Meet the Author

Terry Borton grew up watching family lantern shows put on by his father, using his great-grandfather’s lantern. Later he put on shows himself for his own children.

In 1992 he founded The American Magic Lantern Theater, the nation’s only professional touring group that gives magic lantern shows. The Theater has performed its repertoire of eight shows in 36 different states and six foreign countries. NPR calls it “a living national treasure.”

Terry has a doctorate in education from Harvard. Before his magic-lantern career, he was a teacher, curriculum specialist, and educational researcher. For 15 years he served as Editor in Chief of Weekly Reader, the national children’s newspaper, which at the time had a circulation of nine million.