Using magic as a resource, Rochester couple hopes to make learning fun — but still informative — for young kids.

Proving this point is the Wizard’s Apprentice, an educational magic show geared towards grade school-aged kids to motivate strong reading skills by the husband and wife duo, Tim and Robin Balster, who have been performing together for 23 years

Written by Tim Balster, the show tells the story of a wizard’s apprentice, Harriet Peabody. With the help and guidance of Willard the Wizard of Wisdom, and through magic, Harriet unveils the key to a successful life: superior reading skills. With the help of the Dewey Decimal system, and the right spells, knowledge is victorious over the Wizard, Lotar.

“The message (we try to enstill) is the importance of developing good reading skills,” he said. “We wanted to do a show that had educational content for kids.”

The show also teaches kids about the Dewey Decimal system, which is used in libraries to categorize books by classification.

The couple hopes this addition will encourage kids to use the library to find specific books instead of always resorting to the Internet or asking for help.

“It’s got a little bit of an educational aspect to it, but it also has wonderfully colorful magic,” Robin said.

The goal is to provide reading education to kindergarten through fifth graders for eight years.

The show will be at the Meadow Brook Theatre Saturday, Oct. 22, with two performances — one at 10 a.m. and then again at 1 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at the Meadow Brook Theatre Box Office for $15.

For more information about The Wizard’s Apprentice visit:

www.thewizardsapprentice.com