Lions and Tigers and Bears! Oh, My!

So, I admit I have used this theme before…but one of my story time regulars REALLY loves lions and tigers, so it seemed right to bring it back. The books were all new, the craft was new - we made a paper bag puppet lion The rhymes and songs were mixed - and I even rewrote some. Repeating this theme made me realize how much I have grown as a story teller over the past two years!  It was a young audience, so I didn't read all of the books I'd planned and I changed my presentation on the fly (another thing that is much easier to do now!) to better suit a small audience of rambunctious two-year-olds, but here are the books we read:

The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
The illustrations are breathtaking in the wordless book.  My original plan for story time was to read a traditional version of this Aesop's fable, and then pull this book out next and have members of my audience help me tell the story…my audience was small and young, so I used this book instead and just ad-libbed the fable.  This version has it all: the fierce, majestic lion and a tiny, beautifully drawn mouse, hunters, a snare, and a promise kept.  In this version the mouse scurries back to a nest full of babies, so I included the fact that she was a mother in the conversation she had with the lion as she pleaded with him to save her life.  Don't let the fact that this is a wordless picture book stop you from sharing it with a story time audience - because my audience loved it.


Chloe and the Lion by Mac Barnett
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is an hysterically funny book!  The author and illustrator (or should I say illustrators?) feature prominently along with Chloe the main character and a lion…no a dragon…NO a lion ("but a dragon is so much cooler")  The story progresses slowly, as the author and illustrator argue about text and pictures and replacement illustrators.  There is the running gag above (a dragon would be so much cooler) and humor filled illustrations and just plain funny text as the author argues with and fires two illustrators and then argues with Chloe about the way she looks.  Everything works out in the end.  This one had my audience rolling in the aisles!


Mr. Tiger Goes Wild by Peter  Brown
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
When the book opens, Mr. Tiger lives in a very proper city where everything around him is a very proper brown/gray and everyone wears hats and ties and sips tea from tea cups.  Then Mr. Tiger decides to go wild.  His life becomes much more colorful when he begins walking on all fours and abandons this suit and hat  for a swim in a fountain.  His next step is to go off into the wilderness where he is surrounded by trees and waterfalls and large, open, grassy fields.  One rainy day, he realizes that his misses the comforts of the city and he misses his friends.  Upon returning he sees that even in the city things have changed…The illustrations are lovely and have a very "retro" look and feel to them.  The use of color helps reinforce the changes in the Mr. Tiger and his friends.  The text is elegant in its simplicity and combines well with the illustrations to tell a fun story that even the youngest members of my story time audience could relate to.


Baby Bear by Kadir Nelson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Baby Bear is lost!  We feel his fear through the beautiful illustrations and simple text. The text is mostly dialog as he asks animal after animal for help in finding his way home.  This is an awesome book, that my story time audience loved.  It is a quiet, gentle story that worked well to close my story time and would also work well as a bedtime story.


Here are the two others that I had prepared to read:

The Lion and the Mice by Rebecca Emberley
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This is a retelling of the Aesop's fable, using simple language and the brightly colored illustrations that are the Emberley's trademark.  The bright colors captured and held my story time audience' attention, although I worried that some of the illustrations might be a bit too scary.  The story doesn't flow as well as it could, but since everyone knows the basics it is easy enough to ad lib a bit to smooth the rough edges.


The Rabbit And The Turtle by Eric Carle
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is a awesome collection of eleven Aesop's fables.  Each fable is told in everyday language that is easy to understand.  Each fable covers two pages in this book - the first is the text of the fable and the facing page is an amazing Eric Carle illustration.


Here is one of my reworked songs (from King County Library's "Tell Me A Story"):

The Lions in the Zoo

(Tune: "The Wheels on The Bus")

The lions at the zoo say, “Roar, roar, roar! 

Roar, roar, roar” “Roar, roar, roar” 

The lions at the zoo say, “Roar, roar, roar” 

All day long. 

The Lions at the zoo… 

             …they groom their mane. 

         …they flex their claws. 

        …they swish their tail.

Just Say No!

I realize I have fallen behind my in blogging about my storytime adventures.  So, I am attempting to catch up.  Over President's Day weekend, I realized that had forgotten to pull books for Tuesday morning story time, and the library would be closed on Monday.  So, I spent a little while on Sunday at a neighboring branch pulling books and determining a theme. That theme turned out to be Just Say, NO!  I did worry that it would be too negative, but I found a good set of books, filled with humor and/or love that made for a really good story time.  For our craft we colored pigeon, from Don't Let The Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems and the sheet included a speech bubble.  I encouraged the kids to  think about what the next thing is that Pigeon should ask for.

Here are books we read:


Martha, No! by Edward  Hardy
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
A very engaging story about angelic looking Martha and her new nanny (who is the 10th nanny so far).  My storytime audience loved chiming in to say, 'Martha, NO!" with nanny as Martha gets into more and more mischief - such as climbing up to the top of the t-rex statue and then drawing on the walls of the museum they visit.  Martha gets herself into some interesting situations and the illustrations and rhyming text are filled with fun.


Cindy Moo by Lori Mortensen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The story begins when Cindy Moo, a cow on the Diddle farm overhears Mom Diddle reading the classic Nursery Rhyme, "Hey, Diddle, Diddle!" and decides that if THAT cow could jump over the moon, well she could as well.  While the other cows laugh and tease her, especially when her first attempts fail, Cindy is determined to succeed.  With rhyming text and delightful illustrations - and a little help from a rain puddle - Cindy does manage to jump over the moon.  Truly a fun read aloud about achieving a seemingly impossible dream.


No by Claudia Rueda
My rating: 4 of 5 starsbr />
A sweet story about a stubborn little cub who does not want to go to sleep, and has an answer for each of Mother Bear's arguments...until he gets scared in the middle of a blinding snowstorm and makes his way back to the safety of his mother and his warm cave.  My storytime audience could identify with Baby Bear's not wanting to go to bed...and laughed as he says when returning to the cave, " Mamma, I'm back.  Winter is very long and you might get lonely."

Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! by Mo Willems
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Mo Willems is brilliant when it comes to writing books with storytime appeal.  This book works up a storytime audience into a frenzy of interaction faster and funnier than almost any other book that I have read.  Everytime the pigeon comes up with another request...another reason that he *should* be allowed to drive the bus, my storytime audience gleefully shouted, "No!" amidst giggles.  This is a great read-aloud and a sure audience pleaser for all ages.

Bear-y Tales

For Storytime at Miramar this week I pulled out an old theme and ready-made powerpoint.  This is a theme that I have used several times before at three different libraries and it is always popular.  The rhymes and songs are simple and there are always plenty of picture books about bears no matter where you are.  It is an easy "last minute" theme.  Each time I present this story time I have used a different set of books, based on what was available and it has worked every time.  This time around, one of my favorites (Don't Wake the up the Bear by Marjorie Dennis Murray) on the other hand I stumbled upon a new bear book that I fell in love with (and so did the kids!)  We discussed winter and hibernation and even why bears sleep in caves...I had a very interactive and curious group of eight in my storytime audience.  We sang "Bear is Sleeping" (Tune: "Frere Jacques") and did several fingerplays and action rhymes and made our own bear puppet (pasting bear parts onto a toilet paper roll).

Here are today's books and a couple of favorite bear stories that I have read in the past:

Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Originally I read this on 1/24/11 as part of the original  "Bear-y Tales" theme story time .  Kids loved the fact that the bear slept through animals gathering in his cave for a party...especially the surprise ending. With humorous illustrations and a wonderful rhyming text, one by one animals wander into bear's cave to get out of the cold, and bear sleeps right through each arrival.  Animals pop popcorn, brew tea and the cave turns into quite a party spot - and bear sleeps on.  It is actually not the noise or the smell of food that wakes bear, but a pepper flake that causes bear to wake with a great big sneeze.  My storytime audience created great snoring sound effects whenever I read the refrain, "Bear snored on" and we all had a great time.   We followed this book with the song, "Bear is Sleeping" and it was very effective.


I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
We meet Bear when his little red pointy hat goes missing and he sets out to find it.  The text is mostly dialog, as Bear asks animal after animal if anyone has seen his hat.  There are two colors used in the text so it is easy to distinguish who says what.  I warned my audience that they should help Bear find his hat, because the reader does find out where the hat is on page four or five...but bear doesn't realize he has seen his hat until much nearer the end. My audience rose to the challenge and loved this book...well, except one little boy who thought Bear looked "A little creepy."  This is an award winning children's book and it shows.


About a Bear by Holly Surplice
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
You will fall in love with Bear! This book is beautifully illustrated and filled with all sorts of wondrous images. The rhyming text is simple, and is quite a good introduction to emotions as we see a bear who is glad, and bear when he is sad. He is even puzzled when he encounters a small turtle. My storytime audience became quite engaged with this book, describing what "puzzled" meant and laughing at Bear and turtle and the other fun Bear has with his friends. A wonderful read-aloud book.

Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? by Bill Martin Jr.
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
There is something comforting about reading a wonderful book which follows a predictable formula, especially when it illustrated with Eric Carle's wonderful collages and Bill Martin's chain of animals. A storytime audience knows how this story plays out and has great fun anticipating the next animal in the sequence, and in this case, making its sound. Polar Bear hears a lion, and the kids have great fun providing the roar. The hippo and flamingo, were a bit harder but my audience managed to come up with creative and funny sounds. This book is a reminder to all of us who present story times that classic picture books will almost always hit the mark with a storytime audience.

Jamberry by Bruce Degen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Originally read 1/24/11 as part of "Bear-y Tales" theme. A Boy and his friend Bear go hunting for Berries. Lots of great rhyming for literacy development. Used fingerplays, "Bears eat Honey" and "Little Bear,"along with story.

Don't Wake Up the Bear! by Marjorie Dennis Murray
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Bear is asleep in his cave, a wonderfully inviting big bear who was soft and warm...and one by one animals are driven into Bear's cave by the cold and snow. Hare arrives first, then badger. As each new animal arrives, they receive a welcome and then a warning,"but don't wake up the bear!" My storytime audience loved saying this phrase each time a new animal arrived. They also loved the big, beautiful illustrations.

My Little Polar Bear by Claudia Rueda
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is a beautifully illustrated book with simple text filled with love. Little Polar Bear asks questions which his mother answers with patience and love.