St. Patrick's Day Storytime

I was getting a bit tired of my old storytime stand-bys, so I decided to shake things up by making this week's storytime all about a holiday that I'd never shared with this crowd before:  St. Patrick's Day!  While the first things that come to many people's minds when they think of this holiday are green beer and "Kiss Me, I'm Irish" buttons, there are a lot of really nice kid-friendly symbols that can easily become the focus of this storytime.

Here are the books that I read:

Green by Laura Vacarro Seeger
This books is sparse on text, but the illustrations are full of great things to talk about.  Each two-page spread shows a different shade of green, as well as die-cut shapes that take new form as you turn the page.  As a group we had so much fun looking at and talking about the illustrations that this sparse 36-word book was easily our longest read of the day.

The Story of the Leprechaun by Katherine Tegen
A miserly leprechaun shoemaker is captured and must therefore grant a man three wishes.  Of course, one of these wishes is to know the location of the leprechaun's pot of gold.  The leprechaun tells him, but of course is able to pull off a sneaky trick to keep his gold well hidden.  Many St. Patrick's Day or leprechaun books out there are a bit too long for my storytime crowd, but this book was a good fit for my preschoolers.  Just enough mischief to keep things interesting, and the kids' giggles when she saw the leprechaun's trick made it more than worth the effort.

Good Luck Bear by Greg Foley
One day Bear finds a clover.  His friend Mouse tells him that if he can find a four-leaf clover, then he will have good luck.  Bear spends all day searching with no luck and his other friends are not very encouraging.  Just as Bear fears that he will be unlucky forever, Mouse returns with a surprise for his friend.  I chose this particular book because it does a good job of introducing the shamrock symbol in simple terms.  It's also a fairly quick read, which was welcome by the end of this storytime since our first two books took so long to get through.

Duckie's Rainbow by Frances Berry
Duckie walks home and sees many colors.  Soon purple clouds roll in and it begins to rain.  But the curved pages of this book reveal a beautiful rainbow.  I did not end up needing to read this story and instead talked about rainbows using the flannelboard discussed below, but it would be a great choice for younger or more fidgety groups if you need to substitute a shorter, more simple story.


I also incorporated a few fun rhymes into this storytime.  The first was the action song, "Dance, Leprechaun, Dance."  I didn't come up with this myself, but sadly can't remember what my source for this song was. 

Dance, Dance, Leprechaun Dance

Tune:  “Skip to My Lou”

Dance, dance, leprechaun dance,

Dance, dance, leprechaun dance,

Dance, dance, leprechaun dance,

Do a dance for me!

Bow...

Clap...

Jump…

Search for gold…

Sit...

Suit actions to words

This song was a lot of fun, and I was amused to see that none of the kids really had any idea how a leprechaun should dance without prompting.  I just did the first easy arm-flailing, knee-wiggling dance I could come up with the and kids more or less copied what I did.

We also got out my "Rainbow in a Pot" flannelboard, which was a great way for us to talk about rainbows in a bit more detail after seeing one briefly in The Story of the Leprechaun.  I discuss the flannelboard and the song that goes with it in more detail in this post.

To conclude this storytime we did a very simple art project that was surprisingly full of early learning opportunities.  I cut out lots of dark green hearts using our die-cut machine and gave four to each child.  They were able to glue them onto a lighter green sheet of paper to make a shamrock.  Since the paper was so big I also gave them crayons and let them draw whatever they wanted in the margins.  Many kids chose to draw other symbols of the St. Patrick's Day holiday that we had talked about like rainbows, pots of gold, and leprechauns, but they could choose to draw whatever they wanted and we saw all kinds of fun choices.  I loved the idea of giving the kids a chance to do some free drawing so that they could really get creative and personalize their artwork.  Drawing is also a great skill for kids to work on as these motions are very similar to the motions they will use when they eventually learn to write.  The two shades of green paper were also a subtle nod to the book Green that we had read.

You Just Won't Have Time

A fourth grade girl was at the library with her family.  She selected a pretty big stack of picture books to take home.  I overheard mom's reaction when she saw the books:

"Don't take those books.  They're too quick to read, and you just won't have time to read them all."

The logic is lost to me.

Truffulla Trees

Credit for this beautiful Dr. Seuss display goes to one of my lovely co-workers.  Isn't it lovely?

The display is certainly dramatic, but my co-worker tells me that it was surprisingly easy to make.  The truffulla trees were made with large tissue paper flowers (there's lots of tutorials out there - here's one).  They were affixed to white cardboard poster tubes wrapped with black construction paper to give them their stripes.  The trees are propped up in a planter pulled from storage and surrounded by more tissue paper for the grass.  Writing with a Sharpie on a smooth stone made the "unless" stone - the perfect finishing touch.

Dr. Seuss' birthday, as well as the Read Across America initiative that celebrates this renowned author, falls on March 2.  How will you celebrate?

All the Books

A mother comes in to the library with her son, four or five years old, and a list of 12 recommended books.  I'm not sure exactly where the list came from, but I'm guessing it came from her child's school or daycare.  She asked if I would please help her find all of the books on the list.

I asked, in the interest of clarification, "Do you need to get all of these books, or just some of them?"

Her response:  "All of them please."

So I take her book hunting.  We're actually doing really well, tracking down such lovely titles as The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf, Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears by Verna Aardema, and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett.  Eventually we have a stack of seven or eight books.  As I hand her a lovely Robert Munsch book her eyes grow big.  She looks at the stack, then looks at me and says, "I think this is enough books for now."

The moral of the story:  Twelve books looks pretty manageable on paper, but this number is surprisingly heavy to carry.

The second moral:  It's okay to pace yourself.  No need to READ ALL THE BOOKS!**

Image not mine.  Parody of a lovely image from Hyperbole and a Half.
Origin of the parody unknown.  It seems to be all over the interwebs.

**You can read as many books as you want, or as few as you want, as fast or as slow as you want.  No pressure.  It's supposed to be fun.

Lily Rose May

A little girl, 5 or 6 years old, came in to the library today looking for a book that she had checked out from the library before.  She told me that the name of the book was "Lily Rose May."  I looked this up in our catalog and nothing came up, so I assumed that she was misremembering the title of the book.  I asked if she could tell me what the story was about.  To paraphrase:

"It was the story of the Princess and the Pea, and there was a princess in the castle who didn't like peas but then she tried the peas and she liked them."

Hmm.

I turned to my handy friend NoveList to see if the database could help me solve this puzzle.  I decided to try searching for "Lily Rose May" first to see what came up since the girl seemed to remember that particular phrase very distinctly, even though I couldn't at all figure out how this phrase connected to the story.  Sure enough, the first title the came up in the results was the book she was looking for!

The book in question was, "The Princess and the Peas" by Caryl Hart.  In this story a girl named Lily-Rose May dislikes peas.  Her father takes her to the doctor who diagnoses her with princess-itus and sends her to live in a castle where she discovers that peas are the perfect princess food.  It seems that she eventually learns to like peas.  Turns out that the girl who was searching for the book has remembered the little girl character's very distinct name.  The fact that both the book's description and reviews of the book contain this name make finding this book a lot easier than I'd originally expected.

Storytime: Silly Stories

Who doesn't love to laugh?  My goal with Silly Stories storytime was to get a few giggles from the crowd.  Mission accomplished.

Here are the books we read:

Bark, George by Jules Ffeifer
George is a puppy.  One day his mother says, "Bark, George."  But George does not bark.  Instead, he says "meow," "quack," "oink," and "moo."  So George's mother takes him to the vet, and the vet pulls out a host of animals from inside of him.  This book always makes the preschoolers crack up.  The little guys love it when they know something isn't quite right, and a dog making the sounds of another animal instead of going "arf" is a perfect example of this kind of silliness.

Silly Sally by Audrey Wood
"Silly Sally went to town, walking backwards upside down."  Silly is right in the title, so you know that this one just has to be good for a laugh.  I especially like the illustrations in this book, and the fact that it's goofy just for the sake of being goofy.

Rhyming Dust Bunnies by Jan Thomas
Four dust bunnies named Ned, Ed, Ted, and Bob always rhyme.  But when Ned, Ed, and Ted list off rhyming words, all Bob can say is, "Look out!"  This book is all about the delivery.  I read Bob's lines with a good sense of sudden panic, which usually inspires giggles.  This book is also a good segue into talking about phonological awareness if you like to incorporate early literacy into your storytimes. 

Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin, illustrated by Betsy Lewis
One day the cows find a typewrite in their barn.  They leave a note for Farmer brown demanding electric blankets.  So begins a silly bit of barnyard labor negotiation that will please kids and adults alike. 

Of course, we had to do some silly activities too.  First, we listened to Raffi's song, "Shake My Sillies Out" and wiggled our waggles away right along with him.

Later we sang and acted out the song, "Icky Sticky Bubble Gum":

Icky, icky, sticky, sticky bubble gum,
Bubble gum, bubble gum,
Icky, icky, sticky, sticky bubble gum,
Makes your hands stick to your face!
Then you stretch it, and yank it, and pull it away!

Put hands on your face.
Pretend hands are stuck, then pull them away from your body.
Repeat as many times as desired with different body parts.

I also like to frame this song with a bit of narrative, which not only helps to set the mood but also gets the kids back to their seats and ready to listen when the song is over.  We hold up an imaginary stick of bubble gum, unwrap it, throw away the wrapper, chew the gum, and blow big bubbles.  When the song is over we throw away our bubble gum, turn on the water at the sink, wash our hands with soap and water, turn off the water, and dry our hands on a towel.


Finally we finished off this storytime with a craft.  We made Dust Bunnies (a la Rhyming Dust Bunnies) out of yarn.

My version of this project was adapted from a blog post that I found here.  This craft definitely required some adult help, but it was totally worth a bit of fussiness.  To make the dust bunnies, you need to make a basic pom-pom.  I had the kids wrap the yarn around their own hands 50 times (an opportunity to practice counting big numbers was a nice bonus).  Then with a grown-up's help they would slide the yarn off of their hands, cut the yarn, and then wrap a new length of yarn around the middle of the loop they had just created.  A grown-up would help them tie a nice, tight knot and fluff out the pom-pom.  They then glued some googly eyes and a paper nose to the pom pom to give their dust bunny a face.

Mystery Book: Animals at the Market?

A father came in with his young son, about age 3-4.  Dad was looking for a picture book that they had read and enjoyed together before, but could not remember the title or the author.  I agreed to play detective to help him find this mystery favorite.  Here's what Dad told me:

"This book was about 7 or 8 different animals - actually, that might have been part of the title.  These animals all went to the market together and the cow drank all the milk, the little dog ate up all the bones...things like that."

The father was also able to show me that he had originally found this book in one of our browsing bins.  He even specifically remembered that it must have been one of three particular bins because they were in the area where his son likes to play.  Since our browsing bins are intended to be sorted roughly by the author's name, this gave me the hint that the author of the book likely had a last name that fell within the C-G range.

None of these clues rang any particular bells with me, so I turned to my friend Novelist K-8.  I started out by using two keywords that I had pulled directly from the father's description of the book:  "animals," and "market."  Typing these two keywords into Novelist's very smart database came back with several hundred possible matches, but after inspecting the first few search results I was able to quickly uncover the book that we were searching for.

The book in question was Eight Animals on the Town by Susan Middleton Elya.  Just as this parent described, this book tells of eight animals who go into town to find some dinner.  They visit the market and each animal finds something good to eat, followed by dancing and the animals' drive home.  What really stands out about this book - and was, interestingly enough, not at all mentioned by this bilingual father - is the way that Spanish words are seamlessly incorporated into the story, both in the text and the illustrations.

Dad was thrilled that I was able to track down the book, and his son was excited to see this favorite story again.  Success!

2014 Youth Media Awards

On Monday the American Library Association announced the winners of the 2014 Youth Media Awards.  These awards are given to the best of the best in children's literature in a variety of categories.  Today I'm going to focus on the two oldest and, arguably, most prestigious awards:  The Caldecott and Newbery Medals.  To see a full list of the awards and this year's winners, click here.

Caldecott Medal

The Caldecott Medal is awarded each year to, "the most distinguished American picture book for children."  This year the award goes to a lovely piece of picture book nonfiction:  Locomotive, written and illustrated by Brian Flocca.  This book will transport readers back to the sepia-toned days of the old West, when travel by train was new and exciting.  Plenty of details about trains and train travel are provided.  For example, did you know that back in 1869 toilets on the train were nothing but a hole in the floor?  Even the text of this book is rendered beautifully, with certain words printed in a special typeface with a scale and color that really makes the text move along with the train.  This book was graced with another awards, the Sibert honor, for its roles as a great work of nonfiction for children.  Nonfiction does not often win other awards, so Locomotive's receipt of the Caldecott Medal is especially notable.

Three Caldecott Honor books were also named:

• Journey, written and illustrated by Aaron Becker
• Flora and the Flamingo, written and illustrated by Molly Idle
• Mr. Wuffles! written and illustrated by David Weisner

Newbery Medal

The Newbery Medal is awarded each year to, "the most outstanding contribution to children's literature."  This year the award goes to the book Flora and Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures, written by past Newbery winner Kate DiCamillo and illustrated by K.G. Campbell.  This this unique novel, Flora is a cynical young girl who also happens to be a fan of the comic series Terrible Things Can Happen to You.  When her neighbor accidentally vacuums up an unsuspecting squirrel, Flora discovers that Ulysses has been born anew with powers worthy of the comics, including flight, super strength, and the ability to write poetry.  Flora takes Ulysses under her wing and with the help of her squirrel friend, her unusual yet kind-hearted neighbors, and her father, she learns to overcome her cynicism and once again feel hope and love.  This novel is written mostly in lovely prose, though periodic comic-style illustrations show readers the action from Ulysses' viewpoint.  This is a fantastic book for readers of all types.

Four Newbery Honor books were also named:

• Doll Bones, by Holly Black
• The Year of Billy Miller by Kevin Henkes
• One Came Home by Amy Timberlake
• Paperboy by Vince Vawter

My Thoughts

This was a good year for picture books, and I know that I had an especially hard time predicting who the winner of the Caldecott Medal would be.  Despite this deep pool of talent I am not at all surprised to see most of the books that were granted Caldecott Medals or Honors on this list!  I'd expected Aaron Becker's Journey (which is a wordless story reminiscent of the classic Harold and the Purple Crayon but with tons of lush detail) to take the shiny gold medal, but Locomotive's charm makes it easy to accept the committee's final listing.  David Weisner's Mr. Wuffles! is also a delight, and it's definitely my favorite book from this outstanding author in quite some time.  The only real surprise for me on this list comes in the form of Flora and the Flamingo, which though certainly charming took me by surprise when it was named an honor book.  Still, it's sure to be a hit with young girls everywhere.

There were actually very few truly stand-out children's novels this year in my mind, so I was thrilled to see that my favorites from the year were all graced with awards of some kind.  I'd really expected the Medal to go to either Doll Bones or The Year of Billy Miller, both of which I found to be outstanding books.  Looking back on it, I can definitely see how Flora and Ulysses's style and charm won over the committee.  Its elegant prose, whimsical characters, and even the comic illustrations all work well together and make this novel stand out from the pack.  Time and energy permitting, reviews for these three great books may be forthcoming on this blog.  Authors Amy Timberlake and Kevin Henkes are both Wisconsin-born authors, and it's nice to see my home state represented so well at this year's awards.  Paperboy, however, was not even on my radar.  I'll need to explore this one on my own to discover what exactly it was that made this book a winner during what I felt was a off year for children's novels.  

Dancing Storytime

It's January in Wisconsin, and it's been - even for us - unseasonably cold, snowy, and miserable.  This means that everyone is getting a little restless, with just a touch a cabin fever.  The best solution?  A storytime where we can use our dancing shoes!

Here are the books we read:

Hilda Must Be Dancing by Karma Wilson, illustrated by Suzanne Watts

Hilda the hippo loves to dance:  Ballet, rumba, disco, you name it!  Unfortunately, Hilda is also a big animal and her favorite hobby isn't exactly quiet.  Her stomping and swaying is making a lot of noise and is disturbing the other animals.  They try their best to get Hilda to try a new hobby, but nothing works!  Finally, Hilda decides to try swimming and, fortunately for everyone, she discovers the joys of water ballet dancing.  This book has great rhyming text and I love Hilda's dancing costumes in the illustrations.

