Cooke County Library holds weekly class of stories, songs and crafts for children

Children in Cooke County can spend part of each week listening to stories, singing and making a craft at Cooke County Library, which runs a recurring class for young readers, according to the City of Gainesville's calendar entry for Aug. 19, 2026. Once a month, the library also holds a separate Spanish/bilingual storytime.

The library's April 2012 community outreach plan already counted a weekly story hour among existing services. The plan made continuing it an objective, tied to encouraging children's interest in books and learning.

The American Library Association identifies reading and singing among five practices that support language and prereading skills from birth through age 5, through its Every Child Ready to Read initiative. The other three are talking, writing and playing. The association's guidance does not measure results from the Cooke County class.

The city listing names Ms. Og and Ms. Itzel for the bilingual session and describes the same mix of stories, songs and a craft. Census Bureau estimates for 2020 through 2024 show that about 15% of county residents age 5 and older speak a language other than English at home. The bureau's figure does not separate out Spanish speakers, and it does not measure interest in the library's program.

The class has a long record at the library. In 2015, a summer guide from the Texoma Council of Governments advertised free Tuesday morning classes at the library from June into late August, with one set of activities for toddlers through age 4 and another for children ages 5 to 10. Gainesville's archived calendar shows the weekly class meeting at 10:30 a.m. in July 2021.

A University of North Texas speaker biography from January 2023 lists Kimberly Reiter as the library's associate director and children's class coordinator and says she teaches a weekly preschool class. That record does not establish who leads the class in 2026.

Other libraries in the region offer similar sessions. Sanger Public Library's October listing describes Wednesday storytimes at 10:30 a.m. for children ages 0 to 5, with older siblings welcome, using read-aloud stories, singing and interactive activities to encourage early literacy. Sanger's July 2026 calendar says all of its programs are free, though some require registration. Sherman Public Library scheduled StoryTots sessions of stories and songs for children ages 0 to 5 and their caregivers in October, with no registration or tickets required.

According to the Texas State Library and Archives Commission, Texas has sponsored summer library programming since 1958 and joined the Collaborative Summer Library Program in 2013.

Nationally, the Institute of Museum and Library Services reports that median attendance at public-library programs of all kinds climbed back in fiscal 2023 but remained below its fiscal 2019 level.