If books are not good company, where will I find it? -Mark Twain

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Hats!

This theme was easy to put together, there are great hat books, great hat rhymes, and great hat crafts.  I had a rather large - for the base library - audience and they were wonderfully engaged and interactive.  We had a great story time!  Our craft was a simple coloring sheet which I crafted with three different kinds of hats, having lost the matching sheet I wanted to use.  I know I saw it somewhere on the web…oh, why didn't I pin it on Pinterest?

Here are the books we read and the rhymes:

Stormy's Hat: Just Right for a Railroad ManStormy's Hat: Just Right for a Railroad Man by Eric A. Kimmel
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This wonderful book is based on the true story of George "Stormy" Kromer and his wife Ida who created the original railroad engineer's cap in 1903 - the same cap worn today, over one hundred years later, by railroad workers everywhere.  My story time audience loved all of Stormy's attempts to find a hat that was just right for a railroad man…fedora, pressman's hat, cowboy hat, firefighter's helmet…nothing worked.  With each failed hat, Ida tries to make a suggestion, to which Stormy replies, "don't worry your pretty little head.'  When he finally listens, Ida creates the perfect hat based on his description.  The illustrations are lovely and the text, a little longer than my usual story time books, held my audience's interest.  There are wonderful author's notes at the end as well.

Then we did the action rhyme, "Tall Hat, Small Hat":
          Tall hat (Arms overhead)
          Small hat (hands close to head)
          Big hat (arms spread out)
          Cap (hands on head)
          Let's take them off again (repeat rhyme with motions in reverse).
          And put them in my lap (fold hands in lap)

Whose Hat Is This?: A Look at Hats Workers Wear--Hard, Tall, and ShinyWhose Hat Is This?: A Look at Hats Workers Wear--Hard, Tall, and Shiny by Sharon Katz Cooper
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I love 'guessing game" books for story time - they encourage audience involvement and engagement, which encourages fun and enjoyment.  This one shows a portion of a hat/helmet and a one sentence question/hint and then, when the reader turns the page, there is the answer and information about the specific hat/helmet.  Some of the hats are quite esoteric - like a beekeeper's hat.  My young audience correctly guessed more than half, and really enjoyed the process.  The illustrations are bright and bold, and alternate well between men and women wearers.

This was followed by a hats flannel:
The kids had great fun identifying the various hats and we counted and identified the hat by color.  The green construction hat threw them a bit, since in the two prior books the construction hats had both been yellow!

Then we read:

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is an older book (c 1984) with very detailed illustrations and imaginative text about Martin, who puts on a hat and has adventure after adventure…from spelunking under the bed to crashing a party to being a train engineer.  He also directs traffic, delivers mail, and puts out a fire in Chicago.  When he gets home, he finds a special hat waiting: a nightcap and he falls asleep.  This is a charing little book.
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
With wonderfully bright illustrations, the text "name drops" depicting famous people and the hats they wore.  The end notes provide information about all of the people and their accomplishments.  The rhyming text is fun to read aloud and the kids love the refrain of, "Do you have a hat?"  There was much discussion of the types of hats my audience owns and wears.  Great, fun read-aloud.

There were lots of laughs and lots of participation.  We did our wiggle break, "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" twice and followed that by putting on our magic hats:
Put on your magic hat (put hands on head)
You can do anything in your magic hat!
You can hop and hop…
You can make a face….
You can flap and flap…

The kids really had fun hopping and flapping!  All in all this was one magical story time.






Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Yipes, Stripes!


The child's foot is Mr.
 Zebra's face!
After a summer of Food (CA Public Libraries Summer Reading Theme) and Going places (the DOD Summer Reading Theme: Books Will Take You Places) I really am looking for some new and different themes this fall.  This title has been kicking around my brain for quite and so I pulled some of my favorite tiger and zebra books and a storytime was born.  I even found A wonderful Zebra craft that will be just perfect for my storytime audience (with a little help from their parents!).


I made up a couple of "Five Little" Rhymes:


        Five Little Tigers
Five little tigers lying in the shade
One stretched and yawned and said, “I’m bored!”
He walked away and then there were four.
Four little tigers lying in the shade,
One stood and said, “Let’s race to that tree”
He ran away and then there were three.
Three little tigers wondering what to do
One chased a butterfly and then there were two.
Two little tigers lying in the sun,
One wandered off to find a snack
And then there was one.
One little tiger went to sleep, and just as he started to snore
The others came back and woke him with a roar.

Five little zebras
Five little zebras on the African plain
Were playing when it started to rain
One little zebra said, “Those drops feel good”
The second one said, “I wish I had a hood”
The third one said, “Let’s splash and play”
The fourth one said, “I could do that all day!”

The fifth one said, “I’d rather stay dry,”
And so he ran home with a mighty sigh.


I adapted a number of other rhymes to common tunes, like "Twinkle, Twinkle" and sang about the tigers in the zoo to the tune of "Wheels on the Bus":

The tigers in the zoo say,
“Grrr, grrr, grrr”
“Grrr, grrr, grrr”
“Grrr, grrr, grrr”
The tigers at the zoo say,
“Grrr, grrr, grrr”
All day long.

Here are the books we read:


Read to TigerRead to Tiger by S.J. Fore
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is a wonderful read aloud book.  A boy just wants to read his book, but Tiger and his antics prove too distracting.  Tiger refers to himself in the third person, so he was fun to create a funny voice for...in addition his antics include great sounds like loud gum chewing "chomps" and karate exclamations.  The kids were enchanted by the illustrations and laughed at Tiger's antics.

It's a Tiger!It's a Tiger! by David LaRochelle
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is a very engaging and interactive read-aloud with bright bold illustrations that are very appealing even to very young children.  The text opens with a question, "Are you ready for a story?" and begins with monkeys swinging on vines in a jungle.  But wait!  There is an orange and black vine, it's a tiger tail.  Every other page contains the phrase, "It's a Tiger....Run!"  For Toddler/preschool story time, get the kids up on their feet and have them act out the story as our main character runs, climbs and swims to get away from the tiger.  This is a fun read-aloud that will have the kids giggling and yelling out, "It's a tiger...run!"


ZeeZee by Michel Gay
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Little Zee is a very cute little zebra who loves climbing into bed with his mom and dad.  One morning though, they are still asleep, and he decides to wake them with coffee...but things don't quite turn out the way he planned.  Zee has good intentions, and cleans up all of his mess, but he does have quite an adventure.  He does get his snuggle with Mom and Dad - and they do get their coffee.  The illustrations are lovely and soft - and I love the zebra striped end pages.  My storytime audience fell in love with little Zee, and when you read this book, you will soon discover why.

Z Is for MooseZ Is for Moose by Kelly Bingham
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
With wonderfully funny illustrations and simple text this is no ordinary alphabet book.  Zebra has all of the letters organized and ready to go and everything starts well - apple, ball, and cat all make their appearances.  But moose can't wait his turn, which creates chaos. When he discovers that zebra has chosen mouse for "M" things get really wild. My storytime audience loved the pictures, especially when Moose appears in an ice cream cone...and later when he adds graffiti hooves and antlers to ring and snake.  One can't help but laugh at Moose's antics and zebra's solution to the problem will make you smile.






Sunday, September 22, 2013

Dog Days of Summer

At the end of August we experienced hot, humid days - which is unusual for residents of San Diego.  Dog Days of Summer seemed to be a perfectly natural theme.  While we did our after-craft, one little boy was singing "Who let the Dogs out?"  You know, it's really cute when it's a three-year-old!

This was a great excuse to dig out my favorite dog books and discover a few new ones:

C'mere, Boy!C'mere, Boy! by Sharon Jennings
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
A wonderfully funny twist on the classic tale of boy and dog.  Dog spends a week convincing his mother that he needs a boy...buying a leash, so he will be ready, putting "boy food" on the family shopping list, all to no avail.  Mom still says, "no boy."  Dog sets off to find just the right boy, with laugh-out-loud results.   I worried that there was too much text to keep my young story time audience's attention, but they loved it, probably because there is so much humor in the text and soft pictures.

My Big Dog (Family Storytime)My Big Dog by Janet Stevens
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The narrator, a cat, has her "purr-r-r-r-fect" world shattered when a golden retriever puppy becomes part of her family.  The cat can't hide from the dog, can't get the dog to leave  and can't seem to avoid the puppy's "sloppy, drooly tongue."  After many misadventures, which are shown in the humorous illustrations, the two finally become friends...sort of.

The Stray DogThe Stray Dog by Marc Simont
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
A family enjoys the company of a small dog while on a Saturday picnic but leave him in the park when they head  for home, feeling as though he must belong to someone.  They think about little else during the ensuing week...and save him from the dog catcher the following Saturday.  Told with Storytime length text and lovely illustrations, this is a wonderful story filled with emotion and joy when a dog finds a "forever home."  Published in 2001 this is a Caldecott Honor Book.

Say Hello to Zorro!Say Hello to Zorro! by Carter Goodrich
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Mr. Bud had a perfectly ordered life where "everything was just right" until the day the humans brought home Zorro.  Things do not go well...at first.  Zorro hoards toys and Mr. Bud is grumpy about having another dog thrust upon him.  Until the day they realized that they both had the same schedule...and all of the activities were better with a buddy.  The illustrations are filled with humor and the text is perfect for reading aloud.







Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Under a Full Moon

So this week at the Base Library there were six children at story time.  It was a nice number and the participation rate was pretty high...although I noticed the oldest boys liked performing the actions associated with songs and rhymes much better than singing the songs or saying the rhymes!  This week's theme was all about the moon.  One of the rhymes we did was "Five Full Moons" and, with the help of NASA, I created a flannel to go with it:

Here are the books we read:

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is a very amusing book, and a great read aloud - especially if you have everyone in the audience help rooster by joining in every "cockadoodledoo."  The main character, a young rooster suffering from insomnia and confusion, decides that a rooster must crow to wake the moon just as the other roosters were needed to wake the sun.  Things go downhill for rooster from there, he just doesn't understand why people throw shoes pots and clocks at him to say thank you when he would rather just have some dried corn kernals....The illustrations are lovely, and although my storytime audience missed the somewhat sarcastic tone of the text, it made the parents in my audience smile.  The kids just loved the zaniness and making all that noise.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is a very sweet book with simple text and brightly colored illustrations.  Little Bird teaches Bear a new game: Hide and Seek.  Bear likes it so much that he plays it with the moon after everyone else has gone to bed.  The moon finds Bear quite easily, but then it's Bear's turn to be it...and he can't find the moon.  Before the end of the book all the forest animals are awake and searching!  My storytime audience loved this book, even though some of the kids were well beyond the toddler stage.   

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is a gentle story, with beautiful illustrations.  It captures the beauty of a moonlit night, where the moonlight coats everything like butter.  Simple text complete this story of the animals and who the joy the buttery night gives them.

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
With illustrations that are in shades of gray to reflect the night, little kitten makes unsuccessful attempts to get a drink from the big bowl of milk she sees above her.  My storytime audience watched and listened to Kitten's every attempt and felt her pain with each failure.  In the end, they cheered when she found an actual bowl of milk waiting for her on her very own front porch.  


All in all a very enjoyable story time!







Saturday, March 2, 2013

Just Say No!

I realize I have fallen behind my in blogging about my storytime adventures.  So, I am attempting to catch up.  Over President's Day weekend, I realized that had forgotten to pull books for Tuesday morning story time, and the library would be closed on Monday.  So, I spent a little while on Sunday at a neighboring branch pulling books and determining a theme. That theme turned out to be Just Say, NO!  I did worry that it would be too negative, but I found a good set of books, filled with humor and/or love that made for a really good story time.  For our craft we colored pigeon, from Don't Let The Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems and the sheet included a speech bubble.  I encouraged the kids to  think about what the next thing is that Pigeon should ask for.

Here are books we read:


Martha, No!Martha, No! by Edward  Hardy
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
A very engaging story about angelic looking Martha and her new nanny (who is the 10th nanny so far).  My storytime audience loved chiming in to say, 'Martha, NO!" with nanny as Martha gets into more and more mischief - such as climbing up to the top of the t-rex statue and then drawing on the walls of the museum they visit.  Martha gets herself into some interesting situations and the illustrations and rhyming text are filled with fun.


Cindy MooCindy Moo by Lori Mortensen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The story begins when Cindy Moo, a cow on the Diddle farm overhears Mom Diddle reading the classic Nursery Rhyme, "Hey, Diddle, Diddle!" and decides that if THAT cow could jump over the moon, well she could as well.  While the other cows laugh and tease her, especially when her first attempts fail, Cindy is determined to succeed.  With rhyming text and delightful illustrations - and a little help from a rain puddle - Cindy does manage to jump over the moon.  Truly a fun read aloud about achieving a seemingly impossible dream.


