Last month at Third Place Books, not a single person showed up for my 10 am storytime. It was uncanny, because there weren't even any children in the area. It was as if they'd gotten a message that storytime was canceled that morning. I played songs for fifteen minutes in the hopes that late arrivals would hear the music and join me, but all was still.
This morning made up for last month. The main storytime area thronged with children and spilled over into the book stacks. The crowd was enthusiastic, and one boy shouted, "That was awesome!" after "Jenny Jenkins." Afterward, I overheard this interchange:
Cargiver #1: "The singing was just lovely."
Caregiver #2: "Oh yes, it's such a good idea to have the songs mixed together with the stories."
Thank you, Third Place Books audience! I promised you some new stories and songs next month on December 19, and I plan to deliver.
I felt my heart sink when I read the first part of this post. I felt it lift again toward the end. Wishing you a rousing crowd on the 19th.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Beth! You never know who is going to show up. When I was a teen, my children's librarian mom would often call my brothers and me at home to say, "Please come to the library right now. I need to make sure there are people in the audience for tonight's program."
ReplyDeleteOh, YAY!!!!
ReplyDeleteI don't know how you do it; I can't even read aloud from my own work, and you just go out there and do this over and over. You're amazing, and I'm glad it paid off for you today.
Yay!
ReplyDeleteWell, if we were local we would have been at BOTH storytimes! I like my stories and songs all mixed together, too. Saints and Spinners style.
ReplyDeleteI hate to get personal but did you shower that morning? Personal hygiene is so important in the cut-throat world of children's storytelling. Small children are, as I am sure you fully realise, extremely sensitive to unwelcome adult body odours (US odors). This comment was not intended to be of a "trollish nature".
ReplyDeleteTadMack, Anamaria, and LSM: Thanks! I appreciate your words of confidence.
ReplyDeleteYP: Are you sure you're not mixing up my blog with Brad the Gorilla's?
How gratifying!
ReplyDeleteIf you're ever in Rhode Island, you can come do a gig at my library...
I used to have an evening Bedtime Stories program and I never had any idea how many kids would show up. Sometimes it was 20, sometimes 2. I found it extremely frustrating.
ReplyDeleteWe hosted a school event last week that drew 300 people; we hosted a school event this week that drew 15 people. Why the dramatic difference in attendance? I have NO IDEA. I also had no one show up for my 11:00 Toddler Time storytime yesterday, but that's because it was snowing in a most determined way. But, still, it's so sad when no one's there to hear my stories.
ReplyDeleteYay to good stories and songs and a fine audience! :)
MotherReader, as a working mom who is sometimes mother of one of those two at another library, thanks for your program!
ReplyDeleteWahoo! You know you did good when the kids shout out their approval! Congratulations!
ReplyDeleteOh, I wish we lived closer so I could bring my kids to your storytime. They LOVE music and Books too.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it was an epidemic. Last week we missed our library babygarden group because C was sick and it turned out that most of the other babies missed it too because they were also sick. Snow and sickness, it's that time of year.
Yayyyy! Congratulations on your success!
ReplyDeleteEek! The random no show crowd for storytime is so horrible. I'm glad you had a good one to make up for it!
ReplyDelete