Local award-winning storyteller Jackson Gillman wears many hats. Thursday night at the Wareham Free Library it was a classic Australian outback hat, among others, as he taught children through song and dance about kangaroos, Australian slang and much more.

Gillman was at the Library as the final event in the Wareham Reads, a program put together by the Library this spring to promote the joys of reading for children.

He opened his act with the number, “Dad Threw The TV Out The Window”, in which a father throws the television out the window, to make his children entertain themselves without a screen. Gillman said he usually doesn’t put that song in the show, but he felt it was important.

“We are raising a generation of kids who don’t know what quality family time is,” Gillman said after the performance. “People associate entertainment with the video screen.”

Gillman also worked to instill a sense of how important it is that Wareham have a local library.

“As soon as we start losing the library, kids have no place to go, nothing to do,” said Gillman later, referencing the town's budget cuts that have reduced services, staff and hours at the library the past few years. “It’s very short-sighted. It’s just going to be a downward spiral for this town, unless people say, ‘Education is worth it. Libraries are worth it.’”

Because of the continued budget cuts from the town, the Library was decertified by the state last November, meaning that residents can't borrow books or materials from other libraries. The library is also ineligible for state aid, which accounts for about $20,000 annually.

Despite the serious nature of Gillman’s performance, he still presented it under the mantle of fun. During a song about borrowing books from the library, he had Liam Phillips, 4, run up to children’s librarian Marcia Hickey and give her back a book that, in the performance, was overdue.

“Here you go, Mrs. Hickey!” Liam said, as he ran up to her with the book.

In another, he emphasized that there are different kinds of intelligence, and smarts aren’t relegated to scores on a standardized test.

“With your hands, your feet, your head, your heart -- so many ways to be smart!” sang Gillman.

It wasn’t just the children who learned from the performance, though.

“I learned what LDU means!” said Hickey, referring to the abbreviation for “Land Down Under”.

“I think [Gillman's performance] shows the kids how much fun it is to read and learn,” Hickey continued. “I just saw some of the little ones now doing some of the signing!”