The Scoop on Poop 💩

Book cover illustrated by Anna Su¨ßbauer

Mileage may vary on this one but one thing is for sure — kids find bodily functions and potty humor hilarious. Embrace their fascination with the foul through books and programming! 

Melissa Taylor notes in her post on Read Brightly, "Young readers will adore these stinky stories of our grossest yet often hilarious bodily functions: farts and poops. If your kids love potty humor in their picture books, these titles will be their next favorite read-alouds. Because whether it’s people or animals, poops and farts happen."

See her entire list here. [Gross Me Out! Hilarious Poop and Fart Books for Kids. Taylor, Melissa. Brightly blog.]

Then check out the Programming Librarian Interest Group on Facebook for program suggestions! Like this Poop Party post featuring TP races, Poop Shoot, Put the Poop in the Potty, and a photo booth! Or this thread discussing ideas and advice for a poop-themed programs for ages 6-10. From reaching out to local wildlife resources to teach scat identification and pairing it with a storytime featuring similarly themed books to DIY Poop Emoji squishies, this thread includes a ton of great ideas.

Are you on board with a poo themed party or have you already held one?  If so, please share your experience! Inquiring minds want to know, how did the poo party go? 

Good Programs Start Small: Embrace the Ripple Effect!

Feeling disheartened by program attendance?  

In a recent post on Programming Librarian, entitled Good Programs Start Small: Attendance Doesn't Equal Success, Montour Falls Library, in rural Schuyler County, New York and Wright Memorial Public Library in Oakwood, Ohio share their experiences with programs that may not have seen a large number of attendees, but made a significant impact in their communities nonetheless.

"At both libraries, efforts that started small have created a ripple effect as community awareness of the library’s efforts grows."

Click HERE to read the entire article.

To quote Anne Hamland, library rockstar and the person to thank for sharing both the article and the following nugget of motivation, "Success is NOT attendance. Success is whole-person librarianship."

(adorable comic by Andrés J. Colmenares of wawaiwacomics.com)

8 Ways to Save Money on Programming

Over at ALA's Programming Librarian blog, Director of Meservey Public Library (Iowa), Chelsea Price has shared some great ideas on how to stretch your programming dollars (without sacrificing sanity or quality).  One of my favorite suggestions is to "mine your community for programming gold," meaning call on neighbors and community members to share their talents at the library.  Check out her other suggestions and ideas HERE.