Storytime Monday

Today was story time Monday for the preschoolers who use the school library where I work. The week always starts off in a rush as eight classes of young students come in for fifteen to twenty minutes of library time, during which I read a story and they each select and check out a book for the week. The children's ages range from three to six years. Sometimes I vary the story depending on the student's ages, but today I read just one book, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.

I introduced it by wishing each class a happy New Year full of good days, and then talked about how everyone sometimes has a bad day now and then. I showed the book and told how the author, Judith Viorst, had three sons, and how one had once had a horrible day which his mother wrote about in this book. I then read it, using the document camera to show the pictures on the overhead screen so everyone could see the wonderful illustrations. After I had read to about half the classes, I realized that the book was a great hit. I got to thinking just how long ago I had read it to my nieces and nephews, who are all now grown up. When I checked the copyright date, I realized that the book was written in 1972, making it thirty-seven years old! It had aged remarkably well. A few of the references are a bit dated and the absence of African Americans in the story --well, there was one-- or other non-white faces seemed odd to my 21st century eyes. But despite that, and despite the fact that they had just returned from a two-week vacation and the wonders of Christmas, the kids were captivated by the story of Alexander's bad day, sitting quietly, listening intently, and sometimes even laughing at the sly humor which is so appreciated by adult readers.