TRUCKEE, Calif. — As a child, I used to look forward to beginning of the school year every fall. Sure, summers were fabulous, but I remember enjoying the rhythm and energy that the start of a new school year offered.

As a young adult, first as a college student and later as an academic librarian, I continued to enjoy the new beginnings the school year offers on campus. Now, as a parent and full-fledged adult working as a children’s librarian, I can still revel in that rhythm and energy as storytimes resume at the Truckee Library in September: Tuesday Toddler Times and Babes in Bookland and Preschool Stories every Wednesday.

With the tidal wave of research emphasizing the importance of reading to your child from birth, the library is pleased to offer programming for Truckee’s tiniest residents, from 6 to 24 months of age. The program focuses on the all-important concepts of rhythm, repetition and rhyme. Since it is nearly impossible to expect the very young to focus exclusively on one storyteller in a group setting for an extended period of time, the library provides individual sets of materials for each infant/caregiver pair. Eye-catching super-sized books are featured each week, along with a core set of board books selected for their universal appeal to the very young. Accompanying music, maracas and bubbles round out this multi-sensory experience offered Wednesdays at 10:30 am.

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Once a child reaches that adorable toddling stage, Toddler Time for 18- to 36-month-olds takes center stage on Tuesdays at 10:30 a.m. Attention spans lengthen somewhat and powers of exploration explode. Toddler Time is not for the faint of heart; it’s a sometimes wild, always wacky time of sharing short books in a group, singing, dancing, maracas, bubbles, hand stamps and stickers.

For that magical preschool age of 3-5, when attention span lengthens and locomotion levels starts to lessen somewhat, Preschool Stories is offered every Wednesday at 11:30 a.m. While maracas, bubbles, hand stamps and stickers are still popular with this age group, the stories get longer and the plotlines slightly more complex, as this audience prepares for kindergarten.

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Each of the storytimes roughly adheres to the school year schedule, taking breaks in the summer and major holiday periods. Once our storytime clientele graduates on to elementary school, the Truckee Library also offers both summer and winter reading programs for kids to encourage learning to read independently and to establish the lifelong habit of reading for pleasure. Next time, I will provide a wrap-up of this year’s wildly successful Summer Reading Program.

Teri Andrews Rinne is the children’s services librarian at the Truckee Library, 10031 Levon Ave., Truckee. Call 530-582-7846 or visit http://www.mynevadacounty.com/library.