Medford, Oregon (March 4, 2021)—Jackson County Library Services (JCLS) will engage and delight young patrons with a new series of animated shorts titled Lost in a Book, created and produced by JCLS with animator Nick Canton. Episodes of the six-part series run around three minutes each and tell the story of two kids, Daisy and Zak, who, while visiting the library, are sucked into a book, and transported into the story they were reading. Together with a cast of quirky supporting characters, the kids make their way through the book to get back home.
“We know that stories help children grasp challenging concepts and contribute to helping children develop problem-solving skills, critical thinking skills, emotional awareness, and so much more,” said Youth Services Coordinator Brystan Strong, who voices Daisy. “The amazing thing about stories is that they can come in so many formats: spoken word, music, books, and cartoons—and I think it is our job as a library to find ways to offer them all.”
Exploring classic genre tropes such as fantasy, science fiction, and mysteries, the shorts are written, voiced, and scored by JCLS staff. Art and animation for the series is produced by the Massachusetts-based Canton, who, as a freelance animator, has worked on projects for Amazon, Google, Shazam, and many others.
“One of our goals at JCLS is to innovate and expand what people think of when they think of the library,” said Marketing Coordinator Ryan Bradley, who voices Zak. “Creating animated shorts exclusively for JCLS was a unique and exhilarating opportunity.”
A teaser for the series is published on the JCLS YouTube channel at bit.ly/3rm57vV, and the first episode of Lost in a Book, “Roland’s Quest, Part 1,” will premiere on Wednesday, March 10 at 9:00 a.m. The second episode will follow on Wednesday, March 31. JCLS will release the subsequent four episodes through the spring.