Our librarian is the best. The best.
Our PJ storytime is simple - no felt boards and very few puppets and props. No costumes. Simple hand motions. Occasionally recorded music. Our librarian isn't trying to be the world's best storyteller or anything and she doesn't do a lot of voices or even really dig deep for new and high quality stories, but she understands kids. To me, that makes so much more of a difference than all the rest.
Right now, our storytime is populated by quite a number of four-year-olds, including my own, who feel comfortable with Ms. Linda and have a lot to say. They want to point out things that they see in the pictures of stories and explain how they saw a zebra at the zoo and expound on the possible motivations of the characters. They crowd around and point to illustrations and have lively literature-inspired discussions - right in the middle of reading the book. It is ... interactive. Very interactive.
I fear that the librarian who used to be our children's librarian before being promoted would not have been able to get into the spirit of this. She did great voices and picked great books and was quite the songster, but I don't think she had any kids and I think she would have told ours to sit down and be quiet. I would have understood, but I think Ms. Linda's way is better. She seems to enjoy our eager, curious bunch and interacts with them in a friendly manner that encourages this sort of thing rather than squashing it. The kids love her.
Ms. Linda is the best.
3 comments:
A good storytime librarian is essential (actually haven't been to story time since the twins were babies b/c we've been to so many mediocre ones, and one appallingly bad one!)
We love our storytime librarian and although my baby reads short chapter books, he still wants to go sometimes.
I think ours might be considered mediocre by some, Andrea, if one discounted the relationship and tolerance factor. She is not all fancy. I think the others in the local system here think they are better.She has this quality, though, that really transcends the rest, in my opinion, and it probably was the quality they paid the least attention to in looking for her. I doubt they knew they needed someone like her, but they did.
Post a Comment