Just Breathe

I'm sure we're all running around with last minute errands but I hope you can take some time to breathe before Christmas is truly upon us. This morning a small group at storytime shared in some simple yoga moves and I believe they enjoyed it. Breathing like a lion (silent HAAA!) and blowing like the north wind (take a deep breathe and blow out) can provide your child with a soul-cleansing breath. Praciticing swinging low like a monkey into a downward-facing dog who wags his tail are also fun ways to encourage healthy yoga poses. Our library has few resources to help you introduce your child to the fun and healing practice of yoga including a DVD called "Yoga Kids", a toddler book "Little Yoga" found in the non-fiction section (JE 613.7 Whit), and a book for slightly older children called "My Daddy is a Pretzel", (J 613.704 Baptiste). Check them out and enjoy.

Drop and Shop!

Wow! Our first "Drop and Shop" event was a success. It was a busy afternoon at the library and I hope all our participants had fun.

Thank you to all the wonderful children for persevering and waiting their turns during the crafts, snacks, and games. And just for being so much fun. I hope you all slept really well that night!

Thanks to the patrons who dropped by the library on Friday and greeted the noisiest library in the state with good cheer.

Thank you to Sandy for covering the desk and running the library while happy, excited children swirled around her.

Thanks to Patrick for jumping into the fray, playing card games and chatting with some of the older boys, and cheerfully helping out in every way Ms. Eileen and I asked.

Thanks to Anna (my own wonderful, creative, extremely patient daughter) for all her help, especially teaching origami to so many children. Many children loved this activity and the library has several new origami books for children so please check them out and enjoy this calm, creative activity with your children.

Thanks to Nancy Mc., our own library page, for her loving, soothing, happy presence as she read to children, guided them through crafts, and tended to their every need. She is a true treasure of the library and everyone should give her a big thank you hug next time you see her.

And thank you to all the parents for your generous donations to the Food Bank and for entrusting your precious children with us for the afternoon.

We had a great time and may do this again. Unfortunately, a few of our teen helpers were no-shows, so next time we will definitely be sure to have more adults so that each child can have more of the individual attention she deserves.
Ms. Eileen and Ms. Patty

As a reminder, we have a "calm" drop-in storytime on Monday morning (Dec 21) at 10:00 for children ages 2-4. See you there.

Whew! We've Been Busy!

So much has been going on at the Richmond Library this holiday season! Our newest librarian's program for adults and teens, Homemade for the Holidays, was a huge success. It was a fun evening of meeting neighbors, sharing laughs, and making a fun and (relatively) easy craft. Cindi is planning several other programs in the future. Please stop by to let us know what you might be interested in.

We enjoyed meeting several school-age kids to talk series books last Friday. It was a fun, lively discussion. Thanks to all who came out and for sharing your favorites.

We had a wonderful musical storytime last Wednesday ("5 killer whales!") and, again, thanks to all who showed up. I hope you are all still enjoying your jingle bell bracelets. Our Family Night of Lights was wonderful. Sorry to say, our ice luminaries were merely containers filled with water, but the paper bag and tin can luminaries lining the benches beside the library were truly a sight to behold. And boy, wasn't that hot cocoa good.

Meanwhile, Ms. Eileen continues to meet on Wednesday morning with the littlest ones for Book Tots. And today, Thursday, I'll take a storytime break from the holiday-themed events to share some of the newest picture books in the library with the Mom's Club group.

Don't forget that Friday is Drop and Shop. We're fully registered with a wait list so please call if you have to cancel your registration so we can accommodate someone else.

Our final "Enjoy December at Your Library" event will be a quiet drop-in storytime for children ages 2-4 on Monday, December 21 at 10 a.m. I'll try to make this one relaxing.

And thank you for all the holiday cheer and the gifts. We love them. As a reminder, the library will be closed for Christmas from December 24 to the 27 (Thursday-Sunday). We'll be open again on December 28.

Merry Musical Holiday

If you are between the ages of 3 and 6, come join me, Ms. Patty, tomorrow (Thursday) at 1 pm for some musical holiday fun. We'll make jingle bracelets with lots of silver bells (parents: you can thank me later), play a spinning game, do some singing, dancing, and even read a few books. It should be fun. I've been practicing my ukulele for days and my fingers are sore, but hopefully I've mastered a few new chords. Hope to see you there!

Books for Holiday Giving

The Connecticut Library Consortium has put together its annual lists of books for holiday giving. The consortium compiles these lists with suggestions from librarians across the state.

Click here for a downloadable PDF file to see what is featured this year in for ages 0-3.

