So, far it has been a mixed summer for storytime...this Monday morning, no one showed up. Since I am now providing TWO weekly storytimes now, hopefully we'll have a better turn out for Wednesday morning's session. One day, the audience will be several new kids who refuse to sing, the next session will be filled with kids who can't get enough of those fingerplays and songs. I've even had sessions where the kids keep asking for more books!
Anyway the themes have been "A storytime fit for a King...or Queen" and we did a repeat-after-me-chant, "I've Got a Crown on My Head" (hence the purloined crown). Unfortunately, this was for the group of kids that refused to participate, so some of the fun was lost! I also used some beautiful felt royalty puppets to present a felt board version of "The Queen of Hearts" The kids loved it so much that we did it twice. We learned "Old King Cole" and did a fingerplay about a castle, garden and drawbridge. Here is what we read:
This was a great read for a toddler storytime. There are beautiful illustrations that held the kids' attention, a recurring chant to encourage the characters to feel good about who they are and enough humor to make kids smile and laugh. The rhyming text allows the reader to get a good rhythm going, although, curiously, the chant about being yourself is not quite as tight. The kids loved it...we had fun with it and everyone is a sucker for a happy ending!
This was a great hit at storytime today! Who couldn't love a book with the refrain, "WAA! WAA! WAA! I will not go to bed!" the teeny-tiny, itty-bitty, little Prince said happening every couple of pages? This book was very engaging for many reasons - rich illustrations and subtle humor - as the entire staff of the castle tries to put the Prince to bed. After each attempt, more and more people tip toe down the hall and the Prince's wail just gets louder and louder. There are many opportunities to ask questions of the readers. Questions like, "do you think he is really asleep now?" and "What do you think he is really missing?" In the end, we learn what it is that the Prince really needed to send him off to dreamland and everyone sleeps happily-ever-after.
This was also a great hit with my storytime audience! It is a counting book, it has a mother dragon and her impatient and adorable baby dragon, it has beautifully rich and detailed illustrations. It has a wonderful ending. This provided a great visual for young kids about life in a medieval castle and we had great fun counting and discussing just what the baby dragon was waiting to do.
This book was a great one to end a storytime with. Simple rhyming text - which swirls around the illustrations on each page allowed me to show the book to the youngsters while still finishing the last line of the text. A medieval festival is brightly illustrated and all of the round items are highlighted. We had great fun spotting and naming them, counting them and squealing with joy when we found our favorites...one girl couldn't get enough of the dog faced hot air balloon. This is a marvelous read-aloud!
The following week the theme was fractured fairytales...there are so many great books based on a standard fairytale. Most of them seemed too long and complicated for my young toddler audience. I was able to find some real winners, though. I read one "straight" tale: The Princess and the Pea, having found an older, simple well illustrated version and used some illustrations from an old version of "Rapunzel" to do a felt version of the story - I just couldn't find a version of the story that would be right for this group...so I created my own. I wanted to contrast a traditional telling with my favorite of the "fractured" tales we read today,
This is a marvelous read-aloud laugh-out-loud book. The rhymes and illustrations are hysterically funny and appeal to both the very young and young at heart. It kept the attention of even the youngest in my audience and had every child giggling and pointing. Quite a contrast to the original, even if the telling is adapted for a younger audience. This is a book I will read again for storytime and it will never get old!
This book didn't grab me right away, but by the time I read it at today's storytime, it had grown on my and it was certainly a big hit with my toddler audience. I wasn't sure the text format, ask a couple of questions about a well known fairy tale with answers (Straw? Yes. Sticks? Yes. Bricks? Yes.) and then through in a question that doesn't belong - "Solar Panels?" No. Then say, well, maybe and turn the page for a whole new take on that fairytale - colorfully illustrated and filled with humor. The kids loved it. They had a great time guessing the fairytale, and saying no...and then anticipating the "maybe" version of the story. There was a great response to this creative book. Great giggles and participation!
This was one of my favorite books that we read this week, but it was a little too long and complicated for some of the younger children. As we read this book - too fast - the poor illustrator can't keep up...and the harried publisher begs us to slow down. When we don't, well Ned the illustrator has to improvise, so the handsome prince attempts fight a dragon (who is still in the shower when he arrives) in a tu tu. A creative book filled with mayhem and silliness, probably best read by a school age child who will revel in the asides about what a good, and fast reader he/she is.
On Wednesday, the theme is Knights vs. Dragons. We will be making dragon finger puppets and have both a "Five Royal Knights" and "Five Green Dragons" fingerplay/felt rhyme and will be reading Boni Ashburn's other marvelous dragon book, "Hush Little Dragon" and Tina Gagliardi's "Don't Forget the Knight Light" as well as others. Stay tuned!
