By EMILY SPARACINO / Staff Writer

CHELSEA – Children rowed imaginary boats, swam in an imaginary alligator-infested pond and imitated blades of grass being cut by an imaginary lawn mower at the Chelsea Public Library’s summer reading program kick-off June 8.

Award-winning songwriter and entertainer Anna Moo treated nearly 20 children in kindergarten through fifth grades to a 50-minute set of tunes, tales and tidbits about nature, animals, food, counting, languages and other topics.

Moo led the group in renditions of “Row Row Row Your Boat” and “You Are My Sunshine,” occasionally inserting her own flair into the songs.

Moo taught the group how to count to three in foreign languages, including German, French and Spanish, and sang about the process a seed undergoes to sprout into a plant.

Moo ended the hour with a song called “You Are My Friend.”

Also a recording artist, Moo has received five Parent’s Choice Awards, three American Library Association awards, five Grammy Award considerations and four National Association of Parenting Publications of America Gold awards.

To read more about Moo, visit Annamoo.com.

The summer reading program for elementary school-aged children, “On Your Mark, Get Set, Read,” will continue through July.

On June 15, Lew-E the Clown will visit with children in a circus-themed setup. Bill Packard will entertain children with magic June 22, and on June 29, Master Scarsella of Master Scarsella’s World Class Tae Kwon Do will conduct a demonstration and a mini-class with children.

A 4-H animal program is scheduled for July 6. Children will be able to try sock poi – creative movement with tethered weights – with Hoop for Fitness on July 13.

North Shelby Baptist Church’s Steppup puppet ministry team will perform July 20.

Summer reading programming for teens in sixth grade and up will start Thursday, June 16 at 10 a.m.

Daryl Hyde and Rachel K. Ivey will lead students through A Minor Film School, in which they will work together to create short videos using their smart phones.

Students will learn how to plan, film, edit and share their micro short films from their devices. Other topics Hyde and Ivey will cover include storyboarding and script writing, prop making, composition, lighting, sound, editing all clips into a single film, where and how to share videos in a safe way and the best apps to use for all tasks.

At the end of the summer, students will show their videos in a film festival.

In addition to attending weekly sessions, children and teens can earn prizes for reading books throughout the summer.

For every three books they read, they earn a library “dollar.” Library dollars can be used in the library store starting June 15 to purchase prizes such as candy, jump ropes, small toys and more.

Adults can be involved in summer reading, too, by reading and logging books for chances to win items such as electronic readers in weekly drawings.

All programs are free and open to everybody.

For more information, call the library at 618-9736 or visit Cityofchelsea.com.

“I’m so excited,” Library Director Dana Polk said. “It’s going to be a great summer.”