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Marty the Reading Magician promotes summer reading at library event

Marty the Reading Magician promotes summer reading at library event

Curator's Note

A magician whose career began with a childhood book has spent the last 43 years returning the favor — Marty Hahne performs year-round as Marty the Magician, but each summer he trades the family show circuit for the library circuit, touring as Marty the Reading Magician across Missouri, Kansas, and Arkansas. This season he’s hitting 70 libraries in seven weeks, and he created a show called Dino Magic built specifically around the Collaborative Summer Library Program’s 2026 theme, “Unearth a Story.” As Southern Boone Public Library staffer Pam Verduin put it, events like Marty’s remind kids “they can have fun doing library things” — and that some of those library things involve dinosaurs.

Boone County Journal
www.columbiamissourian.com/boonecountyjournal/

Dinosaurs roamed the Earth once again on a March morning in Ashland.

Marty Hahne, the Reading Magician, combined humor and education to captivate children on March 25 at the American Legion. Hahne did various magic tricks throughout the show, including making “dinosaur tails” of different lengths into the same length and teleporting dinosaur figures across boxes.

The magic show helped promote Southern Boone Public Library’s summer reading event, which begins May 29. Every year, the library has a theme for its reading event, and this year’s theme is “Unearth Your Story.”

The library will have multiple programs running throughout the summer. If kids read a certain number of hours and do a certain number of activities, such as attending a library event, they can win prizes.

Pam Verduin, a Southern Boone Public Library employee, said Marty the Reading Magician visits Ashland every two to three years. She also said events like this are great for getting kids involved.

“It lets the kids know they can have fun doing library things,” Verduin said. “Not everybody’s a ‘wanting-to-read’ type of kid, and this makes them want to go to the library to learn things.”

Read Full Story at Boone County Journal Website
Curated by Hattie Linka

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