NO LOSS FOR WORDS; LIBRARY WELCOMES CHILDREN.

Byline: Donna Huffaker Daily News Staff Writer

No matter the day, month or season, the reading programs at Glendale Central Library are as plentiful as the books on its crowded shelves.

On a recent Wednesday afternoon, children scampered about the children's reading room, quieted only by the arrival of the librarian and her cart of crafts.

The roomful of 5- and 6-year-olds picked a spot and plopped down on the royal blue carpet as they watched Theresa Robinett set out five books about lambs. The day's theme: March - in like a lion, out like a lamb.

``The sooner you get kids interested in reading, the greater the chance they'll become lifelong readers,'' said Carolyn Flemming, the library's branch manager.

And it's never too early to start, she said, noting there are board books for babies to chew on while parents read stories.

Babies have virtually no attention span, but it's irrelevant whether they remember what's being read, she said. They remember the safety and comfort of being held and they connect that to the book.

It's also never too late to start, Flemming said. The library offers free literacy programs with one-to-one instruction by volunteer tutors.

Then there's the summer reading program, because students need to continue honing their reading and comprehension skills when they're out of school or they will lose much of what they learned during the year, Flemming said.

Parents and preteens meet at the library once a month to discuss, as a group, the latest book they read. Saturday afternoons feature a family story hour. Library grandparents read for children every weekday afternoon. And a Wednesday night program mixes food with books for parents and their children in grades four through eight.

Each year, nearly 11,000 children are served by Glendale libraries, with 60 percent participating in programs at the East Harvard Street branch, Flemming said. Reading programs are free.

Flemming equates the necessity of being an avid reader to that of being an informed person, thereby leaving the future in the hands of informed citizens.

Some of the youngsters on their way to becoming informed citizens recently listened to stories about lambs then, with their parents, made lamb cut-out crafts with cotton balls.

Robinett said it's good to mingle crafts with stories, because when the children get home and see the fluffy faux lamb sitting on their desk, it will remind them of what they read.

Dabbing gobs of glue onto her wooly creation, 5-year-old Jillian Nybakken of Glendale said she likes to go to the library to read stories after school because she doesn't necessarily have to be quiet.

``You get to play and read out loud. It's not all boring, and you don't just sit there,'' she said.

Ayni Teferra of Los Feliz has been bringing her two daughters, Abigail Kassa, 7, and Lea Kassa, 4, into Glendale for more than a year because of the variety of programs and stories that are read aloud to the children.

Teferra and her husband read aloud to the girls but she said it is important for them to hear other people's voices and accents. Hearing stories out loud also helps children with their reading skills, she said.

Case in point: As Robinett thumbed through ``Sheep in a Shop'' and read the line ``Sheep clip wool, three bags full,'' a 5-year-old boy blurted, ``Those are rhyming words.''

``See, they're beginning to pick up patterns, the first step to successful reading,'' Flemming said.

For information about reading programs and other services at the Glendale Public Library, call [phone].

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PHOTO Lea Kassa, 4, listens to a story at the Glendale Central Library during one of the branch's many storytelling sessions.

Tom Mendoza/Daily News