Happy Birthday, Clifford!

There are few more beloved children's characters than Clifford the Big Red Dog, created by Norman Bridwell, 50 years ago. Everyone knows Clifford, dogs and celebrations, right? So what better theme for a storytime than Clifford's 50th birthday?

I donned the Clifford ears that Scholastic was handing out at ALA in June, found a pattern to allow the kids to create their own out of red construction paper, grabbed my Clifford puppet,and a stack of Clifford books. I modified a number of dog rhymes, songs, and finger plays to customize them for Clifford which only added to the fun, and had a great story time!

Here are the books we read:
Clifford the Big Red Dog by Norman Bridwell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Clifford, the big red dog, is probably one of the most loved and recognizable children's book character. He is lovable, and like them, has trouble fitting in as he makes his way through life. His person, Emily Elizabeth, loves him and the Clifford books subtly send positive messages about caring, loyalty, friendship, and responsibility. In this first book, Emily, introduces the reader to her dog, Clifford, and traces the ups and downs of life raising a jumbo size dog. Even though Clifford is fifty, the stories have a timelessness that still interest today's children.

Clifford's Puppy Days by Norman Bridwell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This was the second story in a book of four classic Clifford stories, and so we read about Clifford's beginning. He was a tiny puppy, and Emily Elizabeth was constantly worried about him getting lost or getting injured by her toys while they played. This is one book where Clifford's age was showing - at one point, Emily Elizabeth talks about Clifford loving the Merry-Go-Round she made for him, which is a record spinning on a record player. All the parents smiled when I asked my toddlers if they knew what the item was...and laughed at the kids' response which was a CD Player...In this book he also has an adventure in a bakery, get's bathed by a St. Bernard and then becomes the enormous grown-up dog we know and love today.

Clifford The Champion by Norman Bridwell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
When Emily Elizabeth enters Clifford into a dog competition, the results are humorous and somewhat predictable. Clifford is paired up with another dog, who runs the obstacle course and other trials perfectly - while Clifford, because he is so big, keeps getting stuck or breaking parts of the elements. However when it comes to the big splash competition, Clifford scores well, and almost wins when he saves his competitor who is unable to swim. My audience loved the funny pictures and the fact that Clifford always does his best and tries so hard to fit in to the world which is much too small for him.

Clifford Keeps Cool by Norman Bridwell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Here in San Diego, we have been experiencing unusually hot and humid weather, so I felt like I had to include this particular Clifford title in Storytime today. It is the height of summer and Clifford tries all the usual methods to stay cool, but at his size they don't always work quite right. For instance, watching a dog riding in a car enjoying the cool breeze, Clifford climbs on top of a large truck - which cools him off...until the truck passes under a freeway overpass. He empties swimming pools and fountains, until finally, Emily Elizabeth finds the perfect cooling spot for him: under a waterfall in a park. Not only is he finally happy, but he manages to save a boat load of kids in a canoe who were about to plunge over the falls. You gotta love this dog!

Clifford's Birthday Party by Norman Bridwell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This is another charming book about Clifford's life and his struggles to fit in to this miniature world. The kids enjoyed this story, and there were many laughs to be had, especially when all the guests at the party dream about what Clifford would look like after a trip to the groomers. I was bothered by the way the story centered on birthday presents - at first none of the guests would come, because they felt that their gifts were inadequate for their friend. The bulk of the story features each guest and his/her gift and how grateful Clifford is to receive each one...even though they are all somehow wrong (a hand knit sweater that only fits over part of his nose, for example). In the end, his family arrives to surprise him, and the message about friends and family being the most important gift comes through...but only in the last few pages.

Although it was a day off for me at the public library, I didn't want the kids there to miss out on the fun! Last Saturday I made a birthday card for all the kids to sign and prepared the materials so that they could also make Clifford ears. I also put all of our Clifford books out on display. I passed the "official" ears to the librarian who would be working in children's area today, and put out a "Clifford's Birthday Party" board game for kids to play as they wandered in. Happy Birthday, dear friend, Clifford!

