Summer at the Library 2026

Hello! It's been a busy few months with summer programs and then taking a break to plan my fall programs. 

My library system uses the Collaborative Summer Library Program so 2026 was all about dinosaurs with a slogan of "Unearth a Story." My program runs for 6 weeks (with a break for the week of July 4th) and I do programs for 3 age groups: 0-6, 7-12, and 11-18. The programs for 0-6 and 7-12 happen weekly and the events for 11-18 happen twice a month. 

Working within the theme of dinosaurs and with a slight nod to America 250 at the end, here are my weekly subthemes for 0-6 and 7-12. 

Storytime for Ages 0-6

• Lots of Dinosaurs
• Dinosaur Bones 
• Dinosaur Pets 
• Dinosaurs and Food
• Dinosaur Party 
• Penny Party

You can find most of the themes on this page of my Storytime by Bridget Google Site. You'll find the Penny Party theme here. 

Event for Ages 7-12 

• North American Dinosaurs
• Fossil Hunters
• Dinosaur Looks 
• Dining with Dinosaurs 
• Dinosaur or Chicken 
• Kids in 1776

You'll find all these events on this page on my Storytime by Bridget Google Site. 

Teen Events for Ages 11-18

• Movie Night
• Puzzle Palooza
• Movie Night 
• Game Night 
• Movie Night 
• Craft Night

The teen events will be posted on my Storytime by Bridget Google Site at some point and maybe blogged about. Just use the sidebar to navigate to the Teen Events section. 

Summer at the Library 2025

Hello! Sorry for the months of silence. I was in the weeds wrapping up my spring programs and planning my summer events. 

This is my 16th summer reading program, 15th in my current position. I'm in North Carolina and we are members of the Collaborative Summer Library Program (CSLP). This year's slogan is "Color Our World" and the theme is art. My program runs for 6 weeks (with a break for the week of July 4th) and I do programs for 3 age groups: 0-6, 7-12, and 11-18. The programs for 0-6 and 7-12 happen weekly and the events for 11-18 happen twice a month. 

Working within the theme of art, here are my weekly subthemes for 0-6 and 7-12. 

Storytime for Ages 0-6

• Let's Color 
• Be An Artist 
• Let's Draw
• Shapes 
• Let's Paint
• Crayons 

You can find most of the themes on this page of my Storytime by Bridget Google Site. You'll find the Shapes theme here. 

Events for Ages 7-12 

• Color in Art 
• Dots in Art 
• Animals in Art
• Shapes in Art 
• Nature in Art 
• Collage in Art 

You'll find all these events on this page on my Storytime by Bridget Google Site. 

Teen Events for Ages 11-18

• Life Size Sorry (I've previously blogged about this event here.)
• Art, Interrupted (Borrowed from Librarian Recommended.)
• Paint Night (I've previously blogged about this event here. I'll be updating my Storytime by Bridget Google Site with details of all the Paint Nights I've hosted in the near future here.)
• Color Game Night 
• Crayon T-Shirt Art 
• Eye Bombing 

The teen events will be posted on my Storytime by Bridget Google Site at some point and maybe blogged about. Just use the sidebar to navigate to the Teen Events section. 

Ocean Poetry for Summer Events

If your library uses the Collaborative Summer Library Program's theme and slogan, no doubt you're embroiled in all things oceanic at the moment. Poetry for children is one of my favorite genres to read and I love incorporating poetry into my storytimes and other events. Without further ado, here's a list of poetry books you might find useful for your summer events. Links are to my reviews. 

A First Book of the Sea by Nicola Davies

Sea Star Wishes by Eric Ode

A Spectacular Selection of Sea Critters by Betsy Franco

In the Sea by David Elliott

Slickety Quick: Poems about Sharks by Skila Brown

Water Sings Blue by Kate Coombs 

In the Swim by Douglas Florian 

You will also likely find ocean poems in the following collections although they aren't specifically about the ocean. 

The Beauty of the Beast selected by Jack Prelutsky 

If Not for the Cat by Jack Prelutsky (jellyfish, otter)

National Geographic Book of Animal Poetry edited by J. Patrick Lewis 

National Geographic Book of Nature Poetry edited by J. Patrick Lewis

Hello! Have You Missed Me?

Hi! Sorry for the radio silence for the past few weeks. Work has been busy and so when my scheduled posts ran out, I couldn't seem to find the time to get anymore scheduled. 

