My last Family Storytime of 2013. It was a cozy one with just two families, so I sat on the floor and shared some longer books than I usual would have, and it was wonderful. These were the ones I read:
I actually just happened to see this one on display right before storytime, and fell in love with it. Little Porcupine wants to have a part in the Baby in a Manger play, but the other animals make fun of him, calling him a “Spiky Stick Ball.” His mother comforts him, telling him he is “the light of her life,” and, although he is sad not to be in the play, he runs the lights and manages the stage. In the middle of the play, everyone suddenly realizes they don’t have a Christmas star, and Little Porcupine saves the day. Such a sweet story, and it was eagerly snatched up at the end.
My daughter and I love all of the Dragon books. In four short chapters, Dragon: decorates a Christmas tree (outside his house because he can’t bear to chop it done); makes and devours a candy wreath (only eating the pieces that “fall” off); loses his mittens (and his coat); and buys some Christmas presents for himself. In the last story, he gives away all of his presents to animals who need them more, and goes to sleep thinking he hears angels singing (they are really the grateful animals singing outside his house). Lovely collection of stories that are both funny and sweet. One of the girls checked this one out, and every other Dragon book we had on the shelf. Storytime win!
For anyone who ever wished it could be Christmas every day, this book shows that you can really have too much of a good thing. Noelle lives in Christmas City, where everyday is Christmas, except one: Un-Christmas Day. Noelle loves Un-Christmas Day, when she doesn’t have to open any presents or eat five kinds of pie. Best of all, she gets to go to school. I’ve read this to several different age groups, and they all loved it, especially the second graders.
I learned about this one from my friend Kerri’s blog, What Is ML Reading? Mr. Willowby has a perfect Christmas tree, except that it’s a little too tall. His butler cuts a bit off the top and gives it to the maid, who uses it as her own Christmas tree, but it’s a bit too tall for her mantel. So she cuts off the top… Fun, rhyming story with a treetop that just never seems to run out. The kids enjoyed this one too.
INSTRUMENT PLAYALONG WITH A CD:Linus and Lucy from A Charlie Brown Christmas by Vince Guaraldi (Amazon.com link). This was so much fun! Even my coworkers were humming the tune after story time.
CRAFT: Paper Plate Angels
Paper plate angel by Sophia
Once again, my wonderful coworker, Gail Benjamin, handed down her leftover craft supplies from a holiday program she did the previous weekend. You can find printable instructions from Enchanted Learning.
Basically, you cut the plate along the lines, and tape or staple it together. Then the kids draw a face, and decorate it with glitter. (I put another paper plate underneath to catch the extra glitter). Gail says her daughter made one years ago in preschool, and they still use it to top their Christmas tree.
OTHER BOOKS:
How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss (Amazon.com link)I read this to a second grade class the other day. I was worried that they would be bored because I know they have all seen the cartoon and the movie a million times, but they were mesmerized. It’s so much fun to read too.
By the creators of The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear. In this story, the little mouse is guarding his Christmas presents from the big hungry bear, until he learns the bear has never gotten a present. Bravely he sets out on his sled in the snow to bring the bear a gift. The illustrations are adorable.
Winter storytimes in the San Francisco Bay Area are always a bit confusing because we never get snow. At least not here in Pacifica. A few years ago I drove my son up to La Honda, where there was a patch of snow on the side of the road about the size of a bathmat. I pulled over, and we had what was probably the world’s tiniest snowball fight. So, although most of the kids here have probably seen snow somewhere, their idea of Winter is probably a lot different from the idea portrayed in most picture books.
But this week it’s actually been cold here, at least by our standards (I know, I know, it’s hard to complain about our 36 degree weather, when friends in Minnesota are saying that the temperature is going “all the way up to -1!”). But it felt enough like Winter for me to pull out some books about the season. Here are the ones I read:
Funny story about a squirrel, a hedgehog, and a bear who are waiting for snow. All they know is that snow is “white, wet, cold, and soft,” and they each set out to find something fitting that description. Hedgehog finds a toothbrush, and imagines bunches of them falling from the sky. Squirrel finds a tin can, and bear finds an old, smelly sock. My daughter loved this story, and it got laughs from the little girl who was the first to show up at storytime (the other families arrived a bit late). I was sad to discover that this book is out of print, and very expensive even to buy used on Amazon. If you live in San Mateo County you can check it out from the Peninsula Library System by clicking on the title above. To search for it from other libraries, try putting your zip code in this search box on WorldCat.
One of my favorite picture books from last year. The story is based on a traditional Iroquois tale about a rabbit who makes it snow in the summer by singing and playing a special song on his drum. It’s a longish story, but it works well even for preschoolers because of the repeated chant and song. I shared this with two second grade classes last year, and was pleased to hear them marching through the halls of the school afterwards chanting, “I will make it snow. Azikanapo!” It would work well for themes about the seasons or Native American tribes.
All the Froggy books follow the same basic pattern, but the kids love them. They anticipate the repeated cry of “FROGGY!” which is great, because the word is always written in big, bold, colorful letters that you can point to (studies have shown that pointing out words on the page is important for helping kids learn to read later on). The kids love this book in particular because Froggy forgets his pants, his shirt, and, oh yes, his underwear! Big laughs all around.
I hadn’t originally planned to read this one, but it was in my stack, and one of the kids was drawn to the cover. A young bear who wakes up in the middle of the night at his grandparents thinks he sees his grandfather feeding a dragon in the basement. This leads him to a terrible nightmare, where a hungry dragon eats all the milk and cookies in the house. Of course, when he wakes up, he learns the dragon is really his grandfather’s woodstove. I love all of Asch’s bear stories, and the kids seemed to enjoy this one too.
One day, Bear wonders what the moon tastes like, and decides to build a rocket ship to find out. But by the time his rocket is built, it is Winter, and he falls asleep in the middle of the countdown. Waking up in a snowy landscape, he assumes that he has landed on the moon. There are several Bear and Little Bird books, including Happy Birthday, Moon, Moonbear’s Dream, and Bear Shadow, and I love them all, although I find it helps to make sure the kids understand the underlying principle (shadows, echoes, dreams) before I read the story. In this case, I asked the kids if they knew what bears did in the Winter, and we talked very briefly about hibernation. I was surprised that some of the kids remembered me reading it a long time ago, and were excited to hear it again.
SONGS: Five Little Snowmen
There are lots of different version of this song, but I learned this one years ago when I was working at a music school. I wish I knew who wrote it. I made a rough recording, so you can hear the tune:
Five little snowmen standing in a row, (hold up five fingers)
Each with a hat (touch head), and a brightly colored bow (adjust imaginary bowtie).
Five little snowmen dressed up all for show.
Now they are ready,`
Where will they go?
Wait! (hold out hands in a “Stop!” motion) Till the sun shines. (hold up your arms to make a circle over your head)
Wait! Till the sun shines.
