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 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! 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!"


Zee 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 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.

Babies Invade the Library

This week's post is about my public library job. The branch is located in the northern suburbs of San Diego. The schools are good, the houses on the newer side and the kind of community where there are a lot of moms home with their kids. We are a very diverse community with one thing in common - all the residents want the very best for their kids and want them to succeed. Many of the parents in the community value the library and the services and programs it provides for their children.

Probably because we are in a community with good schools and lots of parental involvement, we have a very active children's area - filled with waves of children all day.  There is a play area, where moms and toddlers socialize after story times, tables with crayons and coloring sheets and drop-in crafts on Saturdays.

And there are the babies.  Babies in strollers or in a mother's arms at the library because of an older sibling's needs.  Lots of babies.

So, this month we launched our Baby Bookworm Storytime and Baby Signing Storytime on alternating Mondays.  We have contracted with the presenter for the Baby Signing program, and her first presentation at our library was a great success.  Last Monday was our first Baby Bookworm Storytime...and that was all me.

I was pleased that I had twelve baby/toddlers in my audience.  Four were truly babies in their mothers' laps, and three were on the older side of "toddler" but the program and the audience were well matched.  The atmosphere was cozy and friendly, the audience participated in the songs and rhymes that we did and listened to the tips and advice that I gave out along with the stories.

Our first theme was "Baby, It's Cold Outside" and the weather cooperated since we were experiencing some of the coldest temperatures we have had in five years.  (Okay, so I know this is San Diego were 50 degrees is cold!)  We all learned our opening song, "If You Want To Hear A Story" (Tune: "If You're Happy and You Know It") and Moms got comfortable manipulating their baby's hands and arms.  We moved on to an action rhyme:

and then I read the first book:

I Am Small by Emma Dodd
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The world is very big for a very small, very cute penguin.  With good contrast, simple shapes and a very simple, touching text, this book if perfect for a very young storytime audience.  There are snowy scenes and scenes where our little penguin stands against an enormous cloud filled sky, on the edge of a very deep ocean filled with swimming penguins, and curled up with with it's mother.  Many of the pages have cool silver metallic sparkles.  A touching story of the love moms have for their children that made the moms in the audience hug their children a little tighter.

We did a finger play,

Warm hands, warm hands

(rub hands together while saying the first 3 lines)

Do you know how?

If you want to warm your hands

Blow on them now!

(blow gently on baby’s hands)

and then we were snowflakes. If the children were walkers, they were encouraged to get on their feet and whirl and twirl like snowflakes:

Snowflake, snowflake falling down down (Flutter hands down) 
Twirling, whirling to the ground. (Touch floor) 
Softly, landing on my nose (touch nose) 
Softly landing on my toes. (tickle baby’s toes) 
Snowflake, snowflake falling down. (Flutter hands down) 
Twirling, whirling to the ground (Touch floor)

Then I read:

I Like It When . . . by Mary Murphy
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Another cute small penguin tells the reader about the things he likes to do with his adult penguin.  Simple text and pictures with simple shapes and bold colors make this a perfect book to read to very young storytime audiences.  I like it when...you hold hands with me...let me help...dance with me...hold me tight...and (of course!) read me stories.  Simple, but engaging.


We ended with a tickle:

And then a closing song.  Adults were encouraged to reach into a bin of board books to read more to their children and introduce and to get to know one another while the young ones played with toys.  All in all a great success.

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.

An Autumn Celebration

Today's storytime was all about the delights of Autumn, changing leaves, cooler temperatures and "the orange smells of Fall." Today, in San Diego, it was sunny dry and over 90 degrees! My storytime audience loved the books and rhymes about Fall anyway. In fact, we did most of the finger plays and songs twice. One boy even wanted to do an action rhyme about pumpkins three times! There were more than 20 children in attendance - so different from my early storytimes on the base where I may only have three or four.

 We sang as we counted flannel leaves, and our fingers became five furry squirrels and five little leaves. We even participated in an informal poll: for Halloween, did you carve a happy pumpkin or a scary one?  One little girl had three carved pumpkins at her house and so skewed the results somewhat!  The books, with their lovely illustrations in the bright, rich colors of Autumn, were lovely:

When Autumn Falls by Kelli Nidey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This book, with its rhythmic text and wonderfully bright illustrations, introduces young readers to all that falls in Autumn.  Leaves, football players, the temperature, the sun. The three dimensional paper collage pictures are vibrant and detailed and the kids loved finding the hidden images that can be found throughout this book.  Birds in trees, a dogs eye peeking out from under a pile of leaves, the back of a child running behind a tree.  There were many opportunities for interaction with my storytime audience, as we counted crows, pumpkins, and students off to school.  My audience loved this book.

I Know It's Autumn by Eileen Spinelli
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is a beautifully illustrated book about a family enjoying the delights of Autumn.  In rhyming text the reader learns about getting out jackets, and the joy of pumpkin muffins for breakfast; picking apples and raking leaves.  A wonderful book to introduce all the joys of Autumn.

In November by Cynthia Rylant
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Cynthia Rylant does a beautiful job "explaining" November in this book.  The text is gentle and rich with description. (For example, "The trees are standing al sticks and bones.")  The illustrations are perfectly matched with the text and are soft and gentle as well. We counted the cats "piled up in the corners of barns" (6) and the dogs lying before the fire (2) The foods of November with their "orange small" and all the warmth of Thanksgiving are captured between the pages of this book.  A very  special tribute to a very special time of year.

The Little Yellow Leaf by Carin Berger
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is a charming story about a little yellow leaf who does not react well to change.  When all the other leaves are falling, this one holds on tight and states that he is not ready...even when snow falls and he is lonely and cold.  Finally, he spots another hold out, a scarlet leaf, and together they let go and go soaring off into the sky.  The simple illustrations are beautiful and bright and the text contains rich vocabulary - the afternoon sun "beckoned and teased" and "flocks of geese took wing." My storytime audience could identify with the little leaf's fear and loneliness, and rejoiced when the two leaves went soaring off together.  Lovely story.

I'll be encoring this story time on Thursday at the public library so I'm glad I like the stories and songs, rhymes, etc.  Next week, we are off for Veteran's Day and then in two weeks I will be presenting a Thanksgiving storytime at the base, complete with a multicultural potluck feast.  Stay tuned.

Halloween II

We followed up last week's Halloween themed story time with even more Halloween fun. We had one of the biggest crowds ever, which was unexpected since there had been no additional publicity, and we were not giving anything away. Usually we only see this large an audience when we publicize a party or giveaway! With an emphasis on Monsters, we had great fun with "Five Little Monsters Jumping on The Bed" using one of my goofy handmade felt sets

We also acted out "The Goblin in the Dark" (tune: "the Farmer in the Dell") Where the goblin in the dark, picks a witch who picks a cat, who picks a bat, who picks a ghost who shouts, "Boo!" Great fun!

For a craft we made toilet paper roll mummies. The kids really enjoyed it and really worked hard on their mummies.

Here are the books we read today:
The Monsters' Monster by Patrick McDonnell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The first half of this books follows three young monsters who live high on Monster Hill in a dark and scary monster castle. The text sets a great dark scary stage for the creation of the biggest, baddest scariest monster. These three set out to create one, and they do with the help of a convenient lightning bolt. But although he is big, this new monster is not what our three small monsters, or the reader, expects.

Night of the Pumpkinheads by Michael J. Rosen
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
The photographs of the amazing carved pumpkins in this book are amazing and my storytime audience studied each and every picture with an intensity that they don't always possess! These pictures make up for the choppy, somewhat disjointed text. The pumpkin patch pumpkins decide that this year they want to dress up for Halloween and have fun. They form groups and compete to try and scare the trick-or-treaters. Which group proves the scariest: The small pumpkins as eyes and bees? The green pumpkins as monsters? The white pumpkins as zombie mimes?? In the end, it isn't the pumpkins that prove to be the scariest to the kids...

Monster Mash by David Catrow
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This was a big hit at storytime today. The audience of toddlers found the bright, bold illustrations totally mesmerizing and the parents laughed and smiled as they remembered the Boris Pickett hit that the text is based on. We even turned this into a call and response for all I had to say was, "they did the..." and the kids quickly learned to shout out "Monster Mash." Use your best Boris voice and this is sure to be a "graveyard smash" for you, too!

I also brought a special Halloween friend with me: my spider puppet that when squeezed makes a laughing sound. While "spidey" didn't seem to scare any of the kids, when I invited them all to pet my little spider, some were hesitant, although I'll give these toddlers credit, they all did give him a pat!

School is Cool

Today's storytime was all about the end of summer and the beginning of the school year. We had almost twenty-youngsters attend today - which is record attendance for an event that was not a party or contain giveaways! We started out discussing the end of summer and then read four books about starting school or the school experience. We sang "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and "The Wheels on the Bus" and did two finger plays (one I made up!) and sang two other going-off-to-school songs. The group was very engaged and very participatory - always great fun. Here are the books we read today:

Summer's End by Maribeth Boelts
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is a very sweet read-aloud for this time of year! A young girl, Jill, mourns the end of summer and all the wonderful things that she experienced while getting ready for the first day of second grade. The softly colored water color illustrations are lovely. This captures all of the emotions that we all experience with the change of seasons and the transition from summer to the school year.

Bailey by Harry Bliss
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Bailey is quite a dog. He goes to school with regular kids, who love him, but he retains his own doggie quirks! For instance, when it comes to choosing his school "outfit" his closet is filled with half a dozen dog collars. He eats his own homework, and then has to visit the school nurse. Bailey is so very lovable, and when that is combined with wonderful illustrations and a text filled with humor, the result is a fun read aloud book about school.

