Today is the first week that I've been home with both kids as a stay at home mom. While my hopes were that I might be able to get a little writing done during the day while they're awake but busy, so far that has not happened.
Earlier in the week I took them to the local library for their 'Family Storytime'. It's a great activity for kids where the librarian reads a story and then they sing and dance and blow bubbles. I realized as we were participating (and both kids were having a great time) that hopefully someday it will be MY story that will be being read to a room full of eager children. I also realized that I was managing to do some 'research' while keeping the kids entertained. It was great to see what books are currently out there and to get to see the children's immediate reaction to the story (as well as the length of their attention span). After the story time we went and explored the children's section of the library.
It took some searching but I finally found the books that were appropriate, kept in baskets on the floor. While the location made sense, the fact that they were in baskets didn't. One could only assume that the books on the bottom of that basket rarely saw the light of day. I know they make book displays where each of the covers can be seen (at least partially). Too bad they didn't have them in displays like that.
I took a look at where my books (when they're published) will be kept. The number of children's books is overwhelming and I can't imagine what my son thought. The books on the top of the shelves, sitting where their colorful covers could be seen were his first pick, but he rarely looked at the books on the shelves. Maybe when he is older and slows down we might be able to read each of the titles to find the ones he wants to read, but for now we have to do the 'express'. We will definitely be going back, so that they can have fun and I can do more 'research'.
Today I took them to the story time at the local Barnes and Nobles in the mall. The setting was much different than that of the library. While the story time was in a meeting room at the library, the story time at the bookstore was directly in the middle of the children's area. I thought this was a great marketing strategy for making sure that those who came to the story time walked away with at least one book in hand. My son, who is absolutely in love with the Toy Story theme right now, was sitting right next to a display of toy story books. The story was read by one of the store employees. Again, I took this opportunity to do some 'research'. The displays for the books was much different than that of the library. Many more of the books were turned out so that their colorful covers could be seen. It was easy to entice the child to come over to take a look. My son was fair game and we spent much longer looking at books in the bookstore than we had in the library. Again, I took a look at where my books would be kept, and imagined seeing my books displayed. Oh and we did leave with a book - One of the Max and Ruby books by Rosemary Wells.
Now that the kids are in bed, I've spent some time working on another children's book, as well as writing a little more of my YA series. And, of course, writing this blog.
