As summer moves into its latter phase, a pair of literary events at the Haines Public Library helped the small town mark the shift ahead of August with a focus on storytelling.
The annual summer reading program, offered through the Haines Public Library, saw a massive turnout for its finale on July 26th(Wednesday, July 26th). Despite the rainy weather forcing the celebration inside, over 60 kids packed the community and reading rooms when things kicked off, with more coming through the door. While the young readers enjoyed hotdogs and prizes, Children’s Librarian Holly Davis beamed with pride at the success of this year’s program.
Davis: “We read over 5400 chapters and books that were on those reading logs, and I still have some more to count because some more came in today. I had more than 150 children sign up for the program. And that’s the babies all the way up to 12 years old. I was pleased to see so many visitors and grandchildren who are visiting their grandparents, tourists getting swept up in the fun of reading and winning treasures.”
As part of the celebration, longtime storyteller Chris Cosgrove entertained the crowd by creating a brand new story from scratch with the audience’s help. Cosgrove told his first story in the Haines Library nearly 20 years ago and believes that stories, like the ones the kids read over the summer, are fundamental to human growth.
Cosgrove: “Storytelling is the essence of who we are, as humans. We all have stories we grow up with. If we didn’t, we would never have survived. If we didn’t tell and listen to stories because where are the good berries? You know, where do you catch a fish? Stories are a part of who we are as humans. And so that’s why I like telling them everyone relates to them. Everyone gets excited by them.”
Best-selling author Nick Jans is no stranger to storytelling. The day’s events culminated in the debut of his 14th book, Romeo the Friendly Wolf: A True Alaska Tale. A retelling of his 2014 book, A Wolf Called Romeo, the 64 page photo book is meant to be accessible to all ages and tells the story of Romeo, a wolf that befriended the pets and people of Juneau in the mid 2000s. Though Jans has written the story of Romeo before, he says that he hasn’t yet closed the book on that chapter of his life.
Jans: “The fact is, is that I’m still processing the six years, the time over which I knew this wolf, as a neighbor, and eventually. And this may sound strange, and may sound like a reach but as a friend. And we’re not talking about putting out food and stuff like that. We never fed this wolf. We never tried to touch him. He came and hung around us because he liked our dogs. And he also came to like and know us as we came to like and know Him. And it goes counter to everything you ever, ever heard about wolves.”
One aspect of many children’s stories is the wolf as a villain. Jans prefers to look at wolves, like Romeo, as just being one step removed from man’s best friend.
Jans: “And so we had this relationship, it’s conflicted with wolves, but dogs, you know, they’re our best friend. And it’s really interesting that you have this movement from man’s worst fear, the Big Bad Wolf, to man’s best friend, man’s worst fear to man’s best friend over and over again. And this wolf, I think, is the archetypal wolf, who came to lie down by our fire and this sort of sociable, more human oriented wolf must have appeared not once but many times for us, across continents, all across Asia, all across Europe, all across North America. Going back as far as we can tell, humans met wolves, and we made dogs out of them.”
Many of Jans’ stories are inspired from his 20 years living in northwest arctic Alaska. After moving to Juneau and building a home on the shores of Mendenhall Lake, he thought he was leaving his wild Alaskan life behind, but that story continued.
Jans: “And I didn’t know at the time that I was building it to meet this wolf, who just appeared out of the out of the mountains that surrounds Juneau. And on the frozen lake was where we first met Mendenhall lake on the west side and I had no idea thought that I would come to know him over a period of time. days, months, and eventually years. And it’s not just my story. This is Juneau’s story, really. And it’s all our story, finally, because this, this whole thing is about our relationship to nature.”
As part of the event, Jans donated his book to the library, in the hopes that more children can learn the story of Romeo the Friendly Wolf.
Children’s Librarian Holly Davis considered the reading program and book presentation a huge success and says she is already planning for next years program.
Jans’ latest book, Romeo the Friendly Wolf: A True Alaska Tale, can be found in bookstores, libraries, and his website.