In person indoor storytime started back at all my libraries in April. I ran a seven week session from the first week of April until the week before Memorial Day. This was the first time I'd done that long a stretch of storytime since last summer. It was the first time storytime had been indoor since March 2020. If you're interested, my spring themes were frogs, eggs, things that go, poetry (spring), ice cream, gardens, and ninjas. 

I've been hard at work planning my summer events. My state is a member of the Collaborative Summer Library Program and 2022's theme is oceanography and the slogan is "Oceans of Possibilities." Reminds me a little of the 2010 theme ("Make a Splash; Read!" and "Make Waves at Your Library") which was coincidentally my first summer reading program. 

I'll be running a six week session (3 weeks in June and 3 weeks in July) of storytime for ages 0-6 followed by events for ages 7-12. There will be monthly contests and scavenger hunts in June, July, and August as well as bimonthly teen events during those months. I'll also be running mini weekly scavenger hunts during my six week session. 

My themes for storytime and the older events are beach, mermaids, fish (with an emphasis on sharks), boats, pirates, and ocean animals. I'm working on narrowing down my books as you can see from the above photo, creating take home activity packets for each group and selecting a game of craft for the older events. My monthly scavenger hunt themes are mermaids and friends, sharks, and narwhals. The monthly contests are an ocean Lego contest, an ocean animal photo contest (á la a stuffed animal sleepover photo), and an ocean themed coloring contest. The contests are for all ages including adults. The teen events are animated ocean movie night, Japanese culture night (a reboot of an event I hosted in 2011 for the "One World, Many Stories" and "You Are Here" slogans), shark week party, ocean paint and craft night, ocean team trivia night, and live action ocean movie night.

Look for posts next week about ocean poetry to use for summer events and flannel board activities for various ocean themes. 

Summer Reading Hiatus

Apologies for the long gap in posts. Our Summer Reading Program began and ate up all my free time. It's winding down now and I hope to be back to posting programs and book reviews soon.

Here's a recap of my summer. I kept the programs simple this year: storytime for ages 0-6, an event for ages 7-12, free movies, twice monthly teen events, and a few pajama storytimes. I'm also hosting a couple of special events in August (Peep Science and Kit: An American Girl Party). I'm still crunching numbers, but it looks like attendance generally increased or remained stable. I'll take it!

I hope to resume regular posts not later than September. Until then, I hope all my fellow librarians and readers have a wonderful rest of the summer.

Where Have I Been?

Apologies for the sparse posts during the summer. I have 3 more events to go before my summer events are truly over. This summer has kicked my butt! 161 events over eight weeks and accomplished in 36 days.


Everyone had fun, but both program attendance and reading contest participation were down at my branches. I've been following the discussion of a summer reading revolution on the Storytime Underground Facebook group and various blog posts. I'm really considering making some changes next year.


I've been so busy this summer, I haven't had a chance to post my storytime and school age event plans to my wiki yet. I used these storytime themes this summer: colors, weather/seasons, plants, numbers/math, water, movement/sound, five senses, and animals. For the school age (7-12), here's what I did: Leo the Great/Airplane Science, Cryptozoology, backyard Naturalists, It's Mathematical, Sink or float, Build It (Life size Angry Birds), Candy Science, and Animal Partnerships.


I did 2 events per month for teens this summer. Blog posts will be forthcoming: Chocolate Wars (borrowed from Kelly Jensen) DIY T-Shirt Workshop (ideas from Pinterest & prompting from my teens), Life Size Sorry (inspired by pictures on Pinterest), movie night, Mythbusters (borrowed from the Iowa Summer Reading Program workshops), and Hunger Games Party.


In the midst of this, like a good librarian, I was also planning (selecting would be a better word as the planning comes later) my fall storytime schedule and special events. For storytime, I'm going with an alphabet theme. I've never done this before and am really looking forward to it.


Here are the special events I have lined up for kids this fall: Pete the Cat Party, Life Size Candy Land, Preschool Dance Party, Frozen Party, Little Women event (December 25 this year marks the 20 year anniversary of the release of the film starring Winona Ryder), Adventures in Fairy Tales, Origami & Games, Elephant & Piggie Party, Harry Potter Party, and Kaya: An American Girl Event.


Here are the teen events I'm planning (thanks to input from my teens): Once Upon a Time, Sherlock Party, Minute to Win It, and Movie night (with popcorn, s'mores, and cocoa bars...thank you Pinterest!)


So faithful readers, I'll soon be back to a regular blogging schedule with program plans, book reviews, and Flannel Friday posts. I hope you have survived the summer as well!

2013 Summer Reading Program Wrap-Up

In 10 weeks this summer, I held 175 events with a total attendance of 3,565.

Here's a breakdown of my summer:

• 49 community preschool storytimes
• 39 community school age events
• 3 teen events (Mad Hatter Tea Party, Movie Night, Hobbit Party)
• 4 Peter Rabbit Parties
• 3 Alice in Wonderland Events
• 2 shows by a paid performer
• 15 movies
• 9 day camp preschool storytimes
• 51 day camp school age events

It was a very busy summer to be sure. Let's talk statistics. Community event attendance increased by 101% from 2012. Registration for the reading contest increased while completion decreased.  Special children's events had mixed attendance.

I have a few changes in mind for next year. We'll go back to counting books and kids can sign up for the contest throughout the summer. No special events next summer. I think the Alice event this year would have done much better as a weekly theme. Next year the program will be 9 weeks long--8 weeks of programs with the 9th week for certificates, goodie bags, and grand prize drawing.

Summer Reading Week 10

This week I had 9 community events with a total attendance of 137. I presented the kids who completed the reading contest with certificates and goodie bags. We also had the grand prize drawing.

I'm still getting my office sorted out and trying to make sense of the statistics. The only thing I have left is the teen Hobbit Party next week. And I'm already thinking ahead to next year and what I'll change and what I'll leave alone. I'll probably post one more time about this year's summer reading program and discuss stats and what I'm thinking for next year.

Thanks for keeping up with me this summer.

Summer Reading Week 9

This week I had 18 events with a total attendance of 286.  This is the last week of story times and school age events. It's also the last week the day camps come to the library.

Here's a breakdown of the week:

• 5 community story times
• 4 community school age events
• 6 day camp school age events
• 2 movies
• 1 special event (Alice in Wonderland Event)

This week the story time theme was Digging in the Flower Garden.  The school age event theme was In the Garden. I got sick at the end of last week so I had to modify my plans for this week. I tweaked a game from the CSLP manual and the kids had a make a gnome relay. They seemed to enjoy it.  The last Alice in Wonderland Event had a low attendance. I probably won't do any special events next summer. I'll be blogging about the Alice event within the next week or so. Reading logs were due this week. I'm still working the numbers, but it looks like sign-ups increased dramatically while completions decreased. It's a conundrum.

Next week is the 10th and final week of my summer reading program. I only have the community events (9) where I'll be presenting certificates and goodie bags as well as the grand prize drawing.

Summer Reading Week 8

This week I had 22 events with a total attendance of 339. 

Here's a breakdown of the week:

• 5 community story times
• 4 community school age events
• 2 day camp story time
• 8 day camp school age events
• 2 movies
• 1 special event (Alice in Wonderland Event)

This week the story time theme was Digging Machines. Loved reading the new book Dig, Dogs, Dig: A Construction Tail by James Horvath.  The school age event theme was Digging Up Trouble with Tricksters. I enjoyed sharing trickster tales from both America and other countries. The activities suggested by Beyond the Book Storytimes Blog (tricky photographs, tricky nature, and tricky words) were fabulous. Librarian friends on Twitter suggested a few tricky games: Duck, Duck, Goose and Trickster Says. The 2nd Alice in Wonderland Event had a low attendance. I'm beginning to wish that I had just used it as one of  my weekly themes.

Next week, I also have 22 events that include my last Alice in Wonderland Event for ages 7-12 and the last visits from the day camps. Reading logs are due next week and events end. The 10th week is presentation of certificates & prize bags as well as the grand prize drawing.

Summer Reading Week 7

This week I had 22 events with a total attendance of 456. 

Here's a breakdown of the week:

• 5 community story times
• 4 community school age events
• 1 day camp story time
• 6 day camp school age events
• 2 movies
• 1 special event (Alice in Wonderland Event)
• 1 teen event (movie night)
• 2 performances by a comedian/juggler/magician

This week the story time theme was Digging Animals. The school age event theme was More Animals Underground. We focused on sand diggers (crabs and sea turtles) and again I used a game suggested by the CSLP manual. The Alice in Wonderland Event and the teen movie night both had low attendance, but everyone had fun.

Next week, I also have 22 events that includes my 2nd Alice in Wonderland Event for ages 7-12.

Summer Reading Week 6

This week I had 21 events with a total attendance of 416.  Day camp groups were back in session this week.