NoNo by Claudia Rueda
My rating: 4 of 5 starsbr />
A sweet story about a stubborn little cub who does not want to go to sleep, and has an answer for each of Mother Bear's arguments...until he gets scared in the middle of a blinding snowstorm and makes his way back to the safety of his mother and his warm cave.  My storytime audience could identify with Baby Bear's not wanting to go to bed...and laughed as he says when returning to the cave, " Mamma, I'm back.  Winter is very long and you might get lonely."

Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! by Mo Willems
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Mo Willems is brilliant when it comes to writing books with storytime appeal.  This book works up a storytime audience into a frenzy of interaction faster and funnier than almost any other book that I have read.  Everytime the pigeon comes up with another request...another reason that he *should* be allowed to drive the bus, my storytime audience gleefully shouted, "No!" amidst giggles.  This is a great read-aloud and a sure audience pleaser for all ages.



Saturday, January 19, 2013

Babies Invade the Library

This week's post is about my public library job. The branch is located in the northern suburbs of San Diego. The schools are good, the houses on the newer side and the kind of community where there are a lot of moms home with their kids. We are a very diverse community with one thing in common - all the residents want the very best for their kids and want them to succeed. Many of the parents in the community value the library and the services and programs it provides for their children.

Probably because we are in a community with good schools and lots of parental involvement, we have a very active children's area - filled with waves of children all day.  There is a play area, where moms and toddlers socialize after story times, tables with crayons and coloring sheets and drop-in crafts on Saturdays.

And there are the babies.  Babies in strollers or in a mother's arms at the library because of an older sibling's needs.  Lots of babies.

So, this month we launched our Baby Bookworm Storytime and Baby Signing Storytime on alternating Mondays.  We have contracted with the presenter for the Baby Signing program, and her first presentation at our library was a great success.  Last Monday was our first Baby Bookworm Storytime...and that was all me.

I was pleased that I had twelve baby/toddlers in my audience.  Four were truly babies in their mothers' laps, and three were on the older side of "toddler" but the program and the audience were well matched.  The atmosphere was cozy and friendly, the audience participated in the songs and rhymes that we did and listened to the tips and advice that I gave out along with the stories.

Our first theme was "Baby, It's Cold Outside" and the weather cooperated since we were experiencing some of the coldest temperatures we have had in five years.  (Okay, so I know this is San Diego were 50 degrees is cold!)  We all learned our opening song, "If You Want To Hear A Story" (Tune: "If You're Happy and You Know It") and Moms got comfortable manipulating their baby's hands and arms.  We moved on to an action rhyme:

and then I read the first book:

I Am SmallI Am Small by Emma Dodd
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The world is very big for a very small, very cute penguin.  With good contrast, simple shapes and a very simple, touching text, this book if perfect for a very young storytime audience.  There are snowy scenes and scenes where our little penguin stands against an enormous cloud filled sky, on the edge of a very deep ocean filled with swimming penguins, and curled up with with it's mother.  Many of the pages have cool silver metallic sparkles.  A touching story of the love moms have for their children that made the moms in the audience hug their children a little tighter.

We did a finger play,

Warm hands, warm hands
(rub hands together while saying the first 3 lines)
Do you know how?
If you want to warm your hands
Blow on them now!
(blow gently on baby’s hands)

and then we were snowflakes. If the children were walkers, they were encouraged to get on their feet and whirl and twirl like snowflakes:

Snowflake, snowflake falling down down (Flutter hands down) 
Twirling, whirling to the ground. (Touch floor) 
Softly, landing on my nose (touch nose) 
Softly landing on my toes. (tickle baby’s toes) 
Snowflake, snowflake falling down. (Flutter hands down) 
Twirling, whirling to the ground (Touch floor)

Then I read:

I Like It When . . .I Like It When . . . by Mary Murphy
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Another cute small penguin tells the reader about the things he likes to do with his adult penguin.  Simple text and pictures with simple shapes and bold colors make this a perfect book to read to very young storytime audiences.  I like it when...you hold hands with me...let me help...dance with me...hold me tight...and (of course!) read me stories.  Simple, but engaging.