Then they will go
Down through the fields
With the melting, melting snow (“melt” all the way down to the floor, then pop up for the next four snowmen).
Mitten Song
I didn’t get to do this song, but it’s an easy one for toddlers and preschoolers. Here’s the tune:
Thumb in the thumb’s place,
Fingers all together. (Hold up your hand with your four fingers close together and thumb extended)
This is the song
We sing in mitten weather.
I got this idea from one of my favorite kids craft websites: Busy Bee Crafts. I had broken up a number of Q-Tips ahead of time (I found out the hard way that if you try to cut Q-Tips with scissors, they not only hurt your hands, but also shoot across the room like little cotton-tipped missiles. But they break very easily. Go figure!)
The idea was for the kids to glue the Q-Tips pieces to blue construction paper in snowflake patterns, and then sprinkle them with glitter. A funny thing about kids crafts though: they sometimes evolve into something else entirely. During the instrument time at the end of the storytime, I had scattered paper snowflakes for the kids to pick up and take home. Several of the kids decided to glue the paper snowflakes onto the construction paper and decorate them with glitter paper instead of making Q-Tip ones. It’s always fun to see their creativity at work. Every snowflake was truly unique!
Other easy Winter crafts I’ve done in the past are paper snowflakes (I prepare the folded paper ahead of time, so the kids just get to cut pieces out of it with kids’ scissors and open it up to reveal their snowflake. Here’s a page of instructions on how to do the folds from Instructables.com). Mittens are also easy and fun. You have the kids put their fingers together like they would if they wearing a mitten, and trace the shape of their hands on paper to make mittens. Then they can color and decorate them, or even cut them out and tape a piece of yarn between them. Or, for a fun food craft, try these marshmallow snowmen.
OTHER BOOKS:
There were lots of other books I didn’t get to. Here are just a few:
The classic story about a boy’s lost mitten, which ends up becoming a shelter from the snow for a bunch of different animals, including a bear! It’s a brilliant book, because Jan Brett uses the sidebars to tell three different stories at once: the little boy hunting for his mitten; the main story of the animals crowding into the one he lost; and the new animal who will become part of the main story on the next page. Jan Brett has a wonderful web site, full of activities to accompany each of her books. For The Mitten, she has masks you can print out, coloring pages, and even an activity where you can glue the different animals onto the mitten (it might be fun to print this out on cardstock, and put magnetic strips on the back of each animal and stick them on a cookie sheet, then have the kids put the animals “in” the mitten.)
My daughter loves this one. It’s a fantasy story along the lines of Frosty the Snowman, about a little boy’s adventures with Jack Frost over the course of one fun winter. Jack Frost tells the boy that he must never mention anything warm in front of him, or he will disappear. They have a wonderful time together, until the boy finds a snowdrop flower blooming in the snow, and Jack Frost disappears, whispering, “See you next year.” The white illustrations on blue background are stunning.
In this sequel to Muncha Muncha Muncha, Mr. McGreely is determined not to share his warm house with the three little bunnies. But the bunnies find their way inside anyway: through the mail slot, down the chimney, and even through the front door. The kids enjoy the repeated lines, especially: “Tippy-Tippy-Hide!” And the page where Mr. McGreely wakes up to find “bunny drops” on his pillow always get appreciative “EEWWs!”
This classic picture book and winner of the 1963 Caldecott Award is such a simple and colorful celebration of the joys of playing in snow, and coming in out of the cold. Even thinking about it makes me nostalgic for the few snow days I had as a child in Georgia.
A squirrel, a bear, and a crow, and a rabbit are panicked by reports of a giant in the woods, but decide to team up and scare it away. The giant turns out to be a snowman, who melts away. I didn’t know this book, but I found it for free on Open Library, and read it to my daughter, who demanded to hear it again as soon as I finished it. The story is very similar to A Stranger in the Woods, which features beautiful photographs of forest animals by Carl R. Sams, but I think I like the text of this older story better.
When the first two snowflakes fall, no one believes anything will come of it, but a boy and his dog know that the big snow is coming. Fun read aloud for any age that captures the hope of a snow day.
Since it’s the holiday season, I decided to do a storytime about family. It was a great, big, lively, fun bunch of kids tonight, and a wide mix of ages, so I ended up doing some of the shorter books. Luckily, they were some of my favorites. Here they are:
Adorable story about a little girl’s efforts to put her Mommy to bed. Of course, Mommy asks for five more minutes…and an extra story…and a glass of water. Both the parents and kids loved this one, and there were several kids asking to check it out at the end. I love Amy Krouse Rosenthal. Her book Exclamation Mark (Amazon.com link) is probably my favorite book of the year.
Perfect book for storytime or classroom themes about families. When her teacher asks her to draw a picture of her family, a little girl complains that a picture doesn’t tell the whole story. Her father is as playful as a spinning top, for example, and her mother is as bright as the brightest light. So her new pictures feature her dad with a top for a nose, and her mother’s nose as a lightbulb. This would work great for a lesson on similes, or as the lead-in to a collage project with different objects or magazine pictures. The kids loved this book too.
Okay, I do this one a lot, because it works well for almost any age. When Pete’s dad notices his son looking miserable, he decides to make him into a pizza. He spreads him on the kitchen table and starts kneading the dough, and stretching it, and whirling it in the air. Then it’s time for toppings, including tomatoes (they’re really checkers), and cheese (it’s really pieces of paper). In a lap sit storytime for toddlers or even babies, parents can act out the kneading and stretching and tickling. For older kids, I like to mention that William Steig wrote the book Shrek (Amazon.com link), and also that they can play this pizza game with their parents, or even with younger siblings.
Another favorite for both toddlers and older kids. Momo the monkey hates kissing, especially when people kiss him. He tells his family he wants “No More Kissing!” but of course, it makes no difference. Then his baby brother is born, and everybody kisses him. When Grandma asks him to help his brother stop crying, Momo tries everything, but nothing works until he does the one thing he never thought he’d do. Sweet, funny book about siblings, and a good one for kids with a new baby in the house.
SONGS:
Brush Your Teeth by Raffi This is a favorite song of mine. We all pulled out our finger toothbrushes and I asked the kids what flavor toothpaste they had. I add in an extra verse that my son invented, “When you wake up in the morning at a quarter to six, and you feel like you’ve been beaten with sticks…” (Which is exactly how I feel at a quarter to six, although I tend to go for coffee instead of toothpaste.)
B-I-N-G-OI brought out my dog puppet for this one (he likes to lick the kids faces), and we barked the missing letters.
Silly Pizza Song by Rachel de Azevedo Coleman, from Signing Time volume 3 (Amazon.com link) We did baby sign when my son was little, and the Signing Time videos were my favorite. This is a fun song, where the kids get to suggest different toppings for their pizza.
I cut out blank paper dolls from the template provided on the Family Crafts About.com page. The kids colored the dolls with crayons and glued on different colored pieces of yarn for the hair to make them look like members of their family. Most of them only got one doll done (a lot of them made themselves or their moms), but they were all adorable.
OTHER BOOKS ABOUT FAMILY:
There were so many books I didn’t get to read at storytime. Here are just a few:
I wish I had gotten to this one at the storytime. It’s a celebration of every kind of family, with the message that every family is unique and special in their own way. The illustrations are colorful and fun.
This book, with its colorful illustrations by Stephen Gammell, captures all the apprehension, chaos, and exuberance and love of a large family gathering.
A little girl who lives with her parents and two cats counts her family’s traits in a variety of ways. There are four grownups, and one child; three with orange hair, and two with gray; three who don’t like taking baths; five who loves birds (but not in the same way); etc. A unique counting book, and a fun way of exploring similarities and differences.
A little girl describes all the fun and adventures she has at her Nanny and Poppa’s house. The story, by Phantom Tollbooth author Norman Juster, is rich with childlike details. The colorful, abstract illustrations by Chris Raschka depict a happy, multiracial family. A lovely celebration of grandparents.
Have any other favorite family stories? Please share them in the comments.
This week we had a special guest for storytime: Esther Goldman from Chabad, a Jewish outreach organization in Daly City. She brought some of her favorite books to share for Chanukah, and we alternated reading them.
In the past, most of the Hanukkah books we had at the library seemed to be either too long, or too dry to hold the interest of the kids at my storytimes. Happily now there are a lot of fun stories for different age groups, but I was still really grateful to have Esther’s recommendations. These were the ones she chose to share:
A little boy whose birthday falls on the third night of Chanukah hopes to celebrate by making the biggest latke ever. Funny, rhyming story that the kids enjoyed. Esther brought her own copy of this book, which had a slightly different title, so there may be alternative versions.
An extended version of the traditional song describing a family Hanukkah celebration, with nice, large illustrations. I had the kids join in on the chorus, and I heard them singing it after the storytime too. Esther kindly brought little plastic dreidels to hand out to each child at the end.
A little girl hopes to persuade her neighbor, Mrs. Greenberg, to join them for a Hanukkah dinner by borrowing different things to make latkes. Sweet, happy story that made everyone hungry for latkes.
This is a great CD with music in English and Hebrew. One of the moms said it was the best one she had found.
CRAFT: Craft Stick Menorah
Paper and Foam Craft Stick Menorah from Jonas
Initially Esther had wanted to make flame hats, which would have been fun, but we didn’t end up having enough time to coordinate, so I threw this craft together. I had picked up some colored craft sticks from Michaels, assuming they were the usual wooden ones. To my surprise, they were actually foam. They were super stinky when I first opened them, but they worked out great for the candles on the menorah because I could cut them in half.
For the base of the menorah, I just cut out strips of blue paper in three different sizes. The kids glued them onto white card stock with glue sticks, then glued on the craft stick candles. They made the flames with yellow dot paint, then decorated with stickers.
But OOPS! I just realized I never accounted for the Shamash candle in my craft, which was a huge oversight!! Wow! I apologize for that. I should have had a longer foam stick for each child. Here’s my daughter’s menorah with the Shamash candle in the middle.
This is still my personal favorite Hanukkah book. Lemony Snicket (aka Daniel Handler) does a brilliant job of incorporating the history of Hanukkah into the story of a disgruntled latke who is sick of Christmas decorations who assume he’s part of their holiday. Plus the kids get to scream on every other page. There’s a funny twist at the end, and, unlike all the turkey stories we read last week, the protagonist of this book does get eaten. I’m looking forward to reading this to some second grade classes after Thanksgiving.
Bubba Brayna is an old woman whose hearing and eyesight are failing, but she still makes the best latkes. When a hairy visitor shows up at her door, she assumes it’s the rabbi. Bubba Brayna entertains him, feeds him, and sends him on his way with a new red scarf, never realizing that her guest is actually an enormous hungry bear. This is a funny story that I plan to share with the second graders too. Thanks to Sapphira for the recommendations and for pointing out that the book has recently been republished with new illustrations by Mike Wohnoutka under the title, The Hanukkah Bear(Amazon link).
This is part of a series of books where Sammy Spider learns about different Jewish holidays. In this one, Sammy envies Josh Shapiro, a little boy whose family gives him a different colored dreidel for every night of Hanukkah. He longs for a dreidel of his own, but his mom tells him spiders spin webs not dreidels. This is one of the shorter Hanukkah stories, and it also doubles as a book about colors and numbers. San Mateo County Library patrons can read and listen to an animated ebook version of Sammy Spider’s First Shabbat on Tumblebooks through the library web site (you have to search for the title. There’s a wonderful assortment of books there, including many by Robert Munsch, who does his own narration).
Esther had brought this one for babies and toddlers, but didn’t end up reading it. It’s a board book with colorful photographs to introduce very young children to the holiday. Unfortunately we don’t have a copy in our library system, so the link above goes to the Amazon page.
I’d love to get more recommendations. Please send me your favorite Hanukkah book titles and I’ll add them to my list.
Thanksgiving is a frustrating holiday for picture books. Sure, there are some entertaining books, but 90% of them seem to be about a turkey trying to escape being eaten. I don’t mind reading one or two of these, but too many gets a bit old. Also, I can’t help but wonder if it’s just going to make kids feel bad about their Thanksgiving Dinner, aka The One That Didn’t Get Away. That being said, I did read a couple of Turkey Escape books for this week’s Family Storytime (I did the Thanksgiving theme a week early because Chabad, a local Jewish outreach organization is coming to next week’s storytime to present a Chanukah theme). Here was my Thanksgiving line-up:
Every year, just before Thanksgiving, all the turkeys of Squawk Valley seem to vanish (actually they climb into hot air balloons and fly away to a tropical island). But this year the town has a plan: they will post fliers asking for a turkey to model for a turkey-themed Arts and Crafts Fair, and trick a bird into becoming their dinner. But of course, the turkey ends up being smarter than they thought. This is a longish rhyming story, but the kids loved the illustrations of all the turkey crafts: turkeys made of potatoes, and oatmeal, and even soap. There was a lot of clamoring to check this one out at the end.
I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie by Allison Jackson; illustrated by Judy Byron Schachner One of my Thanksgiving standards. A clever parody of The Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly, about a woman who eats WAY too much: a turkey, a pot!, a ten-layer cake. The kids liked the twist at the end, when she becomes a big balloon float for the Thanksgiving parade. Great read-aloud for any age group.
