From The Puyallup School District:
Pablo and Poncho are no ordinary lizards.
The two bearded dragons, while seemingly content in their glass enclosure in the Shaw Road Elementary library, crave adventure.
Every summer, they escape the confines of their cage to embark on new travels.
Their adventures, including getting lost in the school library and crawling through the school mail slot to tour downtown Puyallup, have not gone unnoticed. The inquisitive library lizards, who frequently find themselves in precarious situations, are the main characters in two library books and the stars of a third soon to be released.
Shaw Road Elementary librarian Lynne Walton wrote the first two stories and bound them as hardback books for display in the school library.
The tales feature photographs taken by one of Walton’s friends that show the reptiles in a variety of locations, including posing with officers at the Puyallup Police Station, touring Meeker Mansion, meeting the mayor at City Hall, and sitting inside a covered wagon at Karshner Museum.
The library lizards, which measure about a foot in length, have become literary giants in the eyes of the 508 Shaw Road Elementary students and their teachers. Each year, Walton reads their stories during class visits to the library.
In the process, students learn about local people, places, and events, as well as develop a love for reading, Walton said. Students can even earn “reptile reward” points to earn the privilege of holding the library lizards three times a year, provided they wash their hands before and after touching them.
Reward points are earned by showing responsible behavior such as returning a school library book on time and entering the library quietly, Walton said.
The bearded dragons’ popularity has grown so much since they arrived in the library four years ago that Walton organized a writing contest this year to give students in grades three through six a chance to co-author the next in the lizard tale series.
Walton wrote the first half of the latest story, and more than a dozen students picked up where she left off.
The “Pablo and Poncho: Lost in Space” story begins with the lizards climbing out of their cage and into a rocket ship, which they mistake for the Space Needle. They buckle their seatbelts thinking they are headed for the restaurant at the top of the Needle and, thinking they are ordering food, push a red button that instead blasts them through the school roof and into space.
Fifth grader Kira Falaschi, a self-proclaimed writer who is in the process of writing three books, is this year’s winning co-author.
Walton announced Falaschi as the winner during a pizza lunch and journal-making party held in the school library.
During the award recognition, Walton praised each of the participants for writing creative stories with a skillful use of adjectives, adverbs, and similes.
“Kira’s entry captured us because it is more than a tale of adventure,” Walton said. “Woven into her storyline is the theme of reading for fun and information. The main characters (Pablo and Poncho) are surprised when they encounter aliens who read books. Will these well-read aliens be able to help Pablo and Poncho return to their home in the Shaw Road library? Our students are anxious to find out!”
Falaschi was all smiles as her name was announced during the student author celebration.
“When I heard about the contest, I took my laptop to bed that night and stayed up late writing the story,” she said. “I was really excited.”
The story pairs with the school’s “rocket” theme this year, including a space display in the library. Walton has lined the walls in a sunken reading area with black paper and displayed cutouts of rocket ships, stars, and colorful cartoon-like Martians. In the corner of the reading area is a floor-to-ceiling papier-mâché silver rocket, which stands under a tissue-paper “black hole” on the ceiling.
Walton changes the décor each year to match the school’s reading theme. The idea to write the first book about Pablo and Poncho started three years ago, Walton said, when she lost track of one of the lizards while working in the library after school. Students had already left school for summer vacation.
Walton said she often lets the bearded dragons out of their cage to get exercise when students have left for the day and she is finishing her work. Bearded dragons are social creatures, Walton said, easy to care for, and “very mellow.”
On this outing, Walton lost track of Poncho, who had climbed a bookshelf and was hiding behind a Laura Ingalls Wilder book.
The search to find Poncho, in turn, sparked the idea of writing a story about the lizards’ adventures while students were on summer vacation, including the day Poncho went missing in the library.
The story also teaches students about the types of books and reference materials that can be found in a library. Walton began caring for Pablo and Poncho, now ages 7 and 8 respectively, when they were given to her four years ago by a former Shaw Road Elementary student who moved to California.
Walton originally intended to care for the reptiles in the library for one year, “but they were such a big hit, we decided to keep them here. They are happy and get lots of attention.”
With the success of this year’s writing contest about the lizards’ adventures, Walton said she may repeat the literacy activity next year.
“Pablo and Poncho really have become part of our school community,” Walton said.
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
