• Lists

    June Read Alouds

    June Read Alouds header

    It’s time for another month’s read alouds to celebrate wacky, silly, important, and historical holidays! This list combines not only great fictional read alouds, but some nonfiction and biographies as well to teach kids about fun and interesting facts and people. I’m not taking all the credit, as the blog…

  • Activities

    Storytime Theme: Airplanes

    Airplane Storytime

    Transportation themes typically revolve around trucks and cars and even sometimes trains, but what about airplanes? Check out these high-flying picture books and easy readers that make perfect choices for a storytime lesson plan. Whether kids are heading onto an airplane for the first time or are curious about those…

  • Activities

    Storytime Theme: Hats

    Hat Header

    I’m not sure in all the years of offering storytime, I ever did a “hats-themed” program! Isn’t that just absolutely crazy? There are some seriously adorable books about hats for kids and you could do so many cool activities with kids as well. PIck from classics or newly published titles,…

  • Lists

    15 Chapter Book Read Alouds for Five Year Olds

    read aloud

    As kids get older and their attention span gets longer, you may find yourself looking for longer stories to share together. While I do mention five years old in the title of this post, that may or may not be the right time for your little one to check out…

  • Activities

    Storytime Theme: Octopuses

    Octopus Storytime

    Let’s start off with yes, that the correct pluralization of the word octopus! I’ve done a few other book lists about octopuses because I find them absolutely fascinating creatures! They are super smart animals using tools, have camouflage that allows not only a change in color, but also texture, and…

  • Lists

    Top Ten Tuesday: Authors I’d Love a New Book From

    Top Ten Tuesday

    For today’s Top Ten Tuesday theme, I was excited to revisit some of my favorite middle grade authors. These are my automatic must-reads when anything new is published. And you may look at this list and think, that author just published a new title last year, and that may be…

  • Activities

    Storytime Theme: Doctors & Nurses

    Doctors & Nurses Storytime

    Alright, since we’re finished with all five senses, we’re back to new (and sometimes random) storytime themes! I had realized a while ago that I had a few storytime themes on illness, sneezes, and sniffles, but nothing on the people who helps us feel better! So without further ado, today’s…

  • Lifestyle

    Director’s Thoughts – 5/15/2024

    IMLS logo

    Today I’m going to share about a little known government agency that has a huge impact on public libraries across the country. The government agency is called the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and its mission is to “advance, support, and empower America’s museums, libraries, and related organizations…

  • Lists

    15 Chapter Book Mysteries

    chapter book mysteries

    For kids who have graduated past the easy reader section of the library and are looking for stories with a little more weight to them, look no further than this fun list of 15 chapter book mysteries. These books are perfect stepping stones for newly minted chapter book readers hovering…