Tiny the Tree Frog loves books, especially any book that happens to be about himself.

Now Tiny and a host of other friends created by local author Betsy Mulderig are taking to the stage to share their love of reading with Bermuda's school children.

Bermudians Miss Mulderig, Hubert (Hugh) Watlington and Deborah Jackson have put their creative talents into a special puppet show called 'The Tiny Puppet Troupe' designed to encourage love of reading.

Miss Mulderig is an artist, illustrator and author of a number of children's books including 'Tiny the Tree Frog Tours Bermuda', 'Tiny Goes Back in Time' and 'Do-Boy Digs Bermuda' in 2007. Mr. Watlington is a woodworker. Miss Jackson volunteers in reading programmes in the community.

"This is a great conglomeration of talents," said Miss Mulderig. "Hugh is a woodcrafter. He has his own furniture workshop, and he is also a musician. He composed the songs on his guitar. He and Deb both have beautiful singing voices, but unfortunately I am tone deaf, so I am not a strong contributor in this department.

"Deborah has a drama background, because her mother, Louise Jackson, started the Jackson School of Dance. She grew up on stage so she is good about not being nervous. I am good with all the scenes and the backdrops, and I do the silly voices for the characters. I think we all also have a good sense of humour and that goes over well with the kids. They laugh all the way through the performances."

During the show the kids often go up to the stage to hug, shake or poke the characters.

"The first time it happened, Hugh was behind the stage and he can't see back there," said Miss Mulderig, laughing. "He didn't quite know what was pulling at his puppet. All of the sudden these little hands were up there wanting to shake hands and play with the puppets. We did a show after Valentine's Day. Do-Boy said to another character, 'Will you be my Valentine?', and the characters kissed. The kids loved that."

Miss Jackson said before the puppet show, she and Miss Mulderig spent 2008 just reading "Tiny the Tree Frog Tours Bermuda" to school children. Then they decided to enlarge the programme with puppets, because puppets are a great way to keep kids engaged.

In the puppet show, Miss Jackson sings a song about reading, and then talks with the puppets about why they like to read.

"It gets the children thinking about reading, and asking, 'Am I a reader?" said Miss Jackson.

There are several Mulderig characters in the puppet show including Sippy the Sea Lion, Polly the Parrot, Tootie the Turtle and Minkie the Monkey. At the moment Do-Boy is the star, as Tiny has been finalising his puppet wardrobe. The puppets are made locally.

"We ask each character why they like to read," said Miss Jackson. "Each one has a different answer. The sea lion wants to find out about who else lives in the sea and who he might bump into under the water. Polly the Parrot likes to read about food."

Miss Mulderig said she was surprised at how familiar the younger age group already is with Tiny.

"Tiny has been out of print for a couple of years, but somehow he has resonated in the community," she said. "Even small children know him."

But she hopes to release a new series of tiny-sized Tiny the Tree Frog books including one this month to commemorate Bermuda's 400th anniversary, 'Tiny the Tree Frog Sails to Bermuda'. There will be a number of other books in this smaller book format.

"We will be alternating Tiny and Do-Boy books," she said. "The next Do-boy book will be 'Do-Boy Meets a Dragon'."

Miss Jackson said one of the reasons the Tiny books work with Bermuda's young people is that they use familiar locations and landmarks.

"The children often get excited when they hear places like Dockyard and Spittal Pond mentioned," she said. "They say, 'Oh, I was just there on the weekend!'. They aren't use to hearing about familiar places in stories."

The puppet troupe's main goal right now is to take their puppet show to as many schools as possible.

"If a school wants a puppet show they can just contact me," she said.

"The school doesn't have to pay for it. What we do is we bring copies of the books along and also T-shirts.

"If the kids like it they can ask their parents to buy a book or a T-shirt. We encourage the parents to come along and watch also."

To contact the Tiny Puppet Troupe telephone 292-4144, visit www.betsybermuda.com or send an e-mail, hw@logic.bm