Avast Me Hearties!

Well, this week we celebrate Talk Like a Pirate Day, and so this Monday, it was only natural that the storytime was all about pirates. Pete, my Melissa and Doug pirate puppet joined us to greet the kids, read a short book, and lead a couple of the songs we sang. ("If You're a Pirate and You Know It" and "The Pirates on the Ship" to the tunes of "If You're Happy and You Know it" and "The Wheels on the Bus" respectively.) The kids loved it! We did a flannel of "Five Little Pirates" with pirates that I made, for a little counting practice. We did a couple of fingerplays and practiced some Pirate-speak.
Here are today's books:

Pirateria: The Wonderful Plunderful Pirate Emporium by Calef Brown
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
With rhyming text and detailed illustrations, this book worked with my young storytime audience in spite of some very sophisticated concepts and higher than usual vocabulary. Privateer, mutineer, buccaneer seeking top quality pirate gear...wow. The kids listened to every word, describing this "glorious pirate emporium" and all the gear and classes available as well as specials. There was even a page of pirates modeling the latest in eye patches which the audience enthusiastically counted. What a fun pirate read-aloud.

Bubble Bath Pirates by Jarrett J. Krosoczka
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Clever illustrations (did you notice the rubber duckie with the Pirate eyepatch?) and a sing song text containing a smattering of pirate-speak made this an instant hit with my toddler audience. Pirate Mom (sorry, I just couldn't bring myself to say Pirate MOMMY) and her two little pirates just have too much fun at bath time. It almost made me want to follow along with them singing "Yo ho, yo ho, it's off to the bath we go" and jump right in behind them. Every page is filled with smiles. And after they count down and pull the plug there is pirate treasure waiting in the kitchen and more singing, "Yo ho, yo ho, we're now so sparkling clean...we're off to get our bounty of chocolate fudge ice cream!"

Pirate vs. Pirate: The Terrific Tale of a Big, Blustery Maritime Match by Mary Quattlebaum
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
My Toddler audience loved this book with its humorous illustrations and great read-aloud text. The kids enjoyed yelling "tie!" after each contest and enjoyed all the craziness that two pirates indulge in when they compete to see who is the mightiest, maddest, burliest, richest pirate in the whole world. One of the few pirate books to feature a female pirate, this book spoke to the girls in my audience, and they loved that Mo was every bit as good as her male companion whether she was eating hardtack or throwing a cannonball.

Pirate Princess by Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Bea is not your usual princess when we first meet her she is standing on her head and she would rather read a book than wear fancy clothes and she has no interest in meeting a handsome prince. Bea does have a dream - she wants to be a pirate. One afternoon she comes across a pirate ship and convinces the crew that they should add her to their crew. She throws herself into being a pirate, but it is a struggle. Her first task, swabbing the deck, makes her shoulders sore and the mop is "really gross." She is next assigned to the galley, where she whips up an inedible stew. She gets seasick. Just when it seems like she is going to have to walk the plank, the pirates discover she has a gift for sniffing out treasure, and she is welcomed into the pirate band. This story is filled with fun, great illustrations and a reminder that we all have gifts and talents.

Pajama Pirates by Andrew Kramer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
< Dreams, pirates, and imagination. This is a softly illustrated pirate adventure book that ends with bedtime. Nice way to end a pirate storytime.

Ready for Fun

This week I thought we would get silly (ok, sillier than usual) at Story time and so I chose some silly books and two by Jan Thomas, including Is Everyone Ready for Fun?, which gave us the title for today's story time. There were plenty of funny, nonsensical action rhymes and songs out there. We did "Crazy Clap" (three times!) which was easy, thanks to Bethany from the Hennepin County Library:

Crazy Clap
A crazy clap A lazy clap
Clap like a duck
A MONSTER clap
A CROCODILE clap
A fairy clap for luck
(Source: The Moon in the Man by Elizabeth Honey)

We also did some other silly "Can you?" rhymes: "Can you Move with me?" and "You Clap and You Stop." Of course we did "Head, Shoulder, Knees, and Toes" as we always do and the kids offered great suggestions as to how to do it. (Today's selections: whisper, LOUD, and CRAZY) Lots of action and lots of giggles and we held everyone's attention. Here are the books we read today:

Is Everyone Ready for Fun? by Jan Thomas
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Looking for a fun engaging book to put toddlers in a sily, giggly mood? This book is it. Three cows are ready for fun and find it...on chicken's couch. One cow asks, "Is everyone ready?" at the start of each new couch activity and the kids in my audience would yell, "yes!" as they jumped, they danced, they wiggled (giggling the entire time) along with cows. We all agreed that chicken sounded a little like our moms, in trying to protect his couch, and stop the fun. In the end, everyone comes together when they all agree on a good use for chicken's couch.

Don't Be Silly, Mrs. Millie! by Judy Cox
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Mrs. Millie's class laughs all day at all the silly things she says from "hang up your goats" first thing to "Put on your bats and kittens, butterfly!" (translation: put on your hats and mittens, good-bye!) Kids paint "on the weasel" in art class, say the "frog salute" and are invited to come "sit on the bug" for story time. The students laugh, calling Mrs. Mille silly and provide the correct sentence. All in all a fun read-aloud book, with bright illustrations based on the SILLY phrase. My storytime audience loved this book, and laughed and had fun yelling out the correct sentences. Very engaging read for toddlers.

What To Do If An Elephant Stands On Your Foot by Michelle Robinson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
In this book you will find instructions on what to do, or rather not to do, if you ever come face to face with a tiger, or are up a tree filled with snakes or if you ever find your foot trapped under an elephant. The title of this book intrigued me...and my storytime audience loved it. Of course, you should never startle an elephant, but how can you not yell "Yeowww!" when one is standing on your foot? This book invites the kids to become engaged in the story, so my audience helped make animal noises, waved their arms and yelled "Help!" when sitting in a lake surrounded by alligators and were on their feet going nuts with the monkeys. Thoroughly enjoyable read-aloud.

Can You Make a Scary Face? by Jan Thomas
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
A little over a year ago, I Grabbed this book for a last minute storytime off the shelf and got lucky - the kids (baby-lapsit & toddler) LOVED it. The readers do all kinds of actions at the suggestions of the cute bug that you see on the front cover. It was the perfect addition to this story time, and by the time I read this one my audience was primed to participate. They can make some very, very scary faces!

School is Cool

Today's storytime was all about the end of summer and the beginning of the school year. We had almost twenty-youngsters attend today - which is record attendance for an event that was not a party or contain giveaways! We started out discussing the end of summer and then read four books about starting school or the school experience. We sang "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and "The Wheels on the Bus" and did two finger plays (one I made up!) and sang two other going-off-to-school songs. The group was very engaged and very participatory - always great fun. Here are the books we read today:

Summer's End by Maribeth Boelts
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is a very sweet read-aloud for this time of year! A young girl, Jill, mourns the end of summer and all the wonderful things that she experienced while getting ready for the first day of second grade. The softly colored water color illustrations are lovely. This captures all of the emotions that we all experience with the change of seasons and the transition from summer to the school year.

Bailey by Harry Bliss
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Bailey is quite a dog. He goes to school with regular kids, who love him, but he retains his own doggie quirks! For instance, when it comes to choosing his school "outfit" his closet is filled with half a dozen dog collars. He eats his own homework, and then has to visit the school nurse. Bailey is so very lovable, and when that is combined with wonderful illustrations and a text filled with humor, the result is a fun read aloud book about school.

