Baby Bookworms and Moms

My Baby Bookworms story time fell on the Monday after Mother's Day, but is it ever wrong to celebrate Mothers?  At the library, we have a "Mommy and Me" yoga class that runs about thirty minutes and then after about a fifteen minute break, I present a Baby Bookworms story time.  We have a great group of regulars and it has been great fun to see the babies and their moms bond and make friends in this group.

Here are the books:

Five Minutes' Peace by Jill Murphy
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I discovered this book many years ago when I was home raising three young children and wondering if I would ever enjoy a hot meal or converse with an adult in full sentences ever again.  Mrs. Large yearns for just 5 minutes peace.  So she sneaks off to the bathroom to enjoy a soak in the bath with tea and the paper...and enjoys about  a minute of "heaven" before, one by one, her three youngsters invade the bathroom, and finally end up in the tub with her.  She sneaks back down to the kitchen where she enjoys three minutes and forty-five seconds of peace before her three wet young find her, wrapped in towels.  This is my mother's day gift for the moms in my story time audience, and every single one can identify with Mrs. Large and her desire for just a few minutes of peace.  But they can also identify with the love and humor that fills this book about that very special bond between mothers and their children.


Benjamin's Bugs by Mary Morgan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This is a sweet little book -  that is not so much about bugs as it is about a boy and his mother...and her love for him.  Chosen for a bug themed storytime, I used it instead for my Mother's Day storytime. This is a small book, with tiny, detailed illustrations so it would not work well for a large group.  Benjamin spends most of the book being a youngster (The characters are porcupines) and being distracted while taking a walk with his mother.  He also tries out some independence - climbing trees and trying to catch fish in a pond....finding out the hard was that it is a good thing that his mom is nearby.


Seven Hungry Babies by Candace Fleming
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
While the rhythm isn't perfect, the humor in the illustrations make up for anything lacking.  Seven chicks hatch with a mighty crack and immediately demand to be fed.  Mom does her best buy by the time she feeds all seven she is exhausted.  There is a nice twist at the end, that made all of the moms in my story time audience laugh out loud.  Great read for Mother's day or to add to a bird themed story time.


Llama Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
With wonderful read-aloud rhyming text and adorable illustrations the parents in my story time audience smiled in recognition of a bed time routine.  Mother Llama reads a story, kisses her little llama good night and turns out the light and heads downstairs to finish the dishes and her evening routine.  Llama llama has other ideas, though, and spends much of the rest of the book creating "bedtime drama" that sends mother back to comfort her panic stricken little llama.


The Moms in my audience loved the books…and don't tell anyone, but that is the real target audience for a baby-lapsit story time.

Furry and Purry

This month one of the celebrations is "Hug Your Cat Day" according to Brownie Locks so, of course we needed a cat themed story time!  There are so many great cat and kitten books and plenty of rhymes and songs this one is an easy-peasy child pleaser.

First the books:

Pete the Cat and His Magic Sunglasses by James Dean
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Pete the cool blue cat is back and he is in a bad mood!  This changes when he is given a pair of cool blue sunglasses that change the way he sees the world.  He shares the sunglasses with a number of his friends that are also feeling badly.  Eventually, he learns that attitude is everything - and it has nothing to do with sunglasses.  With a repeated rhyming phrase and great illustrations, this was an audience pleaser.


A Kitten Tale by Eric Rohmann
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is a fun book about four adorable kittens anticipating their first winter snow.  The great illustrations capture a kitten's curiosity and playfulness as they romp through fall leaves and talk about cold.  One of the kittens actually looks forward to winter snow and immediately goes out to play in the first snowfall.  Simple, sweet text complete this wonderful, gentle tale.


Feathers for Lunch by Lois Ehlert
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is an awesome read-aloud with breathtaking illustrations and simple rhyming text.  A cat gets out and searches for lunch "something new" since "his food in the can is tame and mild, so he's gone out to find something wild."  The birds that he stalks are clearly labeled and there is more information about the birds in notes at the end.


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 and were very glad that there was a happy ending!


We did a cat/kitten version of "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" for our wiggle break.  It went like this:

Kitty Head and Shoulders

Head, shoulders, tail and claws. Tail and claws.

Head, shoulders, tail and claws. Tail and claws.

Eyes and ears and whiskers and paws.

Head, shoulders, tail and claws. Tail and claws.

For our craft we made a Kitten's First Full Moon inspired mask that I found on Pinterest.  Here is the sample I made:

All in all a very successful story time!

Bunnies and Eggs 2014

With the approach of Easter it is time for our story time about Bunnies and Eggs.  Flannels of bunnies and eggs and rhymes like "Robbie the Rabbit" and "The Easter Bunny."  We had great fun!

Here is what we read:

Minerva Louise and the Colorful Eggs by Janet Morgan Stoeke
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
There is simple text and bright, springtime illustrations and Minerva the chicken.  Minerva finds an Easter basket and then some colored eggs.  She is worried that mother chicken has lost these eggs and recruits her chicken friends to help save the eggs.  The chickens are alarmed until they see the farmer's children picking up the scattered eggs.  The story is filled with humor (Minerva tries to talk to a chocolate bunny and sit on an egg on top of a fence post) and my young story time audience loved it.

The Story of the Easter Bunny by Katherine Tegen

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Filled with breathtaking illustrations we see the story of an "old, round couple" who spent every winter making baskets and eggs to distribute to the children of their village on Easter…and their rabbit who watched, helped and then took over for them when they became too old.  This is just a lovely book!

Ollie's Easter Eggs by Olivier Dunrea

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

With simple text and adorable illustrations we see how all of our favorite Dunrea characters are preparing for Easter.  Eggs are gathered, dyed, and hidden by everyone except Ollie.  Ollie is busy hopping and, well, being Ollie.  Ollie decides he wants all of the eggs and moves them.  When his friends start their hunt they can't find a single egg until Ollie takes them to his stash, which is now tied up in ribbons and decorated with flowers. My story time audience talked about how bad it was to steal the eggs…until we realized that Ollie gathered the eggs to give to his friends with his special touches added.  

Who Hid the Easter Eggs by Pirkko Vainio

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A sweet story of eggs, a bird and a watchful, helpful squirrel. When Jack the bird steals all of the Easter eggs and places him in his nest, Harry the squirrel saves the Easter egg hunt by convincing Jack to return the eggs and helping to hide all of them again, just before the children set out with their baskets.  The illustrations are awesome and the reader can't help but fall in love  with Jack and Harry.

The Easter Bunny's Assistant by Jan Thomas

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

With Jan Thomas' amazingly vibrant and humor filled illustrations and wonderful word bubble text, my story time audience found this book laugh-out-loud-funny.  The Easter Bunny is trying to give the reader very serious step-by-step lessons in creating beautiful Easter eggs. He is joined by his assistant, Skunk, who finds the whole process very exciting.  The problem is when a skunk gets excited….Skunk is put outside (step 4: remove skunk from room) but is able to return to help the Easter Bunny hide the eggs…outside.

Bugs are Back!

Spring is here…and that means that it is time for our annual story time about bugs.  Some things stay the same and some things are different.  I found some really good books this year and the audience was great, singing and rhyming and laughing in all the right places!  I dug out my old paper puppet ladybugs and we did "Two Little Ladybugs" and for our craft each child created a set of his or her very own.  That part was the same, as were the songs and rhymes.

Here are the books we read:

Yoo-Hoo, Ladybug! by Mem Fox
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This book is so much fun to read aloud, and so engaging to a small story time audience.  Each page shows very detailed illustration in which a lady bug is hiding.  There is a call, "Yoo Hoo! Lady bug where are you?" and the hunt is on.  Turn the page and the reader is given textual hints to pin point her location.  Great fun and very engaging.

Butterfly Kiss by Marcial Boo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
A beautifully illustrated story of the butterfly, Kiss, who sets off to find a new home.  He meets all sorts of other animals, none of whom want a kiss.  He does finally find a home…with an old man and his grandchild.  My story time audience loved this gentle story especially the gorgeous illustrations.

One Bear with Bees in His Hair by Jakki Wood
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
With bouncy, rhyming text and bold colorful illustrations this is a charming counting book about ten happy, hide and seek playing bears.  With lots of opportunities to engage a story time audience, this one ends in a cool guessing game.

I Love Bugs! by Emma Dodd
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
What a fun book about bugs!  My story time audience loved the large bouncy text and wonderfully kid-friendly illustrations.  Lots of great adjectives and "sound" words help the reader do what the young boy in the story is doing, enter the world of bugs.  This is a great read-aloud!