A national touring theatre company will be bringing literature to life for local children at the Scotland Memorial Library today.

The Asheville-based Bright Star Touring Theatre group will perform twice at the library as part of its 2012 Summer Reading Program.

Program Director Denise Dunn hopes that the theatre group will inspire young people to read more and perhaps spark an interest in the arts.

“We don’t have easy access to museums or planetariums and there isn’t really a theater production in in town, so we were trying to get some something with live actors for the program,” Dunn said.

At 10:30 a.m. the group will first perform Aesop’s Fables, a 45-minute dramatization of the 2600-year-old tales, followed by The Legend of Sleepy Hollow at 2 p.m..

In their performance of Aesop’s Fables, Bright Star’s professional actors bring to life the stories of “The Tortoise and the Hare,” “The Boy Who Cried Wolf,” “The Fox and the Grapes,” “The Lion and the Mouse” and “The Monkey and Her Pail.”

Inviting audience participation and attempting character education, this production celebrates the moral lessons available in each of Aesop’s tales.

The Summer Reading Program will continue through the end of July.

“Until then, we will be continuing our efforts to help young people avoid diminishing skill during the summer, by spurring an interest in reading, and trying to get them to just plain love books and reading,” Dunn said.

Library Director Leon Gyles called the reading program “a way for children to get ahead of the game before the new school year.”

“We encourage parents to come in and obtain materials about the program, not only for the fun it brings, but because when they go back to school, the (children) will have been reading all summer long,” Gyles said. “And the feedback so far has been completely positive.”

Both of today’s programs are free. Anyone needing further information concerning the library may contact the library staff at 276-0563 or visit www.scotlandcolibrary.com.

Scotland Memorial Library’s summer reading programs are open to young people, preschool through middle school.