Thursday, August 16, 2007

One Last Storytime

I took my sons to what was probably their very last Barnes & Noble storytime yesterday. At five and seven, they're really kind of older than the target audience. And they never want to go to the storytimes unless it's a 'party'. A party entails a story, a juice box, a snack (usually gummies or some sort of Little Debby selection), and some sort of activity: a craft or some publisher-supplied activity pages. For the parties, they're willing to revisit their younger days.

So anyway, yesterday the party theme was 'Back to School' and the headliner book was How Do Dinosaurs Go To School, a short rhyming text by Jane Yolen, pictures by Mark Teague. Very cute books. So the place is PACKED--there are literally fifty kids there (I saw two separate booksellers count, and they had to go back to the storeroom twice for extra juice boxes)--and we're all crowded in, kids and moms, trying to listen to this story over the din of childhood. So it starts off like 'How do dinosaurs go to school? Do they blah, blah, blah--blah, blah, blah, rhyme?' And this lady behind me starts answering these really kinda rhetorical questions in a loud, baby-talk voice: 'No! No they don't!' Next rhyme. 'Oh my goodness, no!' Next rhyme. No, they don't do that! Next rhyme. 'Naughty dinosaur!'

I could barely contain myself. I thought this whole thing was hilarious. Every rhyme--she commented on every rhyme. It was like the bookseller was reading it just to her and she was talking back. Even my older son turned around to see who was responsible for all this crazy, disruptive talk. I'm actually kind of surprised he didn't tell her: 'You're not really supposed to answer.' He's that sort of kid. Thankfully, we didn't hear from her again after the story was over. She kept quiet through the next book, and everything went back to normal.

And now we are officially ready for Back to School...Yay! Although we still have one more week to go. Bummer.

6 comments:

Vicki said...

Awww, I remember story time at the library with my kids. It was a long time ago.

You did better than me, I probably would have turned around and shhh'd (don't think that's a word) the woman.

Back to school time was always fun in my household. I think I got just as excited as the kids to buy the things to stuff their backpacks with. :)

Beck said...

There's always that one wacky mom, isn't there?
A darling friend of mine always editorializes while she's reading kids' books "Oh look how silly he is! He has a birdhouse on his head!". Yes. We all see that.

Unknown said...

ROFL!! See the funny thing is I'm the sarcastic person who WOULD do the answering like that. This is why my children never take me anywhere. :)

Erica Ridley said...

LOL. This is a hilarious story.

Erica <-- who might've snarked a book too, but would've at least done so in her head. *g

P.S. to Beck: my mother always did this, and continues to do it to the grandkids. In front of people. =)

Unknown said...

I used to love getting ready for school. New supplies. New backpack. Sigh. Back when life was simpler! :) Have a great weekend!

Wylie Kinson said...

Hey! I thought I recognized you sitting in front of me!!
;)