Allen shares love of reading with kids

Maggie Allen has helped implement a variety of programs at the Madison Public Library.

Where’s one place you can go that mixes dramatic storytelling, a unique learning style and toddlers? The Madison Public Library.

That’s where Youth Services Librarian Maggie Allen conducts Toddler Storytimes. Every Tuesday and Wednesday mornings, families gather in the library’s meeting room to hear her read children’s stories. “Even babies come to it, of course they’re not participating, but it’s great to be around other kids socially,” Allen said. “For toddlers, books are the smallest level of participation, it’s the social aspect.”

Story time is open to the public and free of charge.

“I don’t believe in charging for library programs,” she said. “For there to be a price, it would have to be something totally awesome or a fundraiser.”

Allen also hosts a teen anime at the library.

“I have street cred with them because I know anime,” she said. “It’s a chance for them to hang out in safe environment.”

Once a month, 35 to 40 teens participate in the club.

Allen said library programming has changed over the past 20 years. Today, libraries offer more teen-friendly material than ever before.

“Story times have been around, but we’re still evolving what we’re doing for kids,” she said. “The ideas parents have today are different from 20 years ago. The style changes every couple years.”

Allen is from the Nashville area. She received her undergraduate degrees in theatre and english from University of Tennessee.

“I worked on plays and realized the performance wasn’t what I loved as so much as the substance behind it,” Allen said. “I loved the stories and said ‘what can I do with this?’”

That’s when she decided to become a librarian. She went back to school and received her master’s from the University of North Texas.

“We’re not stodgy people who just love books, there are lots of different passions that we share,” she said.

She wanted to work in the area where she grew up, so she moved back to the Tennessee Valley area.

“I love it in Madison. It all worked very well for me.”

Allen’s next event will be an Earth Day party for school-age children, where they will recycle, play games and receive a seed to take home and grow into a plant. The party will be April 23 at 11 a.m.

“There are lots of wonderful storytellers in the community and we have different skills and different passions. I like making kids pay attention to a story and think about it,” she said. “I want them to think about the book and want them to connect to what does this picture mean.”