Halloween II

We followed up last week's Halloween themed story time with even more Halloween fun. We had one of the biggest crowds ever, which was unexpected since there had been no additional publicity, and we were not giving anything away. Usually we only see this large an audience when we publicize a party or giveaway! With an emphasis on Monsters, we had great fun with "Five Little Monsters Jumping on The Bed" using one of my goofy handmade felt sets

We also acted out "The Goblin in the Dark" (tune: "the Farmer in the Dell") Where the goblin in the dark, picks a witch who picks a cat, who picks a bat, who picks a ghost who shouts, "Boo!" Great fun!

For a craft we made toilet paper roll mummies. The kids really enjoyed it and really worked hard on their mummies.

Here are the books we read today:
The Monsters' Monster by Patrick McDonnell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The first half of this books follows three young monsters who live high on Monster Hill in a dark and scary monster castle. The text sets a great dark scary stage for the creation of the biggest, baddest scariest monster. These three set out to create one, and they do with the help of a convenient lightning bolt. But although he is big, this new monster is not what our three small monsters, or the reader, expects.

Night of the Pumpkinheads by Michael J. Rosen
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
The photographs of the amazing carved pumpkins in this book are amazing and my storytime audience studied each and every picture with an intensity that they don't always possess! These pictures make up for the choppy, somewhat disjointed text. The pumpkin patch pumpkins decide that this year they want to dress up for Halloween and have fun. They form groups and compete to try and scare the trick-or-treaters. Which group proves the scariest: The small pumpkins as eyes and bees? The green pumpkins as monsters? The white pumpkins as zombie mimes?? In the end, it isn't the pumpkins that prove to be the scariest to the kids...

Monster Mash by David Catrow
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This was a big hit at storytime today. The audience of toddlers found the bright, bold illustrations totally mesmerizing and the parents laughed and smiled as they remembered the Boris Pickett hit that the text is based on. We even turned this into a call and response for all I had to say was, "they did the..." and the kids quickly learned to shout out "Monster Mash." Use your best Boris voice and this is sure to be a "graveyard smash" for you, too!

I also brought a special Halloween friend with me: my spider puppet that when squeezed makes a laughing sound. While "spidey" didn't seem to scare any of the kids, when I invited them all to pet my little spider, some were hesitant, although I'll give these toddlers credit, they all did give him a pat!

Spooktacular 2012

I love the fall. I love those crisp cool mornings. I love the rich colors of fall; all those oranges, rusts, browns, monster greens and purples. I also enjoy the Autumn Holidays - Halloween and Thanksgiving. All about fun and families without the pressure of shopping!

We had the major Halloween celebration at the base library on Monday. There was supposed to be a costume exchange as part of the celebration, but I think the powers that were in charge planned it too late, as several of the kids came to storytime in costume, and those that didn't wear a costume talked about what they were going to be on the big night.

That aside we had a fun, interactive story time. We had two flannels: "Five Little Pumpkins" with lots of counting and whooshing (the audience was the wind, of course!) and "Go Away, Big Green Monster." This is the second time I have tried something with a book based flannel; I read the book by Ed Emberley, with its wonderful die cut design and then the kids retold the story as I put up and took down the flannel pieces. The kids really enjoy doing this, and it helps them with story sequencing and remembering story details. We also sang a great song with a number of Halloween Noises and I dug out two homemade bat puppets for the rhyme "Two Little Bats" which is my Halloween version of "Two Little Blackbirds"

Two Little Bats hanging in their cave,
One named Jill and one named Dave
Fly away, Jill. Fly Away, Dave.
Come back, Jill. Come back, Dave.

Whether it was the puppets or the familiar rhyme, we did it twice and all the kids did it amid smiles and giggles.

In addition to Go Away, Big Green Monster! Here are the rest of the books we read:

Ollie's Halloween by Olivier Dunrea
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
All of our favorite Dunrea characters, Gossie and Gertie, Peedie, Boo Boo, and Ollie, are costumed and ready for a big Halloween adventure. We follow them through the night barnyard with all of its scary sounds and images. It is, after all, "Halloween night. A night to betware. A night to scare." The text is simple and the illustrations are captivating being sweet and scary and funny all at the same time. The kids at my storytime loved this book and had some fun counting jack-o-lanterns and whooting like owls and yelling, "boo!" as part of the experience.

