Tuesday morning’s rain may have prevented kids in the summer reading program from playing with bubbles outside, but it did not prevent them from having a laugh at the shadows.

The Wareham Free Library held its last summer reading program event with Vinny Lovegrove, a children’s entertainer who wears many hats. Instead of putting on a bubble show outside, Lovegrove put on a shadow puppet performance for the almost 75 children who showed up. Despite the last-minute nature of the show, Wareham Librarian Marcia Hickey said Lovegrove really delivered.

“He is so flexible,” Hickey said. “And it’s such an old-fashioned thing, a shadow puppet show, but he had them eating out of his hand. He was wonderful.”

The summer reading program at the library consisted of several weekly reading events at both the Main Library and the Spinney branch.

Lovegrove used simple paper cutouts and a projector, as well as a healthy dose of humor, to create stories for the children in attendance. He also tested the children on shape recognition, making the experience educational, as well as interactive. He said he was very impressed with the children’s shape recognition abilities.

“They not only have to know what it is, but also know the name of it,” Lovegrove said. “I was impressed that they get stuff so quickly, they know what it is.”

Lovegrove said he would never make kids sit still and quietly in the dark – not only because that “would be almost impossible” for them, but also because it would not be nearly as fun.

“I really enjoy the group conversation with them,” Lovegrove said.

Hickey said though she still wants to book Lovegrove for his bubble show, she thought the puppet show was a great way to close out the summer reading program.

“He is such a big library education supporter – you could see that in his show,” Hickey said. “It was an even better closing performance than I had hoped for.”