Kids who stopped by the children's area of the Austin Public Library last week were treated to Valentine's stories, arts and crafts, and even some candy.
It was all part of the Valentine's Day Storytimes last Thursday, put on by library volunteers Polly Jelinek and Bev Smith, both retired teachers. They had three storytime sessions throughout the day targeted for different age groups. The youngest group was a small gathering of three youngsters and their mothers.
Smith first read "Pooh's Valentine," with kid-favorite Winnie the Pooh and all of his friends. In the story, Pooh and his pals made Valentines for each other. The kids sat and dutifully listened to the tale, and the two readers also engaged them with questions about themselves.
Later, Jelinek read "Arthur's Valentine." As she turned the pages and showed the pictures, she made a comment about how her book has been read so much it's falling apart. It must have been a pretty obvious choice for storytime.
"We pick our favorites," Jelinek said.
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In the story, Arthur had left some candy kisses for one of his friends. Jelinek involved the kids once again in storytime. She pulled out a bag a chocolate kisses, handed two to each child and asked them to keep one and then give the other to someone else. It was a way to both share and spread the love.
Suzanne Rymer and her children Carson, 3, and Carleigh, 1, recently moved to town from Tennessee, and they've enjoyed a few library activities, such as the Backpacker Book Club and the Pint Size Polkas event last week.
Her kids enjoyed the stories and decorating pink paper hearts with markers, glue and stickers.
"Who can go wrong with Valentines?" Rymer said.
She said it's nice to have an activity for the kids to come and be part of.
"I think it's good interaction for the kids to be able to sit and listen and also have other folks here, too," Rymer said.
