It's Storytime at Sisters Library

If you're walking around Sisters with your little one on any Thursday about 10:30 a.m., head for the Sisters Library and quietly ease into the community room.

You can't help but start smiling listening to the enthusiastic sounds of children and parents singing a greeting to the old familiar tune of "Farmer in the Dell."

"We clap and sing hello; we clap and sing hello; with our friends at storytime; we clap and sing hello."

Right up in front of about 30 children, from birth to age 5, and parents -mostly moms - you'll see the Children's Community Librarian Paige Bently-Flannery holding forth. Last week, the subject was bedtime reading, involving dinosaurs and tigers - just two of the volumes the children roared, growled and laughed through.

This is about the most wonderful way anyone can take part with a child in what the library calls "early literacy." The goal is for children to discover books as new friends and enjoy the experience of early reading.

The early literacy tip Paige shares with parents makes the visit more than worthwhile: "Make music a part of your daily life," she says. "Encourage your child to join in. Singing introduces words, nonsense sounds, rhymes and rhythms, all in an enjoyable package."

No matter how much time your child spends watching Sesame Street, surfing the Internet for educational subjects and games, there is no better way to expose your child to early literacy than learning to read and teaching him or her the value of books; it's one of the best parts of being a parent.

Paige knows this, and she puts a great deal of her professional and personal energy into her work. Not only is she the children's librarian for Sisters; she also works in the Bend downtown branch in that same capacity.

In November, she'll be in San Jose, California, presenting a Storytime program to the California Library Association. In December, she'll be in Tigard at a mock Caldecott workshop, and in-between she'll be doing her job as the chair of the digital computer task force for the American Library Services on Children's Great Websites. In her spare time, Paige is also the Deschutes Public Library link to 25 schools in the Central Oregon area.

If you have a son or daughter from 6 years old to high school age who would like to share the fun of reading with others in the library, mark October 19 on your calendar and come to the library at 2:30 p.m. Paige will be there to help make "Big Nate" even more fun.

Oh, yes, then there's the second Wednesday - October 8, November 11 and December 9, when the eReader Lab in the library will be open for all ages. Paige will be there to help patrons get the most out of their computer and help with digital downloads.

The success for what Paige does at the Sisters Library can be best summed up from a statement overheard in the Sisters post office from the mom of two-and-a-half-year-old Frankie Borla, who had just left the Storytime fun in the library.

When someone asked her where she had been, looking at Frankie, she grinned and said, "Oh, Storytime in the library... that's his favorite thing!"