Here's a breakdown of the week:

• 5 community story times
• 4 community school age events
• 1 day camp story time
• 9 day camp school age events
• 2 movies

This week the story time theme was Underground Insects. I really liked reading One Hundred Hungry Ants by Elinor J. Pinczes. The kids really liked marching around the room with "The Ants Go Marching" playing. The school age event theme was Insects Underground. The games suggested by the CSLP manual (Ant Toss & Longest Worm Relay) were a hit. I substituted black rocks for plastic ants.

Next week, I have 22 events. These include my 1st Alice in Wonderland Event for ages 7-12, a teen movie night, and 2 performances by a comedian/juggler.

Summer Reading Week 5

This week I had 8 events with a total attendance of 138.  No day camp groups this week, one day is a holiday, and I gave myself another day off.

Here's a breakdown of the week:

• 4 community story times
• 3 community school age events
• 1 movie

This week the story time theme was Underground Animals. Loved using the felt board this week. I did "Gopher in the Garden" and Five Little Bunnies. The school age event theme was Animals Underground.  The egg stack game suggested by the manual was fun, but a few times the paper towels were too strong and didn't ever break!

Next week, I have 21 events...just the usual. My 1st special event for July doesn't happen until July 16. It's an Alice in Wonderland Event for ages 7-12. The agenda on my wiki is rough. I'm still planning the event. .

Summer Reading Week 4

This week I had 24 events with a total attendance of 492.

Here's a breakdown of the week:

• 5 community story times
• 4 community school age events
• 2 day camp story times
• 8 day camp school age events
• 2 movies
• 2 special events (last 2 Peter Rabbit Parties)

This week the story time theme was Getting Dirty. The school age event theme was Dig Into the Earth--Rocks.  Links are to my wiki for full agendas. The Getting Dirty theme was fun and I enjoyed using my clean & dirty pigs. Here's a fun fact for you: I was so enthusiastic in applying the brown paint to dirty my pigs that it bled through to the other side and I had to add another piece of felt to cover it up. Loved using the "Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's Off to Read We Go" game suggested my the CSLP manual with my older kids. Playing it made me want to read fairy tales and watch fairy tale films. We played a life size version. Each space was an 8.5x11 piece of paper. Depending on the number of kids we either played in groups or as individuals.

The last two Peter Rabbit Parties had small attendances (10 kids and 13 adults total), but everyone had a great time. I might even try the program again in the spring. A Peter Rabbit Party post will be coming your way next week.

Next week will be an easy week with only 8 events owing to the holiday and my day camp groups being on break. I'm looking forward to a 4 day weekend.

Summer Reading Week 3

This week I had 19 events with a total attendance of 460. Numbers are a little down this week for two reasons. I didn't have one of my day camp groups and the local folk school is having a kids camp this week.

Here's a breakdown of the week:

• 5 community story times
• 4 community school age events
• 1 day camp story time
• 6 day camp school age events
• 1 movie
• 1 special event (2nd Peter Rabbit Party)
• 1 teen event (Mad Hatter Tea Party)

This week the story time theme was Digging Up Dinosaurs. The school age event theme was Dig Into the Past--Dinosaurs. Links are to my wiki for full agendas. Both went really well although I stumbled a bit with some of the dino names. Favorite books of the week were Dinosaurs Galore by Giles Andreae and Prehistoric Actual Size by Steve Jenkins. For the school age groups, we made pasta dino skeletons and raced dinosaurs. I got this ideas from the 2009 CSLP manual. It was a sea serpent race, but I couldn't find sea serpents back then so I used dinosaurs. Basically you put small plastic dinosaurs in an ice cube tray and fill it with water. The dinos will not be all the way covered. You then make your race track by propping a cookie sheet on a chair. Great fun!

The 2nd Peter Rabbit Party went much better than the first. I tweaked the agenda and made a new felt set. One of the games confused the youngest kids so I may be changing that up before next week. I promise a post on the Peter Rabbit Party will be forthcoming. THe agenda that the link takes you to is very rough. I haven't had a chance to revise it.

The Mad Hatter Tea Party was great fun! We had 8 tweens/teens which is a good turnout. A few came in costume (it wasn't required.) We had the dormouse, the White Rabbit, Tweedledee, and Tweedledum. I came as the Cheshire Cat (pictures will be forthcoming!) I can usually guarantee 5 will show up. Although I really need about 2 hours to prep for an event like that and I only had 1 hour and 15 minutes. I like to decorate the meeting room and fix the food. Both require time. A post about the event will be coming soon I promise. I wrote my very 1st scavenger hunt for the tea party and the teens seemed to like it. We also had a few more teens sign up for the reading contest during the tea party. I'm hoping our next teen event (a movie night) will have a even bigger attendance.

