We had such a good time reading Library Lion by Michelle Knudsen in yesterday’s preschool storytime.  There was a small crowd (no doubt due to parental Christmas shopping and frigid weather), but the four children – two sets of siblings – who attended absolutely loved the story.  The youngest of the four did ask a lot of “Why?” questions:  “Why did the lion leave the library?”  “Why doesn’t Mr. McBee like the lion?”  “Why did Mr. McBee go find the lion?”, but we were able to answer the why questions and keep the story moving.

Another highlight of yesterday’s storytime was the appearance of the owl puppet to assist with the telling of Wow!  Said the Owl by Tim Hopgood.  Though the story doesn’t really lend itself to telling with a puppet, it gave me an opportunity to use my favorite puppet.  Owl, who once had a name but I’ve forgotten it, blinks his eyes and turns his head and is so realistic that I have actually fooled kids into thinking there’s a real owl in the library.  Owl also serves as my familiar when I dress up as a witch for Halloween.

Most of all, though, yesterday’s storytime was great because it was small and I could interact with each child in a meaningful way, answering their questions about the stories and even introducing the two sets of siblings to each other.  It was a lovely last storytime of 2009 – no storytimes for the next two weeks! – and we all left the story room happy.