NCW Libraries launches live bilingual story time

With library doors shut, NCW Libraries launched a live storybook time series for children and parents. The series will be bilingual: in Spanish on Wednesdays at 10 a.m., and in English on Thursday at 10 a.m.

Interested parents can sign up at the library website at ncwlibraries.org by registering under the event on the event calendar. Participants must have an active library card.

Carriann Gray, children’s library associate at Moses Lake Library, said the event is presented by Suzy Neito and Claire Morrison with NCW Libraries.

“Before COVID, Neito would come to Grant County preschools and would do a bilingual story time,” Gray said. “She would come to the library in Moses Lake each week and do a story time as well.”

During the pandemic, Morrison has been recording the story times on the library’s social media page. By moving to the live format this week, Gray said the hope is children will be more involved with the reading.

The event is planned to be weekly this month, but Gray said she wouldn’t be surprised to see it extended beyond February.

Before the pandemic, the library had a number of story time events for parents and families, and Gray said she knows those events are missed.

NCW Libraries will also host a pair of live interactive workshops for school-age children called a Book-it Theater event. The workshop will be Feb. 16 and 23. Parents can sign up at the same place as the live story time events.

Casey McCarthy can be reached via email at cmccarthy@columbiabasinherald.com.