In the last few weeks and months there’s been a new development of folks reading children’s books on Youtube and Instagram. If you’ve got little ones you might have noticed this phenomenon, too.

Whether it’s an elementary school teacher reading to her displaced students or celebrities raising funds for charity, it’s made for an enjoyable new way for children stuck inside to hear and see stories. I mean, you’ve even got Patrick Stewart out there reading Shakespeare sonnets.

With three children all under the age of five, picture book time is all the time here and the Caldecott awarded books of Jon Klassen are evergreen favorites in the Godbey house.

Recently, and with permission, the good people at the Little Angel Theatre (for nearly 60 years, London’s only “purpose-built” puppet theatre) have taken reading books online for children to the next level. For a limited run, they’re crafting entire puppet shows around Klassen‘s “Hat” trilogy of books and the results are pretty wonderful.

Created and filmed entirely in performer Ian Nicholson‘s living room, what’s struck me is it’s not only a fantastic piece of adaption but it’s a testament to the resourcefulness and creativity of artists in difficult times.

It doesn’t hurt that the stories bring down the house, either.

 

For a technical look at how they pulled this off there are behind-the- scenes videos on their Youtube as well as Twitter.