Happy Valentine's Day

The theme for this morning's storytime was "Hugs and Kisses" and featured four books, 3 songs 2 fingerplays and a flannelboard counting song. We had a record thirteen kids of all ages and they were all engaged and participatory. Lots of smiles, which makes it really a joy for me! There was even something of a major victory today - one of my regulars usually sits near the back with his mom and is a bit hesitant to participate - this morning he walked in a bit late, and I welcomed him and invited him to sit in the circle of kids...or he could pull up a chair, the choice was his...after hesitating a bit, he came right into the circle. I even caught him singing a long a little! We made Valentine's Day cards for our craft. Easy, inexpensive and the kids (and adults) got very creative with some paper doilies, heart shapes cut from scrapbook paper I'd probably never use, rickrack, ribbon and, of course, glitter.

Here is what we read:
The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Chester the raccoon is off for his first day of school, and he isn't sure he wants to leave his friends and his toys and his mother. When he asks her, "Please can't I just stay here with you?" this mom shares a great secret (which I wish I had known when my kids were starting school!) She kisses the palm of his hand and assures him that whenever he wants to feel close to her, he can simply hold the palm of his hand to his cheek and he will be able to feel her love. Such a touching and charming story, with lovely pictures. But wait there is more...as Chester is leaving for school, he gives his mom a kissing hand so that she will always be able to feel his love, too. The theme for today's storytime was "hugs and kisses" but this book would work just as well as a Mother's Day book or first day of school read.

How Do You Hug a Porcupine? by Laurie Isop
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a charming book, told in rhyme advising the reader on how to hug all sorts of animals (even a yak!). The phrase "But how do you hug a porcupine?" is repeated several times and the kids at storytime would say it with me, taking their cue from the rhyming word on the page before. The illustrations are very cute. In the end the reader does learn exactly how to hug a porcupine.

Something Special by Terri Cohlene
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

On each page of this delightful, mysterious book the reader is given a clue about what was in the mysterious present frog receives when the book opens. It contains something special, but what is it? It can be silent, or loud, planted, blown,,,is best when given away....sugary ones come from Grandma and sticky ones from little brothers. Can you guess? The kids today at storytime had great fun offering up special things, cookies, soccer balls and strawberries... which usually worked fine for a clue or two but then it was clear that this something special was something else. We reviewed each clue for each suggested object, and the kids would chime in yes or no depending on whether the item fit or not. Great storytime read, this book very naturally becomes very interactive and very engaging even with a group.

The Ballad of Valentine by Alison Jackson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a book that is a fun, rhyming story or a song to the tune of "Clementine." I didn't want to subject my audience to more of my singing voice, so I just read this book, about a girl named Valentine and her suitor. Her suitor is one unlucky man - who tries desperately to send her a Valentine, but is thwarted at every turn. The mail train gets derailed, a tornado blows away his smoke signal message and it goes on and on. The rhyme and rhythm of this book make it fun to read out loud and the pictures and text are filled with humor.

First Nothing and then Groundhogs

Did you know that January 16 is officially National Nothing Day? Thanks to http://www.brownielocks.com/ I have a calendar listing all sorts of known and lesser known holidays (read bizarre). In honor of Nothing Day, I did "Story time About Nothing." filled with high energy and humor I found some great picture books to read, we did some great fingerplays/songs that count down to nothing and Everyone chanted along to a flannel of "Five Little Monkey's Jumping on the Bed." Everyone had a great time!

Here's what we read:
Let's Do Nothing! by Tony Fucile
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Filled with humor and bright illustrations this book is about two boys, who having done everything, decide to try doing nothing for 10 seconds. With the help of an over-active imagination - perfectly illustrated - they find that doing nothing is much more difficult than it looks. The audience at storytime (toddlers) loved it and laughed in all the appropriate places.

Five Little Monkeys with Nothing to Do by Eileen Christelow
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

With great illustrations and the repeated phrase of "we have nothing to do", the famous (infamous?) five little monkeys get into trouble again. Mama comes up with a number of activities (like cleaning their room, and scrubbing the bathroom) to keep them occupied, and this works well - until she sends them down to pick some berries for Grandma Bessie's arrival...and they return dirty, muddy messes. In getting ready for Grandma's arrival they undo all their hard work and mess up the lovely clean house! After reading this book I pulled out a "Five Little Monkey's Jumping on the Bed" flannel and we chanted it together. The kids and Moms loved it and participated with great enthusiasm.