Next week, I have 24 events including the last two Peter Rabbit Parties.

Summer Reading Week 2

This was the first week of story times and events at the branch libraries. I survived, but just barely. I presented 22 events with a total attendance of 531.

Here's a break down:

• 5 community story times
• 4 community school age events
• 2 day camp story times
• 9 day camp school ages events
• 1 movie
• 1 special event (1st Peter Rabbit Party)

This week the story time theme was Digging Up Vegetables. The school age theme was Dig Into the Past--Pyramids. Links are to my wiki for full agendas. The story times went very well. The books were interactive and the flannel board sets well received. At two of the branches, story time attendance swelled to 43 and 56. The branch that had 43 usually only has 10 during the school year.

The pyramids (and Egyptians) event went well. I don't really read so much with this age as I share information, but that varies week to week. This week I shared, next week I'll read some. The activities (mummy wrap and writing their names in hieroglyphics) were fun...at least the kids seemed to like them. I had a hard time getting them to "Walk Like an Egyptian." Kids hit a certain age and don't like to dance in public anymore.

The first Peter Rabbit Party went okay. I had some rambunctious children who made things interesting. I'll definitely be improving my plan before the next one on Tuesday. We didn't get to half the things I had planned. I hope to post about it by itself at some point, maybe early July.

Registration for the reading contest ended for all age groups except teens this week. I have 245 kids & teens registered at my four branches. That's a 55% increase from last year's number. We'll continue to register teens until about July 18. (This is because they could still read 5 books in 2 weeks. The younger groups are counting days so keeping registration open is not possible.)

Next week, I have 19 events including my first teen event of the summer, a Mad Hatter Tea Party.

Summer Reading Week 1

June 3-6 was registration for the summer reading contest at my four branch libraries. I had 9 registration sessions and registered 176 kids for the contest. Including adults, I saw 279 people last week. Registration will continue through June 10-13.

I divide the contest into the following age groups: 0-2 years, 3-5 years, 6-8 years, 9-12 years, and 13-18 years. The 0-2 group complete and early literacy log and receive at rubber duck at the end of the contest. I was inspired by Marge Loch-Wouters' post about her library's Rubber Ducky Club to start doing something for this age group.

The 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12 groups all read for at least 20 minutes per day for 48 days. Each day they read, they color off a clipart image on their log.

I used the "additional" clipart from the CSLP Early Literacy and Children's manuals to create the logs.

 

Ages 13-18  read 5 books in a specified length of time.

 

Two of my branches are showing children's, family, and/or teen movies to correspond with the Summer Reading Program theme and dates. We had 2 movies during registration week with an attendance of 19.

 

Even in the midst of the chaos that is Summer Reading, I find myself looking ahead to my fall story times and programs and even next year's Summer Reading Program. I think the science theme is going to be very fun.

 

Events start this week. I'm having 5 community story time sessions, 4 community school age events, 11 day camp groups, a Peter Rabbit Party, and 2 movies. I'm hoping to post a Summer Reading Update every week during my program. I'm enjoying reading about other libraries' and librarian's events this summer. 

Coming Soon....Summer Reading!

My posts here on the blog have been a little sporadic in the past few weeks as I prepare for the summer reading program at my four libraries. Yes, I said four!

Registration begins next week. The registration is for the reading contest portion of the program. Prompted by a post to PUBYAC, I decided to have three of my age groups (3-5, 6-8, and 9-12) count days instead of books. This summer is especially long (95 days) and if my goal is to prevent summer slide by keeping the kids reading and learning, I think counting days will do it. The kids get credit for each day they read or listen for 20 minutes and their goal is 48 days. The 0-2 group will be using the early literacy log from the Upstart CSLP catalog. Teens (13-18) read 5 books within the time frame.

My program is going to last 10 weeks this year. Having registration on the same day as the first set of events and awards on the same day as the last set of events was a bit hectic last year. So the first week will be registration for the reading contest. The next eight weeks will be weekly events for two age groups (0-6 and 7-12). The tenth week will be the presentation of certificates and grand prize drawing. I will have one prize for each age group (0-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12) at each location. I'm giving three prizes at each location for the teens.

