ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. – Command Sgt. Maj. Jay A. High, the senior enlisted advisor for U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command, shared his love of comics and superheroes with children attending the Eighth Annual HCPL Fairytale and Superhero Festival Jan. 16, 2026, at the Harford County Public Library Abingdon Branch in Abingdon, Maryland.
High read “Spidey, The Lost Web Shooter” while pausing throughout to answer questions from children such as “how does Spider-Man shoot his web?” and “who are Spider-Man’s friends?”
In the story, Spider-Man loses a web shooter and asks for help from friends to find it.
“I love superhero stories and have always enjoyed a good comic book,” High said. “The lessons are all about doing the right thing and teamwork. Together, everyone achieves more!”
The Fairy Tale & Superhero Festival aims to bring children and adults together to celebrate their favorite fairy tale and superhero characters and participate in arts and crafts, STEM learning stations, dance parties and other activities to promote literacy.
“It’s always fun to watch our community guest readers mesmerize the children with their books during story time,” Mary Hastler, chief executive officer of Harford County Public Library, said.
High volunteered to read at the festival to not only share his love of comics, but to inspire the same joy and love for reading he inspires in his granddaughter.
“I love to see how excited kids get when you get all of the timing with sound effects right,” High said. “The roars and thumps and other sound effects always make my granddaughter laugh hysterically, so I wanted to do that today. Making kids laugh and helping them to enjoy reading is a no-brainer.”
According to Hatler, High did just that.
“I can tell you that our Aberdeen Proving Ground guest readers are always such a big hit at this event ... the children’s eyes light up when they see the uniform and interaction after the reading is always so special,” she said.