CHESTERVILLE — When Brielle Kincaid accepted the position of Story Time Librarian at Selover Public Library last year, she never imagined that her entire family would become involved in producing preschool story time videos at home.
Since spring, when the coronavirus began limiting gatherings, “Miss Brielle” has been recording and sharing story time online for children to enjoy at home.
Many librarians have posted videos of themselves reading stories for children to watch at home, but Kincaid has taken her program a step further. She also includes the songs and activities that she typically incorporated into her in-person story time at the library.
What really makes Kincaid’s story time come alive is the help she receives from her family. Each story time, Kincaid is joined by her children Zeke, 9; Belle, 8; and Ana, 6.
“When my three children and I talked about how we could best serve our community several months ago,” Kincaid explained, “we realized that just being ourselves — dancing, singing, reading, crafting, and doing life together — we could bring fun and happiness to others.”
The children help read stories, make the crafts, and sing and dance while Miss Brielle plays the guitar. Their joy in contributing to the family production is evident.
“I love story time,” Ana said. “It’s fun.”
“It’s just the best,” her sister Belle agreed. “Especially the crafts.”
Their brother Zeke had the same opinion: “I just love doing story time with my sisters and my mom. I get to make up a lot of the craft ideas.”
Her husband, Isaiah, has made guest appearances, although he is usually behind the camera and assisting with the editing process.
“Our online story time gives us a chance to engage with the children that we miss seeing,” Brielle said. “We love to hear from them, see the crafts they do, and receive pictures of them participating with us. It brings us such joy! It’s the next best thing to being in-person with them.”
Two Fridays a month at 10:30 a.m., Miss Brielle hosts a watch party on the private Facebook group “Selover Public Library Storytime with Miss Brielle.” Participants need to join the group to watch story time and interact with Miss Brielle.
On off weeks, Kincaid presents a simpler program of reading stories on Friday mornings, which is accessible from the library’s public Facebook page.
