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Library hosts family storytime
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One-year-old Lilah Angus took a moment to enjoy a popsicle with her mother, Brandy.
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Neighbors | Sarah Foor.Ariella Ancevino took her focus away from her sidewalk chalk rocket ship to flash a smile.
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Children’s librarian Karen Saunders started off storytime with an interactive book.
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Maya Panta settled in with her mother, Manja Tandukar, to listen to storytime.
By SARAH FOOR
Reading was a family affair at the Boardman library Aug. 18, when kids of all ages learned valuable reading skills and spent a fun afternoon with mothers, fathers and grandparents.
Boardman children’s librarian Karen Saunders focused on making the half-hour event a learning experience for the children, while also keeping adults entertained.
To achieve this balance, Saunders kept storytime short but engaging, reading an interactive rhyming book and a guessing game book.
“A good literacy tip,” Saunders paused to tell the parents, “is to practice rhyming words, which helps your children learn to break down words.”
Saunders then brought the group outside, letting kids and adults use chalk to decorate the library’s sidewalk and parking lot. At the end of the event, the crowd cooled off with popsicles and admired the butterflies, rocketships, rainbows and flowers that decorated the library entrance.
“As one of the last summer reading program events, we wanted this event to brighten everyone’s day. I think we succeeded,” said Saunders.