My daughter loves this book. Old Mrs. Gumm is excited to find a freckled egg hidden in some leaves. She takes it home, and sure enough, it hatches into a baby turkey, who eats and eats and eats. My daughter especially loves the lists of what the turkey eats: caterpillars, inchworms, pea gravel, and cat food, among other things. In November, Mrs. Gumm is ready with her hatchet, but by then the turkey has become a good friend who ends up joining her for Thanksgiving dinner. Yes, this is another book vilifying the turkey dinner, but the writing is full of warmth and wonder, especially when the egg hatches, and the illustrations are sweet. The kids all seemed to enjoy it too, since several of them asked to check it out.
The Dumb Bunnies’ Easter by Sue Denim; illustrated by Dav Pilkey I am currently living with Dumb Bunnies. We own the first book, and have the other three checked out, and my daughter insists on hearing at least one of them every day. And yes, they are dumb. But funny. This book is a crazy mishmash of almost every holiday, which is kind of the way I feel this time of year. The bunnies chop down an Easter tree, hang up Valentines, and carve a turkey like a jack-o-lantern. I wasn’t originally planning to read this one, but I had to bring my daughter with me to storytime last night, and she saw it in my pile. I was happy I did though, because the book is shelved in the Easter section, even though it covers several holidays, and we happened to have 6 copies for the kids to check out. It felt like Christmas when I handed them out at the end.
SONGS:The Turkey Jerky (To the Tune of the Hokey Pokey)
You put your left drumstick in (left leg)
You put your left drumstick out
You put your left drumstick in
And you shake it all about.
You do the Turkey Jerky and you turn yourself around
That’s what it’s all about!
Repeat with right drumstick, left wing, right wing, waddle (chin), and tail feathers.
I Know an Old Woman Who Swallowed a Fly (with puppet)
We sing the song with the old lady puppet, and the kids take turns feeding her different animals. I have a big spider puppet I pull out for repeated line “It wiggled and jiggled and tickled inside her,” and I tickle the kids with it (usually they make a big game out of backing up out of reach, and saying, “It didn’t get me!”) At the end, our old lady dies, but we take her to the hospital and resuscitate her. Clearly, she needs counseling.
INSTRUMENT PLAYALONG WITH A CD:Rhubarb Pie by Laurie Berkner from her Under a Shady Tree Album
CRAFT: Paper Bag Turkey
Paper Bag Turkey by Ramona
I owe this craft to my coworker Gail Benjamin, who did it for a pajama story time at our other branch a few weeks ago. She had several turkey “kits” left, all ready to go (gotta love leftovers!), with instruction sheets and all the turkey parts in paper bags. Gail had pre-glued the googly eyes to the plastic spoons for the heads, and also glued the wattle to the bottom of each beak (these were made out of construction paper).
I handed out sheets of newspaper for the kids to crumple. They stuffed the paper inside their bag, then fastened the bag shut with rubber bands (the parents helped with this). Then the kids glued the construction paper feet and bowties on. We helped each kids poke their spoon handle head into the bottom of the paper bag. Then they glued the beak and wattle onto the spoon. The tail feathers were thin strips of colored paper.
Gail had recommended that the kids put glue inside the “tail” end of the bag, then arrange the paper feathers inside (she even gave me small containers of Elmer’s glue, which are perfect for small hands). That worked well, although if you want a slightly less messy approach, the mom of Ramona (whose turkey is pictured above) stuck her paper strips through the rubber band that separates the body from the tail.
This is actually one of my favorite Thanksgiving books, and I would have done it if I hadn’t read it to the same group for my firefighter storytime a few weeks ago (I was going to do it anyway, if my daughter hadn’t seen the Dumb Bunnies book). Firefighters at a busy fire station try their best to make Thanksgiving dinner, but they keep getting called away to fires. Luckily, while they are on their last call, people from the community bring dinner to the station as a thank you. The text is rhyming, and simple enough to hold the interest of very young children.
I didn’t get to read this one either, but it’s perfect for Thankgiving. With Todd Parr’s characteristic brightly colored, whimsical illustrations, this book lists many things to be thankful for every day: music, reading, bathtime, nature, and, of course, underwear!
Another runaway turkey book, but a funny one. Eight kids on a field trip to Farmer Mack Nugget’s farm are horrified to find out what he plans to do with his adorable turkeys. Luckily for the turkeys, the kids hatch a plan of their own. My daughter loves this one almost as much as the Dumb Bunnies.
BREAKING NEWS! I found the best Thanksgiving book for elementary grades! (Actually, I stole it from my boss, Thom Ball, who had been planning to read it at Musical Storytime but went with something shorter). I read it to two second grade classes and they loved it. They kept asking, “Is this a true story?” And it is! The book is Thank You Sarah: The Woman Who Saved Thanksgiving by Laurie Halse Anderson, illustrated by Matt Faulkner. It’s the story of Sarah Hale, the woman who wrote thousands of letters over the course of 38 years and finally succeeded in making Thanksgiving a national holiday. Anderson portrays Sarah Hale as a true superhero, who fought for lots of important causes like schools for girls and the abolition of slavery, and also wrote the poem “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” She explains the context of Sarah’s cause, and her hopes that Thanksgiving would help unite a country torn apart by the Civil War. The caricature-like illustrations are funny and eye-catching, and it’s an excellent lesson in perseverance, democracy, and the power of words to bring about change. Highly recommended for libraries and classrooms.
I love Halloween. The only thing that frightens me about the holiday is that I know the instant it’s over, it will be Christmas. And not just in the stores, because Christmas has already begun its red and green invasion across our local Rite Aid. No, I mean, that as soon as October ends, that whole eight weeks between November 1 and December 25 will vanish like a pepperoni pizza in a room full of teenagers.
But for now, I get to enjoy the huge variety of great picture books about monsters, witches, pumpkins, and ghosts. The only challenge is gauging the scariness level for the wide range of ages I read to. This week, I did Halloween-themed storytimes for two groups of toddlers, two groups of preschoolers, two second grade classes, and my family storytime group (mostly Kindergartners). This post is mostly about my family storytime, but I’ll list some of my favorites for the other age groups below:
“When a monster is born, there are two possibilities: either it’s a Faraway in the Forests Monster or it’s an Under Your Bed Monster.” This book explores all the different things that might happen with each decision a monster might make, each with hilarious twists: it might eat the principal, it might meet a kitchen girl and fall in love. The kids love joining in on the repeated line, “There are two possibilities.” This one was quickly snatched up by one of my family storytime kids. The parents enjoyed it too, especially the line, “Hey, I’m a monster. You’re a monster. Let’s get married!”
I love this book. It’s rare to find a long story in rhymed verse that reads so well all the way through, and is easy for the kids to follow. When a boy doesn’t want to eat his peas, a horrifying monster appears to offer a trade: he’ll eat the peas in exchange for the boy’s new soccer ball. The boy accepts, but the next time he has to eat peas, the monster returns asking for his bike. I had read this to two classes of second graders the morning before my family storytime, and I thought it was really interesting that, when I asked them if the boy should give up his ball or his bike, most of the older kids said, “Yes.” (The Kindergarten kids at family storytime said, “No” every time.). But when the monster demands the boy’s puppy, all the kids were emphatically against the deal, and also worried about what was going to happen to the dog. Luckily, the boy decides to eat the peas himself, and the monster disappears in a deliciously satisfying ending. A couple of the Kindergartners thought this one was scary, which surprised me because I remembered reading it to them a year or so before. But then I know from my own kids that they find different things frightening at different ages. The second graders loved it.
Crankenstein by Samantha Berger; illustrated by Dan Santat
This one was recommended by my friend Kerri, on her blog What is ML Reading? It’s a fun read-aloud because the kids get to make that Frankenstein “Mehrrr!” noise all the way through. It describes all the things that can turn a normal kid into Crankenstein: waiting in long lines, running out of maple syrup, getting ready for school, and bedtime. It would pair well with another of my favorite books: What are You so Grumpy About? by Tom Lichtenheld. This one got snatched up too.
Creepy Carrots by Aaron Reynolds; illustrated by Peter Brown
Always a hit! As I told the kids: this one’s only scary if you’re a rabbit. But it has all the hallmarks of a horror movie: dark shadows, creepy breathing, things that aren’t there when you turn around. In this case, the monsters are three creepy carrots, who stalk poor Jasper Rabbit until he decides to take matters into his own hands. It’s a fun read, with a funny twist at the end, and it works for a wide range of ages.
SONGS:
Jack-o-Lantern (For the tune, click here)
Jack-o-lantern, Jack-o-lantern,
You are such a spooky sight!
As you sit there in the window
Looking out at the night.
You were once a yellow pumpkin
Growing on a pretty vine.
Now you are a jack-o-lantern,
Let your candlelight shine!
1 Little, 2 Little, 3 Little Witches
1 little, 2 little, 3 little Witches (hold up three fingers)
Fly over haystacks, fly over ditches (fly your hand around)
Fly over moonbeams without any hitches
Hey ho! Halloween night! (Clap!)
1 little, 2 little, 3 little witches
Flew over barbed wire, tore their britches
Had to go home and get some stitches (mime sewing)
Hey ho! Halloween night! (Clap!)
On Halloween (to the tune of The Wheels on the Bus)
The ghosts in the house go, “Boo! Boo! Boo!”
“Boo! Boo! Boo! Boo! Boo! Boo!”
The ghosts in the house go, “Boo! Boo! Boo!”
On Halloween!
The witches in the house go “Hee hee hee!”…
The bats in the house go “Eee eee eee!”…
The kids at the door say “Trick or treat!”
I asked for suggestions from the kids for other spooky Halloween things, or things they plan to be for Halloween.
Five Little Pumpkins
Five Little Pumpkins sitting on a gate (hold up five fingers)
The first one said, “Oh my! It’s getting late!”
The second one said, “There are witches in the air!”
The third one said, “But we don’t care!”
The fourth one said, “Let’s run and run and run!”
The fifth one said, “It’s Halloween fun!”
Then “OOOOOOH” went the wind,
And out went the light! (Clap)
And the five little pumpkins rolled out of sight. (roll hands)
Q-Tip Skeleton by Olivia
CRAFT: Q-Tip Skeletons
I am grateful to the Crafts Ideas website for including a printable template for the skull. I cut those out ahead of time and broke up the Q-Tips into different sizes. One thing I learned the hard way: it’s much easier to break Q-tips with your hands than to cut them with scissors. With the scissors, I was wearing out my hands, and Q-tip bits were flying across the reference desk like tiny cotton missiles!
The kids used glue sticks to glue their skeletons to black paper. If you do a search for Q-Tip Skeletons online, you’ll see an astounding variety of styles. Some of them get pretty elaborate, and include fingers and toes.
Tucker is an adorable white dog who would like to be something spooky for Halloween, but his owner has other plans. Simple, cute story in a board book format.
Preschool:
Big Pumpkin by Erica Silverman; illustrated by S. D. Schindler
A witch grows a pumpkin for pumpkin pie, but is unable to pull it off the vine. One by one, different Halloween creatures try their hand until a bat suggests the solution. Fun, repetitive story with great illustrations.
When Duck gets his head stuck in a pumpkin, his friends Mouse and Pig think he is a monster. Short, funny read-aloud with a lot of visual humor. This is one of my daughter’s favorites.
Leonardo is a terrible monster. No matter how hard he tries, he can’t scare anyone, until he meets Sam. This is a sweet story, and perfect for storytime because of the large pages with lots of white space. You have to take a big breath when you get to the page where Sam explains why he’s crying. I love everything Mo Willems writes.
Another wonderful rhyming story. I have actually read this one to younger kids, but I point out the cuteness of the skeleton and tone down the spookiness in my voice. A skeleton climbs up the stairs of a little boy’s house, saying it’s “Coming to get some skeleton clothes!” In the end, it raids the little boy’s closet and comes out fully clothed.
Zombie in Love by Kelly DiPucchio; illustrated by Scott Campbell
I’ve read this one for Valentine’s Day too. Poor Mortimer tries everything to meet the girl of his dreams: giving out chocolates (full of worms), hearts (the organ kind), and even diamond rings (with the finger still attached). But nothing works until he places a personal ad in the paper, and meets Millicent, who loses her shoe (and her foot) at the ball. This one got lots of appreciative “Ews!” and “Yucks” from the second grade, both for the gruesome bits and the romantic ones.
The second graders and I had fun acting scared of this book, because IT EATS PEOPLE! Deliciously gruesome, but not for younger kids unless they have a high tolerance for horror.
Next week I will be doing Halloween books again, probably sticking with the lighter, funnier ones. I would love suggestions, so please send me your favorites and I’ll list them below.
This week I read the nominees for the 2013-2014 California Young Reader Medal for Primary Grades. Every year, a committee composed of members from four different reading and literacy organizations selects five books in five age categories: Primary (grades K-3), Intermediate (grades 3-6), Middle School/Junior High (grades 6-8), Young Adult (grades 9-12) and Picture Books for Older Readers (grades 4 and up). Kids all over the state have all year to read or listen to the books and vote for their favorite before the winning books are announced on May 1.
I had shared these books last week with two second grade classes, and was curious to see if I got the same result from my evening storytime group, which has a number of Kindergarteners. They enjoyed all the books, and they scrambled to check them all out at the end, but there was definitely a clear favorite.
When a bear named Lucille finds a little boy in the woods, she names him Squeaker, and begs her Mom to let her keep him. But Squeaker proves to be a challenging pet, especially when he disappears. Although this one only got one vote, the kids enjoyed it thoroughly. I love the author’s note on the back jacket, where he says that as a kid he found a frog and asked his mom if he could keep it. She asked him if he would like it if some animal took him home to be it’s pet. His reply, “Absolutely!”
Great book for baseball fans. This is a rhyming story about a baseball game between two rival teams of bats. The illustrations of the bats are adorable, and the writing conveys the tension of watching a close game. This one didn’t get any votes from my storytime group, but a couple of the second graders chose it as their favorite.
This is a quiet book about the wonder of stars of all kinds: stars in the sky, stars in moss, snowflakes, pumpkin flowers. The illustrations are large and lovely, and the language is beautiful. I love the idea of keeping a star in your pocket, just to know it is there, for days when you don’t feel so shiny. It’s a different style of book from the other four, and even though none of the storytime kids chose it as their favorite, several of them clamored to check it out, and it did get a couple of votes from the second grade.
This one was the big winner with my storytime group, as well as with one of the second grade classes. It’s one of my favorite read-alouds. Little Chicken won’t go to bed without a story, and she promises her father not to interrupt. He caves, and reads her Hansel and Gretel, Little Red Riding Hood, and Chicken Little, but every time he gets to the most exciting part of the story, Little Chicken can’t help jumping in to save the main characters: “Out jumped a little red chicken and she said, ‘Don’t go in! She’s a witch!’ So Hansel and Gretel didn’t. The End!” This would be a great book for fairy tale units as well.
This one surprised me. I had read it before, but never shared it with a group of kids. They LOVED it, especially in the second grade, where it was the overwhelming favorite with the first class, and a close contender in the second. It got a few votes from my storytime group too. It’s a simple, interactive book that reads a lot like an iPad app (and in fact, there is an app based on it). Each page shows a series of different colored dots, with instructions like “tap five times on the yellow dot,” or “turn the book to the left.” The instructions appear to change the dots in different ways, causing them to move, change color, or multiply. Towards the end, it instructs you to clap once. The dots get bigger. Clap twice. They get even bigger. In both the second grade classes, the kids were practically screaming each time I turned the page to show the bigger dots. They were so excited! It was astonishing and hilarious, and I had such a good time reading it with them. I could imagine lots of ways to use this book in a classroom, to accompany lessons on color, number, pattern, or direction. It would also be fun to have kids experiment with making their own dot books.
CRAFT: Star Wands
Star Wand by Claire
I have very forgiving coworkers. The storytime ended just before the library closed, and there was glitter everywhere! But it couldn’t be helped. We had to make the star wands described in the book Stars, because if you wave a magic wand, you might see a wish come true. Who could pass up that possibility?
I cut out stars on yellow card stock ahead of time, and gave each child a chopstick and some tape to make the wand. They decorated their stars with glitter (of course!), as well as stickers and markers. Each one was unique.
Which book would you vote for? This year’s California Young Medal Award winners won’t be announced until May, although the nominees for 2014-2015 will be revealed in February. To learn more about the award, visit: http://californiayoungreadermedal.org/
I decided to do a dog-themed storytime this week. For once I was faced with the problem of having too many great books to choose from! The kids loved the four I read, and they all got checked out at the end, but there were so many others I didn’t get to:
This is my daughter’s current favorite book, and one of my all time favorite read-alouds. Parents often ask me if it’s the full version of the original song (which actually hit #1 on the Billboard charts in 1953). It’s not. The original song is about a woman leaving on a trip to California, who wants to buy a dog to protect her sweetheart from burglars. The version in this book is by Iza Trapani (author/illustrator of the classic, The Itsy Bitsy Spider). It’s about a little boy who hopes to raise $60 to buy the adorable puppy in the pet shop window, but ends up spending all his money to help his family. The illustrations are adorable, and I still get choked up at the happy ending. This one is always a hit. Tonight it got snatched up immediately!
Poor Hally Tosis, a cute, friendly dog with horrible breath. When Mr. and Mrs. Tosis decide to find her a new home, their kids try everything they can think of to solve her bad breath problem. Nothing works, until two burglars creep into the house one night. Can Hally save the day, along with her place in the family? Filled with groan-worthy puns, and lots of visual jokes, this one appeals to both kids and adults. It was quickly claimed by one of the kids as well.
Jan Thomas is a master of storytime read-alouds, always finding some way to interact with the audience. In this one, several animal friends lose a ball IN THE DOGHOUSE!! One by one, they venture inside to get it…but never come out! The story is short, suspenseful, and funny, and the kids loved joining in on the phrase “IN THE DOGHOUSE!”
Bertie has always wanted a dog. A blue dog. He wants one so badly that he often pretends to be a dog himself. But then a real dog shows up: a perfect, beautiful, spotted dog who needs an owner. But the new dog isn’t blue at all. This is a sweet, funny story with Polly Dunbar’s characteristic quirky surprises. (I also love her book Penguin).
SONGS: I did B-I-N-G-O with a dog hand puppet, who licked all the kids faces. We barked the missing letters instead of clapping them.
CRAFT: Envelope Dog Puppets
Envelope Dog Puppet by Joaquin
I found this craft on the Twiggle Magazine web site, and was very happy because the instructions included a template you could print out for the ears, eyes, and nose. Basically you fold a business-sized envelope in half down the middle, then cut it along the fold (I found it worked better if I sealed the envelope first). Then you tape the inner halves of the cut envelope together (on the side where the seal is), so that you can slide your hand into the outer part of the envelope to make a puppet. I cut out the ears, eyes, and noses ahead of time, and the kids glued them on, along with some wiggle eyes. I gave them crayons to add spots and other decorations. It’s always fun to see how differently everyone’s craft comes out.
I wish I could have gotten hold of this one in time. When Sarah Ann brings home three adorable kittens, her dog Katie loves them so much she can’t help but howl, scaring the kittens and upsetting her owner. The illustrations in this book are priceless, and the howling makes it so much fun to read.
I remember my grandmother reading this to me, and I still have the copy she gave to me on my birthday when I was 3. Angus is a curious Scottish Terrier who wonders about a strange noise he hears on the other side of the hedge, until one day he gets the rare opportunity to explore. The illustrations are wonderful, and I’ve always loved the way Flack uses sound effects, capital letters, and pacing. Great storytelling.
One of many, many dog books about pets thwarting burglars, but this one is a lot of fun. Bertie is a Watch Dog, but not because he is big, or mean, or scary. It is because he is the size of a watch. But of course, he still finds a way to save the day when a nasty burglar comes to call. I can never read this book as well as my boss, Thom, who portrays the burglar with an hilarious heavy Cockney accent. But I still love it as a read-aloud because the kids get to join in on all the barking.
Love this one, and not just because my own black lab ate not only the siding of our house, but also my 11th grade teacher’s copy of The Epic of Gilgamesh with all of her teaching notes inside. As a puppy, Louie eats everything: sticks, toy trains, his dog dish. His family hires several trainers, but nothing seems to work, and they fear they’ll have to give Louie away. Of course, it all works out in the end. The wry sense of humor is what makes this book, but the illustrations are hilarious too.