Never Spit on Your Shoes by Denys Cazet
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Arnie arrives home from his first day of school and tells his mother all about his great adventure over milk and cookies. As he recounts his day, we see the events in big bright illustrations. He describes his diverse group of classmates and enjoys the school tour, learning to write his name, and lunch in the cafeteria. Filled with humor, and interesting misadventures I read this one for all of the moms in my audience, who can identify with the experience of listening to tales told by sons and daughters.

We Love Our School!: A Read-Together Rebus Story by Judy Sierra
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The kids at my story time loved this book, which allowed them to participate in the telling of this story. The brightly colored illustrations held their interest and they loved this rebus story, happily yelling out the words represented by the rebus pictures. The rhyming text bounces along to make this a great interactive read aloud.

Mom, It's My First Day of Kindergarten! by Hyewon Yum
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
My storytime loved this story about a young boy getting ready to head off for his first day of kindergarten. In this version of a first day, it is the mom rather than the child that has first day jitters. The kids loved this twist to the traditional stories - you know, where the child is anxious about starting school and the parent is the calming influence. The text and illustrations are engaging and my audience loved this book.

Summer Time

It feels like I posted here just recently, it is difficult to believe that my last post was from May! It has been a summer of great challenges and great fun. It has also been a summer filled with two different summer reading program themes. At the Public Library, the theme was "Dream Big Read" which included "Own The Night" as the teen theme...lots of night time stories, and stories about imagination. At the Military Base we used the iread program theme: "Reading is so Delicious." For the storytimes on base the themes were "Pizza, Pizza!", "Just one Bite...Please?", "Breakfast", "Lunch", "Dinner", and "Party Food" - here are some of the highlights: Pizza is a popular food with kids and they loved this theme. There are lots of great songs and rhymes, and we recycled old CD's to make mini-pizzas as a craft. Our favorite pizza books were:

Hi, Pizza Man! by Virginia Walter
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I love this simple, funny, and oh so imaginative book based on a game the author would play with her granddaughter while waiting for dinner to arrive. This book starts out innocently asking what the little girl will say to the pizza man when the door bell rings (Hi, Pizza Man!) and then the question changes to, but what if it is a pizza lady? dog? dinosaur? The kids in my audience loved this book, and happily helped make the appropriate animal noises and giggled at the wonderful illustrations.

The Little Red Hen Makes a Pizza by Philemon Sturges
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Anyone familiar with the traditional tale of the busy red hen with the lazy friends will recognize elements of that tale in this modernized story, especially the recurring phrase "Not I." However, this tale, with the lovely cut paper illustrations from Amy Walrod, is fresh and funny. The story opens with the LRH, having finished the last of her bread, preparing to make dinner - looking in her pantry she finds, next to the canned worms, a can of pizza sauce and decides to make pizza. She doesn't plan very well and makes multiple trips to the store and asks to borrow items from her - predictably - unhelpful friends. The detailed pictures engaged my story time audience as we talked about items in shopping carts (she always buys "some other stuff") and ingredient preparation. There are lots of opportunities to count and to predict what will happen next...and a happy ending for all the characters.

We read books about wild food and picky eaters for "Try Just One Bite":

To Market, To Market by Anne Miranda
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
For any food-based story time this book is a must-read. A wild variation on the nursery rhyme "To Market, To Market" this is one wild, hysterically funny version. All the animals are live and they make mischief once home. My story time audience LOVED this one and laughed out loud at the wonderful illustrations. Fun to read, with rhyming text, this is a real winner

Rah, Rah, Radishes!: A Vegetable Chant by April Pulley Sayre
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
With full page photographs of the most beautiful vegetables this is a wonderful story time book. The rhyming, rhythmic text will make even the most passionate vegetable hater change his/her mind!

