Cats Storytime

This week my preschool storytime was all about one of my favorite animals:  Cats!

The following books were all part of the repertoire for this story.  Depending on the group we read three or four of these stories, selected in the moment to match the audience's mood:

Mama Cat Has Three Kittens by Denise Fleming
While Mama cat and two of her kittens do all of the things that cats like to do (licking their paws, stretching, digging in the sand) the third kitten, Boris, naps.  But when Mama and the other kittens curl up to nap, what does Boris do? 

Kitten's First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes
When Kitten sees the full moon for the first time, she mistakenly thinks that it is a bowl of milk. Then the little kitten sets off to find it. What a night! This is one of my favorite picture books of all time.  I love the black and white illustrations and the classic home/away/home format.

What Will the Fat Cat Sit On? by Jan Thomas
Will the fat cat sit on the cow? What about the chicken or the pig? This silly story got a lot of laughs and is a good excuse to make lots of animal noises.

Kittens! Kittens! Kittens! by Susan Meyers, illustrated by David Walker
Posy by Linda Newbery, illustrated by Catherine Reiner
Both of these books are more sweet depiction of things that cats like to do than they are story.  But both books also have illustrations that are lots of fun to look at.  Kittens has longer, rhyming text while Posy has very few words.  I kept both books on hand and determined which one to used based on the mood of the group.


I've been on a real fingerplay kick lately, so we did this one together:

Four Little Kittens

Four little kittens standing in a row

(extend left fingers upward, palm out)
They nod their heads to the children, so.
(bend fingers forward)
They run to the left, they run to the right,
(wiggle fingers to the left & right)
They stand up and stretch in the bright sunlight.
(stretch fingers slowly)
Along comes a dog who’s in for some fun,
(move right fist slowly toward stretching fingers)
M-e-o-w, see the kittens run.
(run left fingers behind back)

As I was looking around for other songs, rhymes, etc. for this storytime I debated long and hard if we should sing "Soft Kitty." It's a cute song and I can see how it might be a good calming activity, but given it's hilarious appearances on "The Big Bang Thoery" I wasn't sure I could do it with a straight face.

Have you seen Pete the Cat yet?  He's a popular figure these days, so I was excited to have him make an appearance at storytime.  I made a flannelboard to help tell the story of Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons, which was recently awarded a Theodore Seuss Geisel Honor.

To make Pete, I actually photocopied a page from the book and enlarged it until I liked his size, and then cut him out to make a template.  I traced the shape onto blue felt and cut it out.  I then cut out the shape of Pete's shirt using the same (trimmed) template and glued it to Pete's body on only the outside edges.  This allows his shirt to open, so at the end of the story we can find his belly button!

Also, you should know that after you've read this story for awhile the word "button" starts to sound a little funny.  If you'd like to hear the whole book read aloud and hear the tune of Pete's song, look for the song download on the right-hand side of this page.  And because I'm in a video-sharing mood, here's the book trailer:

After all of this cat-related fun, it was time for a craft!  We made cat faces using paper plates and construction paper cutouts.  I pre-cut all of the shapes, so all the kids needed to do was glue the pieces onto the plate and add any desired details with crayons. 

Chocolate Tasting

Last week was Valentine's Day.  In the spirit of this holiday, we did a chocolate tasting at the library with the teens.

I found lots of good information on the differences between white, milk, and dark chocolates as well as an explanation of what the cacao percentages given on the labels meant on thestoryofchocolate.com.  They also have some good info:  tips on how to best appreciate chocolate during a tasting, info on how chocolate is made, etc.  I made up a little handout condensing some of this information and also shared the most important bits in a quick 2-minute explanation before we started tasting.  I'm not sure that the teens really read the handout, but it made me feel good to have the information available.

I borrowed the basic structure of the initial formal tasting from the Dating Divas, who suggest using a chocolate tasting as a part of a romantic evening.  I made my own tasting mats and scoring sheets rather than using theirs, but the divas have some good suggestions for how to structure a program like this.

After a the quick talk about how to do the tasting, we sampled six different types of chocolate: One white, two milk, and three dark. I basically raided the candy aisle at Walgreens and bought several "nicer" bars of chocolate.  The chocolates were also all different brands and one of the darks was organic, so we really got to try a wide range of different chocolates. 

I made labeled tasting mats and set the chocolate out ahead of time.  The chocolate bars had to be cut into small pieces.  I generally got 8-10 pieces of chocolate out of each bar, depending on how the bar was sectioned off.  We tasted each piece one at a time, taking a sip of water between tastes to cleanse the palate, and ranked them on a scale of 1-5 in terms of smell, texture, and taste.  We also gave each chocolate an overall score and voted on which one was the group's favorite.  (For the record, the group preferred the Lindt White Chocolate and the Godiva Milk Chocolate.)

After we finished the formal tasting (it took about 15-20 minutes), we basically spent the rest of the hour eating!  I made chocolate fondue and provided lots of yummy things to dip in chocolate:  Pretzels, bananas, strawberries, marshmallows, chocolate cake, and Rice Krispy Treats.  There were also lots of truffles and other chocolate treats to try, most of which I purchased in bulk at my local grocery store.  I even made chocolate covered bacon and chocolate dipped potato chips so we'd have some more unusual treats as well.

A program where teens can eat and hang out?  Yup, it was a surefire hit.

I did require registration for this program so that I would know how much chocolate to buy.  I ended up having 17 registrants, 12 of whom showed up.  That's a pretty good number for my library!

This was actually not a very difficult program to set up, but unfortunately it wasn't cheap.  Chocolate is a relatively expensive food and I knew that the teens would eat quite a bit.  Despite the huge amount of food purchased for this program, there was very little left over.  I would definitely do other tasting programs in the future, but foods like cookies might be a more economical choice than chocolate if money is tight.  You could also probably save a little money by doing a tasting with cheaper chocolates from Hershey or Mars.

As a side note, a few of the teens preferred to make art with, rather than eat, the super-rich 90% cocoa chocolate.  Turns out that chocolate makes a decent crayon!  Perhaps this is the making of a future program?

New Arrivals - YA Sequels

It seems that over the past month or so I've ordered nothing but sequels for the teen area of the library.  If you've been waiting on the edge of your seat for the next titles in these series you might want to place your holds or visit your library and check the shelves soon:

Everbound by Brodi Ashton
Book 2 in the "Everneath" trilogy.  Regretting her decision to forfeit her life on Earth to become an immortal on Everneath, a world between Earth and Hell, teenaged Nikki is given the chance to return to the Surface for six months.  In this second installment, Nikki must journey back to the underworld to rescue her boyfriend.

Sever by Lauren DeStefano
Book 3 in "The Chemical Garden" trilogy.  Modern science has eradicated disease but also has ensured that men will die by the age of 25 and women by the age of 20.  Rhine has escaped an arranged marriage and now turns to a surprising source for a brighter future.

Prodigy by Marie Lu
Book 2 in the "Legend" trilogy.  In a futuristic North America, the famous criminal, Day, and June, a military prodigy, join forces when they realize that they have a common enemy.  Now they journey to Las Vegas where they plan to join forces with a rebel Patriot group.

The Darkness Dwellers by Kirsten Miller
Book 3 in the "Kiki Strike" series.  The dangerous Irregulars have teamed up again!  While Kiki Strike is in Paris trying to stop her evil cousin, the princess Sidonia, from all sorts of terrible deeds, it is up to Ananka and the other Irregulars help Kiki find the cure for baldness, foil the evil plans of Oona's twin, and keep Ananka herself from falling in love with wrong young man.

Scarlet by Marissa Meyer
Book 2 in the "Lunar Chronicles" trilogy.  Where the first book in this series was loosely based on the story of "Cinderella," this next installment is based on "Little Red Riding Hood."  Scarlet Benoit and Wolf, a street fighter who may have information about her missing grandmother, join forces with Cinder as they try to stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen.

Shades of Earth by Beth Revis
Book 3 in the "Across the Universe" trilogy.  Leaving the walls of the spaceship Godspeed behind, Amy and Elder are ready to build a home on Centauri-Earth. But they must race to discover who-- or what-- else is out there if they are to have any hope of saving their struggling colony and building a future together.

Through the Ever Night by Vernoica Rossi
Book 2 in the "Under the Never Sky" trilogy.  Perry and Aria had teamed up to survive in the first part of this trilogy.  But Perry's tribe doesn't trust Aria, who drew up under a protective dome.  With worsening Aether storms threatening the tribe's existence, Aria worries that leaving Perry behind might be the only way to save them both.

New Cart

Today at work I got a present:

It's a brand new cart!

Those readers who do not work in libraries might not understand, but having my own cart is a very big deal.  If a librarian does not have a cart, s/he has no place to to store or no way to move a large number of books.  And do you know how often your average librarian needs to work with and/or transport a large number of books?  Fairly often. 

I'm so excited.  No longer will my monthly book orders simply be piled haphazardly on top of my desk.  No longer will I have to beg for my co-workers' permission to borrow their carts, which they're probably trying to use themselves.  No longer will I be left wondering how to transport books (or other library/program supplies!) from one end of the library to the next.  No more tall armfuls of books blocking my vision as I try to carry them up the stairs. 

Have I mentioned that my new cart is purple?  It definitely stands out from all of the other carts in the library, that's for sure.  All I need now is a shiny sticker or magnet to give my cart a little additional personality.

And I think that my cart needs a name.  Suggestions welcome.