This holiday season treat everyone to a program that is trainloads of fun filled with Library books, magic, storytelling, music and audience participation. This train ride takes you around the world to learn about winter holidays such as:

The Arctic Express

A MULTI-CULTURAL Motivational Reading Program Presented by John Cesta!

I've been asked if The Arctic Express Reading Program includes a "real" train ride. No, sorry, it doesn't. It's difficult to fit a real train and tracks into most school auditoriums. (If it was possible to fit a train in the performance area I would do it.)

The good news though: The program is loads of fun and kids learn at the same time!

As do all my programs, The Arctic Express uses storytelling, magic, audience participation, lots of books, references to the library, and education; all working together and designed to get kids excited about reading, learning and the library.

Here's a brief synopsis of the program.

I talk about a little boy who loves trains. 

His quest to learn more about trains leads him to the library where he checks out books (for free!) about magic, trains, geography (100 Things You Should Know About Planet Earth) and he learns there are more holidays in the winter time than during any other season. 

Through reading he discovers the first winter holiday--The Winter Solstice. Winter Solstice means the shortest day of the year. 

"The shortest day of the year?" the little boy questions his dad. 

"You told me, EVERY day has 24 hours! How can every day have 24 hours and this day is the shortest?"

"I'll show you." said his father. 

His father demonstrates how the Earth spins on its axis and revolves around the Sun.  

He talks about how, sometimes, the Earth leans towards the Sun and this makes the Earth a little warmer, we call this the (kids shout out) Yes, the Summer time. 

And sometimes the Earth leans away from the Sun, now the Earth is a little cooler, we call this the (kids shout out) Yes, the Winter time.

The demonstration of how the night time gets longer while the daytime gets shorter is performed with a piece of rope. (So the lesson is disguised as a magic trick!) 

"So," says Dad, "it doesn't matter whether you're talking about long nights and short days or long days and short nights, when you add the day and the night together you always get 24 hours."

We continue with more Winter holidays.

At the end of the show the little boy grows up to be a man. 

When he visits his parent's house-the same one he grew up in-he thinks about how he used to dream about "silly" things like doing magic tricks, driving a train all over the world and making magic snow for everyone.  He gets angry. 

"People can't have silly dreams like that? Kids can't do things like that!"

He realizes, though, he's not angry because he had those dreams as a young boy, rather, as an adult, he stopped believing in his dreams and he stopped believing in himself.

And when you stop believing in all those things you don't hear all the wonderful sounds in the world anymore. Like the sweet sound of that bell. 

The end of the program, you will shed a tear.

One of the books used in the program is The Polar Express. 

I can't give anymore away. Sorry.

The program is approximately 50 minutes. 

Following is a list of the books used in the program: