Holiday Drama...

Today's storytime theme was "Wild Winter Holidays" and our stories were all about animals and the spirit of the holidays. We sang about pine trees, reindeer and turned our hands into "Five Little Trees." I also tried out an almost wordless book....and it worked!

Here are today's books:
Snow Tree by Caroline Repchuk
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a very sweet book. Bear wakes up to a white and snowy world and all the forest animals work to return color to the world, by decorating a beautiful snow tree. The illustrations are breathtakingly beautiful and the text is wonderful, as each of the animals describe their gift to the snow tree and what that gift represents...blue jay contributes some of his blue feathers saying that they are "All I have to give, but these feathers are as blue as the summer sky and the rolling waters of the river." See what I mean? Just beautiful.

Small, Medium and Large by Jane Monroe Donovan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a charmingly illustrated book, about a young and lonely girl who only wants - and gets - best friends for Christmas. These friends take the form of a cat (small), dog (medium), and miniature horse (large). We see her write a lovely letter to Santa, open packages on Christmas day, and then spend a delightful day with her new friends - a day described only in beautiful pictures. Today's storytime audience enjoyed the pictures and even helped me fill in the details of the story. I was very pleasantly surprised at the level of interaction and the enthusiastic response of my audience to this book. They all loved the last page, where the girl writes a thank you note to Santa and asks for gifts for her new friends.

Ten Christmas Wishes by Claire Freedman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It's a Christmas book...it's a counting book....it's a book about forest animals....it's all three! A variety of forest animals take turns wishing on sparkly silver stars. The illustrations are beautiful and filled with humor. The kids loved counting the stars! The rhyming text was very easy to read and complimented the charming illustrations beautifully and the kids identified with the wants and wishes expressed by the animals in the book.

Llama Llama Holiday Drama by Anna Dewdney
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This newest installment in the Llama llama series is a joyful look at holiday craziness and a reminder of what's really important during the holiday season. We should appreciate moments of closeness and always take the time to exchange hugs and kisses with those we love best. This is a fun read-aloud with marvelous illustrations and a bouncy rhyming text. The kids today all agreed that waiting for Christmas or Hannukah was one of the most difficult things about the season, and could identify with Llama llama and all that he felt in this book.

I think there are three main keys to a good storytime read: first, I have to like it so my passion for the story shines through. Second, the text and illustrations have to be engaging and, finally, the kids in the audience have to be able to identify with the characters, situation and/or the feelings expressed by the characters.

So, now I'm off to find that next great storytime read.