Children think Madison Shead is magical and adults are impressed when she sings a duet with her puppet Savannah.

Shead, sophomore, has been competing in pageants since the fifth grade. In her very first pageant she was competing for the title of Miss Missouri preteen, playing piano as her talent. She continued playing the piano for her pageants until one TV show changed it all.

Three years ago she was watching the Miss America Pageant on tv when she saw Miss Arkansas using ventriloquism as her talent.

“Later that night me and my sister got out socks and were pretending to be her and my mom noticed that I was actually doing it well,” Shead said. “From then on my mom bought a puppet online and I was off singing with the Savannah [the puppet].”

The first time Shead performed with Savannah was at the National American Miss pageant. The talent portion was optional and didn’t affect contestants scores. She ended up winning the talent section singing “Anything you can do, I can do better.”

“It [ventriloquism] is a really neat talent and its unique and different from everyone elses [in pageants] and it makes her really stand out,” Clarke Shead, Madison’s sister, said.

Madison then competed in the 2012 Miss River City with Savannah. They sang “Hold me” by Jamie Grace. Shead won the whole competition coming out with the title of Miss River City’s Outstanding Teen. With her title she won free modeling lessons, free hair appointments at Paul Mitchell salon, and a discount on her dress for the opening number production of the Miss Missouri pageant in Mexico Missouri.

“I think [ventriloquism] gives me an edge in competitions because it’s not something you see on every stage,” Shead said. “It’s something that most people don’t do and it makes me more unique.”

Shead is currently in the process of getting another puppet. It is currently unknown whether it will be a boy or a girl.

“I’m working on finding on a new voice for the next puppet. If it is more boyish I’ll get a boy but if it’s more girlish I will get a girl.“

Shead plans on continuing ventriloquism for as long as she does pageants. It makes her stand out in her competitions and it brings smiles to the audience’s faces when they watch her and Savannah arguing through song.

“Her ventriloquism is really cool because she is able to sing but with her mouth closed and I wish I could do it too,” Ashleigh Johnson, sophomore, said.