This December, the Delaware County District Library is taking a month-long break from our regular storytimes. While our youth services librarians take some time to gather and focus for the New Year (and new decade!), we’re taking this opportunity to reevaluate our storytime schedule and how we can best meet the needs of the communities we serve.

When storytimes return in January, you might notice a slightly different schedule from what the Delaware Library branches had previously. We noticed that there was much overlap, and we were missing some crucial times in the day and age groups during those times. This new schedule ensures that storytimes are available at a variety of times and locations throughout the county, for greater ease and access.

With a more streamlined approach, we are allowing our youth services staff more time to create and train for early literacy skill-building programs. Spoiler – every “party” that we have at the library for young children has hidden educational and literacy components. Don’t let them know they’re secretly learning amidst all that fun!

That additional time will also allow for more partnerships in the community, the schools, and the development of current and new services for children of all ages. We’ve got a great year planned for 2020, and much of it is centered on utilizing our amazing community partners to add expertise from their own fields and different lines of work. One example of this was our recent partnership with COSI to add science, botany, and paleontology to our Dinosaurs After Hou-ROARS program at the Delaware Main Library.

Finally, all this works together to ensure that our staff are able to offer superior customer service at every Delaware County District Library location. To see the new storytime schedule, check our website at www.delawarelibrary.org or pick up a “Check It Out” newsletter for the winter months.

While you wait for storytimes to return, stop in and see what other fun family programs are in store this month. You might even find a picture book or two to take home. Here are some new ones on the shelves:

• “Roar Like a Dandelion” by Ruth Krauss; illustrated by Sergio Ruzzier. Enjoy this refreshingly offbeat alphabet book from the late children’s author Ruth Krauss, with endearing artwork from illustrator Sergio Ruzzier. Each letter is represented by a suggestion — such as “act like a sprinkler in summer” or “eat all the locks off the doors” or simply “nod YES” — creating a reading experience that’s both whimsical and interactive.

• “A Big Bed for Little Snow” by Grace Lin. As soon as Little Snow’s Mommy re-stuffs his fluffy featherbed and tells him it’s “for sleeping, not jumping,” it’s clear that Little Snow won’t be able to resist. His every bounce releases a flurry of white feathers; to find out where they fall, you’ll have to check out this sweet and simple winter tale.

• “Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story” by Kevin Noble Maillard; illustrated by Juana Martinez-Neal. “Fry bread is…” opens each section of this inviting picture book, which uses the familiar food as a common ground from which to explore the diversity of Native American history, culture, and communities. This is the debut picture book from writer and professor Kevin Noble Maillard, a member of the Seminole Nation. You won’t want to miss the fry bread recipe in the final pages, and the endpapers featuring the names of tribal nations.

• “Saturday” by Oge Mora. Ava looks forward to Saturdays all week long, because it’s the one day she gets to spend with her hard-working mom. This Saturday, however, none of their cherished, eagerly anticipated activities are going as planned. Read it for a touching and realistic parent-child relationship, as well as a practical example of how to move on from disappointment.

• “Sulwe” by Lupita Nyong’o; illustrated by Vashti Harrison. Sulwe was “born the color of midnight” and is frustrated with being the darkest-skinned person in her family and her classroom. A gentle fable about Night and Day helps Sulwe take pride in being “dark and beautiful, bright and strong.”