.
“They have to go from one to the other. Each one tells them to go somewhere else. They end up going all over the library and looking for these stuffed puppets. The last one gives them the riddle that tells them where it is hidden.”
The library has run similar games over spring break for the last few years and finds it has been a popular diversion for children with active minds and energetic bodies. Scott said attendance usually ranges between 80 and 100.
“The kids that do come are very enthusiastic. That’s enough for us. That’s pretty darn busy,” she laughed.
The game can be accomplished within two visits to the library.
There is also an artistic angle to The Trouble with Tricksters. Award-winning local painter Victoria Armstrong just installed a mural in the children’s area that forms the visual basis for the game. Once Upon An Enchanted Forest will also be featured in a children’s writing contest to tell the story of the mural or any of its magical characters and forest creatures. The contest takes place in April.
The reading game starts on Friday and runs from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day until Friday, April 1.
Call 780-459-1532 or visit www.sapl.ab.ca for more information.
