If books are not good company, where will I find it? -Mark Twain

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Yipes, Stripes!


The child's foot is Mr.
 Zebra's face!
After a summer of Food (CA Public Libraries Summer Reading Theme) and Going places (the DOD Summer Reading Theme: Books Will Take You Places) I really am looking for some new and different themes this fall.  This title has been kicking around my brain for quite and so I pulled some of my favorite tiger and zebra books and a storytime was born.  I even found A wonderful Zebra craft that will be just perfect for my storytime audience (with a little help from their parents!).


I made up a couple of "Five Little" Rhymes:


        Five Little Tigers
Five little tigers lying in the shade
One stretched and yawned and said, “I’m bored!”
He walked away and then there were four.
Four little tigers lying in the shade,
One stood and said, “Let’s race to that tree”
He ran away and then there were three.
Three little tigers wondering what to do
One chased a butterfly and then there were two.
Two little tigers lying in the sun,
One wandered off to find a snack
And then there was one.
One little tiger went to sleep, and just as he started to snore
The others came back and woke him with a roar.

Five little zebras
Five little zebras on the African plain
Were playing when it started to rain
One little zebra said, “Those drops feel good”
The second one said, “I wish I had a hood”
The third one said, “Let’s splash and play”
The fourth one said, “I could do that all day!”

The fifth one said, “I’d rather stay dry,”
And so he ran home with a mighty sigh.


I adapted a number of other rhymes to common tunes, like "Twinkle, Twinkle" and sang about the tigers in the zoo to the tune of "Wheels on the Bus":

The tigers in the zoo say,
“Grrr, grrr, grrr”
“Grrr, grrr, grrr”
“Grrr, grrr, grrr”
The tigers at the zoo say,
“Grrr, grrr, grrr”
All day long.

Here are the books we read:


Read to TigerRead to Tiger by S.J. Fore
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is a wonderful read aloud book.  A boy just wants to read his book, but Tiger and his antics prove too distracting.  Tiger refers to himself in the third person, so he was fun to create a funny voice for...in addition his antics include great sounds like loud gum chewing "chomps" and karate exclamations.  The kids were enchanted by the illustrations and laughed at Tiger's antics.

It's a Tiger!It's a Tiger! by David LaRochelle
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is a very engaging and interactive read-aloud with bright bold illustrations that are very appealing even to very young children.  The text opens with a question, "Are you ready for a story?" and begins with monkeys swinging on vines in a jungle.  But wait!  There is an orange and black vine, it's a tiger tail.  Every other page contains the phrase, "It's a Tiger....Run!"  For Toddler/preschool story time, get the kids up on their feet and have them act out the story as our main character runs, climbs and swims to get away from the tiger.  This is a fun read-aloud that will have the kids giggling and yelling out, "It's a tiger...run!"


ZeeZee by Michel Gay
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Little Zee is a very cute little zebra who loves climbing into bed with his mom and dad.  One morning though, they are still asleep, and he decides to wake them with coffee...but things don't quite turn out the way he planned.  Zee has good intentions, and cleans up all of his mess, but he does have quite an adventure.  He does get his snuggle with Mom and Dad - and they do get their coffee.  The illustrations are lovely and soft - and I love the zebra striped end pages.  My storytime audience fell in love with little Zee, and when you read this book, you will soon discover why.

Z Is for MooseZ Is for Moose by Kelly Bingham
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
With wonderfully funny illustrations and simple text this is no ordinary alphabet book.  Zebra has all of the letters organized and ready to go and everything starts well - apple, ball, and cat all make their appearances.  But moose can't wait his turn, which creates chaos. When he discovers that zebra has chosen mouse for "M" things get really wild. My storytime audience loved the pictures, especially when Moose appears in an ice cream cone...and later when he adds graffiti hooves and antlers to ring and snake.  One can't help but laugh at Moose's antics and zebra's solution to the problem will make you smile.






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