A Visit To the Downtown (Main) Library Branch Story Time & Children's Wing

The Children's wing & Storytime at the Downtown (Main Branch) Library are a fairytale in and of themself.  We've heard their praises sung for years and I truly don't know what took me so long to get there, but we're now hooked. The photo below doesn't even begin to do justice to how awesome the show was, but it's hard to capture the space, and also I found out after I took it that I wasn't supposed to have my phone out, (oops!) so I gave up on getting a better photo.

Way more than a storytime, this is an all-out production.  Two actors/librarians/storytellers/lovely humans wove together hilarious dialogue with big-kid vocabulary words, puppets, songs and stories.  The whole thing was masterfully orchestrated in such a way that I couldn't tell if it was brilliant off-the cuff improv, or the result of hours of meticulous memorization. They closed out the show with a song and moment that I found so touching I actually teared up.  
As awesome as the storytime was, I'd be remiss if I didn't give a full report on the rest of the children's wing.

Everything in the entire place is so well thought out like the mini-library shaped book drop (see photo to the left) and a strategically placed bucket of board-books that my daughter loved pulling out one-by-one to read.  There's also a pretty epic indoor jungle-gym/playground thing that looks like the Nashville skyline (see photo below) that is worth the trip there by itself. (See photo below)

I waited for a quiet moment so I wouldn't invade the privacy of any families, but just a few minutes prior to this photo, this play-center was crawling with kiddos.  There's also a mini rock-climbing wall (!!!) for the older kiddos, and a Ryman Auditorium shaped puppet show theater across the room in the toddler section. All in all, you need to get this on your calendar, whether you can make it for storytime, or if you're going anytime the library is open to enjoy the space and oh yeah, check out some books!  In fact, you might find us there almost every afternoon from now on that it's too rainy/cold/hot to be outside.  
Check out the know-before-you-go box below with helpful tips, and we'll see you there!

Downtown (Main Branch) Library Children's Wing & Storytime

Address: 615 Church Street - Nashville, TN 37219

​Cost: The Library & Storytime are Free!

Parking: We recommend you park in the "Library" Parking Garage.  Bring your parking ticket in with you to the main desk downstairs and get a validation stamp and the first 1.5 hours are free!  IMPORTANT NOTE: Keep your parking ticket safe - the lost ticket fee is $20. See the "tips" section in the next column for more parking info.  ------>

Story Times: Tuesdays & Wednesdays, 9:30 AM, 10:30 AM, and 11:30 AM. 

​Library Hours: Monday - Friday: 9:00 am - 6:00 pm
                            Saturday: 9:00 am - 5:00 pm
                            Sunday: 2:00 pm - 5:00 pm

Our Opinion: We truly can't think of a better way to spend time than this amazing kids library space!  The storytellers used puppets, songs, fabulous book selections and hilarious dialogue to keep every single kid in the room amazed and engaged.  I give it all the thumbs up.

Tips: A friend gave us a heads up that it's easiest to find parking for the 9:30 showing and we were glad we took her advice!  We still had a little trouble finding a space but by the time we left there were hardly any to be found.  I'd recommend allotting 15 minutes to walk from your car into the library, get upstairs and find a seat (more if your kiddos are prone to wandering or if you're wrangling a stroller, less if you've got older kids).
The entrance to the library is on the 4th floor of the parking garage.  Once you are inside the main lobby, take the grand staircase up to the second floor.  Kids wing is on the left, storytime theater is all the way at the back of the wing.