Donna Gwinnell Lambo-Weidner

A drove of dragons filled the  Fairfield/Cordelia Library last week when five kindergarten classes paid a visit on World Read Aloud Day

The wind was whipping, the rain torrential, as about 100 kids, their teachers, and chaperones from the Nelda Mundy Elementary School donned their foul weather gear and whimsical wellies and braved the latest California atmospheric river to hear a read aloud of my favorite debut picture book.

Once everyone shrugged off their bright-colored ponchos and parkas and piled their plastic umbrellas in the vestibule (now there’s a word you don’t hear everyday), half the soggy 5-year-olds settled in a nearby room to do a paper-bag dragon craft…

while the remainder filed into a corner of the children’s book section and made themselves comfortable on the floor before my feet. As children’s book librarian Natasha North introduced me, the sight of those fifty little faces, anticipation and excitement shining in their eyes and burbling from their lips, moved me to tears…literally!

I couldn’t Continue reading →