Story Time Adventures takes off!

A new beginning. Story Time Adventures located in Hollister, but I'm willing to travel anywhere to bring the fun and adventure of books to children. I've had a successful run at Mars Hill Coffeehouse in Hollister. First story time was Buccaneer Bay-Pirates. 72 people came to see me!

The second one was WILD for Animals, and we also had a great turn out. Say hello to our friend, the pig! We had lots of crazy creatures there to entertain.

Story Time Adventures runs for 30, 45 or 60 minutes, depending upon your needs. Please contact me at Jengelha@aol.com for pricing information. More to come.

Story Time at Mars Hill Coffeehouse

This has been a good week.

I did my second story time at Mars Hill on July 28. We had about 72 children there. Brough in stuffed animals from a local chidren's store called Dolce Baby, and the San Benito Stage Company brought in actors dressed as animals! Yay!

Did a newspaper interview and a radio interview this week to help get us some press.

Next one is August 4 at 1:30 and it's all about transportation. All aboard!

Thank you for your contiuning support!
Julie

Second Story Time a Success!

Thanks to all who showed up for the second story time at Mars Hill Coffeehouse in Hollister. This theme was WILD for Animals! I was so fortunate to have community partners. Dolce Baby clothing and gift store was great by lending me there huge stuffed animals to use as decoratoins. Thank you! You can find them on Face Book: http://http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Hollister/Dolce-Baby/119472451411517?ref=ts&__a=35&ajaxpipe=1.

I am also greatful to San Benito Stage Company for having their actors come over dressed in animal costumes, and to Mansmith's BBQ for lending me their 'pig'.. their actress dressed in a pig costume. It really made the day a lot of fun.

Next story time will be August 4 at 1:30 and its theme is Let's GO! Cars, Planes, Trucks and Trains! Model railroad people will be there.

Please join us at 1:30.

Julie

Next Story Time July 28 Mars Hill Coffeehouse

So,

I am quite pleased that my first story time at Mars Hill Coffeehouse in Hollister, Ca., was a great success. 72 people showed up-62 were kids! I guess the pirate theme might have drawn them in. My next one is "WILD for Animals" on July 28 at 11 am. I'm excited about this one because I've come across volunteers who are willing to dress up in animal costumes. I have the 'Mansmith Pig' there. If you live in Hollister, on Fridays you will see 'the pig' on the corner of Tres Pinos and Airline Hwy., waving her sign trying to entice people to eat at their BBQ place. Another woman said her daughter would dress in her bald eagle costume, and I may have volunteers from a local theater company dress up, too. Bring your cameras, parents! This should be lots of fun!

The next story time is on August 4, 1:30 pm. I started to panic because this is the same day as Kids at the Park in Hollister, but I'm going to try to use it as a definite marketing tool and pass out flyers that morning to parents. I've been doing my best to do grass-roots marketing to get the word out about story time. It was in our local paper this past week, the Pinnacle, so I'm hoping people will remember and make it out.

I've enjoyed doing the story time planning because it allows me to be as creative as I'd like to be. I'm so used to following others' way of doing things. I keep thinking, "Oh no, I can't do this or that because it might not be right..." but then I have to give myself a little kick and think, "But, I'm the 'boss' so I can do what I please..." It's rather refreshing.

For example, the first story time was about pirates, so I dressed as a pirate, but lots of kids did, too! For the Animal story time, I've asked kids to dress up, but to also bring a stuffed animal. I'm also working with a local children's shop and they're lending me a stuffed giraffe, stuffed elephant, and stuffed dalmatian. These are larger animals. I'm also bringing in a bunch of stuffed animals owned by my younger son. What also excites me about this story time is that I'm incorporating some things that are different. For example, I'm going to teach the kids how to sign animal names. That's a pretty easy lesson. I'll do the sign then have them guess what it is. That will be incorporated throughout the session. I'm also doing a trivia contest.. asking them questions about 'famous dogs.' It's about cartoon dogs, but let's see who can remember the name of the Grinch's dog, or possibly the name of the two parent dogs in "101 Dalmations."

For the 4th of August, it's all about transportation. I've been working with a man who is a model railroad enthusiast, and he's supposed to bring out model trains. I hope it works.

Hope to see you there.
Mars Hill Coffeehouse in Hollister is located at 610 San Benito Street. Get there early for a good seat!

Julie

Story time success!

It's been awhile since I've posted, but my first story time was a great success! It was Buccaneer Bay-Pirates held at Mars Hill Coffeehouse on July 14. 72 people were there--62 of them were children!

My next story time will be on Wednesday, July 28, at 11 am at the same location. The theme next time is WILD for Animals! I'm hoping children will either dress up as their favorite animal, or they will bring a stuffed animal to share.

I hope you'll join us next time. We had so much fun!

Mars Hill is located in Hollister, CA, at 610 San Benito Street at the cross of 6th. This is FREE!

Take care!
Julie

Buccaneer Bay Story time

Getting very excited about the story time on July 14. I know no one's reading this blog (why not?) but it should be fun.

Thank you!
Julie

Free Story Time in Hollister, California

Well, it's only a week until I do my first story time here in Hollister, Ca. It will be held at Mars Hill Cofeehouse located at 610 San Benito Street. I certainly hope we have a good turn out that morning--11 am to noon. This will be a pirate theme, so I've been purchasing pirate books and thinking up things to do that are related to pirates.

