Basil the Bookworm, the main character in Walter's recent puppet shows.

Sisters — On a recent Thursday morning at the Sisters Public Library, children learned that they don’t have to board a plane or boat to travel the world and meet interesting characters.

All that’s required to visit faraway locales like Australia and France is a book.

“It’s a really great way to kick off our summer reading programs,” said Paige Bentley-Flannery, a children’s librarian with the Deschutes Public Library.

Armed with an arsenal of puppets, Penny Walter, a children’s performer, staged a puppet show for a crowd of about 30 children and their families. Emphasizing the power of reading, the show was one of several Walter had put on at libraries and schools across Central Oregon over the past few weeks.

“I love performing,” said Walter. “It’s a pure joy making people laugh, and I feel like I’m giving back, too.”

Children ranging in age from a few weeks to 7 years attended the event, following Walter and her puppets on a journey through books that took them around the world.

“For some kids, the word ‘puppet’ is a magic word,” Bentley-Flannery said. “People really come out for a puppet show.”

And as the puppet show started, it was clear that the audience was transfixed with the brightly colored felt creatures. The first act of the show played out between two puppet friends — Basil, a three-eyed lime-green bookworm who spends all day buried in books, and her outgoing, vibrant yellow friend, Bella. Bella broke out into song about her love of traveling and all the wonders the world has to offer.

But all of Bella’s stories about the world outside made Basil the Bookworm very uncomfortable — a feeling that, perhaps, some children in the audience could relate to.

“The world is so scary,” said Basil. “Everything in my books are black and white. I just don’t think I’m ready for color.”

But whether or not Basil was ready, the world was coming at her full force. The three-eyed bookworm was soon sucked into a spinning magic wheel that ended up throwing her, quite abruptly, to an entirely different place.

“That must of hurt!” yelled a boy sitting in the front row, as he watched Basil being thrown into a world of jungle vines. When a puppet giant showed up looking for a boy named Jack, it didn’t take long for Basil to figure out where she had landed.

The giant broke into song about all the things he enjoyed eating, including spinach, peas, pigs’ feet and kidneys. Children in the audience who were acquainted with the full range of his favorites giggled and scrunched their faces up in disgust.

“Gross!” said one audience member.

After a sufficient amount of time in the land of Jack and the Beanstalk, Basil was once again sucked into the spinning wheel and hurled across time and space to countries like France, Australia and even Egypt, where she met a variety of characters, including a penguin living in Australia’s outback and a tiger who just couldn’t stay out of trouble.

Children giggled and danced their way through the show, thoroughly entertained.

“I liked how Basil kept falling,” Cody French, 7, said. “And I liked how she kept going to different places.”

Once the show wrapped up, Walter emerged from behind the black box, red-faced and smiling.

“It’s a tricky business back there!” Walter said to the audience.

The show ended with Walter bringing Basil around to the room, allowing the children to either give the puppet a high-five or shake her felt hand. Brooke Liddell, 6, gave Basil a giant hug.

“I really liked Basil,” Brooke said. “It was a lot of fun.”

Walter said she hoped the children enjoyed the performance and were able to come away with some valuable lessons from it.

“The message is that you can go anywhere with a book,” Walter said. “I think the puppets help encourage the children to investigate what’s out there.”