Storytime is one of the highlights of being a librarian. Perhaps it’s the theater kid in me who loves to perform, but I also look forward to seeing and hearing kids’ reactions to the books I share. In this post, I’ll share why you should make reading aloud part of your routine.

Happy Valentine’s Day! If you couldn’t tell from our posts up until now, we love reading and all things books♥️ We thought it might be fun to share some staffulty favorite books–some they loved as kids, some are all-time favorites, and some are just things they’ve enjoyed lately.

I come from a road trip family. I suppose, with five kids to keep track of, my parents worried they’d accidentally create a real-life rendition of Home Alone if we flew. The drawback to road trips, it turns out, is that five kids have a mighty capacity for complaining about boredom when crammed hip-to-hip(-to car seat) in a seven-seater Toyota Highlander for hours at a time. 

I recently read the book Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa, which takes place in Jimbōchō Book Town in Tokyo. That is not the name of a book shop; that is the name of a region of the city that contains hundreds of bookstores. And it’s a real place. Wait, what?! How did I not know about this? Time to plan an adventure!

At Country Day, librarians encourage a love of reading by building excitement over books. We lead storytimes and book talks, give personalized recommendations, create themed book displays, offer reading challenges, share our thoughts on social media, host author visits and events like book swaps, poetry readings, and more. But what are some ways families can spark a love of reading at home?