PITTSBURG, Kan. — Normally at library programs, kids are asked to “zip it, lock it, put it in your pocket.” Not this time, however, as speaker, edu-tainer, and workshop presenter Will Stuck stopped in Girard Thursday morning with one goal in mind — to make a M.E.S.S.

It all began with the help of Girard Public Library Children’s Librarian April Zagonel, who reached out to Stuck. 

“April brought me to Girard, Kansas,” said Stuck. “I presented some summer reading workshops on behalf of the library districts here in Kansas, like the larger library districts here in the state, and April was talking to me at that and asked if I would ever be interested in coming to the town to do shows. So, besides library consultancy, I do this in the summer, and it just worked out this year, so I happened to be in the neck of the woods.”

Standing for “music, education, stories, and science,” the program is an interactive, high-energy educational performance designed to keep the kids and their guardians engaged. 

“At this, I call my shows a M.E.S.S. because it’s kind of hard to describe,” he said. “I used to say professional storyteller but there’s more than stories. Then people have a preconceived notion of what storytelling is, and mine are a little bit more manic than that. I sometimes sing, I sometimes do magic, I sometimes do puppets, a little bit of everything ... As long as I have those four things (music, education, stories, and science), everything else is just nonsense and audience participation and trying to get the kids laughing, teaching without really teaching.”

The Girard Public Library is one of many stops on Stuck’s journey. Future stops include Neosho Newton Library (Neosho, Mo.), Polk County Library (Bolivar, Mo.), Clive Public Library (Clive, Iowa), Meeker Elementary (Ames, Iowa), Louis Latzer Memorial Library (Highland, Ill.), and Eureka Springs Carnegie Library (Eureka Springs, Ark.). 

“I am up to 90 shows across eight states between last week and the first week of August,” said Stuck. “My biggest was last summer with 124 shows across seven states ... A lot more driving this year but fewer shows.”

Stuck, from St. Joseph, Mo., is very familiar with libraries. Following high school, he took a job at a library, holding various part-time positions within the system. He then transitioned to working in the library’s children’s department and spent more than 20 years working with kids. While also working at the library, he met the love of his life, Crystal. 

Whether it's a small rural library like the Girard Public Library or it's a larger facility like one in Kansas City, Stuck has developed a deep love for libraries, all of which share the same goal and a love for literacy enhancement. 

“The only thing that is really different, because like my work with libraries in the past and even consultancy stuff, it doesn’t matter the size of the library, they all have the same goal, so that‘s really cool,” he said. “You see similar library personalities around, so you still see the people who have the passion for books and reading and community involvement.

The only real difference is sometimes the smaller ones, it’s a bigger deal when you do show up, so you get a little bit more bigger crowds. Not always, but I did one yesterday that was probably the smallest show I’ve had in that town in the six years I’ve visited, but a lot of times that’s what I see. The bigger towns have so many other things to do that we still maybe get like 50 to 60 people. But comparatively, 50 to 60 here (Girard) is different than 50 to 60 say in Springfield (Missouri).”

This reporting is made possible, in part, by the Support Local Journalism Project Fund. Learn more at: southeastkansas.org/Localnews.