It always a busy week — but the kind of busy that makes a children’s librarian smile. Tuesday night, I was invited to read at the local Family Resource Centre. 20 kids in their PJ’s listened and sang along with “Pickin’ Peas” by Margaret Read MacDonald. Wednesday, I was at an elementary school, with 148 students in grades Primary through 3 (that’s K-3 for those who don’t speak Nova Scotian). With 5 different groups I read “Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock” by Eric Kimmel, and then re-enacted it with puppets. Tomorrow night I’ll be telling a story at the Ceilidh being held at one of our branches. All across Canada, libraries, schools, and other family-centered organizations are holding celebrations, sing-alongs and special storytimes to commemorate literacy. It is a very feel-good holiday here in the land of snow and cold temps, something to warm our souls in the height of winter. This year, the theme is “Sing for Literacy”, which has been a lot of fun. Everyone loves music, and Nova Scotians love it more than the average bear. We’ve had great turnout for our sing-alongs and campfires. One branch created a fake fire and after songs and stories around the fire, distributed sticks and marshmallows. Anyone who sees a group of kids with real sticks and marshmallows pretending to roast them over a tissue-paper fire has got to admit that libraries do great things. Not only do we offer amazing deals on books (free), and a gaggle of other resources, we build imaginations. This is the stuff that dreams are made of. I just love libraries. And Family Literacy Day is pretty cool, too. 