Science is everywhere, said Andrew Piccirillo. And, as a self-described "scienceteller," science and story telling go together, "smooshed like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich."

Piccirillo, 27, is a Montgomery Township resident and founder of Piccirillo Sciencetelling, in which experiments are used to illustrate different parts of a story. One recent Wednesday, before starting a 45-minute show at the Barnegat Branch of the Ocean County Library, Piccirillo set out the curious tools of his trade: A roll of toilet paper on a plunger; a leaf blower; bottles of ethanol, acetone, and vinegar; a bicycle air pump; and a few beakers.

"The kids think it's pretty cool," Piccirillo said of the visual effects. "They respond a lot to it."

New this year to his repertoire is a laptop computer and a speaker for sound effects.

"If I get someone to laugh, my job is done," Piccirillo said.

Piccirillo began Piccirillo Sciencetelling 2 1/2 years ago because he likes performing, he likes science, and he likes children, although he has no children of his own, he said.

"I have three furry children with tails, all cats," Piccirillo said. "One of them, C.J., loves to get into my laboratory because he likes machines."

Like C.J., the 15 children at the Barnegat presentation also would get an up-close experience with the experiments.

"I get volunteers to help with the experiments," Piccirillo said. "I also bring them (the experiments) out to the audience."

In conjunction with the library system's Paws, Claws, Scales and Tails summer reading program, Piccirillo told "Jungle of Jersey," an original creation, about Doug the Dog and Baxter the Bird, two animals who escape from a pet store to find a better place to live.

Their escape, though, is blocked by a group of hermit crabs. How do Doug and Baxter leave? By pouring glue on the hermit crabs.

"This is like the glue that landed on the crabs' heads," Piccirillo said. Showing the audience a plastic foam cup, he recruited one volunteer to dribble acetone around the middle. The result was that two halves nearly separated, connected by a stringy substance created by the interaction of acetone on the plastic foam.

Using the other materials, Piccirillo brought other scientific concepts to a level the children could understand at various points in the story. He used the leaf blower to unravel a roll of toilet paper at high speed in a demonstration of Bernouli's Principle, which states that fast-moving air causes a lowering of air pressure, creating lift by the high-pressure underneath.

At another point in the story, Piccirillo blew into a tube, at the end of which was a flour-filled funnel and a flame. Through the resulting puff of flame, he was able to show that fire needs more than a flammable material, it needs air to burn.

Pete Jeranek, 8, of Stafford, was impressed with the presentation and named science as one of his favorite subjects at McKinley Avenue Elementary School.

"I liked it when he shot the (film) canister in the air (using baking powder and vinegar)," Pete said.