HUNTINGTON BEACH : Reading Is the Name of This Game

The school day had long since ended. Yet about 150 children listened intently as two adults talked to them about the joy and value of reading.

For nearly an hour, the children laughed, shot up their hands and jockeyed for position whenever the call came for volunteers. Captivating this audience were John and Pamela Wood, who call themselves “J.P. Nightingale.” The couple’s program in the Talbert Room of the Huntington Beach Library last week was among about 14 such programs scheduled throughout the year by the Friends of Children’s Library, a group of about 60 Huntington Beach mothers who volunteer to help children at an early age become enthusiastic about reading.

The group is preparing to dramatically broaden the children’s reading services with the $7.4-million library expansion scheduled to be completed in two years. The expansion will include an 18,000-square-foot children’s wing, the largest children’s reading center in California, according to Ron Hayden, the library’s director.

Friends of Children’s Library, established eight years ago, organizes events ranging from small storytelling sessions to the Authors Festival held each January, at which dozens of prominent writers of children’s books visit schools throughout Huntington Beach.

“I’m trying to entice children through these programs to be introduced into the world of books and use their imaginations,” said Nanci Williams, the children’s services coordinator at the library. “The goal is to captivate them and nurture within them a lifelong interest in reading. It’s also to create a special sense of place here for them, so the children feel that the library is their place.”

The children’s services at the library offer an array of computers and other high-tech gadgets that help make the library more appealing, Williams said. But, she said, “we always try to keep them very literary.”

The Woods, for example, do not rely on gimmickry to convey their message. They don’t use television or video games or even puppets. They do not even use props--only their voices and bodies, a chair and, occasionally, John’s acoustic or electric guitar.

Combining storytelling, drama, mime, dance, song and stand-up comedy, the Woods bring books to life. During one portion of the program, Pamela Wood called for someone to act out a favorite story for the others to guess. A girl, chosen among about 40 frantically waving hands, mimed “Jack and the Beanstalk,” chopping at the feet of John Wood, who was standing atop a chair portraying the beanstalk, until Wood came crashing down, to the screaming delight of the crowd.

“When you read a book, you have to get a feel for the story,” said Chris Shanley, 10. “But with something like this, it’s right in front of your face.”