This Week at the Library

I hope this summer weather lasts a while longer. I love sitting out here in my lounge chair with my computer in my lap, an iced tea beside me, birdsong in my ears. So nice.

This week I said a temporary good-bye to many children going off to Kindergarten and first grade. I probably won't see them until Christmas break or maybe longer. I tried to tell them they weren't allowed to go to school because they had to stay home and keep coming to Storytime, but they didn't buy it. I got lots of hugs, though.

Baby Time


This week we had two moms with babies and three-year-olds in tow. The great thing about it was that the big brothers came to baby time when they were itty bitty. It's very fun to see the families grow through the years.

Toddler Time


Different children "participate" in such different ways. One mom told me this week that her daughter had been asking to go to the library since 8 am. She couldn't wait to get there. Then she spent the whole time just watching. She stayed in Mom's lap and barely took part in anything we did. Yet I'm sure that in her mind, everything was exactly the way she wanted it. "Participation," to some children, means getting to watch the excitement and listen to the music, rhymes and stories. "Participation" to other children means running around, saying hi to other kids, jumping up and down, and singing at the top of their lungs. Both are perfectly okay.

Our books this week were:

Fire Truck, by Peter Sis. One little boy was so excited because he was wearing his fire truck T-shirt and had played Fire Truck on his walk to the library.

Clip-Clop, by Nicola Smee. Such a cute story told in about 150 words. Amazing!

Preschool Storytime


We "biggled our bingers" to get ready for our stories about bugs this week. This is a new storytime theme, and lots of fun.

Aaaarrgghh! Spider!, by Lydia Monks. The poor spider just wants to be a pet. So misunderstood!

Yuck!, by Mick Manning. Baby animals eat all sorts of disgusting things - like bugs.

Ladybug Girl and Bumblebee Boy, by Jacky Davis. I LOVE this book! The two children get mad when they can't figure out what to play, then discover how to be a Bug Squad.

The Big Book of Bugs,by Teresa Greenaway. This has wonderful photos of real bugs from every category.

Ant. Ant. Ant! (An Insect Chant), by April Pulley Sayre. This is such fun to read aloud. Great rhythm.

I did a guessing game with pictures, and we sang "The Eensy Weensy Spider" and "I'm Bringing Home a Baby Bumblebee."