Boo, Bunny! by Kathryn O. Galbraith
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is a beautifully illustrated fun to read-aloud book. There are lots of scary shadows, great sound words in the text and two very cute, very scared fuzzy bunnies that my storytime audience loved. They hung on every word of the simple text and were captivated by the illustrations. The message, that life is much less scary and much more fun comes through loud and clear when you have "a paw to hold" came through loud and clear and everyone was smiling at our two brave bunnies when I closed the book.

Haunted Party by Iza Trapani
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is a wonderful counting book which is also a great Halloween read-aloud. Mr. Ghost is hosting a party, and in small groups the guests arrive: two spooky skeletons, three gruesome goblins...all the way up to nine morbid mummies. The are all eating, flying, and "kicking up their heels" at this very active party. That is, until someone very scary rings the doorbell: ten cute, smiley faced trick or treaters. The nine terrified mummies leave first...followed by the eight fleeing witches...until Mr Ghost is left alone sitting on his porch. The illustrations are soft and lovely, the kids help count and the text contains some pretty rich vocabulary with words like "morbid" and "cuisine" and "extraordinary." That it was "sweet and sunny" children that terrified the guests brought a laugh from all the parents/caregivers in my audience - which was a nice bonus.

Very Scary by Tony Johnston
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The illustrations in this book are lovely, from the orange pumpkin moon to the big glowing jack-o-lantern on the last page. The largest pumpkin in the patch soaks up the moonlight and because of its bright shimmering glow, and charms the owl, cat, and witch. When a group of children find it and carve a face into it, the pumpkin frightens everyone. The rhyming text has lots of sound words, and while there are all the images we associate with Halloween, Halloween is not mentioned in the text.

Next Monday: More Halloween Fun!

Ch-ch-changes

So, with no story time on Monday, since the base library celebrates federal holidays, I have spent the week reflecting on what I would like to write about instead. There are so many possibilities! I could write about the car that ran into my library branch (local news coverage of accident) or disturbing trends in publishing of juvenile non fiction sparked by a recent article in The Guardian. I could review recent young adult/children's literature or I could talk about managing teen volunteers. Well, the list is endless.

But the topic I settled on is how children's library services has changed over the years. I am taking an online course (Infopeople's Fundamentals of Children's Services) and found a number of the titles from the bibliography from the first week's readings. I opened one this morning (Work with Children in Public Libraries by Effie L. Power, published by ALA in 1943). After tracing the early history of children's services (where in 1835 the best children's library in Massachusetts was the result of a $100 bequest...in the beginning of summer I placed an Amazon order for children's paperbacks that totaled over $600 and didn't increase my collection by much!) She goes on to describe quiet afternoons of children reading quietly together and the typical reference questions a children's librarian might have to answer. Impressive stuff especially considering these early librarians did not have Google or even a catalog that they could search on their desk top!

My library is rarely ever quiet. I do spend a fair amount of my day answering questions but it is mostly specialized readers advisory, or help in finding materials on a specific subject for a specific assignment. We have storytimes and other programs, and a play area where parents and their children can socialize afterwards. We are a community center with a focus on literacy. It really is a pretty sweet place to be.

It is not without its problems though. I spend some time every afternoon monitoring computer use by kids. Reminding them to sign in, helping them find sites, and shooing away rowdy kids who are harassing kids playing on the computer or yelling out suggestions or tips to "beat the level." At least once a week I have to settle some dispute over computer use. I wonder what Effie would have to say about those activities!

