By Jan Pease
The weather report on February second from the children’s
department is that the groundhog did, indeed, see his shadow. Our story hour for that day introduced a
cute, baby groundhog puppet. We read the
book, “Groundhog Gets a Say,” by Pamela Curtis Swallow. We made a ground hog craft created out of
paper hearts. I attempted to tell a
story about a groundhog outwitting some hungry wolves. All in all, we had a rollicking good time.
Our projects will
involve using paper hearts as we work on our gluing skills. Think about Michael
Hall’s book, “My Heart is Like a Zoo.” On February 10th, Second Saturday
Story Time, we’ll have a valentine theme and make a keepsake box to store
treasures in or give to someone special. 
Beginner’s Book Club is off to a good start for
2018. For February 15 we are reading
“Fenway and Hattie and the Evil Bunny Gang,” by Victoria J. Cole. The entire
book club enjoyed Ms. Cole’s first book, “Fenway and Hattie.” The second book in the series has Fenway at
war with bunnies who invade the dog park.
But when Hattie brings home a rabbit in a cage, Fenway’s afraid she
won’t have enough love in her heart for him.
Brick Heads is going great on Thursday nights. I had some building challenges available
February 1st, but the builders agreed that they were impossible. They really prefer to free build. My favorite
build of the night is a mobile ski jump
made by Abe. He included everything he thought a ski
athlete needs, including a fan if the ski jumper gets too hot. My new favorite LEGO character is a shark with
a mouth that opens wide. It is capable
of grabbing innocent little LEGO pieces and body parts.
Toddler time happens every Wednesday. I enjoy seeing these little people change
from week to week. The wonder of
language development still amazes me after so many years. I especially love to watch children who
aren’t quite verbal communicate with
each other. Babies really do like to
watch each other.
In the Children’s Department, the weather is always a
bright, happy 70 degrees or so. It warms
my heart to see parents spend leisurely time with children on these cold days. There
are thousands of books to share. We always have coloring sheets, crayons, and
markers on the tables. There are leftovers from crafts this winter: small cats
and dogs to make out of paper, and even some extras from today’s groundhog
craft. There are always things to do at the public
library!