Our favorite meal time books were:
If You Give a Pig a Pancake by Laura Joffe Numeroff
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Laura Numeroff's books are such classics, and all the kids love them. The gently outrageous consequences that stem from a simple act: giving a mouse a cookie, a muffin to a moose or a pancake to a hungry pig - are sure to make any reader smile. The kids hung on every word and took in every colorful, detailed picture. They even giggled at most of them. They also knew what was coming so when we got to the last page, they all knew that the pig, in the end was going to ask for a pancake. After words I got out a flannel of the story, and the children retold the story with the help of the flannel clues - and they did a very good job of it, too!

A Most Unusual Lunch by Robert Bender
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
When a hungry frog innocently eats a beetle it starts a most...unusual chain of events. Each animal is swallowed whole by a larger animal who displays artifacts of the swallowed animal. My story time audience loved the soft, colorful illustrations and giggled at the wild combinations that occur - for instance lion, the top of this food chain, awakes from a nap to find he had "two antennae, six tiny little legs on his underbelly, two big green legs, a fish tail that rattled, a long forked tongue, plus strange scales.." the expression on the face of this unhappy lion is just priceless. He lets out a roar that begins the chain of animals being released and returning to normal. The warning is clear - you are what you eat - and laughter is guaranteed.

Little Whistle's Dinner Party by Cynthia Rylant
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
My story time audience was familiar with Little Whistle, the adorable guinea pig who lives in a toy store. He is nocturnal and spends many happy nights, once the store shades have been drawn, visiting with his toy-friends in the shop, who come to life at night as well. All of our favorites are here, soldier who reads stories to all the store's babies, lion who loves vanilla cookies, and bear who loves hats. In this book, Little Whistle invites all of his friends to a dinner party, makes elaborate preparations and then arrives in a helicopter to the dinner bringing dessert. Charming and lovable my story time audience hung on every words and smiled at every illustration.

Company's Coming by Arthur Yorinks
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
It was the quiet, normal suburban neighborhood where Moe and Shirley were preparing to host a quiet family spaghetti dinner when....
Aliens drop in on their way to another galaxy and ask to use the bathroom. Shirley is polite to these new guests inviting them to dinner and then calmly offering drinks and appetizers once they arrive to dine. Moe, on the other hand, calls the FBI and has the house surrounded by all sorts of big military tanks and guns. There is humor in the text as well as the wonderful illustrations - very popular with my story time audience.

Little Mouse and the Big Cupcake by Thomas Taylor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Sweet book about how difficult it is to share. When mouse finds an enormous cupcake he is thrilled - until he realizes that he can't carry it home! One by one he enlists all his friends to try and help him. Of course, Mouse allows each to take a bit...but then hungry mouse begins to fear that there may not be any left for him...

We even did a finger play about five little cupcakes, and I used the new glove set that I created:

For the storytime that included our end of SRP party the theme was - what else? - Party Foods and included these two favorites:
The Beastly Feast by Bruce Goldstone
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
The illustrations in this book are detailed and vibrant, they almost jump off the page. The text is simple and the rhyming is wonderful. The beasts are having a feast and every animal is bringing something. Bears bring pears and parrots bring carrots....mice bring rice and mosquitos bring burritos. This book is a very engaging read aloud...kids loved the pictures and completing the rhymes (not always successfully) For instance when the feast is over everybody claps - the armadillos bring some pillows and then everybody...."Sleeps!" called out my young audience...naps. I'll keep working on rhyming...

Bear Wants More by Karma Wilson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I love Karma Wilson's books. They are great read alouds. With Jane Chapman's charming illustrations this one is an absolute winner. It is spring and one skinny bear wakes up hungry...with the help of his friends he eats his way through the day, devouring everything and wanting more (a great repeated phrase that a story time audience will pick up on. The rhyming text is very readable and the party scene at the end elicited giggles galore from my audience.

My biggest challenge at my public library job was to work with a fleet of volunteers to manage a summer reading program that included 1,045 registrants, 10 weekly programs and a teen lock-in event with a zombie theme (remember "Own the Night") It definitely kept me on my toes. We had a 56% completion rate, and huge attendance at the programs, so I guess I had a very successful summer@my library.

