Imagine if you mixed a little Jim Trelease (author of The New Read Aloud Handbook), a bit of folksiness, whimsy and magic, then shook it a bit --  out would come Mark Daniel, an exuberant promoter of children's books.

A pioneer in his apprach to magical storytellling he is acclaimed nationwide by peers as a mentor, consultant and guru on the topic of magically bringing children's books to life.  His video Book Magic is a bestseller in the industry.

Mark Daniel is a full-time children's performer, who as a child, developed a love for books that has continued and strengthened through the years.  A librarian took an interest in him and his fascination for magic tricks, and helped ignite the spark by broadening his knowledge through reading.

After a few years, he had read every magic book availiable through the NC Public Library System.  That experience helped to influence his decision to choose a unique and satisfying career as a children's performer.

Today, as a Reading Ambassador, Mark performs over 200 shows annually for schools, libraries, and festivals throughout the South.  He is often invited to conferences as a seminar presenter for childen's entertainers on the art of performing for children.

For the past Twenty-seven summers, Mark has annually written and developed new, original presentations  for the NC Public Library Summer Reading Program, becoming one of their most invited performers statewide.

Mark and his wife, are the producers of KIDabra, a conference that each August, attracts hundreds of children's entertainers who gather from across the country for educationsl seminars and shows - www.kidabra,com.

Through 42 years of performing (27 full-time), Mark has studied, developed, and refined techniques for entertaining and motivating children, which have garnered praise throught the educational community.

Mark's original series of programs, Those Magical Dinosaurs! has been seen by over three million elementary school students throughout the Southeast during the past 27 years. 

Mark and Tami reside out in the countryside near Mocksvile, N.C. with their seventeen year old identical twin sons, Robert and Stephen.

Join us Thursday, June 21st at 10:00 a.m. at the Belhaven Civic Center as Mark Danniel kicks off the 2012 Summer Reading Program "DREAM BIG: READ

Everyone is invited to attend this very entertaining program and IT'S FREE!