The Emperor's Cool Clothes by Lee Harper
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a cutting edge, very modern retelling of The Emperor's New Clothes. The pictures and text are bright, colorful and edgy. The Emperor hands over a platinum card to pay for his cool new clothes and the tailors (the Rogue Brothers) take his money and buy things on the internet. Funny, colorful - the kids at storytime loved the pictures. I really liked this book until the very last page...where nothing happens in spite of a little girl in the crowd pointing out that the emperor is naked. When there is no message, this fairy tale really loses something! At storytime I closed the book, and took a poll of the kids and asked what the emperor should do...even these toddlers voluteered some good choices for the emperor.


The Gift of Nothing by Patrick McDonnell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

From the creator of the comic strip "Mutts" this book features the the strip's two stars: Mooch the cat and Earl the dog. In this charming story, Earl's birthday is coming and Mooch wants to get something special for his friend but finds it difficult since Earls has everything already - a bed, bowl, ball and even a chewy toy. What do you get someone who has everything? Nothing, of course! The adventure begins when Mooch sets off to buy his friend's gift. His mistress always complains that there is nothing to buy whenever she shops so that is where he starts - but finds only lots of something! He finally decides to give Earl and empty box...then deciding that Earl deserves more, he wraps the biggest empty box he can find. When Earl opens his gift, and finds nothing, he looks surprised and disappointed until Mooch explains that his gift is nothing but his friendship but he wanted Earl to have a package to open. The two friends are last seen sitting in front of the setting sun with their paws wrapped around each other. There was a collective "ahhh" when I closed the book.

We did "Five Little Kittens" and blew out pretend candles while we counted down by two as we did "Ten Little Candles" and had fun making Three Little Sausages fry in a pan. A fun story time for all.

The following week, the theme was "Celebrating Groundhog Day" I found a great craft and lots of songs and rhymes about groundhogs, but had to struggle a bit to find books that I thought would work for a toddler story time. We began the story time with the tongue twister, "How much wood would a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood?" and after we stopped giggling I asked if anyone could guess why....no one could but they all received the answer in our first book, which was:

Groundhog Day! by Gail Gibbons
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was the first nonfiction book I read at a storytime. With colorful illustrations and simple text this book covers everything you ever wanted to know about Groundhogs and the history and tradition of Groundhog Day. The kids loved it! It also proved the old adage that you learn something new everyday - since I didn't know that wood chuck was just another name for groundhog. We followed this with the action rhyme "Pop Up, Little Groundhog" and the fingerplay "Five Little Groundhogs."


Our next book was A Garden For A Groundhog by Lorna Balian
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a cute book, with colorful illustrations about life on a small farm. There is a farmer and his wife and a small collection of animals that belong to the farm. There is also a groundhog that belongs to himself. We see all the characters as they go through the winter planning for spring and longing for it, while groundhog dreams about all the lovely vegetables that he will find in the garden. As the humans set out their garden when spring does arrive, they have a plan for Mr. Groundhog - and plant zucchini which they clearly label as his. The problem is, groundhogs don't read signs! The picture on the last page is just marvelous.

Gregory's Shadow by Don Freeman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Gregory the groundhog is a charming character, who always feels braver and happier when his best friend shadow is with him. The night before Groundhog day, when all the farmers wait for his prediction about the arrival of spring weather, disaster strikes when Gregory and Shadow get separated.
Both experience great anxiety while they are separated, but they are reunited in time for the big day...and they vow never to be separated again. The kids related to feeling braver with a best friend and they laughed when Shadow scared Gregory, who thought he was seeing a ghost. The illustrations are soft and appealing and the story was enjoyed by the toddler audience.


We closed with the very funny Groundhog Weather School by Joan Holub
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When Mr. Groundhog gets a complaint about incorrect weather predictions he decides he needs to hire a regional team of groundhogs so groundhog day predictions will be much more accurate. So, he advertises for a team and sets up a weather school for training. Then his team - three groundhogs and one skunk - sets off to sleep through the fall and winter, rising on groundhog day. (Well, all but one...) Their reporting varies widely in style and, in spite of everything, the team is no more accurate than Mr. Groundhog alone. The illustrations are big and bold and the book overflows with humor. There are lots of things going on, and lots of side remarks, signs and speech bubbles, so there is almost a graphic novel feel to this book. I worried that it would be too difficult to read aloud because of these things and I also worried that it might be too involved for toddler/preschoolers. The kids loved it. Fortunately I was reading to a small group - a half dozen or so - and they just all gathered around and pointed to things in the pictures and talked about all the silly things that were going on in this story. Lots of giggles and happy children.