How do you get hundreds of kids excited about books?

Apparently, letting them dress up as and pretend to be their favorite characters does the trick, judging by the excited voices filling the cafeteria at Orchard Heights Elementary School last Friday.

The event was the school’s first “wax museum,” though there was no wax involved. Only dozens of fourth-graders dressed up as fairies, pigs, Indians and even a Godzilla or two.

Each child stood at a table behind their book and a button. As the museum visitors strolled by and a book caught their fancy, they pressed the button to hear the child act out parts of the book in character.

“The kids were so excited,” said teacher Lisa Brooks, admitting that she borrowed the idea for the museum from her daughter’s teacher at Richard Gordon Elementary in Kingston as a way to assign and present book reports.

Some students were so anxious, in fact, that they could not wait until the event started at 2 p.m. to get into character.

“Some of them showed up in costume at 8 a.m., and we had to send them home for regular clothes,” said Brooks, laughing.

Still, such enthusiasm was certainly a happy problem, and all-in-all, the fourth-grade teachers who organized the event said they were “absolutely thrilled” at the reaction from not only their classes, but the rest of the school.

“We were not expecting the turnout we had,” said Kelly Marsik, who also teaches the fourth-grade at the school. “We knew some parents would come, but we had friends, neighbors and other teachers bring their classes by. We had great, school-wide support.”

And beneath all the fun, Marsik said the students were actually learning a variety of skills from the exercise, which she said incorporated reading a book, writing a summary of the book, and mixing in some theatrics and oral communication.

Makenzi Baker, who chose “Charlotte’s Web,” wore a pink pig costume and acted like a sleepy Wilbur being awakened from a nap on a hay stack, while Grayerling McGhee wore a headdress and carried a large bow as an authentic-looking “Indian in the Cupboard.”

Many of the students said they chose their books because they identified with the main characters, such as Alex Agee, who said she chose “Fira and the Full Moon” because she liked fairies, or Lily Smith, who identified with Roald Dahl’s “Matilda.”

Due to the success of last week’s event, Brooks said it “will definitely become a tradition” for the school.