The Montgomery City Public Library Community Room was turned into a concert when Dino O’Dell arrived for his music storytelling presentation on July 25.

For an hour, O’Dell had all of the children singing, dancing and jumping to music about life on earth.

It even had librarian Katie Bernstetter excited.

“It was entertaining and educational,” Bernstetter said. “I had fun and I’m not a kid.”

O’Dell’s presentation was the last event of MCPL’s two-month summer reading program, which was entitled “Oceans of Possibilities.” All events were related to the ocean.

The program began on June 4, when 29 people were in attendance to see the 2011 motion picture, “Rio." Other events in the program included an appearance from Will Stuck, a comedic storyteller who performed “20,000 Laughs Under The Sea” on June 13,” and a performance by the Traveling Lantern group on June 18. There were also reading sessions for all children on June 6 and 27 and July 11.

“There are a lot of different things you can do for the ocean,” Bernstetter said. “It is really nice to be able to have all of the different options.”

Bernstetter and Luanne Andrews helped coordinate the events in the summer reading program, which had 113 participants and was funded by a grant by the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

“It was fun,” Andrews said. “It was fun to come in and decide what you want to do, what you want to make and when you need to do it.”

The program officially ended on July 29 with a Family Game Day, in which patrons got to play some jumbo games.

Now, the library is already focusing on the summer of 2023.

“I already noticed that people on Facebook are starting to worry about next year’s summer reading program,” Andrews said.

O’Dell, who is from Kansas City, made his second appearance at MCPL. His first visit was in July 2019 as part of the library’s summer reading program.

O’Dell made his first performance this summer. He said he was excited when MCPL Director Gaylee Harris invited him back this year.

“I love it,” he said. “When she invited me, I remembered how much fun we had in this room (in 2019).”

O’Dell has been working as a music storyteller for 19 years. Before that, he taught in elementary schools and preschools. He also taught English as a second language in Japan and worked in the theater, where he instructed improv and creative dramatic classes for children.

“I’m a fan of teaching and I use music and stories to do it,” O’Dell said. “Making it fun is the goal.”

O’Dell played his guitar during his presentation at MCPL. He worked as a professional musician before he became a music storyteller.

“I was working in bar bands and wedding bands,” O’Dell said. “I wasn’t a singer, but I played lead guitar. The singing was hard fought. I had to take some lessons to get my voice to sound half-decent. But I love writing music, I love teaching and I love creating lesson plans. So these shows are sophisticated lesson plans. Usually, teachers have 10 minutes to put an hour lesson plan together because there isn’t that much time in a day for planning.”

O’Dell does a lot of traveling. He will be in Colorado on Aug. 6 for a performance at the YMCA of the Rockies.

“I travel a lot, but not for the last couple of years,” O’Dell said. “In 2019, the last year before the pandemic, I was everywhere on the west coast, like California, Oregon, Washington State. Then, I went to Virginia and New York City. I did a lot of traveling, but I haven’t been back to the east coast or west coast the last couple of years.”

O’Dell is also an author. He wrote a book called, “Zar and the Broken Spaceship,” in 2015. He signed several copies to patrons after his presentation ended.