Library Adventure.com Interview: Meet Sharon Chastain, Children's Librarian

The Library Adventure has launched a new series of monthly interviews with library professionals. In today's post, I interview Children's Librarian Sharon Chastain.

Story Time Music: Live from Story Time!

This is my third post in a series on story time music. The first post was all about recorded music, and the second one focused on a cappella singing. Today, I'll take things a step further with my reflections on playing live music at my story time sessions.

One of the things I have learned about myself in this profession is that I am always eager for a new challenge and always interested in outdoing myself. When my husband gave me a ukulele for my birthday in 2011, I knew it was only a matter of time before I'd bring it to story time. It took me about 9 months to feel comfortable actually performing in front of a group, but from the very first ukulele story time I did, I could tell it was a great idea. Here's what I observed when I began to play the ukulele in story time.

• Adults were more likely to listen because they respected my singing and playing as a performance, rather than just another routine part of story time.
• The ukulele was a great attention-getter in story times where my audiences were losing focus.
• Kids were drawn to the ukulele, and often pretended to strum along with me, or even tried to touch my strings. They also lined up to see the ukulele after story time.
• I didn't need to have a set of motions for every song because listening to me strum was entertainment enough.
• I could still adjust songs to suit my needs and use piggyback songs, but there was something a little bit more special about playing the ukulele, instead of just singing on my own.

I didn't replace every a cappella song with a ukulele performance, because that would be overkill, but I found that a blend of a cappella singing and ukulele strumming worked best for my story time groups, and if I were doing a story time right now, that is likely to be the approach I would take.

Though not every children's librarian is musically inclined, it is important for each of us to find a way to share songs with our story time audiences. Whatever music you ultimately decide to use, I recommend trying different approaches, pushing yourself to new limits, and working on overcoming the fears that might keep you from singing your heart out.

Next week, I'll start to get into the process I use to select story time music with a post on choosing hello songs.

9 Mother/Daughter Picture Books

Mother's Day is just around the corner. Celebrate your relationship with your daughter (or mother!) by sharing some of these pictures books with her. (And check back next week for a list of Mother/Son books.)

• The Block Mess Monster
  by Betsy Howie & C.B. Decker
  When Calpurnia becomes too afraid of the monster lurking in her block mess to clean up after herself, her patient and creative mother comes to the rescue. 
• Blueberries for Sal
  by Robert McCloskey
  When Sal gets separated from her mother while blueberry picking, she encounters a mother bear whose cub begins following her mother by mistake as well. 
• A Chair for My Mother
  by Vera B. Williams
  When they lose their home in a fire, Rosa and her family work hard to save the money needed to buy a comfortable chair for her mother to sit in.
• Harriet, You’ll Drive Me Wild
  by Mem Fox & Marla Frazee
  Harriet tries not to cause too much trouble, and her mother tries not to get too upset, but sometimes it just doesn't work out that way. 
• Mama, Do You Love Me?
  by Barbara Joosse & Barbara Lavallee
  A mother reassures her young daughter of her unconditional love in this story set in the Arctic. 
• The Quilt Story
  by Tony Johnston & Tomie dePaola
  A mother makes a quilt for her daughter, Abigail. Many years later, another girl finds the quilt and her mother mends it so that it will keep her warm as well. 
• Take Your Mama to Work Today
  by Amy Reichert & Alexandra Boiger
  A spirited little girl named Violet makes quite an impression when she accompanies her mother to the office. 
• Thank You, Mama
  by Kate Banks & Gabi Swiatkowska
  On her birthday, Alice receives a pet parrot who copies her when she says, "Thank you, Mama," but Alice wants the parrot to learn to thank her too. 
• This Quiet Lady
  by Charlotte Zolotow & Anita Lobel
  Through a series of old photos, a little girl finds out what her mother was like as a child.

LibraryAdventure.com: 10 Picture Books About Zoo Animals

 

This month, The Library Adventure has participatied in the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge by posting a book list for each letter of the alphabet. My post for the letter Z is up today! Check out 10 Picture Books About Zoo Animals.