Going to the Dogs!

Today's story time had a dog theme. There are terrific animations available for powerpoint slides (see Heather's Animations for example) and there are so many great children's books featuring dogs that the most difficult thing about planning this session was limiting the books, songs, rhymes that we shared. We did a "Five Little Puppies" finger play, performed a couple of action rhymes "Call your Dog" and this one:

Some Dogs Bark
Some dogs bark,
Some dogs growl,
Some dogs yip
Some dogs howl,
And some dogs...
...Just wag their tail.

Where the kids supply the appropriate noise. It was a big hit. They also loved our dog version of Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes:

Head, cold nose, floppy ears, floppy ears.
Head, cold nose, floppy ears, floppy ears.
Tail that wags, wet tongue and furry toes.
Head, cold nose, floppy ears, floppy ears.

I made a flannelboard of Dogs Colorful Day by Emma Dodd. Although a pattern was available in Storytime Magic by Kathy MacMillan and Christine Kirker, I simply traced "Dog" from the cover and cut out appropriate spots:



Here are the books we read:


What Puppies Do Best by Laura Joffe Numeroff
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

With simple text and adorable illustrations this book covers everything that Puppies do - the really good (wake you up in the morning, climb onto your bed and give you a kiss) and the really bad (dig holes in the yard, track mud into the house and make a big mess). There are plenty of cute kids and even more cute puppies in this book. This is a small book, so it would be difficult to read in front of a large audience, because you definitely want to take in the detail of the illustrations - especially the last two pages, devoted to what puppies do best of all: give you lots and lots of love.


Good Boy, Fergus! by David Shannon
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

As one of my family's favorite children's book, I looked forward to reading this one at a story time but wondered if it would go over as well with an audience. It did! All the kids fell in love with Fergus, a happy-go-lucky West Highland terrier, who is the star of this book. As Fergus progresses through his day the refrain "Good boy, Fergus!" is repeated over and over again...in spite of the fact that Fergus rarely ever minds. The illustrations are bright and big and filled with humor and the text is simple and very funny. Kids and parents were both laughing out loud at story time especially when they see his new "hairstyle" after a car ride. This book was a BIG hit with my story time audience.

See Me Run by Paul Meisel
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The text of this book is very simple and repetitive as it is really designed to be a first reader. (The opening page: "See me run. I run and run.") The real beauty of this book - as a story time read aloud - are the fabulous illustrations and the giant surprise the dogs receive when they, "dig and dig and dig and dig." One dog leads and amazing pack of a dozen dogs on an adventure through a meadow, mud puddle, and joyous bath in a river (this is the only book out of four where the dogs enjoyed a bath!) The dogs then dig up an amazing treasure, that makes them "run again!" We had lively discussions and counting sessions during the sharing of this book, so the kids didn't seem to notice any limitations of the text. Great fun.

Bark, George by Jules Feiffer
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book has everything you could want in a story time read: A lovable star, animal sounds, humor in abundance and a mother who experiences frustration, worry and joy because of her puppy. The story opens with George's mother asking him to bark. When he says, "Meow" she corrects him and has him try again and again - each attempt finds a new animal sound coming out of George's mouth, and mom becoming increasingly frustrated. Every mom at story time today smiled and nodded at being able to relate to George's poor old mom. She takes George to the vet, who manages to find the source of George's problems and George finally does bark...everyone is happy. There is also a nice twist at the very end, that flew over the toddler heads but made the moms laugh. Definitely a story time winner!

Doggone Dogs by Karen Beaumont
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Bouncy rhyming text and joyous illustrations make this book, about a ten dogs who take a wild romp through a park, a marvelous story time read. My story time audience loved this book (in spite of having heard three and a flannelboard story already!) They were counting dogs and pointing out their favorites. They also make a point of noticing the dogs' owner follow the dogs, leashes in hand, in a futile chase. Everyone does eventually make it home, including the slightly-worse-for-wear owner (still in his pajamas!) clearly exhausted after such a fun day out.