Pop up stories about animals and songs

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Cuddling his blue teddy bear, Joseph Staines, 6, listened attentively to the story, “Who am I?: An Animal Guessing Game” by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page — a story filled with clues and a chance to guess which animal will be revealed on the next page through colorful illustrations. As Freeport Memorial Library’s Albert Tablante, Youth Services librarian, described the features of a frog, Staines along with six other children blurted out their guess of the animal. After the first story ended, Tablante started a second story inspired by the song, “If You’re Happy and You Know It.”

Every Monday, since the beginning of July, the Teddy Bear Story Time welcomes children to spend 30 minutes with their favorite Teddy Bear at the library. The program, according to Tablante, helps keep the school-aged children interested in reading throughout the summer months and encourages parents to get involved in the literacy programs the library offers.

Mother of two and native Freeporter, Denise Staines said visiting the library weekly for a story was something her son, Joseph and daughter Lily, 4 anxiously looked forward to.

“I grew up going to the library for reading and story programs when I was a kid and I loved it,” Denise said. “I want my kids to have that same experience, too. They love reading and the best part of this, they can bring their Teddy Bears.”

While Tablante read the stories and led the children on funny sing-a-longs, parents were seen lingering in the back of the Children’s Room or outside of the entrance watching their children interact and sing.

Though English is her second language, Rebecca Castellano, brings her daughters Pamela, 4 and Yamileth, 5 Morales to the many reading programs the library offers in efforts to help her daughters learn English and socialize with other children their age.

“I want my girls to know how to speak English by the time they go to school,” Castellano said in her native Spanish. “They’ve been coming here since they were little toddlers and I’ve seen them bloom so much, all while speaking a million miles an hour in English, too.”

Toward the of the program, Tablante turned on the radio and blasted the song “We Are the Dinosaurs” by Laurie Berkner while he held a mini-bubble maker in the center of the room. The children roared in excitement and started to dance and march in place. Lily and Pamela stood with their mouths open trying to taste the bubbles, while Joseph and Michael Vargas, 9, playfully shadowboxed the bubbles.

“Every week I try to add to something new to the story time,” Tablante said. “It can be a movie, a new story, a song or even a new dance. As long as the kids have a good time, that’s what we’re here to do.”