Giving the Gift of Reading, Children’s Librarians Feed Young Imaginations - 5/4/12 - Vineyard Gazette Online

Kristin Maloney sings and reads during stories and songs held at the Chilmark Library.

On a rainy Tuesday morning at the Chilmark library, children’s librarian Kristin Maloney was in the middle of her Stories and Songs program, reading April Pulley Sayre’s book, If You’re Hoppy, to 30 toddlers and infants. Parents, preschool teachers and babysitters sat behind the main circle, which was littered with strands of bells, egg-shaped maracas and various types of drums. Mrs. Maloney’s clear voice narrated the happenings of the book, matching words with the bright paintings of animals on each page.

If you’re flappy and you know it, you’re a bird.

Mrs. Maloney looked out at the group.

“What else flaps their wings?” she asked.

The responses were immediate. “Butterflies! Owls! Hawks! Vampires! A vampire bat!”

“It’s very geared towards involving the kids,” Mrs. Maloney said of her story time, after she’d stowed away the guitar she plays for most of the hour-long Stories and Songs. “I’m always using their names, it’s interactive, and there’s a lot of music.”

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