July 19th: Sweet Little Monsters

 

Sweetwater was full of kids, parents, and grandparents again this week! It was exciting we had thirteen youth and about seven or eight adults all present for our monster themed storytime. I started off by speaking to the adults about some reminders such as next week being the last storytime, the library summer programs in August, etc. Then I kicked off storytime by asking the kids about monsters to get them ready for our monster story. I started with the longer book, in which the kids sat and listened really well. During that first story, we had some more families come in. It was cute as one the families had a little toddler who ran right up to me and the book and sat down very excitedly.

Once the story was finished, I had all the kids stand up for our monster movement activity. The children all gave me their best monster impressions- some of the favorites being the friendly monster, sweet monster, and tall monster. I followed up with the book Monster Trouble! I had such a sweet moment, during this story. There was a young Black girl who pointed out the female protagonist of the story and joyously told her mom “She has hair like me.” Sweetwater is a fairly diverse community, and it was just a really touching moment but also important reminder to read stories that reflect people of all backgrounds so kids have someone they can relate too but also learn from. We wrapped up storytime with our monster bookmark craft and one more reminder about the bookmobile out front.

I really loved this storytime, the kids were just really engaged today. Also, I really saw the impact of reading materials that reflected diverse experiences. 


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