How exhilarating to read, sing, and dance with such an engaged audience! Any nervousness that I felt before going to the British Infants school melted away once I actually began my storytime. Having seem some of the staff here at Skokie do their storytimes–all of whom did it so naturally and passionately–I knew I had a lot to live up to when I did my own storytime. Each person’s personality shines through their storytimes. I hope that with more practice that storytime will come as naturally to me as our Skokie staff; and then I can shine too. The children a the school were all excited to tell me about their day, about all the bird facts that they knew (since birds was the topic of our storytime), and anything else that popped into their heads. Admittedly, I was not the best at getting them to calm down and listen to the story. I was just as excited as them and wanted to listen to everything they had to say to me. After storytime, some of the children cam up to me and shyly asked if they could hug me and my puppets. That moment reaffirmed my desire to become a Youth Services librarian.

Looking around the Youth Services department I see beautiful, messy desks that proudly shows the passion that each person here has for what they do. And I am so honored to be among them. I am excited to dive into their world head first and immerse myself in all things Youth Services. Next to my computer is a stack of picture books. Already I looked through the stack to see if I recognize any of the titles; I do not, so I have some reading to do later when I find the time. Looking at the calendar of events, I get excited about the knitting and crocheting events on Tuesdays, the Harry Potter day, the Gentle Plays. I’m excited not just at the prospect of participating in them, but also at the idea that I could one day help plan such an event from the ground up. There is so much to do, and I am thrilled by the prospect of being able to do it all. Perhaps I want more than I can handle, but only time will tell.