TALENTED STORYTELLERS IN RESIDENCE, JULIAN LIBRARY

Preschoolers Love the Stories and the Storytellers; Parents Have Fun, Too!

What parent doesn’t want their child to develop a love of reading? Most parents understand the lifelong benefits of a love affair with books at an early age. Success in school and lifelong learning often can be traced back to an early interest in reading.

Making this happen is not always easy. A child’s short attention span or distractions at home for parent and child can work at cross-purposes to developing a connection to books.

Often, adults find that they don’t have the discipline or make the time to exercise unless they take themselves to a health club. Likewise, distractions at home for both adults and children often stand in the way of regular storytelling to children. Marking a weekly schedule to take your child to a free, top-notch read-aloud session at the library likely assures the child will gain a love of books — and the ideas and vistas opened by books.

From 11 to 11:30 a.m. every Wednesday, parents can bring their children to meet talented storytellers at the Julian branch of the San Diego County Library. These volunteers all have attended training by the San Diego County Library and have passed a background screening process for volunteers.

Parents can bring their children into the library at 11 a.m., introduce their child to the volunteer reader of the day, and while the storytime program is under way, they can relax and listen to the stories, browse the library collection for books and videotapes or work on a public computer.

Both library staff and volunteers know that the regular time spent with the children will go a long way in encouraging each child to want to learn to read.

For more information, contact the library at (760) 765-0370.