When I was a little girl our local library had its budget cut one summer and had to do away with story hour. Some ingenious librarian came up with the idea of setting up an audio book on the telephone. It really was better than going to the library, because as much as I loved the library I often didn't like the other children who went to story hour. I think their parents just dropped them off for free babysitting and they didn't really care if they heard a story or not. The new system allowed me to call the number (which my mom had posted near the phone) time and time again. Each week a new story would come out and all three of us would race to the phone. It was nice sitting on the cool linoleum in the darkness of the dining room, phone to my ear, pulling at the strings of my cut-off shorts, listening to the likes of Thom Thumb and Thumbilina stories.
1 comment:
This is amazing...as a past children's librarian I am amazed that they saved any money by cutting storytimes....but they robbed children of a wonderful opportunity and I am so glad it turned out to be a pleasant memory for you. Talk about false economy!
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