Last week, Rockstar Magic with Chris and Neal visited our six branches to bring intrigue to our community. The kick-off program of the 2026 Summer Reading Program: Unearth a Story brought hundreds of patrons into our libraries and engaged the audience in a thrilling way that brought social-emotional learning, narrative storytelling, and critical thinking together in a unique way only a magic show could conjure up.
| Branch | Attendance |
|---|---|
| Bedford | 154 |
| Big Island | 43 |
| Forest* | 115 |
| Moneta | 105 |
| Montvale | 73 |
| Stewartsville | 45 |
| Total | 535 |
The magical duo of Chris and Neal opened with an act of elimination by asking parents to choose between two options of socks until only one was left. The end result? The one sock left was the same pair both magicians were already wearing. This classic trick, The Magician’s Choice, allowed the duo to engage all ages. While the children were mystified by the random elimination resulting in a matching set of socks, parents were able to actively participate in the trick.
Of course, socks were just the starting point. From there, the acts progressed through a series of comedic twists and turns meant to appeal to all ages. Puns being perhaps the most used comedic relief. A punderful choice on their part.
I mentioned before that the show featured not just magic tricks, but the promotion of critical thinking, reading, and social-emotional learning as well. This is what makes the program a crucial part of the Summer Reading Program.
As the duo moved from trick to trick, Chris and Neal wove in stories and anecdotes in a narrative fashion befitting a library. Each trick was prefaced by a tale resulting in the reveal of said trick mirroring that of the story. For instance, Chris relayed a story of a girl whose grandmother taught her that a white feather was a symbol of hope. While telling this story, he (and a participant from the audience) levitated a table and eventually opened a box upon the table containing a white feather.
And stories were not the only things told by the magicians.
Neal then called up an audience member to help him first mix and then solve a Rubik’s Cube in less than six seconds. Of course, anyone who has held a Rubik’s Cube would scoff at that feat. Which is exactly the point. Rather than a grand reveal of a fully solved Rubik’s Cube from within a bag, Neal simply claimed the puzzle solved. This prompted the audience to laugh and demand to see inside. How could they possibly know the cube to be solved while unseen by anyone? Attempt after attempt to evade revealing the ultimately unsolved cube was followed by the cries of the audience to take the cube out–a back-and-forth act of critical thinking that the audience took simply as fun. Of course, while I said the cube was unsolved, that wasn’t entirely true. While the cube was untouched within the bag, once removed, it was compared to an untouched cube kept under a cloth. These two scrambled cubes were a direct match.
Lastly, I mentioned that there were hints of social-emotional learning. Throughout, the magicians would mention cooperation and compassion. But, it all culminated in an act about “fishing for friends.” In a mock discussion of what makes a good friend, they put the qualities of a good friend in a bag. Qualities such as: kindness, love, and happiness. In the end, it resulted in them mixing the bag together and removing a banner of cartoon children holding hands–the friends they were fishing for.
In the end, Rockstar Magic with Chris and Neal brought their illusions to our communities in a uniquely fun way that had more benefits than simply a good show. On the surface one could look and see only a quirky magic show for children, but underneath is a myriad of messages and lessons that fit for a Summer Reading program show.
For more information on our programming and signing up for events, check out our calendar: BPLS Calendar.
To go sign-up for the summer reading programming, click the following link: BPLS Beanstack.
If you are interested in joining our community of support, please consider donating to the Library Foundation. All proceeds go towards helping the Bedford Public Library System grow. This often takes the form of offering new services to patrons that they may not have access to otherwise, free family-friendly events designed to stimulate learning and a love for reading, ensuring that our buildings are accessible to all and able to accommodate anyone, and–of course–providing books of all interests to our community.