Story Time for Children at Congers Train Station

Kathy Bachor, a children’s librarian at New City Library, read to children at the Congers Train Station Tuesday morning as part of the library’s "All Aboard! Storytime" program.  Approximately 25 people, the majority of whom were children ages three to five, gathered inside the large first-floor room of the station and interacted with Bachor as she read five books. 

“Congers [residents] feel a little bit like they don’t have a library, so this way the library is coming to them and I can share with people what else is going on in New City that they can sign up for or be aware of,” Bachor said.  “So that’s really my purpose is to just bring something from the library to the community here.”       

Congers resident Renata Coyle, who brought her son, Darren, said she liked how proximate the event was to her. 

“We love it; it’s close to home,” she said.  “Darren rode his bike here (to the station).”   

Bachor opened the event by reading Clickety Clack, a story involving trains.  As if by design, a freight train loudly rolled by the station as she read the book’s final page.  Bachor moved on to reading Sally Goes to the Beach before leading the children and parents in the singing of Five Little Ducks.   

Book! Book! Book!, a book pertaining to farm animals, was the next story read.  Simms Taback’s Safari Animals, a fold-out book about wild animals, was the fourth book.  Bachor displayed each folded page depicting a specific part of an animal with a clue hinting at which animal it was; many of the children shouted out guesses as to which animal was on each page.  A second train passed by during the reading of this book - not as apropos as the first train - but the noise was drowned out by the children’s guesses.

“I like to do stories that I can use voices or animal noises or things like that,” Bachor said.  “I do plan to use more of that. And the guessing game kind of things, because then the kids get more focused again, rather than being distracted by everything.”     

The event concluded with a reading of Grumpy Bird.  The children received stickers afterward.

Coyle said his favorite book was Grumpy Bird.  Casey Cummings and Julia Scotti both said they liked Simms Taback’s Safari Animals the most.        

Bachor said the program will continue to run at the train station. 

“It’s going to be weekly, except for the Tuesday after Halloween,” she said.  “I plan to do a weekly program here through mid-December or so.  All the dates are on the website.

“If it’s popular, I will apply to the town Parks Department again after the New Year to see if I can use [the train station] again in the spring.”