Little Orange Riding Hood isn’t just any puppet &045; she’s the reigning star of the Selma-Dallas County Public Library’s puppet house.

Library Director Becky Nichols puts emphasis on the word &uot;reigning.&uot; Being the star of the library’s puppet show, Nichols notes, is a transient title at best.

Hood disagrees. &uot;We’ve been at this since 1978,&uot; Hood said. &uot;That’s about 25 years. I’ll be the star for another 25 years.&uot;

Hood said the puppet shows are part of the library’s autumn line-up of activities for children. The library hosted daily events for children during the summer including a magic show and a sing-a-long. Now that the season has changed so have the events.

Hood pointed to four different activities available to children during the fall &045; Just For Fun, Toddler Tales, First Saturday Fun Puppet Shows and Hood’s own Puppet Show, which she stars in.

Just For Fun is an activity for pre-schoolers to first-graders. &uot;We target first-graders heavily because they can get library cards,&uot; Hood said.

Just For Fun is a program designed to bring schools into the library. Children have the opportunity to make crafts, sing songs and have storytime. It runs each Tuesday and Thursday at 9:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.

Hood said teachers should contact the library and schedule a day and time to bring their class.

The library’s autumn programs ensure that doesn’t happen.

Toddler Tales is a new program designed for two and three-year-olds that runs on Mondays at 9:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. Hood said younger children need experience with libraries and Toddler Tales gives them that by exposing them to shapes, sounds and the spoken word.

First Saturday Puppet Shows begins Oct. 4 at 10 a.m. and is an experiment, according to Hood. The shows will run the first Saturday of October, November and December before Nichols sees if they’ve drawn enough interest to warrant their continuation.

Hood shows the utmost confidence in the shows’ success and pointed to the Wednesday puppet shows as proof.

Hood said a current reference library employee, now 22 and about to enter the Army Corps of Engineers, still remembers the puppet shows when she was a girl.

Hood sees no reason why that kind of lasting power should fail now.

Puppet shows are held on Wednesdays at 9:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.

As with other programs, teachers should contact the library and check for available time slots. The shows are free and feature stories such as &uot;The Three Little Pigs&uot; and &uot;Cinderella.&uot;

According to Hood, that’s just one of many stories written with her in mind.