Monday, May 29, 2006

Once Upon a Time in the Inland Valley




If you have never taken your kids to the Pomona Public Library storytime, you are really missing out. Miss Lois, the children's librarian for Pomona, is the bomb: she sings in Spanish and English, she dances, she plays guitar, she reads, she does puppets, she does felt boards and get this.....she raps. A self-admitted owner of 8 cats (at last count), Miss Lois' one flaw may be that she is partial to feline tales over dinosaur books. She does a killer rendition of the Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly. And my sometimes-picky-eater son started demanding peanut butter and jelly sandwiches after hearing her song/dance of the same name. You see, Miss Lois has heart and the children sense this and eat it up. oh, and in case you couldn't tell, parents dig her too. The children's storytime is held at the Pomona Library every Tuesday at 10:15 a.m., corner of Garey and Mission in downtown. After storytime, parents and kids mill about in the library, eventually moving outside to the park for snacks and running around. Word is that if it gets crowded enough, Miss Lois will add a second day of storytime.

Claremont Library's Storytime is located at 208 N. Harvard in the Village on Fridays and Saturdays at 11:30 a.m. Claremont has other branches, most of which probably have their own storytimes. Would love to hear your own experiences at the Claremont storytime

The new and rather glitzy downtown Ontario Public Library is home to a number of different storytimes. There's one for tots under 20 months held on Wednesday, another for toddlers held every weekday morning but Wednesday, and lastly one specifically for preschoolers held Thursday or Friday mornings. One must pre-register in person or by phone for all these storytimes, so they must be something special. To reserve space call (909) 395-2207.

I am told that the Upland Public Library also has a great children's department. Their Tuesday morning storytime, however, conflicts with Pomona's, so my loyalty to Miss Lois prevents us from checking it out.

Our new Barnes and Noble Bookstore at the Montclair Mall, which boasts a topnotch children's section, also has storytimes.

No comments: