A handful of children and family members gathered at the Lehighton Area Memorial Library last Thursday night, ready to hear a story.

It was time for the library's weekly evening story time, held each Thursday at 6 p.m. and led by professional storyteller and library employee Kathy Long.A member of the Lehigh Valley Storytelling Guild and the National Storytelling Network, Long held the attention of both children and adults as she told her version of the folktale "The Magic Pomegranate," a story of three brothers who travel the world to find magical items."You need to engage everybody so that they will all walk away happy no matter what their age," she said. "Each time I tell a story, I become more familiar with it and make it my own. I don't just open a book and read it. Each time I explain it, it becomes my own story."Long began the evening story time after seeing how well-attended the library's Wednesday morning story time was each week. Parents had been asking for an option for their school-age children, who weren't available during school hours but still enjoyed storytelling. Long spoke with former librarian Becky Wanamaker, and then worked with incoming librarian Valerie Sellix, to began a twice-monthly storytelling session for children and adults.It's since grown to a weekly session. And while there are some weeks where family vacations or children's extracurricular activities mean a smaller crowd, the program has been a success."The parents come in and they really like to listen to the stories too," she said. "They enjoy it. It's time well spent with their children. They don't have to worry about their children sitting mindlessly in front of a TV. It's something that they do together."Long noted that story time isn't just for kids. Stories are a great way to connect family and community members of all generations. They can be entertaining, but are also educational exposing young children to history and new ideas, and encouraging adults to reminisce about the past."When you're telling a story to children, it's not just the words that are telling the story. You use inflection. You use eye contact with people, and action. If you say the word 'gigantic,' children might not know what it means. If you stretch your arms out really far, the kids will think 'Oh, that means really, really, really big,'" she said. "But my stories are meant for everyone. It's a wonderful thing for families to come out, to listen to stories. A lot of times if I tell a personal story, it prompts people to tell stories from their own past."Long is a passionate proponent of sharing the past to protect the past. Telling stories and sharing family memories builds roots, and also keeps the memories of cherished loved ones alive long after they are gone. She once took a class by master storyteller Donald David called "How to Kill Grandma," which had a simple take-home lesson: Tell stories, or risk losing them forever."If grandma passes away and people are too grieved to talk about grandma, you might have children in the family who have never heard any of her stories," said Long. "If grandma dies, and you tell stories about grandma as that child grows up, grandma lives on. That child will grow up to tell stories about grandma to his own small children. Grandma stays alive in hearts and souls all along the way. It was a good workshop and it meant a lot to me."Long noted that many people don't consider themselves natural storytellers. It wasn't until she began telling stories as a professional that her own family began sharing stories from their past."I wish they had opened up sooner, because they probably had more stories to share. The ones that I did hear were so interesting and such beautiful stories," she said. "Everyone tells stories to some extent. They just don't realize that they have it in them."Long is planning several special events during the evening story time, including an upcoming pajama party on Aug. 20 and a visit from the Lehighton fire company (complete with a tour of a fire engine) on Sept. 24.Details for special events will be posted on the library's Facebook page,

www.facebook.com/LehightonMemorialLibrary.Lehighton Area Memorial Library is located at 124 North St. in Lehighton.