I'm doing this on a volunteer basis. My inspiration comes from an 'old' friend, John Zickefoose, who I met about, wow, 13 years ago in Corona, California. John is such a great presenter, but I found out that he did not learn how to read until he was 35. Can you imagine that? He said he even graduated from high school, but he wasn't able to read the words on his diploma. He learned how to read after suffering a back injury which prevented him from continuing the type of work he was doing. It's amazing how life works.

But, John's message to kids and adults was to keep reading, reading, reading. I really want to pass that message along to the people here in Hollister. I'm a volunteer, I'm not making any money from this. I also want to give something to the community--to the people who are looking for things they can do with their children, for free!

My hope is to continue doing this for the rest of the summer, and possibly during the holidays. My next thought is to do a Hawaiian Beach Party reading event. Or, take a holiday from video games.. something along those lines. I'm looking for hula dancers who will perform for free.

Thanks for reading my blog! Hope to see you at Mars Hill Coffeehouse in Hollister on July 14, 11 am, 610 San Benito Street.

Julie

Looking for family magazine jobs

Who knows if anyone will see this, but I figure if I put something 'out there,' then someone might respond to it.

For the past 20 years I've been writing for a bunch of different magazines, but it seems as if I always come back to writing for famliy magazines. I'd really like to write full time for Family Fun Magazine (Disney), but the majority of my work has been for local or regional family magazines. I don't have a web site, as of yet, but should do that some day. I love writing about family issues, travel, child care, etc. I have a ton of clips that I can share. I just need someone to hire me!

Monday morning.

I began to title this as 'Sunday Morning,' because it feels like Sunday. Husband has the day off from work due to the 4th of July holiday. Younger son's sleeping, older son just took off to take care of a friend's cats while they're on vacation. And me, I'm up early as usual.

Still thinking about the story time on the 14th. Feeling a bit apprehensive about it, but I just have to do it. I sat in my son's bedroom yesterday to practice. I need at least 45 minutes worth of material, but I only ran about 20 minutes. Of course, I don't have all of my books, and I need to find more songs and finger plays and skits and such. I want this to be a fun, playful time, but I don't want to come off as being too goofy.

I hope we have a good turn out. Hope to see you there. Mars Hill Coffeehouse, 610 San Benito Street in Hollister.

Character Letters

What I'd like to do the most is continue on with my character letters. Did a great job two years straight writing Santa letters, and last year I did calls from Mrs. Claus. People just love them.. I do, too!

Julie Engelhardt--story time

Ah.. it's been quite some time since I've posted to my blog. Things have been a bit slow regarding writing, but I'm not giving up! I have a new project in the works.

I've always been intrigued by reading to children, it's something I love to do. So, on Wednesday, July 14, from 11 am to noon, I'm going to be offering a free story time at Mars Hill Coffeehouse http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hollister-CA/Mars-Hill-Coffeehouse/79929789196 in Hollister, CA. It's going to be a pirate theme.. Buccaneer Bay. I've found some really cute books that I'm going to read, such as "That's Not My Pirate," by Fiona Watts, http://www.amazon.com/Thats-Pirate-Usborne-Touchy-Feely/dp/0794517021/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1278280502&sr=8-1, and "Bubble Bath Pirates," by Jarrett J. Krosoczka http://www.amazon.com/Bubble-Bath-Pirates-Jarrett-Krosoczka/dp/0670035998/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1278280540&sr=8-1, and others. This is absolutely free for everyone.

My intent is two-fold. First, I really want to offer something to the families in Hollister. It's a lovely little town, but it is so devoid of anything that is family friendly. Sure, we have our regular fast food restaurants with their play structures, but that tends to get tiresome, especially when your kids get too old to climb through the structures, and when the smell of burgers and french fries get to be too much. We had two great places in town: Jump-2-It and The Players Edge, but they closed down, so we really have nothing for the kids to do. There are seasonal sports, but the summer tends to drag on. Plus, some of these activities are pricey! So, that's why this is free.

Second, I want to share my love for books, especially children's books. I came up with this idea a few weeks ago, and I was really quite surprised that Mars Hill gave me the green light. I even have sponsors for this.. Hollister Center for Cosmetic Dentistry--Dr. Mark Darnell; http://www.cartoonthunder.com/; and http://www.safehouseweb.com/. Yay! Their sponsorships are helping me to aquire items I can give to the kids, like coloring sheets and other goodies.

I am also planning on dressing, as best as possible, as a pirate for the day, and telling pirate jokes and songs. For example, how much does it cost a pirate to buy earrings? Answer: 'A buccaneer!" Get it.. a buck an ear! And what is a pirate's favorite kind of food? Barrr-b-que! Okay.. goofy at best, but I'm hoping the kids will enjoy it.

I'd also like to take this and expand, and hopefully perform at elementary schools and other venues in central coastal California.

So, swing by and see us at Mars Hill Coffeehouse on Wednesday, July 14, at 11 am. It starts then! No stragglers, or ye'll be walkin' the plank, matey! Arghhhh. The coffee house is at 610 San Benito Street. For info call 831 245 8462.

Please feel free to post this and pass this along. Pirates, pirates, pirates!