Storytimes for Children

This compilation of ideas for beginning school or public librarians, daycare workers, and group leaders appears hastily gathered. Activities were collected by MLS students at San Jose University and organized by age group, such as infants (ages 0 to 2), preschoolers (ages 3 and 4), and up through preteens (ages 11—12). The suggestions for older audiences cover four to five sessions on one topic, such as "Your Past/Present/and Future," which introduces genealogy. Each chapter has approximately 10 to 15 topics with a two-page outline for each 30-minute program. Most sessions include an introduction, a couple of books (with ISBNs provided), an activity, and a closing song or fingerplay where appropriate. Some suggestions are more helpful than others. For example, the program "Disease" suggests that inviting "any guest speaker who has dealt with disease would be great!" New storytime leaders would benefit from more guidance, in general, on how and where to begin to locate suitable speakers on various topics. A few songs include lyrics but there are no illustrations to indicate motions for the fingerplays. This book appears to be more of an unpolished, rough draft and will not be as helpful for beginning planners as Barbara Scott's 1,000 Fingerplays and Action Rhymes (Neal-Schuman, 2010).—Blair Christolon, Prince William Public Library System, Manassas, VA