DAPHNE, Ala.—Wild things were at the Daphne Public Library’s 11th annual “Spring Into Reading Safari.”

Specific sites in the neighboring Daphne Recreation Center were designated as game and craft rooms, where children took part in safari-themed activities.

“I loved making the lion heads,” Ashley Wurtz, 6, said of one craft. “That was awesome.”

Guests got their faces painted, made balloon animals and posed for jungle-backdrop photographs.

Audrey Preston of Coastal Wonders, brought an Argentine tegu, a large lizard-like reptile.

“I was so scared petting it,” Ryan Hollins, 5, said. “But it didn’t bite, so it was okay.”

Also on hand were: Patty Hall of the Gulf Shores Zoo; author Daniel Bertagnolli; the Spanish Fort United Methodist and Daphne United Methodist puppet groups; Dr. Gee; Daffodil the Clown; Maynard and Friends; the Chic-Fil-A Cow; and Uncle Joe’s Rolling Pet Zoo.

Giant air-walk play pens; a Daphne Fire Department truck; and a traveling dairy-cow exhibit, which informed kids of where milk comes from, and gave a hands-on lesson, were among outside attractions.

On display were art and poetry entries from Eastern Shore and home-schooled students.

The event’s goal, library director Tonja Young said, “is to get (children and parents) to see the library as an interesting and exciting place to be.”

Guests mingled with costumed figures like inventor and scientist Benjiman Franklin and literary characters such as Snow White, whose portrayers hosted the event’s information booth.

“I think it brings reading to life and it makes the children more interested,” Young said. “It promotes reading as fun.”