As we stumble headlong through spring into summer, we eagerly set aside schoolbooks in favor of all our summer reading favorites.  There is nothing more magical than designing our own Wizard of Oz Summer Camp at Pequot Library. In the words of L. Frank Baum,

“Folklore legends, myths and fairy tales have followed childhood through the ages, for every healthy youngster has a wholesome and instinctive love for stories fantastic, marvelous and manifestly unreal.  The winged fairies of Grim and Andersen have brought more happiness to childish heats than all other human creations.”

We begin our day with baseball warm-up,

and then since our theme is everything Oz, we really begin with the Story of Oz.

 the very first thing we come across is instructions: Follow the Yellow Brick Road!

“If we walk far enough” says Dorothy, “we shall sometime come to someplace.”

The Yellow Brick Road leads right back to the Library; time to choose Summer books.

and now: Wizard of Oz Bingo

And everyone’s favorite, snack time: green food, of course!

Building the Emerald City from green glitter and glue:

“You have plenty of courage, I am sure,” answered Oz. “All you need is confidence in yourself.  There is no living thing that is not afraid when it faces danger.  The true courage is in facing danger when you are afraid.”

Glitter Tornado in a Bottle

Being Wonderland BookSavers, we had to collect shoes for our African friends, these ones were hand painted by students at a local school.  Here, we organized and packaged them, “Click your heels together 3 times, There’s no place like home.”

“A heart is not judged by how much you love; but by how much you are loved by others.”

Outdoor games!

Inside: The Tornado Swirl, a purely Oz version of Musical Chairs with a Twist

Wizard of Oz Puzzles and Word Search

A trip to the Rare Books Special Collection room to read original Oz books, enjoyed by children over 100 years ago. What were their summers like?

And finally, of course, our famous Lemonade for Literacy!

Over $1,500 dollars donated directly to Pequot Library for children’s literacy programs, thousands of books purchased for our Zimbabwe and South Africa donations, hundreds of shoes sent to South America and Zimbabwe, lots of fun for us and our campers, as well as a new adventure: The Wizard of Oz!

As Henry James said, “Summer afternoon: the two most beautiful words in the English language.”

Join us for our next camp: Summer by the Sea, in July! (pequot library.org)