We ended with a tickle:

And then a closing song.  Adults were encouraged to reach into a bin of board books to read more to their children and introduce and to get to know one another while the young ones played with toys.  All in all a great success.

Saturday, January 12, 2013

Bear-y Tales

For Storytime at Miramar this week I pulled out an old theme and ready-made powerpoint.  This is a theme that I have used several times before at three different libraries and it is always popular.  The rhymes and songs are simple and there are always plenty of picture books about bears no matter where you are.  It is an easy "last minute" theme.  Each time I present this story time I have used a different set of books, based on what was available and it has worked every time.  This time around, one of my favorites (Don't Wake the up the Bear by Marjorie Dennis Murray) on the other hand I stumbled upon a new bear book that I fell in love with (and so did the kids!)  We discussed winter and hibernation and even why bears sleep in caves...I had a very interactive and curious group of eight in my storytime audience.  We sang "Bear is Sleeping" (Tune: "Frere Jacques") and did several fingerplays and action rhymes and made our own bear puppet (pasting bear parts onto a toilet paper roll).

Here are today's books and a couple of favorite bear stories that I have read in the past:

Bear Snores OnBear Snores On by Karma Wilson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Originally I read this on 1/24/11 as part of the original  "Bear-y Tales" theme story time .  Kids loved the fact that the bear slept through animals gathering in his cave for a party...especially the surprise ending. With humorous illustrations and a wonderful rhyming text, one by one animals wander into bear's cave to get out of the cold, and bear sleeps right through each arrival.  Animals pop popcorn, brew tea and the cave turns into quite a party spot - and bear sleeps on.  It is actually not the noise or the smell of food that wakes bear, but a pepper flake that causes bear to wake with a great big sneeze.  My storytime audience created great snoring sound effects whenever I read the refrain, "Bear snored on" and we all had a great time.   We followed this book with the song, "Bear is Sleeping" and it was very effective.


I Want My Hat BackI Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
We meet Bear when his little red pointy hat goes missing and he sets out to find it.  The text is mostly dialog, as Bear asks animal after animal if anyone has seen his hat.  There are two colors used in the text so it is easy to distinguish who says what.  I warned my audience that they should help Bear find his hat, because the reader does find out where the hat is on page four or five...but bear doesn't realize he has seen his hat until much nearer the end. My audience rose to the challenge and loved this book...well, except one little boy who thought Bear looked "A little creepy."  This is an award winning children's book and it shows.


About a BearAbout a Bear by Holly Surplice
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
You will fall in love with Bear! This book is beautifully illustrated and filled with all sorts of wondrous images. The rhyming text is simple, and is quite a good introduction to emotions as we see a bear who is glad, and bear when he is sad. He is even puzzled when he encounters a small turtle. My storytime audience became quite engaged with this book, describing what "puzzled" meant and laughing at Bear and turtle and the other fun Bear has with his friends. A wonderful read-aloud book.

Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? by Bill Martin Jr.
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
There is something comforting about reading a wonderful book which follows a predictable formula, especially when it illustrated with Eric Carle's wonderful collages and Bill Martin's chain of animals. A storytime audience knows how this story plays out and has great fun anticipating the next animal in the sequence, and in this case, making its sound. Polar Bear hears a lion, and the kids have great fun providing the roar. The hippo and flamingo, were a bit harder but my audience managed to come up with creative and funny sounds. This book is a reminder to all of us who present story times that classic picture books will almost always hit the mark with a storytime audience.

JamberryJamberry by Bruce Degen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Originally read 1/24/11 as part of "Bear-y Tales" theme. A Boy and his friend Bear go hunting for Berries. Lots of great rhyming for literacy development. Used fingerplays, "Bears eat Honey" and "Little Bear,"along with story.

Don't Wake Up the Bear!Don't Wake Up the Bear! by Marjorie Dennis Murray
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Bear is asleep in his cave, a wonderfully inviting big bear who was soft and warm...and one by one animals are driven into Bear's cave by the cold and snow. Hare arrives first, then badger. As each new animal arrives, they receive a welcome and then a warning,"but don't wake up the bear!" My storytime audience loved saying this phrase each time a new animal arrived. They also loved the big, beautiful illustrations.

My Little Polar BearMy Little Polar Bear by Claudia Rueda
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is a beautifully illustrated book with simple text filled with love. Little Polar Bear asks questions which his mother answers with patience and love.