How Can You Dance? by Rick Walton, illustrated by Ana Lopez-Escriva

I have the kids stand as I read this book.  On each page there is a four-line rhyming poem asking the reader how they would dance if they were a certain object or animal.  After reading this rhyme I ask the kids to try dancing that way.  We probably only spend 10-20 seconds on each page and each type of dance, and the kids were all really good about keeping their own space and getting ready for the next set of instructions as we progressed through the book.

Tanka Tanka Skunk! by Steve Webb

This is a really great book when it comes to rhythm!  The book invites readers to clap along to the beat of the story and introduces readers to the basic concept of syllables.  I use this book as a great way of introducing parents to the concept of phonological awareness (we spend a minute talking about this concept before we even open the book) and I talk to them about all of the reasons why music is so great for young children.  I ask the kids and the parents to all clap along to the beat of the story, and they catch on pretty quickly!  We read most pages twice so that everyone can get a good feel for the beat each time.

Wiggle by Doreen Cronin, illustrated by Scott Menchin

I like to keep Wiggle in my back pocket just in case I don't have the right audience for Tanka Tanka Skunk (I find that it works best if you have a few 4-year-olds help to lead the younger ones and/or some really awesome, cooperative parents who will actively play along), if everyone is really rambunctious and needs more moving-around time, or simply as a time-filler should we need an extra activity.  Like How Can You Dance? this book is a great one for getting kids on their feet and wiggling in different ways.

This storytime was all about moving and dancing, so we did a few other activities as well.  First, we did the Hokey Pokey!  This song is a bit of a classic, but even if the kids don't know how this dance goes they all catch on very quickly.  For some reason I also find that this song makes the grown-ups in the audience really excited.  I'm not sure exactly why, but I'll take it!

To conclude this storytime, I decided to try something a little different.  We had a dance party!  I put on some music, got out our fancy scarves, and invited the kids to stay in the storytime room and dance for as long as they wanted.  Once I showed the kids what they could do with the scarves they were pretty enthralled.  The CD that I chose to play was Disney's "Dancin' Tunes," which included such dance hits as "YMCA," "The Twist," "Shout," and plenty more, but just about any music would work for this activity.

 

I sincerely regret not getting video of the kids dancing!  It was too much fun.

Since this group of storytimers also generally expects some sort of craft, and because I figured that a few shy kids didn't want to dance, I also put out a coloring sheet and crayons.  Kids could float between coloring and dancing for as long as they wanted.

Cabin fever really must be in full force around here, because this storytime was a big hit!  Everyone had a good time, and there were a few kids who had to be pried away from the dance floor.

Sandy's Picks 2013 - Picture Books

Now that the year is drawing to a close, it's time for me to look back on the books that I have read this year and pick my favorites.  According to my Goodreads account, I read a total of 74 books in 2013.  This number is down quite a bit from years past, but does not truly reflect every books that I read this year.  These 74 books do no include very many picture books (which I do not always remember to take the time to review), several volumes of a manga series or two (where I generally review the series as a whole, not each individual volume), or some self-help or reference non-fiction (which I feel a tad self-conscious about reviewing).

This is the first of a series of three posts, each covering a different type of children's book.  Today we will be looking at books that are generally written for our youngest readers:  Picture Books.

Journey by Aaron Becker

A girl draws a door on her bedrooms wall and travels to a fantastical world.  With her red marker she is able to travel by balloon, boat, and flying carpet until she is captured and imprisoned.  It will take a little daring and some help from a friend to escape.  The book reminds me a bit of Harold and the Purple Crayon in its theme, though the style is much more vibrant and complex.  I've had a hard time pinning down my top pick for this year's Caldecott Medal, but I think that I'll place my bets with this book.

Locomotive by Brian Floca

This train story takes readers back to the time of great steam engines, roaring down the track through the West.  I love this story for its beautiful sepia-toned illustrations.

