The library’s Russian-speaking team hosts a monthly children’s book club for ages 6 to 9. The book club began when Russian-speaking staff noticed a gap between the ages children visit the library for storytimes and the programming available for teens.
“After storytime, as kids grow up, they can lose the connection with the library,” says Natalia Alexandra, bilingual Russian library assistant.
Natalia initially developed the children’s book club five years ago as a summertime program at Midland Library. After seeing its success, she made the seasonal book club available year-round.
In the Russian children’s book club, everyone is reading different books. There are different crafts, tools and games to engage the children in literacy, including reading syllables, alphabet matching, and letter and word games.
During the pandemic, families would meet with the library online. Now, the book club meets once per month at Rockwood Library. Younger siblings have joined over the years.
The Russian book club is open to everyone and has become a multigenerational opportunity for the family.
“Now parents are participating in the book club as well. Grandparents come when they want the child to start to read and they want to support them. You can see several active members from the families,” says Natalia.
The book club is a bit like an extended storytime. All the children who can read do so together, and the younger kids can listen or do an activity. Kids have a chance to explore a curated selection of books for this club. At the end of each session, the children get together to create a play acting out one of the books read.
Join the next Russian Book Club!