Ricky Solares was just looking for an indoor activity where he could spend time with his 6-year-old son Adrian when he began conducting the story hour at the West New York Public Library in September.
“Then I started to enjoy it,” said Solares, about reading to the children once a month on Saturday mornings. “Now nine months later, I am still doing it.”
West New York’s Public Library held its last story hour on June 9 at 10 a.m. The story hours will pick up again on Sept. 15. (For the summer, the library runs a book club for children.)
“The best part about this is that we have a dad doing something for the kids,” said the District Supervisor of the Early Childhood Program Claire Warnock.
Solares knew his son would enjoy a story hour since he had been reading to him each night for a couple of years. “I started to read to him when he was younger,” said Solares about his son. “He would ask me to read to him every night. If I forgot, he would remind me.”
Young Adrian, who sat right in front while his father was reading and raised his hand for every question, said that he enjoys coming to the library with his father.
“I like it because you can learn different stuff in books,” said Adrian, whose favorite books include Star Wars and comic books such as Spiderman and Superman.
Picking a theme
Each month, Solares and Children’s Librarian Mary Gonzalez chose which books to read based on the theme for that month’s story hour.
The June 9 story hour had two themes, Father’s Day and summer, since the first day of summer is June 21.
However, Solares found that just reading books to children is not enough. Activities that go along with the day’s theme were also planned for the children.
“It is difficult to keep their attention longer than 15 to 20 minutes,” said Solares, explaining the importance of planning some activities as well. “So we try to give a little information to go along with the book.”
Since Father’s Day by Laura Alden, one of the books read to the children, was about a fishing trip, Solares got dressed in his fishing gear and taught his audience how to fish. Each child also received his or her own fishing rod with a magnet as bait.
The children also learned how to use their imagination, and what the difference was between an author and an illustrator.
This is a lesson that Adrian already uses when he tries to read on his own.
“I try to read books sometimes, but I picture my dad reading them in my mind, so I can remember,” said Adrian, who recently graduated from kindergarten at Our Lady of Libera Grammar School in West New York.
Gaining in popularity
Since Solares began reading at the story hours, the library has tried some new ways of publicizing the event.
“Many parents will go to the Barnes and Noble for a story hour for their kids,” said Solares. “A lot of people did not even know that the library has a story hour.”
One of the ways that Solares made sure that every child would return each month was through a sign-in sheet that asked for the children’s names and addresses. Each child would then get a postcard in the mail reminding him or her of the next story hour.
“I wanted to make sure that the postcards were addressed to the kids,” said Solares. “This way the kids will say ‘Hey, I got mail. I am going to the library.'”
Now that the story hours are taking a break for the summer, the library is planning its next event for children. The library will start its book club for children in third grade to age 12. The club will meet three Thursdays in July.
To reach the library, call 295-5135.