Library here to support you

Returning to school this September will be a new experience for many of us in our community. Some children will be starting school for the first time. Others are choosing to stay home and dive into online learning. Amid fears of contracting COVID-19 are general school concerns about making friends, learning new skills, and navigating a new environment. I’m having my own case of back-to-school jitters as I start a new job as the Gibsons and District Public Library’s Children and Youth Coordinator. Despite the COVID-19 landscape, it’s my goal to continue to connect the library to our youngest community members, and it’s been my pleasure to do so while awarding Summer Reading Club medals to some of our most voracious
readers.
Whatever your back-to-school jitters may be, the library is here to support you. We have unlimited access to Tumblebooks for animated talking picture books and Kanopy Kids, our new free streaming service, with animated storytelling, language learning, movies, and TV shows.
If you’re all Zoomed-out, snuggle up with “Countdown to Kindergarten” by Alison McGhee, a picture book about a clever girl who’s ready for kindergarten but worried that she can’t tie her shoes. Try “Wemberley Worried,” the classic picture book by Kevin Henkes about a mouse named Wemberley who worries about everything, especially starting school, until she finds a fellow worrywart. “Wonder” by R.J. Palacio is currently my commuter audiobook and puts you into the shoes of a boy with a severe facial deformity as he starts middle school for the first time. “If you have a choice between being right and being kind, choose kind” is the popular quote from “Wonder” and a good mantra for all our
jitters.