READ!

March is National Children's Book Month.

Before march blows away, I thought I would share a tribute to one of our favorite places- the public library. It is one of the first places we seek out after moving to a new place. It is a great source for free entertainment including books, magazines, movies, CDs, story times, shows, and other community events. We have seen everything- magicians and circus clowns, children's theatre groups and visiting illustrators, Nutcracker ballerinas and Disney Ice Princesses, folk singers and orchestras, even Santa Claus at the library over the years. I think it has played a big part in my children learning to love books and reading in general and helped them both learn to read before starting school. We love the summer reading program, the used book sales, and the preschool and toddler story times.

In the 8 years we have been going to libraries all over the country, I have yet to take a picture of my children behind their stacks of books or pushing a stroller weighted down with 30 picture books while the toddler walked behind. So I grabbed my camera this time and tried to get a few shots of our favorite spot before the kids got antsy and started running around like maniacs and trying to escape to the playground outside. I usually get about 40 minutes, sometimes closer to an hour if the baby is in a good mood. Other times, less. So, here you go, a trip to the library in pictures:

First stop- book return. Kids love dropping in the videos and books one at a time and hearing them clang into the bin below. The most legal noise you can make at the library.

Next, the grand entry. Sometimes I wish it had a gate, to keep kids from escaping. Sometimes I think the alarms and sensors at the exit are to warn parents of children running out with their favorite videos in hand as well as to keep materials from being taken home without being checked out. The display shelves make great cubby hiding spots for mischievous toddlers. Not that I would know anything about that *ahem* moving on...

The left wall is lined with four little reading rooms, or club houses, or book nooks, or nap corners, depending on who you ask. Perfect for catching a quick nap, reading a book aloud without being disruptive, sharing secrets with a friend, or administering a time-out lecture in private. Hey, you use the resources available to you!

The rest of the left side is covered in floor to ceiling windows, in fact other than the brick front wall, the library walls are made up of windows. Scattered about the room in between tables and couches are toddler toys and books. Rebecca really enjoys these beads.

*Insert picture of Rebecca playing with bead toy by the window, that Blogger keeps eating*

Andrew is just getting to where he likes to choose his own books. His current favorite: Fly Guy! Six entire shelves of easy readers. That's after you pass the 20 rows of picture books.

My oldest loves the "in-between" section of advanced readers and nonfiction books that are perfect for kids not ready for the thick chapter books but are beyond picture books and phonic readers. Lenna's favorite present from her 4th birthday- a book bag and library card of her very own. Our current limit- if you can carry it, you can check it out. And she will.

There is also a table with some puzzles and little activity boards for youngsters to play with while their older siblings pick out books. This is a great way to keep them from pulling all the books off the shelves instead. If they are of the more dramatic sort, they can perform or watch a puppet show at this mini theater.

Almost time to go. Sometimes we will choose a magazine like Zoo Books and sit and read on the cute little couches. Other times we will do a preview read. We try to put the books we choose through a preview before we go to the trouble of taking them home. We sit at a table and flip through the books we picked, plus the ones mom picked, and a few that no one knows how they got in the pile but there they are- and divide into two piles. Keep, and maybe next time. Once you have chosen all you can carry, we head over to the video shelf and the check out line. Notice the stroller in the background now full of books, not baby. Such is life. If she tries to take off with that Elmo DVD, the alarm will sound and someone will cut her off.

*Insert picture of Andrew sorting books at table in front of book-laden stroller while Becca runs away, that blogger keeps eating*

I hear that down stairs in the library is a great reference section as well as books without pictures. But the heavy silence keeps us away so we have yet to have any adventures down there, except the few times the call of the open stairway was just too strong for little feet. The disapproving looks we got from all the "adults" down there were sufficient to keep us out for at least a few more years. Someday I am going to sit in one of those comfy chairs by the window and sit and read uninterrupted for hours. I will look out the window and see the children playing on the grass and feel sad that mine aren't here with me and go back up to the children's section instead.

Have you been to the library lately?