Mark Daniel, Magical Storyteller The Mission: Attract your school families to the school for an evening family reading event. The Solution: A Very Magical Family Reading Night with Magical Storyteller, Mark Daniel! And wow!  Do we have just the right thing for you! A Very Magical Family Night grew out of a desire to connect parents and their children with the notion that a good book shared is a treasure for the whole family. In the day to day hustle and bustle of our lives, it's so easy to put aside the good intentions of read aloud. Sports, homework and video games all vie for our attention today and our beloved books often get pushed aside for later. The sweet, fun, and powerful message of Mark's program serves as a wonderful refocus and exclamation point for your families. Throughout the school year Mark is invited to share his program during: Family Reading Night, PTA Meetings, Literacy Festivals, Parent Enrichment Night, Rif and Title 1 night. Whether as a part of a full day visit that boosts evening attendance through promotion at the daytime assemblies or as a stand alone event, A Very Magical Family Reading Night is a powerful message and fun event for your school. About The Program: A Very Magical Family Reading Night Program is indeed appropriate for the whole family. During the course of the performance Mark uses the opportunity to extrol the virtues of at home read aloud with personal stories and anecdotes. Books come to life through puppetry, magic tricks, storytelling and audience participation. The program closes with a powerful, emotional and motivational finale that kids will think is cool and adults will find moving. Highlights Mark and Erkyl the Pterodactyl share a fractured and hilarious telling of Dr. Seuss' Green Eggs and Ham! The Legend of The Indian Paintbrush Tomie dePaola's marvelous book of realizing your gift is retold by Mark. A magical and highly moving story that is recognized by many as Mark's finest signature interpretation. The beloved book The Napping House by Audrey Wood is booktalked then brought to life sweetly by Mark and one of your kids culminating in a huge surprise! The Fantastic Finale: Last year in To Catch a READasaurus , Mark's presentation of Eric Carle's The Very Lonely Firefly was a showstopping finale of his daytime assembly that had children asking to see it again. This lovely and magical piece of summers past now becomes the inspiring finale of A Very Magical Family Night. Warning: This brings out the kid and imagination in folks age 4 to 94! Add in a strong family read aloud message and terrific music all combined for a fun and impactful Very Magical Family Night! FAQ's (Frequently Asked Questions) Does the material in the family night program differ from the daytime assembly? Yes, in conjunction with the daytime assembly, it's one of the great selling points for your students. Children want their parents to share in the incredible event that they've experienced during the day.  It helps make sure their folks bring them back that evening to see an all new program. There are some underlying themes that carry through from one program to the next, which empowers kids through familiarity. How long is the performance? When Mark is in concert presenting the full program it is a powerful approx. 50 minute presentation. The performance can be customized for a shorter time frame to fit your needs due to PTA/PTO meetings or the need for multiple performances. Just let us know your needs. Can Mark come to our school just to do the Family Night Program? Certainly! While the ultimate way to build attendance for the evening program is by promoting it through the daytime performance, it stands alone fine. As a promotion helper, we can provide a descriptive flyer for duplication to send home with your students. What's the best way to use the program? The Family Night Program is great to tie in with a PTA meeting, Family Reading Night, RIF night, fundraising dinner, and even just for fun! Give us a call at 1-800-848-5634 and we'll help you plan The Cost Please click on your state for pricing. Please Note: There are never any additional travel fees or miscellaneous expenses added to Mark's fee. If your state is not listed, other areas are available by special arrangement. Just contact us using the link in the menu. Clicking on a state will open a new browser window so make sure you enable pop-ups for this site. - For the family night program at Eureka Elementary in Keysville, Va., principal Billy Elder told Mark that the PTA really wanted to boost attendance. So they offered Mark's program along with cookies, sodas and ice cream. Must have been the right combo as the hundreds that turned out for the evening gave them their best attended program of the year. Had to have been the ice cream! - Day to day if you're like us you wonder, with you're work, are you getting through, is it making an impact? At Tarawa Terrace I Primary School on base at Camp Lejune in Jacksonville, NC, Mark had just finished a family night program. Several parents and children had come up to chat with him and one mom with her young daughter got his eye. The mom touched his arm and said "I need to tell you something" "OK," he said. "I hate to read, learning disabilities make it very difficult for me." Looking at her daughter, she spoke again. "I know I need to. Watching and listening tonight to you, seeing the rapt attention of the children as you went through the stories and talked about the books I witnessed the sheer joy this crated for the children and it really motivated me to rethink all of this and try again." Wow! Call Today Toll Free 1-800-848-5634 - E-Mail Mark at MarkDaniel@magicalstoryteller.com Mark Daniel, magical storyteller's Programs That Bring Books Magically to Life is an ongoing series of high quality programs aimed at educating and entertaining your students. Copyright 2009, Mark Daniel/MSD Productions.