Wearing o' the Green

This is a fun annual story time to do the week leading up to St.  Patrick's Day. (Yes, I'm a little behind in posting here!) While I haven't found that many good read alouds about St. Patrick's Day for young children, there are a large number of really good "green" books.  So, "Wear Your Green" is our annual theme.  Many of the folks in  my audience did wear green and we had great fun.  I have a flannel sets of sparkly shamrocks and five little leprechauns which are always very popular this time of year.

Here are the books:

Green by Laura Vaccaro Seeger
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This book is awesome…beautiful, rich illustrations of all sorts of green from sea foam and lime to forest and  khaki.  There are fun die cuts that help illustrate the color green and then on the backside become part of a spoon or apples on a tree.  Just when my story time audience was getting a little bit board with green, the book takes a turn and there is an illustration of "Wacky Green" that made the entire group laugh out loud.  This is a Caldecott Honor book and it shows.


Lizette's Green Sock by Catharina Valckx
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
One green sock, a pair of bullies, a best friend, and a change of perspective can turn a frown into a smile.  Lizette finds a single green sock, then searches everywhere for it's mate after being told that socks aren't any good unless they come as a pair.  She is disappointed until her best friend gives her a new way of looking at her sock which leads to a very happy ending.  My story time audience loved this one.


Nibbles: A Green Tale by Charlotte Middleton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Not only is there a lot of green in here...the whole town loves dandelion greens...but it is also a story of living green, when Nibbles works to save his favorite food from extinction...


Green Shamrocks by Eve Bunting
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Adorable illustrations and simple text tell the story of rabbit - growing shamrocks in a yellow pot and his friend goat.  When the pot of shamrocks disappears the night before the big St. Patrick's Day parade Rabbit searches everywhere and finds it just in time.  The last two page spread shows the entire forest celebrating, which means a great opportunity to engage a story time audience by having them count, identify and make the sounds of each of the animals.  We had great fun with this one.