Before social distancing days, I was a member of my library’s Marketing the Collection Committee (I suppose I still am, that sounded kind of depressing). One of my personal work goals for this year was to promote our children’s collection using social media.
A week before we closed, I posted my first few Instagram Stories sharing some of my favorite non-fiction graphic novel series (Science Comics, Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales, Maker Comics). I created a detailed spreadsheet with the books I was going to highlight every two weeks for the rest of the year, coordinating titles with library events and seasonal activities. Books started piling up at my desk, so I would have physical copies for those 15-second videos.
And then we were sent home, and priorities shifted.
Looking on the bright side of things, our closure allowed me to explore our digital content in a way I hadn’t before. Personally, I checked out ebooks regularly, but, other than when I was on vacation, I was much more likely to pick up a physical book than download an ebook, if I had a choice.
I shifted my plans–that spreadsheet went out the window, and instead, with our marketing department’s approval, I started posting one Instagram story a day focusing on a different ebook or eaudiobook (without having to film myself–it’s faster without worrying about retakes and word choice and backgrounds and technology hiccups).
My personal Instagram Story parameters are below (much of this is adapted from the instructions I was given by marketing before I started):
One story a day.
I rotate through four topics:
eaudibooks for families
ebook for ages 0-5
ebook for ages 6-8
ebook for ages 9-11
Mix up the time you post stories (this often ends up being afternoon or evening for me, based on when I remember)
Add flare. (I’m still learning how to do this.)
Add stickers
Tag authors when possible – creates some great interactions!
Add video when possible–I record my phone screen using the free app XRecorder to show myself scrolling through a list of favorite titles or playing a clip from a Weston Woods book video from Hoopla.
Try not to add too much text. (I fail at this regularly.)
Focus on ebook services that don’t involve long hold lists when possible–for me, this means I promote titles on Hoopla or Cloud Library more than the Overdrive library shared across my state.
I am planning to figure out Later.com by the end of the week to have these scheduled instead of having to post each day. I keep opening the website, staring at the home page, not immediately seeing how to schedule a story, and getting distracted by something else. I blame still getting used to working from home.
Some sample Instagram Stories without video:
And some sample Instagram Stories with video (that you can’t see play below, but may make more sense with that information):
This is just a small piece in my library’s overall social media plan while we are closed to the public. What is your library doing? Share your awesome ideas in the comments!
Note: I powered through a hodgepodge of picture books and readers this week, available through Hoopla’s new Bonus Borrows programs–titles you can check out without counting toward your monthly limit (and without costing the owning library any money).
Michala’s Reading
Unfortunately, Michala is currently under the weather. She will return with her weekly reads when she is feeling better!
Get better Michala! (And stop reading this, and go back to sleep!)
We are all figuring out what this new, mostly virtual world means for our jobs and communities. I don’t have an answer to those big questions, but I do have some virtual baby storytime content I can share.
My library is hosting five virtual storytimes a week, livestreamed through our Facebook page. While those livestreams are deleted soon after they are complete, we are also making YouTube clips of select elements of our storytimes that our patrons can view anytime they would like–and that I can share with all of you!
These activities were all used in my virtual baby storytime this week, designed for ages 0-24 months. There is a lot here, and I definitely went 15 minutes over my 30 minute storytime this week. Future programs will have less content.
Lyrics or links for any activities are in the YouTube video descriptions.
And, just for fun, a video of the chicks that I took home to take care of and livestream after our in-library hatching program was disrupted by our closing. These little ones have returned to Bring the Farm to You, where they will be used for educational programming and as backyard chickens.
Note: So I apologize that last week I missed updating my reads and you got the same book 2 weeks in a row from me. I got all caught up in the covid-19 news and work updates that I completely flaked on these updates.so this week you get both week’s reads in one!
I’ve written a ton of baby play posts on this blog, and, since many of us are stuck at home for a while, I wanted to highlight some of my favorite at-home baby play activities that can easily be replicated with around the house objects.
