Storytime at the Supermarket!

I have this morning presented the final Storytime at the Supermarket at Kingston, in the south of the state – a charming nearly-five-year-old and I read Kip by Christine Booth, I’m the best by Lucy Cousins, and a Big Book version of The little red hen. We enjoyed cock-a-doodle-doodling with gusto in all the right places; we noted that dogs who think they are the best can hurt their friends’ feelings; and we discussed where the Big Book version I had was not as good as our favourite versions of The little red hen.

One child wasn’t a very big audience, but it was enjoyable to share these stories while his mother and a friend looked on. Here in the south our audiences have been wildly variable in size, but there’s always been someone. I understand that experience in the north (at Prospect Plaza) has been much the same. We have been fortunate to have the support of the Kingborough Council at Kingston – Melissa has sent out digital copies of our flyers each month, and posted an A3 version in a few places. And we have been able to share a children’s activity space provided by the Council.

Storytime at the Supermarket was the brainchild of CBCA (Tas.) Inc. committee members in Launceston, to mark the National Year of Reading, and it has been successful in raising community awareness of CBCA activities. It’s taken time, of course, preparing a flyer to promote each session (on the first Monday of each month since March 2012), preparing a running sheet with lists of books chosen to illustrate a theme, songs and rhymes each month, and fronting up at the venue each session.

But all volunteers have enjoyed the process, and now the big question is, will we do it again next year? Melissa did ask me this morning, as I said good bye, if we planned to be available in the New Year. I had to say I wasn’t sure, but she knows how to get in touch if she needs some stories read!