Never Spit on Your Shoes by Denys Cazet
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Arnie arrives home from his first day of school and tells his mother all about his great adventure over milk and cookies. As he recounts his day, we see the events in big bright illustrations. He describes his diverse group of classmates and enjoys the school tour, learning to write his name, and lunch in the cafeteria. Filled with humor, and interesting misadventures I read this one for all of the moms in my audience, who can identify with the experience of listening to tales told by sons and daughters.

We Love Our School!: A Read-Together Rebus Story by Judy Sierra
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The kids at my story time loved this book, which allowed them to participate in the telling of this story. The brightly colored illustrations held their interest and they loved this rebus story, happily yelling out the words represented by the rebus pictures. The rhyming text bounces along to make this a great interactive read aloud.

Mom, It's My First Day of Kindergarten! by Hyewon Yum
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
My storytime loved this story about a young boy getting ready to head off for his first day of kindergarten. In this version of a first day, it is the mom rather than the child that has first day jitters. The kids loved this twist to the traditional stories - you know, where the child is anxious about starting school and the parent is the calming influence. The text and illustrations are engaging and my audience loved this book.

Celebrating Water Awareness Month

So, our city water department offers to send goody bags out to libraries who schedule a story time to promote May as water awareness month...and offer that I couldn't refuse, once I made sure I could find enough suitable titles for my preschool audience. I did find plenty and I also stumbled upon some story time kits that our Central Library Children's staff have put together. What a wonderful resource. They include a music CD in support of the theme, books, song and rhyme suggestions and in one case a glove puppet set and in another character cards from one of the books that I was able to use as a flannel board story. So, on Saturday I presented this at a branch of the public library in front of fifteen or so kids and their parents and today, I repeated it at the base library for a group of three children and parents. The three are a core of regular attendees and we have so much fun together - I have watched all of them grow and change over the last six months or so and it has been a great journey!Here is a picture of the glove for "The Itsy Bitsy Spider and Friends" for after we sang the song through using the glove, we sang again about a GREAT BIG SPIDER and again with a teeny tiny spider. Many smiles and giggles!

We did other rain rhymes and with the larger group we "made" rain - first a gentle drizzle (rub hands together) then gentle drips (slow quiet hand claps) getting faster and louder as the rain increases - at the height of the storm everyone is slapping their thighs and stomping their feet. Again lots of smiles.

Here are the books we read:
Precious Water by Brigitte Weninger
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This book's simple engaging text and lovely illustrations really struck a chord with both story time audiences as it discussed the importance of water to all living things. There is a sweetness and light humor in the illustrations that the kids really seemed to enjoy - the cat's eye being magnified by the glass of water...a frog happily sitting in the pouring rain. There were counting opportunities as well as pages where my audience took great delight in identifying what they were seeing. Very engaging and lead easily into a discussion of all the ways we use water in our every day life.

Hey, Frog! by Piet Grobler
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This tale of a greedy frog is filled with detailed pictures filled with all sorts of animals. When frog drinks up all the water, all the other animals plot to get him to give it back. One by one they put their plans into action - but frog keeps his lips clamped shut. But the eels know a secret about frog...and their plan is successful in returning the water to the puddles, the brook, the river and even the big, blue lake.
Listen to the Rain by Bill Martin Jr.
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a gentle, beautifully illustrated book filled with wonderful language to describe a rainstorm from the first gentle whisper of the rain through "splash and splash and splatter, the steady sound of the singing of the rain" through to the "quietude, the silence and the solitude, of after-rain". My story time audience hung on every word and studied every picture - and this book seemed to have very broad age-appeal.

Cloud Dance by Thomas Locker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Simple text and beautiful full page illustrations describe the beauty of all types of different clouds. There is a glossary in the back with the scientific names and descriptions of clouds, but my audience enjoyed the poetic descriptions while looking at the beautiful cloud portraits.

Ten Little Fish by Audrey Wood
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a fun counting book with big beautiful illustrations. Nice real aloud, even with a large group because of the illustrations. One by one the line of fishes gets shorter, until there is only one left...then there are two, who fall in love and then start a family...of ten little fishes. The colorful character cards made this a fun flannel board story and both audiences loved helping to count the fish.

Rain by Manya Stojic
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Through simple, repetitive phrases and big, bright bold illustrations, we see how the animals of the Savannah sense an approaching rain storm using all of their senses. At first, porcupine smells the rain and rushes off to tell zebra, who see the lightening of the approaching storm...and so on...until the rain passes and then the animals use their senses to enjoy the gifts the rain has left behind...the taste of the cool water, the lush green leaves, the tasty fruit. We leave the animals happily anticipating the next big rain.