When puppets talk, kids listen
Linda Radke
Publishing company helps authors communicate with young audiences
“It doesn’t matter how important the information is,” says Linda F. Radke, president of Five Star Publications, Inc., “if the audience isn’t paying attention, that information will be lost.”
That’s why she’s creating a series of professional-quality puppets to help her company’s authors grab and then hold the attention of their young readers during school presentations, book signings, and other events.
“Forsooth, the most successful educators are entertainers as well,” says the William Shakespeare puppet Radke is holding. Shakespeare will be helping author Cass Foster present his “Sixty-Minute Shakespeare” series to elementary and middle school students and their teachers.
Even 11-year-old author Michael J. Moorehead has puppets to help him in his talks. In his book, The Student from Zombie Island, Moorehead writes about what can happen when kids spread unfounded rumors. Moorehead admits he’s a bit of a showman. “I like talking to kids and their parents and teachers, too,” says the sixth grader. “But the puppets make it even more fun.”
Radke found Moorehead’s puppets so successful, she’s having one made to help Tom Lambke and his son Bryan. Together, they wrote I Just Am in which Bryan talks about his Down syndrome.
Not only do the puppets help entertain and educate the children, says Radke, they’re also great at engaging the children in the discussion. Radke picks up a puppet of Alfie, the dog from Alfie’s Bark Mitzvah. “Kids love to talk to puppets!” says Alfie.
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