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Imagine that while interviewing for a library job you’re asked, “What would storytime specifically for African-American families look like to you?” That’s what happened to Kirby McCurtis. “I thought it was an especially interesting and challenging question,” says Kirby, who aced the interview and is now Multnomah County Library’s (MCL) newest African-American librarian. “It stayed with me even after the second interview. Now that I am working here, I have the opportunity to answer it every Saturday. It’s very exciting!”

A couple of years ago, our library received an LSTA grant to explore strategies to attract and better serve African-American families. Naturally, we relied on the local black community to lead the way. Focus groups with parents and interviews with key leaders revealed a desire for more books and services that would highlight the richness of African-American culture and experiences. One specific recommendation was to develop and promote an explicitly black-culture-focused storytime to help families feel welcome at the library.

At first, the idea of offering a storytime specifically for African-American children seemed regressive. But why? We know that every child needs to feel that his culture is respected and valued. In fact, 15 years ago, when the National Association for the Education of Young Children revised its guidelines for effective teaching and learning practices, it included a child’s cultural identity in the mix. We also hoped that offering a black storytime would foster children’s knowledge and pride in their cultural identity and demonstrate that MCL holds African-American culture in high regard.

Black storytime is a natural extension of some of the tailored storytimes we already offer in English, Spanish, Russian, Vietnamese, and Chinese. Kirby agrees: “I view this storytime no differently than a non-English language storytime. I know ‘black’ is not a language, but the African Diaspora is too vast to have just one language, so instead, we are being all inclusive by organizing the storytime around the black experience in America. And, of course, black storytimes are open to all.”

Kirby is a recent transplant to Portland, OR, so she was unsure what kind of reception the new storytime would receive. “The reactions have been mixed,” she says, “but the biggest surprises for me were the questions from MCL staff: “Why have a storytime just for African-American kids? And, why is it called black storytime?” This surprises me because we are all in the business of literacy, and the difference in literacy rates between black and white youth in America is no secret. How can an effort to improve and support black children’s literacy be viewed as a bad thing?

The name “black storytime” troubled a few patrons, too. “We bounced around a few different names but they were unnecessarily complex and confusing,” explains Kirby. “Calling it ‘black storytime’ is simple and straightforward. It speaks to the people we want to bring into the library, and it is inclusive to all people who are black, not just African Americans.”

How’s the new program doing? It’s “off to a rousing start,” shares Kirby. “We have consistent attendance of 18 to 20 kids each week, including nonblack families, and all seem to be having a great time, no matter what race they are. I am very deliberate about the book selection, introducing families to stories that appeal and speak to the black experience. If kids see characters that look like themselves, I hope they will be more encouraged to read and explore books with the adults in their lives.” Kirby focuses on other aspects of African-American culture too, such as its music, strong oral tradition, and the respect shown to elders.

“At the end of each storytime, parents thank me for the great program,” she says. “I want them to see the library as a community space and resource, so I take a few minutes to ask what else they would like to see at the library. Black storytime is just our launch pad for other programming and services to the black community at MCL.” Kirby concludes, “I feel hopeful about our efforts to reach the black community, because I’ve seen already that the kids are excited to come to the library on Saturdays!”

Yoshikawa is the author of a sobering new book called Immigrants Raising Citizens: Undocumented Parents and Their Young Children (Russell Sage, 2011). Based on a three-year study of nearly 400 children from Mexican, Chinese, and Dominican families, the book shows the adverse effects of parents’ undocumented status on their offspring. These young citizens are at great risk in their educational development, largely because of their parents’ precarious legal situation.

Yoshikawa and his colleagues visited homes and workplaces, seeing firsthand how fear of deportation and separation affects all aspects of these families’ daily lives. The researchers learned that any kind of service requiring documentation is out of reach for most of the families. It’s difficult, if not impossible, for them to obtain child-care subsidies, health care, checking and savings accounts, and even a driver’s license or a public library card.

