Toddler Story Time in the Triangle

As a stay-at-home mom of one, I often have to find ways to "fill" our days.  Staying home every day quickly gets boring and causes cabin fever so we try to get out as often as possible.  Since my son was 6 months old we started regular weekly trips to the public library.  We attended their Baby Story Time program and checked out a variety of board books and picture books.  We still go weekly to check out books, and he is obsessed.  He loves books, he loves being read to, and he loves story time.  Since the public libraries take 3 months off from their story time programs each year, we spent some time this summer checking out some of the other story time offerings in the area.

It seems like story time would be a pretty easy activity to pull off, but as usual the more qualified and research-based programs are the better ones.  Liking books and leading a toddler story time are two completely different things.  I kinda believe there's no excuse for a poor story time as the internet is full of story time specific ideas and suggestions from qualified librarians, but it appears as though others don't share that sentiment.

Let's go through the story times that I have now attended with my son:

1. Public library story time:
To begin with, there are over 20 public library locations in Wake County.  Smaller libraries are "community" libraries and larger ones are "regional libraries".  We have attended story time at two of these locations: the Cary Community Library and the Eva Perry Regional Library.  Libraries offer story time multiple times per week (often 5-6 days) with multiple age groups and a variety of times.  They are also free (duh) which means technically you are getting the most bang for your buck.  The quality of the toddler story times is affected by the librarian responsible for that day/time, but once you find one you like, going weekly to that session means you know what you are getting.  The Wake Library story times incorporate reading, writing, singing, talking, and playing and clear expectations are set by the librarians at the start.  The toddler story time is about 25 minutes.  There are usually 2 books, a letter of the day, a felt board activity, and lots of songs.  There might also be bubbles, scarves, shakers, puppet shows, and a hand stamp at the end.  (The hand stamp is my son's favorite part.)
My rating: *****

2. Barnes and Noble toddler story time:
There are multiple locations for B&N as well but we have only been to the Cary one.  I don't know why, but the group of people that typically attend this story time make it almost impossible to enjoy.  Part of the problem is the set up (benches in the front row and people sitting on the floor behind with very little space altogether) and part of it could be that there are no expectations set or that the programing is weak.  Regardless, there are constantly children more or less trashing the story time area (without any adult interference) and multiple adults having LOUD sidebar conversations making it hard to even hear the stories.  The B&N story time usually begins with a sales pitch (insert eye-roll here) which I guess makes up for the fact that it is free.  There are 2 books read (sometimes chosen by corporate, sometimes chosen by the store) but I am yet to attend one that is actually a good toddler book.  Often they are too long, or confusing, or just not toddler friendly.  Since they do a toddler and a preschool story time separately, I don't feel bad asserting this judgement.   They always sing songs- usually classics like Old MacDonald and Head and Shoulders.  Afterwards there is a usually a coloring page to do but honestly by about halfway through the 30 minutes, most of the attendees are at the train table anyways.
My rating: **

3. NC Museum of Natural Sciences story time:
Several times a week the Science Museum holds a story time (geared for children of all ages).  Admission to the museum and the story time program is free but you will probably have to pay for parking.  Each week has a different theme of which a related book is read.  Then they talk about how that theme relates to specific animals and bring out several actual live animals which older kids can usually touch.  There are stadium style benches to sit on and the program has always been interesting and engaging for my toddler (despite me not letting him touch the animals).  There is no fluff, but it is an educational program that incorporates a book.  During the school year, it is often very empty meaning your kid can really enjoy the animals.
My rating: ****

4. Quail Ridge Books story time:
This is technically called a preschool story time, geared for 2-5 year old, but we saw children of all ages there.  (Full disclosure: the first time we went here, it was NOT good, but there was a "fill-in" person doing it while the usual person was on vacation.)  The woman who does the story time is a retired children's librarian and it shows.  She chose books that were age appropriate, incorporated music/movement and even passed out jingle bells for some of the songs.  The seating can get a little cramped, but everyone is on equal footing on the floor.  There was no sales pitch, despite being a book store and it is a free program with free parking.
My rating: ****

5. Read With Me (children's bookstore) story time:
We have only been to this story time once and will have to give it at least another try before I stick to this review.  The bookstore itself is super cute with a great variety of children's books for all ages.  They do story time 2x a week and advertise it for children 6 and under.  The time we went two 8 year olds were sharing a "story" they had written and illustrated (which was just descriptions of 10+ characters).  It was cute, but definitely not what I had in mind and certainly didn't hold my son's attention.  Afterwards, you could pay $5 to do a craft.  We didn't stay as it appeared like the "craft" was just playing with playdough (I could have totally been wrong, but that's what it sounded like) which didn't seem worth the $5 to me, especially since we had already had to pay for parking.
My rating: *