Unicorn Thinks He's Pretty Great by Bob Shea

Goat was doing just fine until Unicorn showed up.  Unicorn can fly, turn things into gold, and make it rain cupcakes.  Ugh.  But what if the two teamed up?  I don't want to spoil what happens, but the phrase, "Taste my cloven justice" is part of the equation.  This book cracks me up.

The Dark by Lemony Snicket, illustrated by Jon Klassen

Laszlo is afraid of the dark.  The dark lives (naturally) in Laszlo's basement, but is not afriad of Laszlo.  One evening the dark comes upstairs to visit Laszlo, and poor Laszlo has to learn to not be afraid anymore.  It was only a matter of time before this author and illustrator teamed up, and the result is subversively brilliant.  Snicket's wordy, stylized text matches perfectly with Klassen's simple, moody, stylized artwork.  Perfect.

Dinosaur Kisses by David Ezra Stein

A baby T-Rex is good at lots of things.  She can stomp and chomp with the best of them.  But one day the dinosaur observes two other animals doing something different - kissing!  She decides to try that next, but unfortunately our baby T-Rex is too good at stomping and chomping and kissing does not come easily.  The illustrations really make this story work, rendering the poor dino's failed kissing attempts hilarious.  Great toddler story.

Mr. Wuffles by David Wiesner

Mr. Wuffles is a cat.  His owner brings him a toy, but (in the way that cats are) Mr. Wuffles shows no interest.  Why should he care when there is a spaceship full of tiny aliens in his house?  The aliens are in some real trouble.  Can they escape to safety in the walls of the house?  And are the insects who live there friendly?  This wordless picture book is done in Wiesner's signature style, showing a side of our fantastic world that we humans might never think to look for.

What were your favorite picture books of 2013?  Tell me about them in the comments.

Monster Storytime

To get ready for Halloween, this week's storytime was all about monsters!  Here are the books we read:

When a Monster is Born by Sean Taylor, illustrated by Nick Sharratt
"When a monster is born there are two possibilities.  Either it's a faraway-in-the-forests monster, or it's an under-your-bed monster.  If it's a faraway-in-the-forests monster, that's that.  But if it's an under-your-bed monster, there are two possibilities..."  This story continues in this format, always presenting our monster friend with two possibilities.  While not really a Choose Your Own Adventure story, this book does show us that there are always different choices.  Besides, some of the options that the monster has are just plain silly.  The kids were actually enraptured by this book, and they especially liked it when the story came full circle at the end.

If You're a Monster and You Know It by Rebecca and Ed Emberley
The Emberleys has written lots of fun monster stories.  I picked this one from the bunch because it also lends itself very well to some moving and imaginative play as the kids can snort and growl, smack their claws, and twitch their tails just like a monster does as we read.  I always like to make sure that we have at least one stand-up-and-move activity during storytime since I've found that it helps to keep the kids focused, and this book fit the bill perfectly.

Leonardo the Terrible Monster by Mo Willems
This is actually one of my favorite Mo Willems books of all time.  Leonardo is a terrible monster.  Not a scary monster - a terrible monster.  He's no good at scarring anyone!  So he decides to find the biggest scardy-cat kid in the world, a boy named Sam, and scare the tuna salad out of him to make himself feel better.  Needless to say, that doesn't exactly go as planned.  But perhaps Leonardo and Sam can become friends instead.

Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
I ended up not having time for this fourth story, but I always think it's a good idea to have an extra in your back pocket just in case.  This classic book could be a quieter, more soothing choice for your group than If You're a Monster if you think that your group needs it.

We also did a few other activities.  Credit for both of these activities belongs to one of my co-workers, who created them.

First, we had to look for Little Monster under the bed.

There are seven beds, each one a different color.  I put each of the beds up on our magnet board, secretly hiding the little monster underneath one of them.  First we counted the beds and talked about what colors they are.  Next I asked the kids to guess in their heads which bed they thought the monster was hiding under.  After given the kids a moment to make their guess, I said the rhyme:  "Little Monster, Little Monster, are you under the _____ bed?"  Fill the blank in with a color, and remove the bed of that color to reveal if the monster is under the bed.  When I did the activity, I purposely removed all but two of the bed before revealing which bed the monster was under to build suspense.  The activity can be repeated as many times as you want, hiding the monster under a different bed each time.


