The Very First Family Book Party

This Saturday I hosted my library branch’s first Family Book Party.  The program was intended to support the Paint the Town Read campaign which I posted about a couple of weeks ago.  I really wanted to emphasize the fun aspect of reading together as a family.

For this first Book Party I chose to highlight the “Charlie and Lola” series by Lauren Child.  Most importantly, the books are really funny and make great read-alouds, but I also had an ulterior motive for choosing this series.  Since there is a Charlie and Lola TV show, I knew that kids would be familiar with the characters, and I hoped that would draw them in.  Well, it worked.  Around fifteen children and their parents showed up for the Book Party.  This is really good attendance for a program at my branch, especially a new one.

I started the program by reading But Excuse Me That Is My Book.  The book got lots of laughs.  I think many kids can relate to Lola’s habit of checking out the same book from the library over and over as well as her dilemma when that book is chosen by another child.

Following the book I let the kids loose to make art, play games, and of course, snack (including Lola’s favorite – pink milk) while the Charlie and Lola show was projected on the wall.

The art project consisted of making collages with paper, glue, crayons, and pictures from magazines.  Pretty simple as storytime crafts go, but I was surprised how focused the kids were on their artwork.  The adults seemed to enjoy it as well.  One mom pored through magazines finding all the train photos for her son’s picture, while another mom told me she was having a great time making her own collage because she never had the chance to be creative like that at home.

As some of the kids finished up their collages, I laid out a couple of Charlie and Lola memory games, which were also a big hit.  When a couple of the preschool-age girls started playing, it quickly became evident that their game would be interminably long because they were struggling to remember where the matches were in the jumble of 96 cards.  Luckily, the grandmother of one of the girls had the brilliant idea to turn the cards face up and let the girls find their matches that way.

I think everyone had a great time, and I hope I achieved my goal of showing the families how easy it is to have fun together reading and being creative.  It only takes a few minutes to read a great story, play a game, or pull out paper and crayons to create a masterpiece.

Have fun reading and help us Paint the Town Read!

Paint the Town Read!

My library system, the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County (PLCMC), just began an exciting new campaign last week called Paint the Town Read.  Yes, that’s spelled correctly – R-E-A-D, not R-E-D.  As part of the campaign, families and individuals in the community come to the library to pick up a painter’s kit.  The kit contains red lollipops, a red pencil, and a paint chip.  Participants mark off five fun reading experiences on the paint chip then bring it back to the library to receive a Paint the Town Read sign for their yard or window.  The sign looks like this:

 

We’ve given out quite a few of the kits so far at our branch, and I can’t wait to see the signs in yards all over Charlotte.  This campaign is both a great way to emphasize the fun of reading as well as create a sense of community throughout Charlotte.

Here at our branch we’re looking forward to doing some special programming for the campaign, including a monthly Family Book Party.  Our first book party is in March.  We’ll be reading, talking about books, playing games, and eating snacks all centered around the “Charlie and Lola” series by Lauren Child.  I think it’s going to be a lot of fun.  I’ll let you know how it goes!

If you’re in the Charlotte area, be sure to stop by the library and pick up your painter’s kit and help us Paint the Town Read!