STORYTIME: SPECIAL PROGRAMS BRING STORIES TO LIFE

JACKSON -- Recently some 30 children from Jackson gathered after school at the Riverside Regional Library in Jackson to hear a program about the Cherokee Nation Indian tribe.

In that session, Cherokee tribesman Daniel "Grizzly" Seabaugh told Indian stories, gave a history of the Cherokee Nation and answered questions about the tribe.

It was one of the special Afterschool Adventure programs at the regional library for children 9 through 14. The Afterschool Adventure program, in its second year at the Jackson branch, meets once a month for 90 minutes to discuss books, do some crafts and have refreshments. The program is limited by registration to 25, except for the special presentation once a semester.

At the November special presentation, Seabaugh told a story about an Indian boy who set out on a quest to find his dream. Along the way he encountered a rattlesnake, which asked the Indian boy to pick it up. At first, the boy refused, saying he feared the snake would bite him. But the snake persisted, and the boy eventually bowed to the snake's request and picked it up. The snake did bite the boy. When the boy asked why the snake had bitten him, the snake replied that the boy had known what the snake was. The moral: There are dangerous things in the world, and people should use good judgment.

Riverside children's librarian Lynn Farrow combined the November themes of National Children's Book Week, Thanksgiving and the celebration of the Cherokee Nation.

During November, Farrow shared the Cherokee presentation with the branch libraries, and as many as 200 children heard the presentation. The regional library has branches at Altenburg, Jackson, Benton, Morley, Oran, Perryville and Scott City.

Farrow tries to share the special programs done at Jackson with the other libraries and is trying to start afterschool programs for older children once a semester at the other libraries and hopes to build the attendance to 25 children at those programs.

Besides the Afterschool Adventure program for the older children, Farrow gives regular storytimes for preschoolers at Jackson and the branch libraries. Usually, there are between 30 and 50 children at the Tuesday morning storytimes at the Jackson branch. There are storytimes three times a month at Jackson.

Generally between 10 and 35 children attend the monthly storytimes at the branch libraries. Farrow encourages parents to bring their children to the storytimes.

The new storytimes will run from February through April, and a schedule of the storytimes at all the regional libraries will be on the library's webpage:

www.showme.net/rrl/

During storytimes, "Miss Lynn," as the children often call Farrow, chooses three or four books to read. After the stories, there are crafts -- color sheets, painting, gluing, stamping. During the Thanksgiving storytime, the children made Indian corn.

Besides the crafts, the children sing songs, do finger plays or use puppets.

Farrow wants the children to develop a love for reading and to be comfortable with books. Often after the storytimes, the children and their parents check out books to be read during the week. Children need to be in school to get their own library card.

Special events for storytime include a library staff member dressing as the Easter Bunny and Farrow dressing as Mrs. Claus. Sometimes someone volunteers to dress as Santa.

Special programs during the year center around Children's Book Week, the third week in November; Christmas; Valentine's Day combined with heart month; Easter; and National Library Week in April. During the summer, Mr. Goodgarden has presented a special program. Guest speakers are volunteers, usually parents of the children or library patrons.

Farrow has even taken her storytime on the road -- traveling to the Fruitland school to read to children and to several day-care centers. And day-care centers have brought their children to the library where Farrow gives them a tour and then reads several books to them in the Community Room. She prefers day-care directors call in advance to set up a time for the tours.

Last year, Farrow journeyed to Cape Girardeau County Park to where a group of Boy Scouts and their parents were camped to read ghost stories. There were 60 Scouts and 60 parents.

The regional library also conducts a summer reading program, following guidelines established by the state library. Planning for the summer reading programs will be done early next year.

Generally, Jackson's branch will run the reading program in June and July, in which there is a weekly special program. During the program Farrow puts out books related to the topic, and there are crafts.

Many of the special programs at the Jackson library are shared with the branch libraries during the summer, but each library chooses its own program.

The summer program is a reading program in which children select books and have reading incentives, including certificates, prize packets and paperback books.

Farrow says the summer reading program has a good response. At one special program at Jackson last year, more than 200 children attended. At the branch libraries' special program there were between 50 and 100 children participating.

Farrow, who has been children's librarian for four years, said her goal is to make the storytime and afterschool programs grow. To that end, the library ran a drawing throughout the system during book week. Children signed up every time they came to the library during the week. More than 180 signups were recorded at Jackson, and more than 250 signups were recorded among the other libraries.