Recommended by Thom Ball, branch manager of the Pacifica Libraries. I wish I had remembered this one, since it is also perfect for Halloween. Oscar the dachshund has enough problems with being called “Wiener Dog!” by the other dogs, and then his mother expects him to spend Halloween night dressed as…a hot dog. Filled with Pilkey’s characteristic puns and visual humor, this is one of my favorite October read-alouds.
Recommended by local Mom Ria Tajbl. When Walter ruins the family yard sale by driving away all the customers, his owner sells him for $10 to a clown with a secret plan to use Walter’s gas to inflate noxious balloons he plans to use to help him stun guards so he can rob banks. Gotta love Walter! Ria also recommended the classic easy reader Go, Dog, Go! by P.D. Eastman.
Recommended by school media specialist Linda Anderson. When Stanley the dog discovers that he can get away with lying on the forbidden couch while his people are out, he wonders what other liberties he can take. Soon he is throwing a wild party with all the dogs in town!
Recommended by Christina Olson, who says it was one her kids read to pieces. Funny extended version of the classic nursery rhyme with bright, whimsical illustrations.
Recommended by Tanya Scoville. The Carl books are sweet, beautifully-illustrated, mostly wordless adventures about a baby and a kind Rottweiler. In this one they spend the day in the park together, riding on a carousel and going to a zoo.
Recommended by Barbara Beyer. In this sequel to Harry, the Dirty Dog, Harry tries desperately to get rid of his new present from Grandma: a sweater with big roses all over it.
This week’s storytime was lively and a lot of fun, even though I was fighting laryngitis, which always makes things a bit interesting. A coworker commented that I sounded like Peter Brady singing “Time to Change.” But the kids hung in there with me anyway.
The theme for this week was farm stories and farm animals. Here are the books we read:
This was an interesting read-aloud. An unfortunate duck is forced to slave away every day while the farmer lies in bed and eats chocolates, until the other animals stage a rebellion and scare the lazy farmer away. It’s basically Animal Farm without all that unpleasant allegorical aftermath, and I was amused to see that a couple of horrified reviewers on Amazon declared it was “dangerous” Communist propaganda. That interpretation would never have occurred to me (and all the other Amazon reviewers loved the book). My storytime kids enjoyed the repeated line, “How Goes the Work?” and getting to yell out, “QUACK!” each time.
Farm Flu by Teresa Bateman and Nadine Bernard Westcott
This one worked really well. It’s a rhyming book about a boy who is left in charge of his family’s farm when the cow comes down with the flu. He tucks her into bed and coddles her just like his Mom would do, but then all the other animals on the farm mysteriously come down with the flu as well. The kids love chiming in on the sneezes in different animals voices, and the pictures are colorful and hilarious.
I wasn’t sure how this one would go over because it was a bit lengthier than the other books, but the kids liked it a lot. Farmer Fred is always very serious, much to the dismay of his animals. They try everything they can think of to make him laugh: Edna the cow stands on the fence and tries to crow like a rooster; the pigs bark like dogs; and all the animals try on Farmer Fred’s clothes and dance around the farm yard. But nothing works, and the animals finally decide to seek out a more humorous place to live. In the course of their escape, they finally manage to make Farmer Fred lighten up, a little, but he still doesn’t think there’s anything funny about corn.
Cowlick by Christin Ditchfield; illustrated by Rosalind Beardshaw
This is a funny book that works well for toddlers as well as older kids. It describes in rhymed verse how a sneaky cow invades a little boy’s bedroom and leaves him with an unexpected gift. Always a hit.
SONGS:
Old MacDonald: One of the kids requested that we choose animals in alphabetical order, like we did the previous week. Our farm included an alligator, a baby(!), a cat, a dog, and an Ella (one of the storytime participants).
If You’re Happy and You Know It: We did this as a follow-up to Serious Farm. We added other emotions, and I asked the kids what they do when they felt that way. We ended up with, “When you’re sad and you know it, cry ‘Boohoo!'” “When you’re angry and you know it, go ‘ERRRRRRRR!'” and “When you’re shy and you know it, hide your eyes…peekaboo!'”
Baby Bumblebee: As usual, I asked the kids to suggest other animals they might bring home, which is always a fun challenge. We came up with: “I’m bringing home a baby skunk. Won’t my Mommy fall into a funk?” and “I’m bringing home a baby killer whale. Won’t my Mommy turn so very pale?”
I Bought Me a Rooster: My CD player broke last week, so I had to play my uke and sing for our instrument play time. This is a fun cumulative song, where the kids suggest animals and the sounds they make. The trick is remembering all the animals in order, as the song gets longer and longer.
CRAFT: Construction Paper Farm
Construction paper farm by Jonas
I adapted this craft from the one on Lines, Dots, and Doodles. I cut out the barns and grass ahead of time, and gave the kids a choice of adding cotton ball sheep and feather chickens (see Joaquin’s example at the top of the page). It was cute to see all the different ways they each constructed their farms.
OTHER BOOKS:
I had a stack of books to choose from, and let the kids pick the ones I actually read. Here are some of the ones we didn’t get to:
You can’t go wrong with David Shannon. When a curious duck decides to test out a little boy’s bicycle, the other farm animals are intrigued. The illustration of all the animals on bikes always gets a big laugh.
I’ve always been impressed by Joy Cowley. She’s a New Zealand author who writes literally hundreds of books for the very beginning reader, including many of the Story Box and Sunshine Books (we have these in the library, but they are uncatalogued, so you just have to look for the collection of tiny paperbacks near the Easy Reader section). The beauty of these books is that they have basically the same sentence structure on each page, so kids can easily learn the pattern and read the book, building their confidence and sight word vocabulary at the same time. But somehow Cowley still manages to make these incredibly simple books entertaining, by throwing in a little twist at the end. Mrs. Wishy Washy’s Farm is a more typical picture book, but it’s a cute rhyming story about some farm animals who get fed up with their owner’s constant bathing, and run away to the city. The illustrations are adorable, especially the cow in the washtub. It would also work well for a bathtime theme.
I couldn’t do a list of farm books without including the Click Clack Moo series about Farmer Brown and his scheming duck. I think Dooby Dooby Moo is my favorite. The humor in this one appeals to adults (who will understand the labor dispute references), as well as kids.
Two friends of mine, Neely Dean and Tanya Scoville, both pointed out a classic I forgot to mention: Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown (author of Goodnight Moon). A joyful, soothing poem about the sights and sounds of a cheerful farm.
Kim Day, a children’s librarian at the Burlingame Library, also recommended The Cow That Laid an Egg by Andy Cutbill, illustrated by Russell Ayto, an adorable story about Marjorie, a cow who wishes she had some special talent, and then one day appears to have laid an egg. You can watch the book being read aloud on Youtube here.
