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Magician Richard Landry performs
at the Lincoln Public Library
[June 27, 2026]
Thursday, June 25, magician
Richard Landry of Chatham performed a fun filled magic show at the
Lincoln Public Library.
Children’s librarian Donna Cunningham introduced Landry and reminded
all the kids to turn in their book logs every week.
Before starting the show, Landry asked everyone to yell out the
magic words “read more books” plus raise their hands and wiggle
their fingers in a finger dance.
To do his magic, Landry got out a new magic wand he got from the
wand factory, which he said had to be charged just like phones and
iPads. The tip of the wand appeared to be broken, so he got out an
instruction sheet to figure out the problem. Because Landry had the
sheet turned the wrong way, he thought it was written in invisible
ink. Then he had it upside down and thought it was written in
French. The kids told him to turn it over. When he finally could
read the words, they instructed him to blow on the wand to fix it.
He had the kids help with blowing on the wand, but the tip kept
falling down. The adults helped blow on the wand, but the same thing
happened.
Last year, Landry’s sister went on an African safari and told him
about all her adventures. He got so excited, he checked out books on
safaris. After Landry read a book called Gorilla Safari, he dreamed
about being on a safari. Sitting around a campfire, he could see two
big beady eyes staring at him through a bush. Landry said it was a
big, ugly, hairy gorilla and he named him Harry.
Landry then went to the library and checked out a book on how to
draw animals. After showing everyone a drawing of a gorilla, Landry
drew the gorilla’s head, eyes, nose and mouth on a white board then
had volunteers come up and draw hairy ears, an ugly haircut and a
big hairy beard on it.
When the kids finished drawing, the
rest of the kids screamed that the gorilla’s eyes were moving back
and forth, though Landry told the audience it was just their
imagination. The gorilla’s mouth also moved like it was talking. The
gorilla told Landry it was angry because Landry called it ugly.
Landry then referred to the gorilla as Harry the handsome gorilla.
Landry told the audience the
serious part of the show was next. He got out a smile bag which
contained a mug that had a smile maker in it to put a smile on
people’s faces. Landry told the audience no smiling was allowed and
kept yelling at them to stop smiling. However, the bag was full of
smile makers, which he placed in a glass jar. Finally, he got out
the biggest smile maker and told everyone it was okay to smile.
Another bag Landry brought was his flowerpot on a stick. To make the
flowers grow, the three helpers had to tap on his bag, and the
audience had to do the finger dance and yell “read more books.” The
helpers pulled several scarves out of the bag, which Landry said
were seeds and needed to be rolled into a ball and placed back in
the bag. When they pulled the scarves out of the bag, one had a
flower in a pot on it. Since there was no color on the flower and
the pot, he had them put more seeds in. The kids told Landry the bag
had a hole, which he only saw when he put his hand all the way
through the bag.
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Two helpers got garden gloves and
tapped the bag again. Now there was color on part of the scarf but
not on the flower, so Landry gave two helpers magic shovels and one
a wand whose tip kept falling. This time, the scarf was larger and
had a big colorful flower on it. He said what the kids did helped
the flower grow.
Landry next uncovered a house in a
box. He chose a volunteer and gave her an artist’s outfit of
glasses, a beret and a paint shirt to wear so she could paint the
house. Though the audience waved their fingers and yelled “read more
books,” the house was completely white when Landry uncovered it.
When he gave the volunteer five magic wands and had her wave them,
there was paint on the house. There was also a bunny that had been
hiding in the house.
The bunny, which is named Snowball,
is a four year old ruby eyed white Netherland Dwarf rabbit who loves
to eat bananas. Snowball’s favorite drink is cherry Kool-Aid, her
favorite music is hip hop and her favorite restaurant is IHOP.
Landry put Snowball in his magic hat, and she kept peeking out at
the audience. The rabbits he had in the past were boys and he said
they never peeked out. Landry said Snowball asked him to count to
three and have the audience say “aw.” Snowball said she loved
hearing them say “aw” and told Landry to say thank you to everyone.
Snowball loves to take beauty naps
and takes them in a beauty nap chamber (which is a carrier). When
Landry gets out the beauty nap chamber and Snowball sees the door
open, he said she always kicks her legs and tries to “fly” out of
his hands. As Landry got ready to place Snowball in the chamber, she
rapidly kicked her legs. Once Snowball was in the chamber, she moved
to the front of it to say goodbye to the audience. Landry told the
audience to whisper, “bye Snowball.”
As Landry finished the program, he thanked the adults for taking
time to invest in their children’s reading adventures because it
makes a difference. When Landry’s sons were little, he often took
them to the library and would read to them every day. He told the
adults to read to the kids as often as possible since it will make a
big impact. The more they read and the more we read, the smarter we
get. Landry said reading to kids will make great memories like he
has of reading to his boys.
Next week, there will not be a program. Thursday, July 9, the
program will be presented by comedy magician Chad Jacobs, known as
Chef Bananas.
Magician Richard Landry performs at the Lincoln Public Library photo
slideshow
Magician Richard Landry and
Snowball perform at the Lincoln Public Library video
[Angela Reiners] |