Card Slot Drop (deck of cards, empty box or container with a lid)
Note: I was planning to catch up on my stacks of books this week…and now with everyone essentially in quarantine, I imagine I will be able to keep pushing through titles for a while.
My library, like so many others across the country, has closed due to growing concerns related to the coronavirus. We are planning to provide online content to our patrons in the meantime.
So many folks are collecting fantastic lists of resources–I’m including some of my personal favorites over a series of posts, starting with accessing eContent.
Library Services
One of my favorite tips (that I use year round) is to remember that if your family has multiple library cards, or if you have cards to multiple libraries, each one may offer you access to some of the same eresources–but allowing you to get more content. If you organize your accounts and cards, you may actually be able to check out 18 or 30 or 50 items on a website like Hoopla each month. This doesn’t work for everyone, but it might be able to help some families.
Hoopla
Hoopla is awesome because everything is available to everyone with no waiting (though you are capped on the number of items per month). I talk about Hoopla during my book talks and am a regular user, so I am fairly familiar with its great content.
Some personal favorite titles that could be good to highlight to your patrons include:
Series or Authors, Kids Chapter Books:
39 Clues (audio only)
Amelia Fang
Artemis Fowl
Captain Underpants (audio only)
Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Diary of an 8-Bit Warrior
Dork Diaries (audio only)
Fablehaven
Fairy Tale Reform School
I Survived (audio only)
Isle of the Lost
Ivy and Bean
Judy Moody
Kingdom Keepers
Mercy Watson
Minecraft (Mark Cheverton)
My Weird School
Nikki and Deja
Origami Yoda
Percy Jackson
Ramona Quimby (audio only)
Rick Riordan
Rick Riordan Presents
School of Good and Evil
Serafina and the Black Cloak
A Series of Unfortunate Events (audio only)
Sisters Grimm
Spirit Animals (audio only)
Stick Cat
Stick Dog (not all titles)
The Terrible Two
Trapped in a Video Game
Upside Down Magic (audio only)
Warriors
Wayside School
Whatever After (audio only)
Wings of Fire (audio only)
Zoey and Sassafras
Single Titles,Kids Chapter Books:
50 Wacky Things Animals Do by Tricia Martineau
Anyone but Ivy Pocket by Caleb Krisp
AstroNuts Mission One by Jon Schieszka
A Babysitter’s Guide to Monster Hunting by Joe Ballarini
Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
Black Panther by Ronald L. Smith
Bow Wow by Spencer Quinn (audio only)
City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab (audio only)
Coraline by Neil Gaiman (audio only)
A Dash of Trouble by Anna Meriano
Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede
From the Notebooks of a Middle School Princess by Meg Cabot (audio only)
The Giver by Lois Lowry
The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale (audio only)
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (audio only)
The Great Penguin Rescue by Sandra Markle
Great White Shark vs. Killer Whale by Thomas K. Adamson
Hello Universe by Erin Entrada Kelly
The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley
Jinxed by Amy McCuloch
The New Kid by Jerry Craft (audio only)
Poop Detectives by Ginger Wadsworth
Posted by John David Anderson
Refugee by Alan Gratz (audio only)
Space Case by Stuart Gibbs (audio only)
Squirrel Meets World by Shannon Hale
Tale of Desperaux by Kate DiCamillo
Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky by Kwame Mbalia
The Unteachables by Gordon Korman (audio only)
Wedgie & Gizmo by Suzanne Selfors (audio only)
Picture Books & Beginning Readers:
5-Minute Stories (not all titles)
Ana & Andrew
Be Quiet! by Ryan T. Higgins
Biscuit (all titles)
Charlie & Mouse by Laurel Synder
Clark the Shark (all titles)
Curious George (all titles)
Fancy Nancy (all titles)
Five Little Monkeys (all titles)
