Peasley holds up one of her letters looking for a verb that starts with “D” Photos by James Kinneen
By James Kinneen
Hometown Weekly Reporter
Wednesday morning at the Walpole Library, children’s performer Stacey Peasley made her Walpole debut to a legitimate, standing room only crowd. Peasley, a former member of the New York based girl group “The Chiclettes” mixed original songs like “Soapy Bubbles” with kids classics like “Old Macdonald” over the course of the hour, about which she loudly declared “I have the best job in the world, I get to spend seven days a week with kids but I don’t have to change any diapers.”
She did have to keep their interest for an hour though, which anyone will tell you is incredibly difficult, increasingly so as kids become accustomed to ferociously clicking through Youtube videos. But, a seasoned professional like Peasley had no problem doing so, using both her musical talents and a couple tricks of the trade.
For example, before she sang “Happy and You Know It” Peasley told the children that they should shout “Hooray” really loudly, because it feels kind of mischievous to be doing so in a library. This led the kids to be locked in throughout the song, as they couldn’t wait to participate in what she had set up as such a daring activity.
Later, she had the kids move to the front of the room in front of her, where she held up a letter and encouraged them to do an action that starts with that letter. For example, when she held up a “J”, she informed the children that they cold jump. When she held up a “C” she informed them they could clap (one kid was crying, though, which made him technically correct). And when she held up an “F”, she told the kids that they could “floss”, which led to a mass attempt at the popular Fortnite dance.
Perhaps the most excited the kids became was when she alternated between holding up a “S” for sleep, and an “H” for hop. The children would lay on the floor, pretending to sleep before jumping to their feet and going crazy. There were a couple of false starts, however, which saw children stand up too early, then look around and realize they should be sleeping. Most of the time they just waited it out, but a couple kids dropped back to the floor.
While the children knew what every letter Peasley held was, there was one object she held in front of her they had no clue what it was. Her CD. While promoting her work, Peasley held up the CD and asked the kids “do you even know what these are?” It was clear most did not.
But, even if you don’t know what a CD is, it’s not hard to recognize good, fun music and a talented musician. And on Wednesday morning, that’s what the kids of Walpole Library got.