Celebrating Water Awareness Month

So, our city water department offers to send goody bags out to libraries who schedule a story time to promote May as water awareness month...and offer that I couldn't refuse, once I made sure I could find enough suitable titles for my preschool audience. I did find plenty and I also stumbled upon some story time kits that our Central Library Children's staff have put together. What a wonderful resource. They include a music CD in support of the theme, books, song and rhyme suggestions and in one case a glove puppet set and in another character cards from one of the books that I was able to use as a flannel board story. So, on Saturday I presented this at a branch of the public library in front of fifteen or so kids and their parents and today, I repeated it at the base library for a group of three children and parents. The three are a core of regular attendees and we have so much fun together - I have watched all of them grow and change over the last six months or so and it has been a great journey!Here is a picture of the glove for "The Itsy Bitsy Spider and Friends" for after we sang the song through using the glove, we sang again about a GREAT BIG SPIDER and again with a teeny tiny spider. Many smiles and giggles!

We did other rain rhymes and with the larger group we "made" rain - first a gentle drizzle (rub hands together) then gentle drips (slow quiet hand claps) getting faster and louder as the rain increases - at the height of the storm everyone is slapping their thighs and stomping their feet. Again lots of smiles.

Here are the books we read:
Precious Water by Brigitte Weninger
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This book's simple engaging text and lovely illustrations really struck a chord with both story time audiences as it discussed the importance of water to all living things. There is a sweetness and light humor in the illustrations that the kids really seemed to enjoy - the cat's eye being magnified by the glass of water...a frog happily sitting in the pouring rain. There were counting opportunities as well as pages where my audience took great delight in identifying what they were seeing. Very engaging and lead easily into a discussion of all the ways we use water in our every day life.

Hey, Frog! by Piet Grobler
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This tale of a greedy frog is filled with detailed pictures filled with all sorts of animals. When frog drinks up all the water, all the other animals plot to get him to give it back. One by one they put their plans into action - but frog keeps his lips clamped shut. But the eels know a secret about frog...and their plan is successful in returning the water to the puddles, the brook, the river and even the big, blue lake.
Listen to the Rain by Bill Martin Jr.
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a gentle, beautifully illustrated book filled with wonderful language to describe a rainstorm from the first gentle whisper of the rain through "splash and splash and splatter, the steady sound of the singing of the rain" through to the "quietude, the silence and the solitude, of after-rain". My story time audience hung on every word and studied every picture - and this book seemed to have very broad age-appeal.

Cloud Dance by Thomas Locker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Simple text and beautiful full page illustrations describe the beauty of all types of different clouds. There is a glossary in the back with the scientific names and descriptions of clouds, but my audience enjoyed the poetic descriptions while looking at the beautiful cloud portraits.

Ten Little Fish by Audrey Wood
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a fun counting book with big beautiful illustrations. Nice real aloud, even with a large group because of the illustrations. One by one the line of fishes gets shorter, until there is only one left...then there are two, who fall in love and then start a family...of ten little fishes. The colorful character cards made this a fun flannel board story and both audiences loved helping to count the fish.

Rain by Manya Stojic
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Through simple, repetitive phrases and big, bright bold illustrations, we see how the animals of the Savannah sense an approaching rain storm using all of their senses. At first, porcupine smells the rain and rushes off to tell zebra, who see the lightening of the approaching storm...and so on...until the rain passes and then the animals use their senses to enjoy the gifts the rain has left behind...the taste of the cool water, the lush green leaves, the tasty fruit. We leave the animals happily anticipating the next big rain.

