Brownie & Pearl

Can I just say how much I love the Brownie and Pearl series written by Cynthia Rylant and illustrated by Brian Biggs? Seriously. Brownie and Pearl Step Out was perfect for my birthday storytimes last month and the response from the kids, parents, and teachers was enough to catapult the book to my favorites list immediately.

The simple storyline made it perfect for toddler storytime at the library and it also worked for my preschool storytime at the homeless shelter. For my storytimes at the shelter, selecting books can be kind of tricky because many of the kids I work with are developmentally behind. Funny joke books go over the their heads, longer more involved stories are confusing and require too much sitting still, and the books that feature or focus on traditional living situations and routines are a hard sell. Due to the stressful experience the kids are currently facing the preschool at the shelter is focused on emotional and social development (which makes complete sense if you think about it) so I in turn focus on building and mastering early literacy skills at a lower level than I would with a traditional preschool storytime crowd.  The Brownie and Pearl series is not "too baby" for them, but the limited text allows for interaction with the book that is meaningful. I also appreciate that there are no adults in the books--I know that might sound strange but for some of the kids I work with at the shelter adults aren't always the loving, supportive, wonderful people featured in many picture books.

Currently, I have  this one on my desk and I can't wait to start planning a "Goodnight" storytime around it.

Family Place Library

This month we began our second round of Family Place Parent/ Child Workshops at the Logan Heights Library. Last year we were fortunate to become one of the first Family Place libraries in Southern California and we hosted our first Parent/Child Workshop for parents/caregivers and children ages birth to 3 years old.

The core component of our program is the 5 week Parent/Child Workshop where we provide developmentally appropriate toys and activities for children to learn and develop through play. We also conduct early literacy activities and craft activities for young children. Another component of this workshop, is connecting parents and caregivers to resource specialists with experience in different areas such as child development, nutrition, speech, play, and art. During our sessions children and parents play together in various stations and specialists circulate, chat with parents and answer any questions they may have regarding their child's development. We also provide an informational table with free books and informational resources regarding additional services available in the community for families with young children.

We normally have 11 to 15 families participating in the workshops once per week for a period of 5 weeks. The goal of the program is to promote learning through play, provide a special time where parents interact and bond with their child, facilitate a space where parents and young children can meet socialize and interact with other families and connect parents with other library and community resources available to them. Last year this program received a very positive response and lead to the highest Summer Reading Program participation of babies and toddlers at our branch. When we evaluated this program and asked parents what they liked about the library for their young children, an overwhelming majority mentioned that it was a welcoming place for their children with a space where they could play and read books.


In addition to the workshops, our library has a space with toys and low book shelves with board books reserved for families with young children. With the exception of our computer lab, this is probably the second most popular area of our library. I have to admit that I was I bit worried about staff being skeptical or resistant about bringing in toys to the library, but I was pleasantly surprised when I noticed staff jump on board right away and even get excited about when the new toys started arriving. Having toys does require some extra work and special cleaning and we did have to develop a special system to monitor and clean the toys daily. Watching parents interact and read books with their child as well as participate in other library programs, makes this extra work well worth it though!

In addition to the workshops we have a space in the children's area with toys and low book shelves with board books reserved for families with young children. Besides the computers, this is probably one of the most popular areas of our library. I have to admit that I thought that staff might be a bit skeptical or resistant about bringing in toys to the library, but I was pleasantly surprised when I saw staff jump on board and even get excited about some of the new toys we were receiving. It is extra work and we had to develop a cleaning system for the toys, but watching how the families interact and read with their children as well as participate in other library programs and visit the library regularly, makes the extra work well worth it!