“I love mooses,” yelled a small child as Mary Kafferlin began reading a book titled, “Too Many Moose!” during Wednesday’s Evening Storytime session at Bradford Area Public Library.

The event, presented by Kafferlin at 6 p.m. every first and third Wednesday of the month, is free and open to toddlers and children through fourth grade. In addition to listening to a story, children participate in a craft and enjoy a snack, all prepared by Kafferlin.

A native of Corry, Kafferlin works as a library specialist at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford.

“(Pitt-Bradford) is my daytime job, and this is my nighttime job,” Kafferlin said of the storytime program she has conducted since 2016. “I just really like children’s programs and children’s books.”

In particular, Kafferlin enjoys introducing children “to cool books” and tying them in with related activities. She even goes as far as wearing outfits that compliment the book of the evening. For example, she donned a skirt and socks that had envelopes printed on the material as the book comments on how a little girl has a number of moose sent to her through the mail.

“I forgot my antlers back there, I should probably go grab them,” Kafferlin said before exiting the children’s library to get the rest of her outfit.

Her activity for the children had them place a little moose in small mailboxes set up in the children’s library of the facility.

“I always have a display of books about the same subject,” Kafferlin added. “So if they’re interested in (the evening topic) they can find another book to read that is similar.”

A grandparent at the event, Paula Butler of Bradford, brought her granddaughter, Harper, to the event.

“I loving it, I stumbled on it accidentally,” Butler said of storytime. “I take my granddaughter on Wednesdays to the library, and now (storytime) is a habit. She enjoys it.”

Another parent, Tiffany Housler of Kane, brought her four children from their community to the event.

“This is our first time coming to the evening storytime … we love it here,” Housler said. “It held their attention and they really enjoyed it. My oldest took out two books that he chose on his own.”

Taffy Meyer, front desk supervisor at the library, said she has enjoyed watching Kafferlin work with the children over the past couple of years.

“Mary puts so much effort and time into them,” Meyer said. “She’s just really great with the children — she always goes above and beyond with her crafts and desserts.”

For more information on the program or other activities at the library, call 362-6527.