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LONGMONT — Angel Faull registered her 3-year-old son, Spencer, in the Longmont Public Library’s new storytelling program to tickle the toddler’s imagination without relying on books. “Learning to hear a story without looking at picture books is a new skill for him. It’s a whole new way of looking at the world,” she said.
Of course, Faull hopes storytelling also will lay the foundation for a lifelong reader.
The Faulls are one of 15 families registered for Souptelling, a free six-month pilot program at the library. Each month, they will meet at the library to sample soup, catered by Stone Table Catering, from a different region and listen to a speaker from Spellbinders, a group of volunteer storytellers.
During Thursday’s first event, families sampled spicy Mexican tortilla soup and listened to Denver author Angel Vigil’s Hispanic folk stories.
A $6,000 grant from the Association for Library Service to Children is funding the pilot program.
The Longmont library was one of 15 in the country that received grants from the organization to implement programming that celebrates the 15th anniversary of El día de los niños/ El día de los libros, or Children’s Day/Book Day, which was April 30. The day, often simply called Día, focuses on literacy for children from all backgrounds and languages.
“Día is all about multi-cultural literacy and introducing families to stories from all around the world,” said Elektra Greer, head of children’s and teen services at the Longmont library.
To kick off the program on April 30, families painted their own ceramic bowls at Longmont’s Crackpots and heard a couple of folk stories, including “Stone Soup.”
In the next week, Angel Faull said, Spencer asked four times to hear the “Stone Soup” story. To her, that means he gets it.
Response to the program has been so strong that the library plans to offer another session of Souptelling this fall, Greer said.
To sign up, contact Greer at 303-651-8781 or Elektra.Greer@ci.longmont.co.us.
Magdalena Wegrzyn can be reached at 303-684-5274 or mwegrzyn@times-call.com.