It has been a busy month as I prepare for the American Library Association’s Midwinter Meeting in February. I’ve been so busy reading and reviewing that I’ve been mostly MIA. This plan is the last storytime I shared at my branch before transferring into my new position. I had planned on doing all my favorite books but then, perhaps in light of MLK Day, I decided to focus on bravery. We all could use some of that right now.

For information about my approach to storytime, check out this post.

Opening : “Hello Friends” (with ASL)

Song/Rhyme: “Let’s Go Riding on an Elevator” (with scarves)

Song/Rhyme: “Open, Shut Them”

Book: Brave by Stacy McAnulty, illus. Joanne Lew-Vriethoff

Song/Rhyme: “Billy Goats Trip Trap” (with rhythm sticks)

I am obsessed with this simplified rendition of The Three Billy Goats Gruff. It is so much fun. I’ve yet to really see kids participate along, but I’ve noticed caregivers speaking out the story in rhythm when the kids are playing after storytime.

Song/Rhyme: “Little Mousie Brown” (with puppet)

I was using Little Mousie Brown to share postcards that friends had sent me from other states and countries. But, after a few storytimes, it became clear it just wasn’t working for this audience. This time, I just did the rhyme and it was the silliest rendition yet because a child actually clapped for Mousie when she rolled down.

Book: That is NOT a Good Idea! by Mo Willems

Song/Rhyme: “Zoom, Zoom, Zoom”

Goodbye: “Goodbye Friends” (with ASL)

How It Went: This was an interesting one–an audience of nearly 50 (which is VERY unusually for my tiny branch). I kept it together and made it through with minimal mishaps. The worst that happened was that some kid knocked over my bubble machine and spilled it on my visual schedule…  I picked all my trademark songs, so there wasn’t anything particularly inventive about this storytime. But I really, really enjoyed myself. There were crickets in response to the first book, but it was the one a caregiver checked out after. The second book made one child really nervous, so I felt bad for making her upset.

I told the families that came that it would be my last storytime and I had to leave the public area to go cry in peace. It’s so hard when you get so emotionally attached to the little ones and you get to see them grow up! But that’s part of why we do this, huh?