I grew up in the theatre, literally performing in my first play at age five. Therefore, I am biased. I love the stage. That said, I would like to tie that passion into early literacy. For me, that is what storytime has been about for years. However, I got one of my first tastes this past week of how, as a parent and audience member, I can collaborate with performing artists to bring out many more facets of a book than I would with a simple reading.
My daughter and I went to a play of Diary of a Worm, a Spider, and a Fly based on the books by Doreen Cronin/ Illustrated by Harry Bliss. Many lines in the script came verbatim from the books, but the plots had a bit of expanding in the theatrical version of the tales. It was pretty true to the text, though.
The next day, my daughter was sitting in her carseat with her pencil and a notebook. I kept hearing her say "Dear Diary" and then talk while she scribbled. After that, we went to our local library and checked out Diary of a Fly and Diary of a Spider. She chose Diary of a Worm as her book to keep for our Reading Partners program where you can earn a free book after reading 20 books together. Since checking them out/ acquiring them, we have read all three books multiple times.
My daughter and I share books every night and many days, too. Still, I think that she really clung to these tales not only because they are cute and funny but also because of the experience she had watching the stories unfold on stage.
*Warning for my librarian friends-- I think these stories in text form work better one-on-one than for storytime readings. (This allows time for studying the illustrations and for children to absorb the humor).
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