Myla Martin, 4, and her mother, Rachel Meyer, both of Lawrence, create a masterpiece during activities at the Lawrence Public Library on Saturday for the River City Reading Festival.

It was a craft, of some sort.

As Marcus Wakefield, 8, glued an empty toilet paper role to a gourd, he wasn’t sure where his art was headed.

“I have no idea,” Marcus said.

It’d turn out to be something, though. Maybe an alien, suggested Marcus’ mom, Daisy.

Whatever “it” was, was really beside the point, though. Marcus, his little sister Ellie, and mom had a few hours of fun at Lawrence Public Library, 707 Vt., as part of the River City Reading Festival.

They joined hundreds of other kids, weaving in and out of story time, puppet shows, and arts and crafts rooms.

In its third year, the festival was designed to promote early reading and show kids that the library is a fun place, said event organizer Rhonda Green.

“Any way we can promote reading,” she said. “Reading is such a foundation — a building block for future success.”

Green is a member of Altrusa of Lawrence, which sponsored the event in conjunction with the library.

Organizers helped bring several well-known children’s authors to the event, such as Lois Ruby, a New Mexico-based author of more than a dozen early-teen books.

Kansas City, Mo., author Ann Ingalls was signing copies of her first book, “The Little Piano Girl.” Her presence was exciting to two of her biggest — yet littlest fans — 5-year-old twins Allison and Cecelia Taliaferro.

The girls had been reading the book at home, and their mom, Sara, said it was fun to see their excitement when the girls made the connection to the author and the book.

And while the event was designed to draw more kids and families to the library, that has never been an issue in the Taliaferro family.

On their way in, they returned books, and they’d probably be checking some out for later reading time at home.

“We come down to the library a lot,” Sara said.