Under a Full Moon

So this week at the Base Library there were six children at story time.  It was a nice number and the participation rate was pretty high...although I noticed the oldest boys liked performing the actions associated with songs and rhymes much better than singing the songs or saying the rhymes!  This week's theme was all about the moon.  One of the rhymes we did was "Five Full Moons" and, with the help of NASA, I created a flannel to go with it:

Here are the books we read:

Moon Rooster by David Gershator

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a very amusing book, and a great read aloud - especially if you have everyone in the audience help rooster by joining in every "cockadoodledoo."  The main character, a young rooster suffering from insomnia and confusion, decides that a rooster must crow to wake the moon just as the other roosters were needed to wake the sun.  Things go downhill for rooster from there, he just doesn't understand why people throw shoes pots and clocks at him to say thank you when he would rather just have some dried corn kernals....The illustrations are lovely, and although my storytime audience missed the somewhat sarcastic tone of the text, it made the parents in my audience smile.  The kids just loved the zaniness and making all that noise.

Moongame by Frank Asch

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a very sweet book with simple text and brightly colored illustrations.  Little Bird teaches Bear a new game: Hide and Seek.  Bear likes it so much that he plays it with the moon after everyone else has gone to bed.  The moon finds Bear quite easily, but then it's Bear's turn to be it...and he can't find the moon.  Before the end of the book all the forest animals are awake and searching!  My storytime audience loved this book, even though some of the kids were well beyond the toddler stage.   

Moonlight by Helen V. Griffith

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a gentle story, with beautiful illustrations.  It captures the beauty of a moonlit night, where the moonlight coats everything like butter.  Simple text complete this story of the animals and who the joy the buttery night gives them.

Kitten's First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

With illustrations that are in shades of gray to reflect the night, little kitten makes unsuccessful attempts to get a drink from the big bowl of milk she sees above her.  My storytime audience watched and listened to Kitten's every attempt and felt her pain with each failure.  In the end, they cheered when she found an actual bowl of milk waiting for her on her very own front porch.  

All in all a very enjoyable story time!