We also told another story using a flannelboard based on Ed Emberley's book Go Away, Big Green Monster.

In the book, die cuts reveal more and more of the monster's face as you turn the pages, and then parts of his face are taken away as the reader tells him to go away.  Felt pieces made it lots of fun to assemble and take apart the face.  Layering felt pieces is obviously a bit different than using die cuts so I did have to re-order just a couple of the pieces to make the flannelboard work easily, but no harm done there.


As always we did a craft to end our storytime.  We made monster masks!

I found a template for a cute monster mask here.  I enlarged the mask just a little bit to make it a better size (I think I zoomed in to 110%) and then printed the enlarged masks on cardstock.  I cut the masks out and cut string to tie the masks in advance, so all the kids had to do was color.  They loved it!  We had lots of scary, growling, stomping monsters at the library after storytime was all finished.

"In the Grand Scheme of Things"

Today a nanny was telling me about how the 2-year-old girl she cares for, one of our regular storytime attendees, loves Mo Willems' pigeon books (Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, etc.)  She told us that the girl actually had the book Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late completely memorized!

At one point in this book, the pigeon tried to rationalize his desire to stay up a bit later by saying, "What's five more minutes in the grand scheme of things?"  The girl's nanny told me that at one point the child's mother had told the girl that she needed to wait five more minutes for something.  The girl proceeded to respond by quoting this line from the book.  Of course a 2-year-old doesn't really understand exactly what this phrase means, which makes it all the funnier for the rest of us.  So cute.

Candy Carrot Cupcakes

I'm giving full credit for these adorable little cupcakes to one of my co-workers, who has a way of always going above and beyond what we expect when it comes to the summer book clubs that she runs.

Today our youngest book club met to read and do activities that go along with Candace Fleming's marvelous book Muncha! Muncha! Muncha!  After reading and discussing the book as a group, the kids played Garden BINGO, made rabbit masks, and ate these masterful cupcakes.  Too much cute!

Want to learn how to make these tasty treats?  Check out the recipe here. 

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. 

2013 Youth Media Awards

Yesterday the American Library Association (ALA) announced the winners of the 2013 Youth Media Awards.  Nineteen different awards were given to the best of the best in children's literature.  As I have done for the past several years I will document the biggest, oldest, and most prestigious of these awards:  The Caldecott and Newbery Medals.  A full list of today's awards and their recipients can be found here. 

Caldecott Medal

The Caldecott Medal is awarded each year to, "the most distinguished American picture book for children."  This year the award goes to This Is Not My Hat, written and illustrated by John Klassen.  In this follow-up to last year's I Want My Hat Back, which was the recipient of a 2012 Theodore Seuss Geisel Honor, Klassen has crafted a similar story involving an animal's stolen hat.  This latest offering had a new cast of characters, a new color scheme, and plenty of clever humor to keep audiences happy.  One of the coolest things about this picture book is the way that the illustrations really do tell the story, adding plenty of detail that the text alone cannot provide.

A whopping five books were given Caldecott Honors:

• Creepy Carrots by Aaron Reynolds, illustrated by Peter Brown
• Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett, illustrated by John Klassen
• Green by Laura Vaccaro Seeger
• One Cool Friend by Toni Buzzeo, illustrated by David Small
• Sleep Like a Tiger by Mary Logue, illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski

Newbery Medal

The Newbery Medal is given every year to, "the most outstanding contribution to children's literature."  This year the award goes to The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate.  This poetic, lyrical novel tells the story of Ivan, a silverback gorilla who lives in an exhibit at a mall.  Ivan has never really questioned his existence there and is happy enough drawing pictures with the crayons provided by his caretaker.  When a baby elephant is added to the mall's menagerie, Ivan suddenly realizes that he needs to find a better home for his new friend.  The language in this book really makes it stand out from the crowd as it brings Ivan's story to life.  The emotional story - based on real-life events - will warm your heart and bring a tear to your eye.