Here are the events I have planned for the summer. Links are to the agendas on my program wiki. I have not tested these story times or school age events yet so they are subject to change. The special events and teen events are still works in progress. Enjoy!

Story Times for Ages 0-6 (Weekly at 4 branches)
Digging Up Vegetables
Digging Up Dinosaurs
Getting Dirty
Underground Animals
Underground Insects
Digging Animals
Digging Machines
Digging in the Flower Garden

Events for Ages 7-12 (Weekly at 4 branches)
Dig Into the Past--Pyramids
Dig Into the Past--Dinosaurs
Dig Into the Earth--Rocks
Animals Underground
Insects Underground
Animals Underground (2)
Digging Up Trouble with Tricksters
In the Garden

Teen Events (monthly at one branch)
Mad Hatter Tea Party (2)
Beneath the Surface Movie Night
Hobbit Party

Special Events
Peter Rabbit & Friends Party (at all 4 branches for age 3 & up)
Alice in Wonderland Event (at 3 branches for age 7-12)

SRP Week 8 Reflection

The end of summer reading has finally arrived. This was a slower week. I only visited 3 of my 4 branches and the day camps all stopped coming last week. I presented 9 programs with an attendance of 123.




All events this week were a bit hectic as I was presenting the programs AND handing out certificates and drawing for prizes. I'm seriously considering not doing a story time or event during the last week and just handing the certificates and prizes next week.

The kids really enjoyed the craft that went along with the Fractured Fairy Tales School Age Event. This is the second time I've used the Three Little Pigs as a theme.

Teen Game Night went well. The teens decided to play Name 5 and then Spoons. One of the teens introduced us to the game of Spoons months ago. Everyone likes it. I think it can even be a bit addictive.

I think all the children enjoyed the reading portion of the program. We had 147 children (birth-age 12) sign up. We had 14 teens sign up. However, only 45.5% of the children completed their logs. 35.7% of the teens completed their logs. Next year, I'm hoping the school visits & registration times during May will see an increase in both sign ups and completion.

In 8 weeks, I presented 115 programs with an attendance of 1,985. I was more prepared this year (my 2nd) than I was last year. Pinterest played quite a role in helping me plan summer reading. It was especially helpful for finding crafts and activities. Here's a link to my Summer Reading Program 2012 board.

For next year, I want to plan earlier and be ready to go. As soon as I receive the manual, I'm going to start planning. I'm also going to dedicate the whole of May to outreach visits to the schools. I'm hoping to increase our community involvement. I'm also going to schedule afternoon/evening and Saturday time for SRP registration. Parents will receive event schedules and a FAQ sheet about the reading portion of the program. They'll receive their logs on the 1st day of the program.

I think I've already said that I plan to separate the day camps from the community programs. At one branch, I also plan to add a second story time session. The attendance was great, but I think it would work better with 2 smaller sessions.

If the weather cooperates and school ends when it's projected to, I plan to start my 2013 summer reading program the first week of June and wrap it up by the end of July.

Well, that ends my Summer Reading Reflections for this year. I hope you've enjoyed them.

SRP Week 6 Reflection

Another busy week this week, but there are only 2 more weeks of the Summer Reading Program left. This week I presented 13 programs with an attendance of 245.




I was very pleased with how my Dreams & Wishes preschool story time went. I didn't change anything as the week progressed. (I did shorten it sometimes to just the flannel story and the last book if time was short.) The kids loved my flannel version of The Mixed-Up Chameleon by Eric Carle. They laughed and laughed as he made his wishes. Old Bear by Kevin Henkes is a beautiful book. I can't wait to use it again. I think I might have an all Henkes story time in the spring.

The Dreamers & Doers school age event went well, but it was rather short. I only read 1 book, the kids all told what they wanted to be when they grow up, and then we did the drawing activity. I enjoyed learning more about Jane Goodall.

I used the same agenda for my 3rd Stuffed Animal Sleepover as I did for the 2nd. It worked great, but seemed a little short. I may add another book or activity to bump it up to a full 30 minutes. This sleepover may end up having the highest attendance. Eight kids brought animals to the sleepover. Here's a link to the pictures.

Only 2 more weeks to go! The summer has flown by and I'm honestly ready for a little break. Next week is going to be busy with the usual preschool story times and school age events as well as a Stuffed Animal Sleepover (the last of the summer), a teen event, and a tween event. The Summer Reading Program ends next week at one of my branches because the children will be back in school the week after.