Sparks,

Biography

Species: Jersey-Drago Exploratoris-Imaginatio
Height: 80 books high
Weight: As light as a feather – but that must be an awfully big feather!
Color: Magenta with wings the color of sunlight and accent colors so bright that a sensible person might want to wear sunglasses if looking directly at him on very bright days.
Favorite Foods: Blueberries, cranberries, Jersey tomatoes and corn-on-the-cob, clam chowder, ice cream, Red Hot candies, bar-be-cue food and chili – the hotter the better!
Favorite thing to do: Explore! He and his family have traveled the world learning about all the many people of the world. When he gets older he’ll be able to travel on his own so right now he spends his time exploring Ocean County all by himself.
How Sparks spends his time:
• Reading in a hammock at his tree house
• Skateboarding (his favorite mode of transportation)
• Surfing the ocean and the Net
• Fishing and crabbing – but he always sends them back at the end of the day.
• Dancing
• Going to the beach, the boardwalk and Barnegat Light and all the other fun places throughout New Jersey (Sparks always remembers to put on his sunscreen first)
• Marching in parades with the OCL Cartwheelers
Favorite Place: The Ocean County Library, of course! Sparks thinks the library is the “hottest spot” to visit. He thinks its cool that the library likes to “explore,” too, by visiting so many places like schools, fairs, parades and malls.
Most Prized Possession: Sparks is very proud to own an Ocean County Library card of his very own and he uses it everyday to take out books, music and movies. He says he even uses the computers at the library to e-mail all the friends he has met throughout the world.
Best Day Ever: Sparks says his best day exploring was the day he discovered his new friends at the Ocean County Library. He also loves to meet his library friends when they visit schools, fairs, parades, baseball games and the Ocean County Mall!
Special Skills: Sparks loves to wiggle his wings trying to fly (which he can’t really do but he tries anyway). Sparks can’t breathe fire, but he likes to pretend he can. He knows he looks a little silly when he tries, and he gets a kick out when he manages to “spark” laughter from his family and friends. His mother Sparks that even though his dragon family can no longer breather fire, they can still fire up their imaginations, especially when they read!

The Story of Sparks

Sparks is a “Jersey Dragon”, also known as a “Sand Dragon”, but of no relation to a “Snap Dragon” or the fiery tempered dragons found in fairy tales. He does have relatives who live in Toledo, Ohio but they don’t breath fire either and are quite nice neighbors other than the very bad breath from eating too many bowls of hot chili.
Sparks, the OCL dragon lives on a magical island, visible only to dragons, in the Barnegat Bay. He and his family have lived there for a long, long time. His great, great, great, great grandragon, Amelia, first came to America during a time when there were some places in the world that were not very nice to dragons. They live happily on their island paradise and also spend a lot of time at their tree house in the Pinelands.
One day Sparks was exploring when he saw a group of children carrying a huge bag filled to the brim. He was so curious to know what was in the bag that he stopped them and asked. The children explained that they had just come from the Ocean County Library where there are lots of books, movies and CDs. Sparks looked at the bag at everything the children had borrowed from the library and suddenly felt very sad because he wished he could go to a library, too. The children told Sparks anyone who lives in Ocean County can visit all the 20 branches of the library and check out books, movies and CDs and go to all the fun story times, crafts and concerts the library puts on. Sparks was so happy he could use the Ocean County Library he wiggled his wings and jumped for joy!
Sparks brought his whole family to the Ocean County Library and they all got library cards. Because Sparks loves the library so much, the librarians got together and decided he should be our official mascot! He’ll be visiting lots of places to meet all the people who love the library like he does and help others learns how great the library really is. Sparks hopes to meet YOU real soon!