* Hi team, I hope your summer reading programming is going well and you’re all having lots of fun! I just wanted to make you all aware of a poor experience with a performer that we had at the Grand Rapids Public Library. Mark Rosenthal of “Animal Magic” was invited to perform during our summer reading program. There were a few different incidents that occurred that made our staff and patrons uncomfortable. In his contract we made it clear that his audience would be mostly young kids and families, which he readily agreed to. With live animal shows I normally make an announcement to the kids to listen carefully and follow the directions of the handler. Mark told me that this wouldn’t be necessary for him because he would make his own announcements. Throughout the show he chastised mothers specifically to remove their crying babies because “they ruin it for everyone else.” At his performances at our other branches that same day and the day following, Mark was reminded politely by staff that our programs are age inclusive and we cannot ask an age group to leave. He became combative with staff and made similar announcements at all of his performances. He made an announcement that “I don't want babies in the front, please sit in the back with them.” During his performance Mark spent a lot of the time promoting his books and plush snakes. He was very self important and talked more about how “exotic” and “rare” his animals were, but didn’t spend the same amount of time on showcasing the animals. He talked very highly of his animals and their rarity, but we felt like he did not deliver. He showed off a hedgehog, a parrot, and a possum. One family left before he brought his binturong on stage because “we can see a hedgehog at the zoo,” as reported by a staff member. He also kept mentioning his “full show” and how he couldn’t bring it because of time constraints. We felt that this was an inappropriate comment to make because we were under the impression that we were paying him for a full show. Other comments in bad taste included a “trick” with his parrot where he shot it with a finger gun and the parrot played dead, and another where he held up one of his books and said it was 18+ because he “died” in that one. He also talked about how his sloth is named “Seven” for the Biblical deadly sin “sloth,” but for some reason he segued into that story by referencing the movie “Se7en” with Brad Pitt. That is absolutely not a movie for children. Some comments from the surveys: * "Too much talking, especially about himself. Too much build-up, not enough time with animals. Not very polite to patrons who did not know where to sit." * "Less commentary/shorter program maybe sound system helpful?" Shorter program for kids attention spam a lot less talking, more showing of animals - what the kids want, will remember. Adults don't' need the jokes/stories." * "Less talking, more animals. This is a great program for 5 and up. Too much talking for younger kids - they don't' understand all the specifics of it all." * "more age appropriate for the young kids. the animal show was great for my 7&9 year old sone but my 4 year old said to me: there's' too much talking and he doesn't' show animals." The presenter was kid of intense and loud and some of what he said could have frightened little kids." And this is a message that we received on Facebook: "Just thought you should know that your Animal Magic Event yesterday is getting horrible reviews from Moms. In multiple parent groups the man has been described as "full of himself", "scary to the kids", "pretty much an ass", and "butthole". It has to be really bad for so many to have this type of option. They go on to say he took over 20mins per animal and all he kept talking about was his seven gigs this week and his voice. And babies asked to leave if make noise?! At a summer kids library event?! Please do not invite this man back and please screen better in the future. You have an apology to make to all the parents that attended. They are not happy their tax dollars went to frighten their kids and listen to an asshole for over an hour." Our library was very embarrassed to have invited him. I will say that there was an enthusiastic group of people who really enjoyed his show. Two families went to more than one of his performances. In our mind, though, this does not make up for the way that he behaved in front of our patrons, and treated our staff. Some of our staff looked at his Facebook and google reviews and while most of them are glowing, the minority that are negative seem to have had the exact same experience as us. I wanted to make you all aware of this for the future that he might be okay for your library if you are holding an adult event or maybe one for teens. Please let me know if you have any questions. Thanks! Mark * -- *Mark Jemerson* /Youth Services Librarian/ Grand Rapids Public Library Main Library | 111 Library St NE | 49503 616-988-5402 x5546 <tel:161698854025546> www.grpl.org <https://www.grpl.org>