storytime on the square

As the sun came out yesterday in full force, shining bright in a clear blue sky, and the temperature rose higher than expected, the icy roads melted away and everyone is off to school today. Which means that I am the reader for our local Story time on the Square event this morning. I was signed up to read twice, but my first date was a snow day and story time was cancelled.

Today I will be reading "I Like to be Little" by Charlotte Zolotow. One of the girls received this book as a gift from my best friend one year for Christmas. It is a lovely story about the joys of being little. I read it aloud a few times yesterday to practice and I think I am ready to go.

In other news, our school consolidation mess grows more messy by the hour. The state has passed a law that is waiting for the governor's signature as they have horses in this race since they fund the schools. The city council is telling the state to back off and has accepted the city school board surrender, officially, last night in an unanimous vote. So, I suspect it will now go to the courts and the lawyers. More money wasted.

Of course, this still continues to be about money, ego and power and not about education. It is about saving face. The dialogue has deteriorated to name calling, racial invectives and tired old stereotypes. Sickening. No one is going to be a winner in any of this; not the politicians, local or state, not the children, county or city.

But, I do have some children to tend to today. And I'm excited to share one of my favorite books with them.

Happy Friday.

story time

Six years ago when we moved to our fair town, I still had a preschooler. When we went to the library to get our library cards, something we did on the third day after the moving van left, I picked up a schedule for story time. I was eager to meet other moms and figured that would be the perfect way to do it. We attended once a week and then went over to Chick-fil-a for lunch.

I tried the story time that was held down at our Town Square, but we never became regulars at that event. The day and time didn't work for our schedule once preschool started.

Story time continues to be offered at the library and a variety of dates and times provides plenty of options for the preschool set. However, the Square has been without such an activity for several years now. The wonderful lady who used to read and entertain sold her toy store, eventually went to work for the library and is now retiring.

On Friday, story time is returning to the Square. The owner of the local and independent coffee shop is partnering with another store to offer a story time. The first guest reader is the Town Mayor and he is reading one of Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York's books. The listeners will hear the story at the coffee shop and then be treated to a simple craft along with milk and cookies at the other store.

Sounds like a winning proposition for all involved.