Cranbury Public Library hosts magical "Dragons and Dreams" program

Youngsters stared wide-eyed in the large group room of Cranbury School as dragons breathed fire and legions of ice soldiers emerged from the clouds of fog rolling across the floor at Monday's "Sciencetelling" presentation.

The "Dragons and Dreams" program, hosted by the Cranbury Public Library, was brought to life by Hillsborough resident Andrew Piccirillo, 26, with the aid of a Tesla coil, some ethanol and lots of dry ice.
Mr. Piccirillo, who was clad in a bright tie-dyed lab coat, prefaced the day's activities, which centered on a mystical tale pitting an ice sorceress against dragons protecting a medieval kingdom, with an explanation of just what "Sciencetelling" is.

"If I was just in a lab doing experiments, I'd just be a scientist," Mr. Piccirillo said. "But I'm a scientist who really loves to tell stories. So I'm going to use really cool experiments to tell stories."

With sweat glistening on his face, Mr. Piccirillo used the scientific components of fire and ice to illustrate the adventures of two peasant children, Henry and Beth, who are on a quest to save their kingdom from the Ice Sorceress' inundation of the castle.

They are seeking out the Dragon Keeper, who is able to defeat the Ice Army with the Horn of Fire and the help of his dragons.

Interspersed with Mr. Piccirillo's monologue were experiments that demonstrate sublimation, evaporation, conduction, as well as stories that introduced children to science lab equipment and their histories. Who knew the ice cooler was invented 300 years ago in England, or that Nikola Tesla's coil could produce walls of flames several feet high using a Gatorade bottle, two nails and a tablespoon of ethanol? — an experiment demonstrated Monday.

Mr. Piccirillo, who has been doing the presentations for two years, said they are ideal for children of all ages.

"It's fun for all," Mr. Piccirillo said. "But, it provides an introduction of these concepts for the younger kids, and is a review for kids that are a bit older."

For nearly all of the experiments, Mr. Piccirillo had children assist him by holding flasks, bottles and the coil.

He caused other audience to jump out of their seats with delight after feeling the tickle of bubbles produced by a mixture of dry ice, water and liquid soap.

"Dragons and Dreams" is one of six Sciencetelling presentations Mr. Piccirillo performs at schools and libraries in central New Jersey each year.

He said the summer library program's theme changes with each year's National Summer Reading Program.

"It takes me about a month to write the stories around the science experiments," Mr. Piccirillo said. "But once I have the experiments in mind, the stories write themselves — the two go hand-in-hand."