The worst thing is that I feel that I am witnessing the slow death of reading for pleasure, even in young children. The school district that surrounds my library is so focused on lexiles and reading scores, that kids are being told that they must read only books within a specified lexile range. As a librarian, the very thought of lexile level being the basis of book choice, makes me want to scream. The conversations that all too often end in tears, or stony silence that include phrases like, "your teacher won't let you read this it is not in your lexile range and we are not taking that home, your teacher said it is too (easy/difficult) for you..." make me feel as angry and frustrated as the kids and their parents. Lexiles are so artificial, and have such a chilling effect on children's enjoyment of books and reading.In the very eloquent words of Karen Szymusiak and Franki Sibberson in Beyond Leveled Books:

Reading can't be distilled to a reading level, a basket of books, or a test performance. All these efforts to "improve" reading too often tighten the parameters, limit growth, and give children an artificial perspective of what reading is all about.

Lexiles seem to take away a child's reading choices and turn reading into just another school "chore." As a librarian, I want to create life time readers; people that love books and reading and look forward to time spent with a book, not merely vewing time spent with a book as something that is assigned to them; something they have to grit their teeth and get through. I'm sorry, while I will do my best to support my patrons in their quest for books based on lexile, I will still do my best to fan the flame of reading in my young patrons and try to instill a passion and love for books for story's sake that will last them a life time.

With a Little Help From My Friends

About a week ago, a professional storyteller and I were talking about children's books and she recommended a few books that we didn't have at our location. I requested the books from other locations, along with a few new books that weren't ordered for our branch, and when they rolled in I found that they all had a common theme...helping. And so, a storytime was born. Our first book involved an independent young frog who gets himself into trouble, and must ask for help out. I have a great flannel set for "Five Green and Speckled Frogs" which the kids love, and it was a great companion to our first book. We did a "five friends" finger play, a counting rhyme about animals in the woods and sang "I'm a Little Piggie" (Tune: "I'm a Little Teapot") after our last book. I modified it somewhat to go with Mo Willem's best known pair of friends, Elephant and Piggie.

Here are the books we read:

Stick by Steve Breen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
In this book we meet a young frog, Stick, who was very independent...much to Mother Frog's chagrin. He insists on doing everything by himself, which doesn't always work out. My storytime audience laughed at his failed attempts and then loved following him on his great adventure; hungry, he tries to catch lunch...a dragonfly which catches him! He flies far from the swamp he calls home, even being carried through New Orleans by Mr. Dragonfly. He then bounces off of windshields and bikers, gets chased by dogs and knife wielding chefs, and gets carried away by balloons. Finally, Stick, "who like to do things all by himself" realizes he needs help. He asks, and receives, help to get home and is back with mom on his lilly pad just as the moon is rising. Charming story that reminds the reader that we all need a little help sometime.

Lost in the Woods by Carl R. Sams II
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
The photographs in this story are stunning...and the new born fawn is guaranteed to steal every reader's heart. It is spring in the woods, and a fawn is watched over by all the other animals in the forest who fear he is lost. While our fawn is waiting for his mother to return for him, our young deer interacts with a number of other forest young. The absolutely amazing pictures were loved by my storytime audience.

Oh, No! by Candace Fleming
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Although I never did seem to get the rhythm of the text quite right, my storytime audience enjoyed the animal sounds as well as the repeated phrases. They even chimed in when a character shouted, "Oh, No!" every few pages. One by one the animal characters fall into a deep, deep hole while being stalked by a hungry tiger. I really didn't like the ending...and so I didn't read the last page, but rather closed the book, and had my storytime audience vote on what the animals should do. About half of my toddlers felt as I did, and the other half would have loved the ending as written.

Today I Will Fly! by Mo Willems
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Mo Willems books always make good read-alouds as long as you get listeners engaged in the story and get them to participate in the story. In this Elephant and Piggie book, Piggie is determined that she will fly, while Gerald insists flying is one skill she will never posses. We all agreed that that is not a proper way for a friend to act...and then we applaud Piggie as she makes several attempts at flying (running and jumping- as Gerald is quick to point out). Finally, Piggie enlists the help of a special friend as does fly - with help. Determination combined with knowing when to ask to help is a great message to hear in this very funny, very Mo Willems style, story. This was the most popular book at today's story time.