STORY TIME
Children can Dial A Story all summer long
June 24, 2008
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Kristin Rushowy
A story a day is just a phone call away.
And now, the Toronto Public Library's popular Dial A Story is offered in another language — Gujarati — to better serve the diverse population in the city.
"It's another way to experience a story," says Ken Setterington, the library's child and youth advocate.
The phone line serves children from ages 2 to 12, with different stories daily.
"It may be a child coming home to an empty house after school, or someone late at night. It's a friendly voice. As soon as you call, you feel better," added Setterington.
"The stories are good stories, and it's another way of encouraging both early literacy and literacy. Reading is based on the love of stories."
The phone line, which began in 1988, also helps develop children's listening skills.
Dial A Story offers stories, free of charge, for children from ages two to 7, and then up to 12, and are changed daily. Tales are told in 10 other languages: Cantonese, English, French, Italian, Mandarin, Polish, Portuguese, Somali, Spanish, Tamil.
Urdu will be added in the coming months.
Setterington said he always calls in to listen. "I like the stories, and a lot of them are being told by the best storytellers in the city...You can listen to stories from different cultural backgrounds."
Last year, Dial A Story received 316,000 calls, or about 900 a day. Storytellers have included Mayor David Miller, members of the Blue Jays or National Ballet school dancers. Some of the city's best storytellers, like author Dan Yashinsky, also take their turn, as do library staff who speak second languages.
Often, story offerings reflect the time of year, with something like The Nutcracker in December.
The usage rate is "phenomenal and keeps growing," said Setterington. "It's nice to be able to provide a service in a language other than English. It's wonderful to say yes, you can call and hear a story in Gujarati, Polish or Italian. People are clearly listening."
At the refurbished S. Walter Stewart branch in East York, amid the new "literacy playground" for young children, is a light-up phone with direct access to Dial A Story.
Dial A Story, can be reached at 416-395-5400, any time, any day. It is partly funded by Bell.