week 11: sick city sometimes

Of course I talked about being in that "in-between" feeling-sick-but-not-quite-sick state last week. Of course I did. Well, I got for real sick the day after storytime and of course it was crummy. But that is a hazard of working in a public library, particularly at this time of year. No big deal jeans. I am still feeling it a bit, though I think things have migrated over to allergies maybe? Who knows. That's not the point. The point is: storytime!

Class 1 and 2

Hooray! Another good storytime with Class 1 and 2 (spoiler alert: Class 3 and 4, too). I did, however, decide to cut Peter Stein's Bugs Galore at sort of the last minute and replace it with The House That Jack Built by Simms Taback. This was a good decision. One, it helped me make good on my Mother Goose pledge. Two, I was rapidly falling out of love with the text of Bugs Galore: not the illustrations, mind you, which I still think are excellent. I was just reading it aloud before storytime and... wasn't feeling it. So I called an audible and it worked well.

The new Airplane stretch (the way I decided to use it pretty much went into full stretch mode) went well, though I flubbed a line I think. I was sort of starting to get sick and things were going by quickly. We all had fun, in any event. Everyone was happy about the return of GABGM! (of which, more anon): OK, not everyone. Point is: the kids love it, and they love to get LOUD with it. One or two of the kids might not be into the Loveless-era My Bloody Valentine live show decibel levels we reach with each turn of the page. I know for a certified fact the teachers don't care for it... at all. One in particular spends most of my storytime trying to shush kids for no good reason (that I can see), so I am guessing the unbridled storytime chaos of GABGM! must grate. Alas. When the overwhelming majority of preschooler storytime participants are having hecka fun at storytime, I am doing my job.

The transition to the GABGM! puppet went great! Great in that everyone had fun, maybe not flawless in all aspects of the execution. But hey, it was my first time out. Baby Shark seems to have captured a lot of fancies, and I will probably keep in the rotation through the holiday break. Singing with shakers (again!) was wildly successful, and continues to bring less-involved kids into the storytime experience. Hooray! Marshawn was particularly keen to help afterwards, and kept bringing me (all) my things while I was still collecting eggs; I had to balance a box of egg shakers in one hand with an increasingly heavy load of storytime props supplied by an extraordinarily eager and helpful preschooler in the other. I survived, and Marshawn is officially the best.

Class 3 and 4

Double hooray! Another great storytime! Class 3 and 4 are really getting into the storytime groove. They were engaged with Guess How Much I Love You. I would say it was exactly as long as it needed to be. Pretty much the same story with GABGM! as Class 1 and 2. They love it, and they love to get loud. The teachers visibly don't enjoy the loudness, but oh well. Storytime is supposed to be fun, and being loud is part of that. No haters allowed, right? Right. They also enjoyed the GABGM! puppet, and I am excited to see how the transition to more puppet- and felt board stories goes.

Class 3 and 4 asked for Baby Shark by name, which is about as ringing an endorsement as it gets. They were totally engaged with The House That Jack Built, which is great. Um, what else? Shakers went over like gangbusters, lots of hugs and kisses for Gareth, and snip, snap, snout, this tale's told out.