Monday, June 30, 2008 - Carribean Concert, Book Reading Held At Fort Pierce Community Center July 16

Children are invited to the Fort Pierce Community Center on Wednesday, July 16 at 12:30 p.m. to listen to a reading of ''The Journey of Choncey Conch'' by author Bryan Chauncey Mays and to enjoy his musical performance of songs played on instruments from the Caribbean.

Members of the audience will be selected to play percussion instruments to accompany the songs and everyone will be invited to dance and sing along. The author will explain the characters and the process of having a book published. Mary Jo Seagrist, illustrator of the book, will demonstrate how she did the drawings for the story.

Mays is a professional musician, composer, arranger, author and a teacher for the St. Lucie County School System for the past nine years. He is currently writing children's books about music, musical cultures and musical instruments. ''The Journey of Choncey Conch'' was performed with the St. Lucie County All-County Elementary Chorus.

Seagrist studied Elementary Education and Art and currently teaches second grade at Saint Andrews School in Fort Pierce. The artist enjoys acrylic painting on canvas, pen and ink, sketching, and working with pastels.

The book is about young Choncey Conch who is unhappy about being a conch and where he lives. His grandfather, being older and wiser, helps him to learn to appreciate how special it is to be a conch and travels with him through the Islands. The story teaches young people everywhere to appreciate the culture, nature, and music around them.

Organized by the Fort Pierce Branch Library, the program is free and registration is not required. For more information call the Fort Pierce Branch of the St. Lucie County Library System at (772) 462-2787.

The Fort Pierce Community Center is located at 600 North Indian River Drive. The phone number is (772) 462-1792.