Spring Fling Stories

This week I had double the storytime fun. I presented my regular Monday morning storytime at the library at our local military base. Nine preschoolers, six books, an assortment of songs and fingerplays, and me.

Then on Thursday, I was the substitute branch manager at the public library and I was invited to present a storytime there. I read six books to almost forty children. Some of the same songs and fingerplays, but what a different experience! A larger audience meant there was more singing and participation - but also meant more chaos.

Large or small, I realize that I really love presenting storytime to all those small expectant faces. Sharing a love of books, and helping to develop literacy skills in our youngest patrons - well it just doesn't get any better than that.

Here are the books we read this week, along with Clifford's Easter (Bridwell), Muncha, Muncha, Muncha (Fleming) and Quacky Baseball (Abahams):

Here Comes T. Rex Cottontail by Lois G. Grambling




Great goofy read-aloud! T-Rex agrees to deliver eggs for the Easter Bunny when he develops a cold - with interesting results.



Wake Up Its Spring by Lisa C Ernst


Great Storytime opener for a spring-themed storytime. After a long cold winter, one day the sun warms the earth and tells it to wake up since spring is here...the message gets passed along, from earth to earthworm, to seed, to ladybug...and so on until everyone is awake and dancing in the spring sunshine.



Spring Is Here! by Will Hillenbrand


Mole wakes up one morning to find that spring has come. Wanting to share this great news with his friend Bear, he goes to great lengths to wake the snoring bear. Each of mole's attempts result in a giant "snore" from Bear and the text lends itself to some great sound effects. The illustrations are terrific and the kids loved the twist at the end!



Bunny's Easter Egg by Anne Mortimer


The illustrations in this book are gorgeous! This gentle story of a very tired Easter Bunny searching for a quiet, comfortable place to sleep enchanted the listeners at storytime.



Flower Garden by Eve Bunting


This story, about a girl buying and planting a window box in her high-rise apartment in a big city is beautifully illustrated...and so very different from the experiences of the boys and girls growing up in suburban San Diego, where I present my storytimes.

Food...and Small Triumphs

This week's storytime was all about food. Six kids joined me in singing "If You're Hungry and You Know It" - a made-up version of the classic "If You're Happy And You Know It" and doing classic fingerplays like "Five Red Grapes," "Three Fat Sausages," "Bananas Unite," and "Make a Pancake." Books included Too Pickley! by Jean Reidy, Like Butter on Pancakes by Jonathan London, The Cow loves Cookies by Karma Wilson, and Just One Bite by Lola Schaefer. The kids loved all of these books - for different reasons. They could chime in on the repeated phrase in the Karma Wilson book, and they loved the illustrations of Just one Bite. Too pickley! was about a hungry, but very pickey, eater with amusing illustrations that made us all laugh. Like Butter was a beautiful, gentle book which gave them a chance to relax and catch their breath. We all had a great deal of fun.

Then there was my regular library job. Last week, I substituted for the manager at one of our branches. When I arrived, there was a van parked in the parking lot - it belonged to a "problem patron." When we opened he was among the first through the door. The staff all held our collective breath as we raced about our morning routine and, despite being short staffed, we managed to make everyone's experience a pleasant one...even our problem patron. He did start off making some loud demands and acting...confrontational, but I politely asked him to be patient, and helped him as soon as I could - he was actually polite and was patient and we had a very pleasant exchange as I helped him with computer and printing issues and then got him information about a book he had heard about. He left smiling. Small triumph, but the staff felt like we had just won the Superbowl.

The best part of that particular day came rather late in the afternoon. A mom came in with two children and a stack of books to return and/or renew, some of the items were overdue and one on her record she couldn't find...we straightened out her account and then I helped her daughter find some books to read. The daughter wanted to check out manga but mom wanted her to read something else as well. Part of the problem is that the girl was an avid reader who read way above her grade level. This was the same position I was in with one of my sons: the stories that were written at a level he would enjoy contained story lines that he just wasn't into. Stories that he would enjoy, written about issues and situations that a second grader would find interesting bored him to death because of the simple sentence structure and limited vocabulary. I talked to mom about strategies to use in a situation like this..did a casual reader's advisory interview with the girl and made some suggestions of books she could try. She left the library with a stack of books that included several manga volumes and Mark Twain and was chattering excitedly. Mom was thrilled, too. Saying that they were going to make sure and come back "on my day" since she was thrilled with the way her daughter responded to this library trip. Another triumph. It is moments like these, where I see a young person's eyes light up over books and I'm able to feed this passion that I know I am in the right occupation.