Now that I have restarted Pokémon Club for the school-age children at my library, I wanted to do something special for the toddlers and preschoolers that are too young for Pokémon Club, but are still Pokémon fans. With the development of a new playground near my library, I decided to do Pokémon Jr. in the Park! In this post, I will share what this program entails and how it went.
Tag: storytime
October is AAC Awareness Month
AAC stands for Alternative and Augmentative Communication. AAC can be any type of system, device, or tool that helps someone communicate. It can be low tech, like picture cards or high tech, like an I-pad with software that reads out words. Youth services librarians think about how to support language development and literacy every day. For children with complex communication needs, access to AAC is life-changing. Unfortunately, there is a lot of work to do to ensure equitable access to AAC among children that would benefit. Luckily, there are libraries leading the way to actively include AAC users and support all types of communication! How can you be a part of AAC Awareness month: Read books that feature AAC users Your library probably already owns some books with characters that use AAC. There are lists available, like this one made by the AAC software company PRC-Saltillo or this one put…
Celebrating the 140th Birthday of the Statue of Liberty
On October 28, 2026, America will mark a big milestone for a big lady: the 140th anniversary of the dedication of the Statue of Liberty. A shining beacon of freedom, independence and our country’s historical alliance with France, this anniversary falls during America 250 and offers libraries and schools around the country a chance to teach this commemorative event in a fun, engaging way that brings the symbol that so many know into focus.
Beyond Lap Sits: Movement for Babies
Baby storytimes are a unique joy! In addition to sharing the best board books on offer, these storytimes are where we first meet families and set their expectations for what library programs look like. So why do they so often look like the version of storytime that plagues libraries, where children sit in their caregiver’s lap and stare forward at library staff as they read? Obviously, some of this is a necessity of baby development. Babies aren’t ready to jump up on their feet like toddlers, but caregivers are ready to help babies move. By incorporating more movement, we support caregivers in working towards developmental milestones and learning what a more active and engaged storytime looks like.
Bringing Sign Language into Story Time with Corey Tabor’s Fox Books
A few years ago, I took a class through ALSC specifically about using American Sign Language in storytime and library programming. I immediately brought my beginner ASL skills into the school library, and used my learning as a chance to learn alongside my students. I learned signs as I needed to for storytimes, search sign dictionaries after student inquiries, and sought out sign language brain breaks. One of the authors I found that lent themselves to ASL inclusion perfectly for elementary school readers was Corey Tabor. The Fox Series Corey R. Tabor is the author of many beloved children’s books that are perfect read storytimes, read-alouds and quiet reading with families, but his Fox easy reader series is a particular delight for storytimes with kids from around 2 or 3 in age to 1st or 2nd grade. There are eight books in the easy reader series–all leveled as “My First”…
The Storytime Speech: Setting Expectations for Adults
When it comes to storytime, who is your target audience? Oftentimes we focus so much on the children in front of us that we might forget to engage with the adults bringing them to our programs. Storytime is a performative experience for librarians in which we create a fun and exciting environment that encourages early literacy, but the greater overarching purpose is to teach caregivers by modeling behavior that they can practice at home with the children that they care for. Regardless of whether a caregiver is an immediate family member, a nanny, or some other relation, it’s important that they all leave storytime with thoughts reminiscent of, “Hey, I can do this with my child, too!” There are a few ALSC Blog posts that provide helpful tips for engaging adults in storytime, and there are some I’ve learned over the years as well. Here’s a list of some recommended…
Story Times with Medically Fragile Kids and Teens
Janine Petrovits is a Children’s Librarian Trainee at Queens Library Bay Terrace in New York City and an MLS student at the Queens College School of Information Studies. For more than a year, she has been conducting story time for residential patients at St. Mary’s Healthcare System for Children. St. Mary’s serves young people ages 0 to 24 years with medical complexity and special healthcare needs. The kids and teens who attend Janine’s story times are mostly nonverbal, with severely limited mobility and responses. Janine, a childhood cancer survivor who had already gained experience doing story times in the library, volunteered when St. Mary’s contacted the library looking for someone to do programming in the hospital. She shares, “I know very much what it’s like to spend long periods of time at a hospital. I did not ever live at a hospital like these children do. They live there But…
From Selection to Storytime: Strengthening Your World Language Collection
Libraries are a welcoming place for everyone. At the heart of that mission is a thoughtfully developed collection that is accessible, relevant, and engaging for both new visitors and lifelong patrons. Children’s collection specialists will undoubtedly purchase replacement copies of beloved series like Dog Man and Diary of a Wimpy Kid for years to come. Yet even smaller, less frequent acquisitions can have an outsized impact. Investing in a robust World Language collection sends a clear message of inclusion to bilingual families, affirms multilingual identities, and supports English language learners as well as students studying a second language.