Let’s start with April’s last-but-not-least storytimes, our DIA specials! "El día de los niños/El día de los libros (Children's Day/Book Day), commonly known as Día, is a celebration every day of children, families, and reading that culminates yearly on April 30. The celebration emphasizes the importance of literacy for children of all linguistic and cultural backgrounds." - ALA Dia.

While these were our last-of-session storytimes, we were determined not to be sad, as there was much fun to be had! (Knowing we start storytimes up again in June may have helped too ; )

At our Family Storytime DIA Special, I got to share a book I have loved from the first time I read it: I’m New Here, by Anne Sibley O’Brien. With the help of our wonderful volunteers, Lucia, Kai and Irene (thank you all!) we shared the stories of 3 children from other countries who came to the United States as immigrants or refugees. The thing I love most about this book is the way it can give refugee and immigrant families a glimpse into a life they may find here that includes hope for their children. It also can raise awareness in those of us who already live here of what it feels like to be refugees or immigrants who are coming here for the first time. It is a wonderful book of struggle and hope. Check it out from the library sometime!

All the rest of the books and plays we did for both Family Storytime and Toddler & Preschool storytime follow here:

We did our best to get our audience members to be Marta in Marta! Big and Small, by Jen Arena. We grew big, got small, crept slowly like a turtle, and ran like the wind, while our puppeteers, Anna and Rachel, were the bug, (el insecto,) the elephant, (el elefante,) the lion, (el león,) the rabbit (el conejo,) the horse, (el caballo,) the turtle (la tortuga,) and the snake, (la serpiente!) We were also loud and quiet, and hid from a hungry snake, all the while learning Spanish words. That’s a lot to accomplish with just one little book, wouldn’t you say? A lovely introduction to a few simple Spanish words and phrases, and told with Lucia’s beautiful voice. Check out the book!

Following Marta! Big and Small, was a short tale based on an Apache folktale called “One Strong Lizard.” Rachel was the lizard and Anna was the coyote in a funny tale about big egos and crafty characters.

I also love hearing Kai speak in Chinese, which is what she did with our bilingual version of Brown Bear, Brown Bear, by Bill Martin, Jr. Lucia added the felt board pieces to the board to round out the story. It’s such a joy to hear the familiar words of that classic children’s book in other languages, and many in the audience read along with us as we used both English and Chinese.

The troops and I did an – uplifting, shall I say? - version of a book based on an old Chilean tale. The book is called A Hen, a Chick, and a String Guitar, which was written by Margaret Read MacDonald. Our puppeteers, Anna and Rachel were amazing and hilarious with the hen, the duck, the cat and the 5 other animals that star in this silly, counting tale. Kai kindly turned pages for me so I could play guitar and sing. I made some felt baby animals for the felt board and Lucia again helped with that. A staff member, Woody, did a video for Facebook Live, so you better get on TCPL’s Facebook site and check it out soon! Thanks again for helping us out with that, Woody! And thank you again to Anna and Rachel, puppeteers extraordinaire! Feel free to check out the book as well. It contains a CD with the wonderfully silly song which I did my best to reproduce with my own guitar for our DIA programs.

We also passed out shakers and sang “This Land is Your Land”, an old, yet still SO pertinent folksong by Woody Guthrie. I want immigrants, refugees, and people of every color, race, creed and gender or non-gender know they have a place here at the library, and that this land is STILL full of people who welcome you!!

We rounded out the event with snacks from many countries, and a shaker craft with toilet paper rolls, dried beans and paper scraps! I had a wonderful time, and I hope you did too!

Last, but certainly not least, thank you to all who came to share in our DIA storytimes. I always miss you when storytimes are in hiatus, so be sure to come by and say hello when you visit the library. And don’t worry – in May I’ll be busy creating more storytime fun, as well as getting out on the desk, and out-and-about with outreach storytimes to places in the community! Keep your eyes peeled for spring and summer programming: check our website or grab a flyer at the reference desk in Youth Services!

Adiós! Ziajian! [phonetically speaking] Macsalaamo! ~Which all mean “Goodbye” in some of the languages we used at our DIA storytime! But more accurately: See you next time, friends!

~Miss Kelly