Bryan Manabat was one of the storytellers.
“The story for today is ‘The Wild Christmas Reindeer’ by Jan Brett. It has a Christmas theme and its talking about Santa. We are islanders here so kids hardly see snow and reindeer and I thought it was a good idea to show them that there are places that celebrate Christmas in a different way,” he said.
He asked the children questions while he was reading the story to know if they understood it and to get their reaction regarding the turn of events as the story progressed.
“I ask them questions to know if they comprehended the story while I was reading the book,” he said.
A picture book keeps the children hooked because of the colors and imagery that can stimulate their imagination, he added.
“We have to show them through the pictures in the book what is happening,” said Manabat, a Motheread/Fatherread certified trainer.
The main character of the story was Teeka, an elf.
She was tasked to get the reindeer ready for Christmas Eve.
From the story, Manabat said, the children learned the value of hard work, patience, goodness of heart and determination.
To get the children more involved, they sang “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” before and after the storytelling session.
“So they could remember the story and it will make a lasting impression for them to be able to connect it to the song,” Manabat said.
To make the activity more fun for the children, they also made paper “antlers” after the storytelling session.
“We encourage the children and parents out there to come and join us. This is something that we are doing in partnership with the Joeten-Kiyu Public Library to make reading more fun regardless of what season it is,” said Viola Deleon Guerrero, director of the local Motherread/Fatherread program.