Click here for a downloadable PDF file for books for ages 3-8

I love so many of the books featured, including some I've already mentioned on this blog. Definitely check out the lists and look for many of the books in our library.

An Old Book

I came across an older book today (publication date 1963) that just "hit the spot", as it were. "The Quarreling Book", by Charlotte Zolotow with illustrations by Arnold Lobel, begins with Mr. James neglecting to kiss Mrs. James goodbye on his way to work. What follows will be familiar to any of us who have had a bad day and then had it turn itself around. Charlotte Zolotow is a master of emotionally powerful, yet age appropriate, picture books while Arnold Lobel's adorable illustrations will be familiar to all the "Toad and Frog" fans out there. Newer books along this line include the deceptively simple "A Good Day" by Kevin Henkes, and "Grumpy Bird" by Jeremy Tankard.

Take Me Home: Shameless Begging

Just a reminder that I am up for bid at our library's auction. You get four great classic childrens' books, heirloom worthy, AND a storytime visit from me, Ms. Patty. You can just have me come over to read to your child (I'll even do the bedtime book reading), or you can invite a few children over and I'll do a little storytime. I'll even bring my ukulele. If you'd rather, I can do a storytime for your child at the library instead.

The bid as of November 30 was 45.00 dollars. I know that's a lot of money for a family with young children BUT it is money for the library and the books alone are worth that much. Bidding ends Wednesday, December 9 at 6 p.m.

Thus ends my shameless begging and self-promotion for the day. Thank you.

Storytime Week 5: Favorites!

This week's storytimes are our last regular storytimes until late January or early February. So, for this week, I'll be bringing out some of my storytime favorites.

This Week's Music:
Twenty Great Kids Songs! by Music for Little People, including great songs such as "Choo Choo Boogaloo" by Buckwheat Zydeco, "All I Really Need" by Raffi, and "Swinging on a Star" by Maria Muldaur.

This Week's Books:
King Bidgood's in the Bathtub, by Audrey Wood, ill. by Don Wood
Goodnight Moon, by Margaret Wise Brown
Will You Be My Friend, by Nancy Tafuri
A Hat for Minerva Louise, by Janet Morgan Stoeke
A Boy and His Bunny, by Sean Bryan
The Story of Ferdinand, by Munro Leaf
Today I Will Fly, by Mo Willems
The Pigeon Finds a Hotdog, by Mo Willems

This Week's Action Rhymes:
1. There was a little turtle, he lived in a box
He swam in the puddles, he climbed on the rocks
He snapped at a mosquito, he snapped at a flea
He snapped at a minnow, and he snapped at me
He caught the mosquito, he caught the flea
He caught the minnow, but he didn't catch me!

2. Zoom, zoom, zoom, I'm going to the moon
If you want to take the trip, climb aboard my rocket ship
Zoom, zoom, zoom, I'm going to the moon
Whooosh!

Plus "Two Little Blackbirds", a flannel board game, and marbelizing paper craft. See you there!

Traditions

Hopefully everyone has plans for Thanksgiving. I know I'm looking forward to it! I get together with my sisters and mother the day before Thanksgiving and we bake too many pies and casseroles and make bread. In between, as a break, we play lots of games. It's my favorite day of the year. On Thanksgiving day we have a potato peeling contest and, later, a football game where the winning team gets possession of the ceremonial stuffed gorilla (it sits proudly on my husband's dresser right now...ugh).

Traditions, however foolish they may be, are the glue that bind us together as a family and as a community. I believe that when everything else gets topsy-turvy, traditions can give a sense of stability and comfort, especially for children.

I'm sure you all have many fun and interesting holiday traditions and I would love to hear about them! If you are looking for some new ideas to incorporate into your family, check out the Family Fun website by clicking HERE. There you will find many fun crafts, games, and recipes.

Have a great holiday everyone. Remember that there will be no storytime sessions next week (11/23-11/27) , but Ms. Eileen and I will see you the following week (11/30-12/4) for one last storytime. See you then.

Some New Books

Ms. Eileen has been busy filling out our holiday book collection. We have several new books; a bit of everything from New Year's Day to Mother's Day to Christmas. Most are on the new shelf and will eventually make their way into the holiday book carts in the front of the library. I wanted to highlight a nice series of books by Karen Katz (the author of "Counting Kisses") including "My First Kwanzaa", "My First Ramadan", and "My First Chinese New Year". They are colorful, fun, personal introductions to these holidays. By the way, Kwanzaa, a non-religious holiday that focuses on the African values of family and community, takes place this year is on December 26, while Chinese New Year is on February 14, and Ramadan, a Muslim holiday and period of fasting and focus on spiritual growth takes place in the the late summer.