Hair Love by Matthew A. Cherry (audio only)
I’m Brave! by Kate McMullan
Jacob’s New Dress by Sarah Hoffman
Mo Willems titles (audio & movie only)
Mother Bruce by Ryan T. Higgins
Mr. Putter & Tabby
Pete the Cat (all titles)
Pinkalicious (all titles)
Rosie Revere, Engineer
Scaredy Squirrel
Splat the Cat (all titles)
Unicorn Day by Diana Murray
Waiting by Kevin Henkes
We Don’t Eat Our Classmates by Ryan T. Higgins
Graphic Novels:
Artemis Fowl (series)
The Backstagers (series)
Batman: Nightwalker by Marie Lu
Big Nate (series)
Dance Class (series)
DC Super Hero Girls (series)
Dear Justice League by Michael Northrop
Diana: Princess of the Amazons by Shannon Hale
Earth Before Us (series)
El Deafo by Cece Bell
Ghost Friends Forever (series)
Goldie Vance (series)
Guinea PIG, Pet Shop Private Eye (series)
Illegal by Eoin Colfer
Invisible Emmie by Terri Linenson
Lumberjanes (series)
Miles Morales (series)
Moonstruck (series)
Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales (series)
Percy Jackson and the Olympians (series)
Phoebe and Her Unicorn (series)
Plants vs Zombies (series)
Poptropica (series)
Red’s Planet by Eddie Pittman
Rutabaga: The Adventure Chef (series)
Shadow of the Batgirl by Sarah Kuhn
The Sisters (series)
Warriors (series)
Libby (OverDrive)
OverDrive‘s content will vary depending on what your library or consortium has added to it. However, with services being used by many people at once, this might be an ideal time to highlight a special OverDrive feature–“It’s Your Lucky Day.” This provides patrons with a select number of popular titles that are immediately available. Content changes regularly, but at this moment, I could check out Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and On the Come Up without waiting.
RBdigital
If your library subscribes, RBdigital is an awesome resource for kids magazines, all immediately available. My favorites on this website include:
American Girl
Animal Tales
ChickaDEE
Highlights for Children (in all its ages and iterations)
National Geographic Kids
Beyond Library Services
As much as we want to boost our library econtent, realistically, even just over the course of three weeks, the above resources are going to dry up. A card’s 10 Hoopla checkouts can only go so far, and the best content on Overdrive will quickly have long holds.
I’m including some other suggestions for ways to access econtent for kids, for free or cheaply, below.
Free:
Brightly Storytime: Watch YouTube videos of great stories being read aloud.
Let’s Keep Reading! Author Interactive Content: Great list of author live presentations, online chats, and more created to add quality content to the Internet during the next few weeks of quarantine.
Story Pirates Podcast: Funny stories and songs, often based on short stories written by real kids. Great for ages 6-10.
Audible (30 day free trial, 1 audio a month, $14.99/month): This service is expensive for what you get (only one audiobook a month), but it is by far the most user-friendly audiobook service that I’ve tried. Only recommended for regular audiobook listeners or for the free trial.
Epic! (30 day free trial, $9 a month): Immediate access to 35,000 picture books, early readers, chapter books, and learning videos. Includes popular titles like Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Goosebumps, Princess in Black, Big Nate, Guinness World Records, and more.
Kindle Unlimited (30 day free trial, $9.99/month): Access a ton of titles from the Kindle library. While not everything is included (the collection is actually fairly limited), this can be your cheapest way to access many popular titles (that goes beyond the kid-exclusive content available at Epic!). All Harry Potter, Rick Riordan, and Big Nate books are available. While you are limited to 10 downloaded titles at a time, you are not limited to ten titles a month (like Hoopla). May be ideal for particularly voracious young readers. A great breakdown on the pros and cons here.