The parents in the study work long hours, often for less than the legal minimum wage. They endure poor working conditions but are afraid to complain. They rarely get raises because they’re reluctant to make themselves conspicuous to those in positions of authority. Many live in rundown apartments, fearful of complaining to their landlords. Most compelling to us was Yoshikawa’s observation that the children of undocumented immigrants aren’t likely to receive quality center-based child care, which research shows can greatly improve early development. His findings indicate that at as early as 24 months, these children show lower cognitive and language-skill development than their more privileged peers.

Yoshikawa emphasizes that locally based, nonpolitical organizations are currently the best community supports for this remarkably large segment of our population. We especially sat up and took notice when he mentioned that his researchers were often the first ones to tell these families about pubic libraries and all they have to offer.

Yoshikawa identifies three “principles” that low-income immigrant families use to identify community organizations they believe they can trust: the perceived benefit to their children; a familiar, comfortable setting; and ease of enrollment. He reports that WIC (Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children) is one organization that has been a “success story” in its service to undocumented immigrants. He cites several reasons for this. Recognizing that Mexicans and some other ethnic groups disapprove of “cash welfare,” WIC doesn’t dispense money. Instead, it provides food and nutritional counseling, which are regarded as directly helpful to the children. WIC often provides its services in clinics and hospitals where the children were born, so their parents trust the location and feel comfortable taking their children there. And enrollment is simple, thanks to social workers who speak many languages and are available for assistance. Additionally, Yoshikawa notes that parents have come to trust that this organization won’t turn them into authorities who can deport them.

We encourage you to read Yoshikawa’s book. For those of us in public and school libraries, there’s so much more we can learn to continue our profession’s long history of helping new immigrants flourish in a challenging new world.

When she reads on the second page, “Owl Mother was GONE,” all eyes turn toward the book. The owls’ faces may not show much in the way of feelings, but a baby bird’s plea of “I want my mommy!” conveys an emotion that toddlers can easily relate to. “Oh, my. I wonder where Owl Mother went,” says Janie. “Why did she fly away? Do you think she’ll come back?”

Like you, we use many techniques to help children understand a story. One of the most powerful methods is thinking out loud while reading. Thinking out loud—in this case, talking about the owls’ emotions, actions, and motives—encourages children to think about the story.

“Reading is thinking” is a central principle for Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis, the authors of Strategies That Work: Teaching Comprehension for Understanding and Engagement (Stenhouse, 2007), who work mainly with primary and middle school readers and teachers. They’ve created a toolkit to help educators construct active learning environments that are aimed at boosting children’s reading comprehension.

To learn how libraries can help children think about a story, interact with its text, and, thus, build comprehension skills during storytime, we talked to Barbara Steinberg, a reading specialist here in Oregon. Steinberg believes that when we think out loud in storytime, we are encouraging children to model the same strategies that good readers use, such as predicting events and summarizing. She explained that good readers connect what they know from their own life experiences with what they’re reading. Good readers also constantly ask themselves questions while they read, such as “Why did he say that?” or “Is this important to the story?”

In storytime we ask children the same types of questions that efficient readers might ask themselves. Most of us use these strategies without even being aware of it, but when we think out loud, we are teaching children how to do it, too.

While thinking out loud is a technique frequently used to help students in the elementary grades, reading researchers Lea McGee and Judith Schickendanz have adapted this method for much younger children. Their approach is called repeated interactive read-alouds. How does it work? A storybook is read three times in slightly different ways in order to increase children’s engagement with the text. In the first reading, children are introduced to the story. In the second, they’re encouraged to get to know the characters and their challenges more deeply. And in the final reading, young listeners are invited to pinpoint the characters’ problems and to respond to analytical questions such as, “Who remembers what will happen next?” (To learn more, see “Repeated Interactive Read-Alouds in Preschool and Kindergarten” in the May 2007 issue of The Reading Teacher.) The main idea is to create an active learning environment that promotes interaction with the text and thinking for children of all ages.

When Janie finishes the story, she asks, “When their mother came back, why did the owls bounce on the branch?” One thoughtful toddler says, “I would jump on the branch, too.” Janie gently probes, “Why would you jump up and down?” and the toddler replies, “Because I would be happy, too!”

Successful readers need to do two things well. They need to learn the code and, most importantly, they need to understand its meaning. Librarians like Janie help children clear those hurdles with room to spare.