• Activities

    AtoZ Blogging Challenge – Financial Literacy

    Program Name: Common Cents What: Offer a program about financial literacy for any age group from preschoolers to senior citizens and you’ll be surprised by the turnout. We’ve offered preschool storytime, elementary school age and middle school programs, programs for millennials and senior citizens. This program theme can run the gamut…

  • Activities

    Parachute Storytime: Hats Off!

    I got a chance to do two parachute storytimes yesterday and it’s fun to see the kids who really love the parachute get a chance to release some energy with lots of movement. A few kids come in with much more trepidation, but most will stay and just observe. This…

  • Lifestyle

    Top 10 Most Viewed Posts in 2017

    I had a great year on my blog this year with a lot more views than I was expecting and many on some older content that keeps popping up! Im hoping during the course of January, I can revisit some of these topics and create an updated booklist or make…

  • Reviews

    Picture Book Month: Lions

    It’s important to follow the rules, especially in the library. One day, when a lion comes to visit the library, the librarian, circulation assistant and patrons are all a little nervous, but soon the lion becomes a valuable member of the library team, helping dust the encyclopedias, lick envelopes and…

  • Lifestyle

    Sharing Picture Books with Preschool Teachers

    This week, I got the chance to speak in front of preschool teachers during an in-service day about children’s literature trends and share some great new titles that have been published in the past couple of years. The preschool reached out to the library looking for some sort of presentation…

  • Lifestyle

    Early Literacy At Its Finest

    There’s a great article on the School Library Journal’s website about the positive effects of storytime on young children. Storytime began in the late 1800s and has changed drastically over the years from a time when children were expected to sit quietly and listen to an adult read books to…

  • Lifestyle

    Partnering with Parks & Recreation

    I had a meeting with our township’s Parks & Recreation department recently and it was so wonderful that it didn’t end up like an episode of the NBC show Parks & Recreation, rather we’re planning for ways to partner with each other while also not stepping on each other’s toes.…

  • Lifestyle

    Jbrary – A Resource You Don't Want To Miss

    If you’re a storytime librarian, a preK teacher, mom, dad, aunt, uncle, grandparent, sibling, etc., you have to take some time to explore Jbrary’s website.  Jbrary is the brain child of two children’s librarians in Vancouver, British Columbia and it’s an absolutely amazing resource filled with books, songs, fingerplays, rhymes…

  • Reviews

    Picture Book Month Recap

    I spent the month of November posting book suggestions for each day of the month with themes from the Picture Book Month website.  There are ten suggestions for each theme – some new, some older classics, some perfect for larger storytime groups and others perfect to snuggle one-on-one!  Take a look…