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Wilson Children's Librarian Michelle Ziogas: "I hope they come home from kindergarten and ask, ‘Can we go to the library?’”
“And that’s Michelle,” said Wilson Library Branch Manager Meghan Currey. “As you can see, she’s shaking out her sillies.”
Surrounded by six moms and their toddlers, Michelle Ziogas opened the Wilson Library’s weekly “Stay and Play” in-person storytime in the same way she has since starting last July as the branch’s first children’s librarian in years.
That is, by singing along to a song, this week’s selection being “Shake My Sillies Out” by children’s artist Raffi.
Wilson Library’s “Stay and Play” starts every Thursday morning at 10:30 a.m. at the Hill public library branch at 303 Washington Ave. It offers storytime, songs, and free play — and for parents, community and conversation.
After the group’s sillies had been shaken out on Thursday, Ziogas introduced the day’s story: Little Owl’s Night by Divya Srinivasan.
As the morning sun shone through the windows overlooking the reading nook, the “Stay and Play” squad learned how fascinating the day can be to a nocturnal owl who has only ever seen the moon. Possums waddle, bees buzz, and Little Owl can’t help but take notice, until he finally dozes off.
Ziogas’s reading was paired with an ambient backing track, filling the library with the sounds of chittering squirrels and squeaking hedgehogs. As Little Owl dozed off, Ziogas broke out boxes of dinosaurs, train tracks, and Magnatiles, quickly snatched up by eager hands.
The kids tried their hands at everything from building...
...to drawing.
As the kids ventured into prehistoric worlds where dinosaurs ran rampant and constructed high-speed routes for wooden trains, their moms discussed their own adventures in parenthood.
They exchanged parenting advice.
“How long are they supposed to parallel play for?”
“I think they’re supposed to stop before kindergarten.” Parallel play, common in toddlers, is playtime in which kids observe and play alongside each other without interacting.
They chatted about cats.
“It’s like herding cats!” said one mom of the kids, who had entered the library and instead saw a jungle gym.
“This reminds me of one of those cat cafés. Has anyone been to the cat café in Westville?”
They shared gripes about societal expectations.
“My husband watched the kids the other day and my friend said, ‘That’s wonderful! He’s such a great dad,’ and I was, like…”
“Yeah, why is it only wonderful when he watches them? I watch them every single day,” two moms laughed.
They remembered their own parents.
“My parents can be really judgy and they’ll, like, fat shame people. I’ll say, ‘You can’t say that,’ and then my mom will go on about ‘how you can never say anything in this day and age!”
“Exactly, why don’t we all just be kind? Isn’t that right?” one mom asked her son.
And they celebrated milestones.
“Otis took his first steps today!” said Karmen Sizemore, the program’s most loyal attendee. Sizemore has been bringing her children, Otis, 15 months, and Frances, 5, to “Stay and Play” since last July, when Ziogas started at the library.
Sizemore with Otis and Frances, who have been attending "Stay and Play" since its start last July.
“I first met Michelle when she was training for this position at another library, and so I followed her when she came to Wilson. That was last July, when Otis was three months old.” Sizemore has made several friends through “Stay and Play”, one of whom she scheduled a playdate with during free play time.
Sizemore brings her kids to Wilson Library twice a week: On Tuesdays to “Crafternoons,” the library’s afternoon crafts program, and on Thursdays to “Stay and Play.” Sizemore does not allow her kids to use screens during the day, making the library a staple in her family’s summer programming.
Although “Stay and Play” is especially popular in the summer, Ziogas runs the program year-round. “Yeah, no one ever really gets a break,” she said of the parents in attendance.
Ziogas, who started out with the New Haven Free Public Library (NHFPL) assisting with adult programming, “would not believe you if you told [her] five years ago that she would be a children’s librarian.”
“Working with adults mostly included helping them with résumés and the like, but it also meant hearing about their trauma… and I’m like this empathetic sponge, so it was a bit tough.”
Unlike NHFPL’s other branches, the Wilson Library did not have a children’s librarian until last summer, when the city’s budget finally allowed for a much-needed touchpoint for the library’s youngest patrons.
“I want this to be a safe, fun place for them to hang out. I have so much respect for teachers, but I like not having to follow a set curriculum,” Ziogas said. “It’s also great not only for the kids to play, but for parents to connect. A lot of the moms here are friends, and the kids, too — Francis met her best friend here, and they come to events together.”
A tissue paper collage by Ziogas that brightens up the library.
Ziogas was familiar with all of Thursday’s “Stay and Play”’s attendees, making it a point to spend time with each kid and talk to every mother. “A lot of my friends are becoming moms, so it’s nice that I can spend time with them in this way.”
Although Ziogas’s vibrant personality and evident passion for the library’s patrons were palpable, she hopes to continue growing as an educator. “I spend a lot of time watching Ms. Rachel,” she laughed, referring to a teacher on YouTube who has gone viral for her bright demeanor and popularity among young audiences.
“I hope that I can have the same level of affection and ease that [Ms. Rachel] does,” Ziogas said.
When asked what she envisions for the program’s future, Ziogas added, “I want them to want to come to the library. I hope they come home from kindergarten and ask, ‘Can we go to the library?’”
As “Stay and Play” came to a close, a few moms lingered to finish their conversations.
“We love it here,” Sizemore said of the library as she packed up her stroller. “This is our community, right?” she asked Otis and Frances, smiling wide in response.