On Monday, June 27, the 53rd Street Library celebrated our grand opening with a ribbon cutting ceremony, much fanfare and several special guests. Among the featured special programs was a storytime led by author Hervé Tullet. Monsieur Tullet is the author of recent bestsellers I Am Blop!, Press Here and Mix It Up!, among many others.

His bright and friendly illustrations can only be matched by his larger-than-life personality, which was in full force as he read from several of his books in our children’s room. For those unfamiliar with Tullet’s work, his books feature bold and bright colors with interactive features like split pages, mirrors, cutouts, spaces for finger puppets and artwork that guides the reader through the book and encourages participation.

To warm up the crowd, Tullet started with some call and response greetings. After the usual “Hellos” and Bonjours” were exchanged, we moved right along to funny sounds. As “OOOOOOHHHHHHhhhhh” and “AHHHHHhhh” rang through the children’s room and it was hard not to smile when he had the children repeating “Oh la la” and “Bravo!” with just a faint hint of his French accent.

The interactive features in his books meant that Mr. Tullet was quick to ask for audience participation during his readings. He asked each of his participants to stand on a stool next to him and then he helped move the child through the book by giving verbal instructions or guiding their hand to press on his ubiquitous sunny yellow dot in Press Here and mix colors together through page-to-page contact in Mix It Up!

However, I think my favorite reading of the morning was I Am Blop!, where we were all encouraged to make “blop!” sounds [insert your best blop sound here] in whatever number, tempo or pattern Monsieur Tullet asked of us. The kids were in stitches over all the silly noise-making and we were all learning just how fun Tullet’s books make basic concepts like colors, counting and directions. After the readings, Mr. Tullet was kind enough to sign some of his books, including adding original drawings to accompany his signature!

Thank you again to Mr. Hervé Tullet for helping us to open our new library space and for sharing your wonderful books with us! Come back for another story time soon!

For a full listing of all the Hervé Tullet books available at NYPL, please visit our catalog!