A Salute to Mothers

The theme of this week's story time was celebrating Moms. There are so many wonderful children's books out there that focus on mothers and the bond they have with their youngsters, that it wasn't difficult to find great books to read. The problem was limiting it to three or four! I'm not sure whether it was the books I chose, or the make up of my audience, but the kids were much more interactive and engaged with the books than they usually are. I was a little frustrated by the lack of good rhymes and finger plays that fit - but we did sing My Mommy Plays With Me (Tune: "The Wheels on the Bus") with the additional verses of "My mommmy reads to me" and "My mommy loves me so" and using the line "all through the year" to end each verse. We read four books for the kids - and one for the moms. Although the kids and moms enjoyed all of today's selections:

Hugs and Kisses by Christophe Loupi
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I fell head over heels in love with little Hugs the dog in this story. Early one morning he sneaks away from his sleeping family because "there was something he had to find out." He wanders around the farm asking all the animals for a kiss. The descriptions of all of the kisses he receives are wonderful - and the illustrations are filled with tenderness and emotion. I just wish there were more than five stars to give this book! My story time audience fell in love with Hugs as well - and the kids loved pointing to the spot on their bodies, where Hugs had just asked for a kiss (check, nose, top of the head...) as we turned the page.

Does a Kangaroo Have a Mother, Too? by Eric Carle
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Eric Carle is such a gifted artist that I would recommend any of his books for story time. The pictures in this book are bright and tender and the kids, predictably, loved them. The text is very simple and repetitive - asking if a particular animal has a mother, too - and then turn the page for the answer, "Yes! A has a mother. Just like me and you." The kids at story time would try and answer the question each and every time. Some even answered, "no" all the way through the book. It was wonderful to see every child in the audience earnestly try and answer each and every page. My audience, predictably, did engage with the illustrations. They also surprised me by interacting more with the text. This was a great story time read aloud.

Is Your Mama A Llama? by Deborah Guarino
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a sweet book with a highly engaging "guess the mom" rhyming text. Lloyd the llama approaches all his friends asking, "Is your mama a llama" and each responds with a two line description of his or her mom and the kids call out a guess as the page is turned. Even young ones can guess and do. Steven Kellogg's illustrations are lovely. This one was also a big hit.

Leap Back Home to Me by Lauren Thompson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

With beautiful and fun watercolor illustrations and bouncy rhyming text this is a great story time read aloud. Little frog "leap frogs" over increasingly bigger things and has ever bigger adventures and then leaps back home to mom. Mom is always waiting with a hug, crayons, a snack or a story. The kids hung on every word, and stared at every picture with smiles on their faces. Definitely a hit with my audience.

I Love My Mommy by Sebastien Braun
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

We all loved this book. The illustrations are big, bright and filled with love. The text is very simple and describes all the ways that moms show their love. Although the moms in this book are all animals the things they do for their young are the same things my story time audience look to their moms to do. This book is all about mom knowing just what we need at any time and being there to give it to us - from climbing lessons to a cuddle. I really liked that one of the pages talked about one mother (a beaver) who works very hard. These days not all mothers are able to play games with their children, or "stay by their side" as much as they might like to. Wonderful read aloud in celebration of mothers.

Five Minutes' Peace by Jill Murphy
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I discovered this book many years ago when I was home raising three young children and wondering if I would ever enjoy a hot meal or converse with an adult in full sentences ever again. Mrs. Large yearns for just 5 minutes peace. So she sneaks off to the bathroom to enjoy a soak in the bath with tea and the paper...and enjoys about a minute of "heaven" before, one by one, her three youngsters invade the bathroom, and finally end up in the tub with her. She sneaks back down to the kitchen where she enjoys three minutes and forty-five seconds of peace before her three wet young find her, wrapped in towels. This is my mother's day gift for the moms in my story time audience, and every single one can identify with Mrs. Large and her desire for just a few minutes of peace. But they can also identify with the love and humor that fills this book about that very special bond between mothers and their children.

Happy Mother's Day to all you Moms out there. May you enjoy some special time with your children...perhaps snuggling up together with a good book?