Monday, April 23, 2007

william, it was really nothing

well, Sunday came and went and with it our first proper story time and it was certainly a learning experience. There weren't a lot of people- well, to be honest, one child and his dad and while we're being honest I should probably point out that they were here by accident!
Ho hum, but William (and his dad) certainly tried to be a good audience- he listened, he said he'd join in but one page into the first story a more basic instinct took over. 'Room on a broom' began ok but William didn't care for the cat, the plait or the hat- once he saw the cape his Superman fetish became unstoppable- I had lost my audience. I suppose a top-notch storyteller could have recovered from this and if the story had been a basic rhyme scheme maybe I could have managed but Julia Donaldson's rhythms are flawless and, I'm afraid, beyond my ad libbing skills. Anyway, once the conversation turned to Superman and all the tiresome stuff about witches and wolves was forgotten William proved to be a delightful conversationalist and I had a great half hour with him (and his dad) although I think he may have been a bit nervous about me!

The conclusions I've drawn from this is that Sunday afternoon is probably not the best time to be doing a story time. If one or both parents work then maybe standing in a shop listening to someone struggle through a story they've already read to their kids 27 times might not be everyones idea of quality time. Whereas, if you are looking after a child by yourself all day five days a week even with the best will in the world another option is always a good thing. I still like the idea of Sunday readings- the family go out for a nice lunch together and then come to their local bookstore- but I think we'll pick a weekday too- probably Monday or Tuesday.
If anyone has any ideas or if any schools wish to come along please let me know and we'll try and accommodate everyone

julian

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