Book Apps:
Barnyard Dance! by Loud Crow (iOS) – $2.99
Blue Hat, Green Hat by Loud Crow (iOS) – $2.99
Byron Carton Collection #1 by Oceanhouse (iOS, Android) – $4.99
The Cat in the Hat by Oceanhouse (iOS, Android) – $2.99
Don’t Let the Pigeon Run This App! by Disney (iOS) – $5.99
Dr. Seuss’s ABC by Oceanhouse (iOS, Android) – $2.99
Even Monsters Get Sick by Busy Bee Studios (iOS) – $0.99
Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed by Oceanhouse (iOS, Android) – $2.99
The Going to Bed Book by Loud Crow (iOS) – $2.99
Goodnight Construction Site by Oceanhouse (iOS, Android) – $3.99
Goodnight Moon by Loud Crow (iOS) – $4.99
Green Eggs and Ham by Oceanhouse (iOS, Android) – $2.99
The Monster at the End… by Sesame Street (iOS) – $4.99
Moo, Baa, La La La! by Loud Crow (iOS) – $2.99
One Fish Two Fish – Dr. Seuss by Oceanhouse (iOS, Android) – $2.99
What other e-resources do you know about to help your patrons access ebooks and the like while stuck at home? Mention them in the comments and I’ll add them to the list above!
I am not a theater person. That isn’t entirely true–I love watching productions. However, I am not a fan of performing in them, nor do I have any background in theater or drama club beyond that one play in middle school and a scattering of elementary full-class productions. Even with all of that, For unknown reasons, within days of starting my current job, I was told I would be the partnering librarian for the monthly reader’s theater program.
Fifteen kids ages 8-12 attended a one-hour weekly rehearsal for three weeks followed by a performance for family and friends during the fourth week. We would take a two week break, and restart the cycle with a new set of scripts and (potentially) a new batch of kids.
This program has grown on me, and evolved, over time. It is still quite bare bones for a theater/acting program. I only see the attendees for three hours ahead of performance day, and this program has no budget beyond the folders that hold their scripts and a roll of masking tape. However, the kids enjoy the program, the simple structure works for me, and the low budget makes this easy to replicate.
Before the Program
Most of my work takes place before I see the kids the first time. Personally, I don’t use standard “reader’s theater scripts” that you can find on Google–they often feel forced or aren’t as fun for my 3rd-5th graders. Instead, I look for funny picture books that can be adapted to a reader’s theater style performance. I also have a stash of old Zoom Playhouse Scripts. The Zoom website is no longer available, but some of these can be transcribed from YouTube videos.
Some of my favorite picture books I’ve adapted over the years include:
I’ve also been creating a jokes script that all the kids can perform in at the same time (mostly pulling from the Just Joking series).
I plan for a full group of 15 kids. Not every kid is in every play. I select scripts that allow for 60 parts total (four per reader). Many picture books allow for multiple narrator roles, allowing me to tweak scripts to fit the number of parts I need to reach 60.
Once I have all of my scripts, I print them all out and highlight the appropriate lines for each part. Then, the sorting begins.
I sort scripts into folders before the first rehearsal. Kids then randomly select a folder without knowing what parts are inside. This doesn’t let me control which performers get which parts, but it does allow for scripts to be more evenly distributed and leads to less arguments from kids (and parents) about favoritism.
To break scripts down into folders, I try to aim for the following:
4 scripts per folder
At least 1 script that is a “lead” role (more lines)
Not all parts in one folder are narrator roles
Folders generally stick to one “gender”. I try to use gender neutral names when possible, but if I am stuck with a few more obviously gendered parts I try to keep them together. (I was so proud of my group this last round–this was the first time that we had boys as Cinderella and girls as Princes and not one complaint or argument about switching parts from kids or parents.)
If possible, spread scripts out based on the chosen performance order (not all scripts are at the beginning or end)
After (or during) the script organization process, I create the performance order. Once that is set, I create labels that list which scripts are in a particular folder as well as a second label listing the performance order. Both labels are put on the front of each folder, and then the folder is filled with the appropriate scripts, in performance order. I use three-prong folders, so scripts are hole-punched and inserted into the prongs.
Some other practices to make script assignment smooth:
Scripts are all labeled with a letter.
