Summer is here and that means PJ storytime happens every Monday evening at 7 PM.  Lots of kids showed up wearing their pajamas (some quite fancy!) and hugging their teddy bears.  This storytime is presented by our StoryTeens, a specially trained group of teen volunteers.  All ages are welcome; pajamas optional!

We listened to two stories that had to do with the moon, which was rising outside as we read.   The Moon’s Almost Here is almost a poem, as a child says goodnight to everything around him, and welcomes the rising moon.  In Kitten’s First Full Moon, a young kitten has an exciting, and sometimes frustrating, adventure as she tries to get ever closer to a large full moon glowing in the sky.  Both books have different, though equally beautiful, large illustrations that capture the wonder of the night; repetitive text is soothing and encourages a child’s participation.

While we were saying goodnight, we said goodnight to baseball, too.  After an exciting game, a young fan says goodnight to everything at the ballpark.  The moon is featured in this story as well!

Tap the Magic Tree is a favorite title of ours, as it follows a tree through the seasons.  On each page, the text asks the listener to tap or clap to help the tree bloom and grow.  The story moves through all the seasons, beginning and ending with spring.  Our trees are all green now– what season comes next, and what will happen to all the leaves??

Little white rabbit is curious– what would it be like to fly like a butterfly, be tall like a tree, or be still like a stone?  He imagines these and other adventures as he hops about; then returns home to his mother’s hug.  A perfect way to end bunny’s day, and a perfect way for us to end our storytime!

What’s the best thing to do on a gloomy and unusually cool Saturday morning in July?  Why, come to the library for storytime, of course!  Many dads, moms, grandparents, and kids of all ages listened to stories and sang songs.

Since rain was predicted, we started with a rain story.  This one has lots of silly made-up words that were fun to say, like “….splish sploosh squash squoosh, oochy sploochy woochy woosh!”

Our next story had more silly words in it, with some birds who decided they wanted to say a lot more besides “peep” or “coo.”  There’s a bit of a message to this story, too; but mostly we laughed at all the different funny words the birds used.

Elephant and Piggie are known for often being silly, and this next story was certainly no exception!  Piggie tries to get his friend, Gerald, to try his favorite food:  stinky, messy, fly-laden slop!  Gerald doesn’t want to hurt his best friend’s feelings, but he can’t get too excited about eating something that looks awful to him.  What will he do??  Colorful, expressive pictures made us laugh as we looked at Gerald’s horrified face; and Piggie’s enthusiasm was equally amusing!

Pete the Cat has become an instant classic– it’s a book with which an amazing number of children are already familiar.  That was great for me, as everyone could help sing Pete’s song.  Groovy!

For our last story, we read Yes Day, in which, on one day each year, a child gets to have any question answered with a yes!  As you might imagine, there are a few unusual requests, but all are honored in the spirit of the day.  Will yes day happen at your house?  You can decide after you read this story!