This week's storytime was all about food. Six kids joined me in singing "If You're Hungry and You Know It" - a made-up version of the classic "If You're Happy And You Know It" and doing classic fingerplays like "Five Red Grapes," "Three Fat Sausages," "Bananas Unite," and "Make a Pancake." Books included Too Pickley! by Jean Reidy, Like Butter on Pancakes by Jonathan London, The Cow loves Cookies by Karma Wilson, and Just One Bite by Lola Schaefer. The kids loved all of these books - for different reasons. They could chime in on the repeated phrase in the Karma Wilson book, and they loved the illustrations of Just one Bite. Too pickley! was about a hungry, but very pickey, eater with amusing illustrations that made us all laugh. Like Butter was a beautiful, gentle book which gave them a chance to relax and catch their breath. We all had a great deal of fun.
Then there was my regular library job. Last week, I substituted for the manager at one of our branches. When I arrived, there was a van parked in the parking lot - it belonged to a "problem patron." When we opened he was among the first through the door. The staff all held our collective breath as we raced about our morning routine and, despite being short staffed, we managed to make everyone's experience a pleasant one...even our problem patron. He did start off making some loud demands and acting...confrontational, but I politely asked him to be patient, and helped him as soon as I could - he was actually polite and was patient and we had a very pleasant exchange as I helped him with computer and printing issues and then got him information about a book he had heard about. He left smiling. Small triumph, but the staff felt like we had just won the Superbowl.
The best part of that particular day came rather late in the afternoon. A mom came in with two children and a stack of books to return and/or renew, some of the items were overdue and one on her record she couldn't find...we straightened out her account and then I helped her daughter find some books to read. The daughter wanted to check out manga but mom wanted her to read something else as well. Part of the problem is that the girl was an avid reader who read way above her grade level. This was the same position I was in with one of my sons: the stories that were written at a level he would enjoy contained story lines that he just wasn't into. Stories that he would enjoy, written about issues and situations that a second grader would find interesting bored him to death because of the simple sentence structure and limited vocabulary. I talked to mom about strategies to use in a situation like this..did a casual reader's advisory interview with the girl and made some suggestions of books she could try. She left the library with a stack of books that included several manga volumes and Mark Twain and was chattering excitedly. Mom was thrilled, too. Saying that they were going to make sure and come back "on my day" since she was thrilled with the way her daughter responded to this library trip. Another triumph. It is moments like these, where I see a young person's eyes light up over books and I'm able to feed this passion that I know I am in the right occupation.
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