Three books were awarded Newbery Honors:

• Splendors and Gloom by Laura Amy Schlitz
• Bomb:  The Race to Build - and Steal - the World's Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin
• Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage

My Thoughts

This year the Youth Media Awards has yielded a varied crop of winners, some of which I expected and some of which were complete surprises.   The Caldecott, with its unusually large pool of recipients, was especially filled with surprises.  I didn't expect either This Is Not My Hat or Creepy Carrots to make the cut, though both books are full of humor and real appeal for all sorts of audiences.  I had expected that John Klassen would win the Caldecott Medal this year, but not for the book that got the big prize.  Still, it pleases me to see Extra Yarn on the list of honor books.  And how cool is it that Klassen came away with two Caldecott awards for two different books this year?  This has only happened once before in the history of the award, when Leonard Weisgard won both a Caldecott Medal and Honor in 1947.

I'd read so many good, worthy children's novels this year that it was very difficult to predict which ones would come away with the Newbery.  There are a couple of titles that I was sad to see neglected - The Unfortunate Son and The Lions of Little Rock come to mind - but generally the recipients seem to be worthy.  I was somewhat surprised to see Three Times Lucky come away with a Newbery Honor.  Personally, I just wasn't terribly enchanted by this book and might have preferred to see another "plucky girl" story (Summer of the Gypsy Moths) come away with an award instead.  But that's just me.

Elephant Storytime

This week's storytime was all about elephants!  Did you know that elephants are the largest animal that lives on land?  And that they can use their large ears to fan themselves on hot days?

Here are some of the elephant stories we read:

Peanut by Linas Alsenas
Mildred is very lonely.  But one day she finds a stray puppy.  But is it really a puppy?  Peanut doesn't like to eat dog food, and he doesn't roll over or play fetch.  But he is great at watering Mildred's plants and is an excellent couchwarmer...

When the Elephant Walks by Keiko Kasza
When the elephant walks, he scares the bear.  When the bear runs away, he scares the crocodile.  When the crocodile swims for his life, he scares the wild hog.  The story continues in this fashion until a mouse appears.  Who could possibly be afraid of a mouse?

Elmer by David McKee
All of the elephants in the jungle are gray except for Elmer, who is a patchwork of different colors.  But one day Elmer decides that he is tired of being different and paints himself to look just like the other elephants. 

What to Do if an Elephant Stands on Your Foot by Michelle Robinson, illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds
The story's narrator gives advice on how to avoid encounters with various jungle animals.  But when these instructions aren't heeded encounters with other animals are the result.  This story has a linear progression with lots of different animals just like When the Elephant Walks and is an absolute hoot, but is just a little wordier.  Use the former with more restless groups or if you simply have less time.  If you have time, feel free to use both!



We also did two action rhymes/fingerplays.  I don't remember exactly where I learned this first rhyme, but it was a hit with the kids who were ready to stand up and move a little bit:

An Elephant Goes

An elephant goes

Like this and that.
      (stomp)
He’s terribly big
      (reach high)
And he’s terribly fat.
      (reach wide)
He has no fingers,
      (wiggle fingers)
He has no toes,
      (point to toes)
But goodness gracious
What a nose!
      (wave arm like an elephant's trunk) 

This next fingerplay can be done sitting down, but will still likely get a very enthusiastic response.  It was a hit with my storytime group, anyway!  I found this rhyme on Storytime Katie's blog.  Her version of Elephant Storytime has a lot of fun ideas if you 're looking for more elephant activities.

Up a Hill

Here comes a turtle up a hill,

Creepy, creepy, creepy, creepy.
      (crawl fingers up arm)
Here comes a rabbit up a hill,
Boing, boing, boing, boing.
      (bounce fingers up arm)
Here comes a snake up a hill,
Slither, slither, slither, slither.
     (slide fingers up arm)
Here comes an elephant up a hill,
Thud, thud, thud, thud.
     (clap hand up arm)
Here comes an elephant down a hill.
Thud, thud, thud, thud.
     (clap hand down arm)
CRASH!
     (clap hands loudly)

To finish our storytime we made our own patchwork elephants, just like Elmer.  I found a simple outline of an elephant and printed it out on white paper.  The kids were given glue sticks and lots of cut-up tissue paper to glue onto their elephants.  The craft is simple and requires very little prep, but tissue paper crafts always prove popular at my library and the kids got a kick out of picking out just the right colors to include in their patchwork elephants.