I create a master sheet for me, organized by play, labeling which scripts have which parts. Eventually, I change script letters to the name of the performer. This helps a ton when 15 8-11-year-olds are paying zero attention to which play comes next.
I have a jar on hand with the names of each kid inside on a separate slip of paper. If someone is absent, I pull a name out of the jar to evenly distribute extra parts.
Reader’s Theater Program
Each Reader’s Theater session follows the same 4-week structure:
Week 1: Intro to Reader’s Theater, Basic Stage Terminology, Random Script Distribution, Rehearsal of First Half of Scripts
Week 2: Script Folder Exchange (optional), Rehearsal of Second Half of Scripts, Practice any scripts from week 1 that now involve props or a lot of entering and exiting
Week 3: Full Rehearsal
Week 4: Performance for Parents
Before the kids arrive, I set up our stage, by running a piece of masking tape to block off a chunk of the room. This is the easiest “stage” creation, and everyone understands the distinction.
The first three weeks begin with a theater game, normally either Bippity Bippity Bop or Splat. I’ve never been too successful with other theater games. Normally only 2-3 kids out of 15 are actual current or future “theater kids”, and at least a few will shut down if I try to get them to dance in front of their peers or do something that could be seen as embarrassing. The kids are generally already full of energy after school, so I also avoid any game that encourages running as it is hard enough to get them to not do that on their own.
We only rehearse one script at a time, so the kids who are not currently practicing are welcome to watch and give feedback, or they can explore some busywork packets–mad libs, dot-to-dots, kawaii coloring sheets, Captain Underpants Name Changer, etc.
On performance day, kids enter our Activity Center first for one last talk through before we invite friends and family inside. I give them a hodgepodge of cheap dress up items we have on hand to help them get the theater vibe and feel a little bolder when performing in front of a crowd. I introduce the performers to the room, and we run through our scripts for our audience.
Once the initial work is complete, this program is easy to setup and roll out each week, with little prep needed week-to-week. I currently run this program once a year (instead of monthly), and while I don’t see this as strongly with the less frequent programming, there is a notable improvement in the kids reading skills and confidence reading out loud over the course of the month. It also fills a gap in our programming–we regularly offer tech programs and quite a few art programs, but there isn’t an alternate offering that fits that “performing” space. Between helping interested kids test out their stage skills on an easy audience and the direct connections to reading fluency, Reader’s Theater is always a winner.
A few year’s ago, one of my personal work goals was to start a monthly kids passive program. At the time, our library offered a monthly Imagination Station, a pretend play space for approximately ages 2-6, and a monthly teen passive, for students in grades 6-12. Children in the middle often ended up trying to participate in the activities designed for younger or older kids.
Read about some of my other passive programs at the links below:
One of my favorite passives is our Book Tournament voting bracket. I select 16 titles that have appeal to ages 6-12 (generally our most popularly requested titles), and match them against one another.
Visitors of all ages can vote about once a week for their favorite titles. Over a month, our titles are whittled down to our final match-up, which has now twice resulted in Harry Potter vs. Dog Man (but a different outcome each time).
Voting sheets and a voting box are displayed at the youth desk and beside our large bracket poster.
For 2020, our first round match-ups included (winners in bold):
Dog Man vs. Magic Tree House
Land of Stories vs. Amulet
I Survived vs. Wimpy Kid
Big Nate vs. Smile
Harry Potter vs. Last Kids
Bad Guys vs. Captain Underpants (by one vote!)
Who Would Win vs. Percy Jackson
Wings of Fire vs. Baby Sitter’s Club
Our rounds continued until we were eventually whittled down to the same match-up as 2018: Dog Man vs. Harry Potter. In 2018, Harry Potter won by a landslide. In 2020, however, Dog Man took the trophy by a single-vote victory.
Many patrons came in each week to check on–and sometimes attempt to contest–who had won the previous week. I’m excited to bring this back again next year and to see if we have a different outcome.
Note: I knew my reading would slow down–spent a lot of this week adjusting vacation plans for the next year (coronavirus!), so not so much time buried in books.
