The author Pat Mora has a word for it: Bookjoy.
If you’re a lover of books, you won’t have to look that up in a dictionary – you’ll just know, instinctively, what it is. But where were you when you first experienced the joy of books?
Odds are it was on your mom’s, dad’s or a grandparent’s lap, having a book read to you – or at your local library, having a lively adult bring a storybook to life for you.
The Library of Congress Young Readers Center, in Room G29 of the Library’s Thomas Jefferson Building at 10 First Street S.E. in Washington, D.C., is again starting up its popular Story Time program for infants and toddlers.
The stories will be read on Fridays from 10:30 am. to 11:15 a.m. There is no charge, but space is limited, so tickets are distributed on a first-come, first-served basis beginning half an hour before the scheduled start time.
The Friday program is for little ones who come with parents, grandparents, caregivers, babysitters and even older siblings. The sessions are based on themes (this month’s theme is animals) and future story times may be tied to holidays, literary forms such as poetry, or events at the Library such as “Take Your Child to Work Day.”
The storytelling gets the children involved – in addition to the telling of the story, kids participate in rhymes, songs, and movement, including finger play and larger motor activities.
For more information on Story Time, see the Library’s website at www.read.gov. And don’t forget that the Young Readers Center is for youthful readers from very young children to teens, and offers onsite access to a variety of excellent books.
Comments (4)
What a good idea!It’s so much better children hearing stories than runing along the streets without a determined wayof life.These classes of initiatives deserv the most of backing by all the people.
As a retired university prof and writer, the importance of this initiative can’t be overstated. I’ve taught many young people who were not exposed to storytelling and reading early; their deficits haunted them in college. “Bookjoy” is critical to curiosity and subsequent intellectual development. Hooray for you.
I will like to take my hearing 19 months old son to the storytelling time at the Library of Congress. Whats time we should be there tomorrow before 10:30am? I am deaf myself.
Take me somewhere to read books