I’m often struggling to come up with themes for storytime each week (and would love suggestions…hint, hint…), so this week I just decided to be lazy and copy the themes from my daughter’s preschool class. This week she was learning about the alphabet, and therefore, so was I.
Luckily, there are some fun, and funny alphabet picture books out there, many of them new. All of the books I read this week were snatched up immediately and checked out at the end, always a good sign!
The first one I read was recommended by my friend Kerri, on her wonderful blog: What is ML Reading? Kerri is a children’s librarian in North Carolina, who chronicles the books that she reads with her own daughter. And that’s where I learned about:
Number 1 is pleased to introduce this book about numbers until Letter A shows up arguing that it’s really an alphabet story. The argument is complicated by the arrival of 1 Alligator, 2 Bears in 3 Cars…you get the picture. The illustrations are hilarious (the kids all loved the picture of the geese eating hot dogs and ice cream), and there’s a funny twist at the end that calls both their arguments into question.
This is probably my favorite alphabet book. It starts out very simply, and it’s fun to have the kids chime in on the opening letters: A is for Apple, B is for Ball, C is for Cat. But then the eager Moose butts in, begging to be featured, and interrupting all the other letters. When Zebra (who is running the show) decides to go with Mouse for M instead, Moose throws an enormous tantrum and starts putting his name (and drawing antlers) on everything. Hilarious!
This is terrific read-aloud that works great as both an alphabet book, and a book for kids who love big trucks. This truck is big and tough and eats your trash for breakfast. Burp!! The alphabet part comes in when we find out all the things the truck eats, a list that includes Dirty Diapers, Puppy Poo, and Ugly Underpants. Oh, how the kids loved that part! Ewwww City!
This was my son’s favorite book when he was three, and he has loved every Bad Kitty book since (Bruel now has a series of Bad Kitty chapter books that are hilarious. They are wonderful for second and third graders to read on their own, but with enough illustrations to read aloud to preschoolers. I read them with my daughter when she was three, and she begged to hear them over and over again).
This first Bad Kitty book opens with the line, “She wasn’t always a bad kitty,” and goes on to tell about the terrible day when Kitty’s owners ran out of cat food and tried to feed her vegetables. There are four alphabetical lists: first the foods that Kitty hates (Asparagus, Beets, Cauliflower, etc.); then all the things she does when she turns bad (Ate my homework, Bit Grandma, Clawed the Curtains…); followed by the foods that make Kitty happy (An Assortment of Anchovies, Buffalo Burritos…); and finally, all the things that Kitty does when she turns good again (Apologized to Grandma, Bought me new toys, Cleaned her Cat Box, Drove me to School…). It’s a bit long, but the kids hung in there, mostly because the illustrations and ideas are so funny (my favorite is the cat washing the car with her tongue). This one got snatched up immediately, and other kids were sad I didn’t have extra copies.
SONGS:
Big A, Little a, (spread hands wide apart, then bring them close together)
Bouncing B (bounce up and down)
The cat’s in the cupboard
And he can’t see me (cover your eyes with your hands)
Peek-a-boo!
We also sang Old MacDonald, and I challenged the kids to name animals starting with different letters of the alphabet: Alligator, Bee, Cat, etc.
INSTRUMENT PLAY WITH A CD: Man Gave Names to All the Animals by Tim O’Brien, from Sing Along with Putumayo. I’m sure there’s probably a fun alphabet song I could have done, but I didn’t have time to look for one. Any suggestions?
CRAFT: Alphabet Soup
Alphabet Soup by Sarah
I printed the letters from Crayon Action Coloring Pages (I’m always grateful for sites with free coloring pages!), then traced out red and yellow circles out of paper, and improvised a paper spoon. The kids glued it all together, using whatever letters they liked. To be honest, it was crazy at the reference desk before storytime, so I didn’t have time to trim the letters as much as I liked. It would have been nice to have plastic spoons to stick on too, and alphabet shaped pasta would have been even more fun.
OTHER BOOKS:
One I meant to do was the classic Chicka, Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr., John Archambault and Lois Ehlert. In fact, my daughter did an adorable craft in preschool last week, where the teacher wrote the letters of each child’s name on coconuts, and the kids got to paste them on the tree. Several friends of mine also listed this as their favorite alphabet book, including children’s librarian Barbara Amberg, and Tina Williams, who remembers reading it to her daughter all the time.
Cute story that works well as a read-aloud for toddlers and preschoolers, even if you don’t mention the alphabet. Max’s Ants escape from the ant farm and Bite Bite Bite, until Max’s sister Ruby finds away to get rid of them. All of the events of the story are in alphabetical order, but Wells manages to make this work without seeming forced. Max and Ruby are always a big hit.
Recommended by Kim Day, a children’s librarian in Burlingame, California. Wonderful book for your reptile lover, about a fabulously long snake who comes in handy when two burglars come to call. The alphabet part comes in when Crictor demonstrates the shapes of different letters.
The favorite of my friend Neely Dean’s daughter. How can you go wrong with Dr. Seuss? Funny illustrations, wacky ideas (a Camel on the Ceiling), and a catchy rhyme. Plus it shows both the capital and lower case letters, as well as giving multiple sounds for the same letter.
Recommended by Michael Lambert, Deputy Director of Library Services for San Mateo County. This is an alphabet and counting book in one, with bright, colorful photographs of both capital and lower case letters next to an object that begins with that letter. I’ve noticed that a lot of alphabet books try to draw the letters in clever or artistic ways that are fun, but aren’t necessarily the best way to introduce them. This one is both appealing to kids, and very clear. The counting side of the book shows how to represent the numbers from 1 to 99 using different groups of coins: perfect for teaching addition or money values.
Recommended by Ashley Waring, a children’s librarian in Reading, Massachusetts. I had never seen this one before, but it is oh so cute! It’s bedtime for the lower case letters, but of course none of them want to go to sleep. “Uh oh! a is wide awake. And b still has a bath to take.” The illustrations are goofy and fun.
This one was recommended by both Ashley Waring and Kim W., who directs a preschool in Alabama, so I will have to add it to my repertoire! Adorable alphabet peas demonstrate their amazing skills for every letter: “We’re acrobats, artists, and astronauts in space. We’re builders, bathers, and bikers in a race.” Definitely a more exciting take on the usual “A is for Apple” style books.
Another favorite of Kim W., and by one of my all-time favorite authors, so I’ll definitely be getting this one too. Every night at bedtime, Charley’s alphabet says their names, just for fun. But one night, little x is missing. The letters must fly on a pencil to look for their friend, and find him in the castle of Master M. To their surprise, they find he is happier there because Charley never used him. But one of the letters knows a secret to bring him home.
Wonderful recommendation by Barbara Bruxvoort, a children’s librarian in San Bruno, California. This one works great for car fans and Bay Area locals. Each letter represents something a child might see while out on a drive: an Ambulance, a Bus, a Cement Mixer. Set in San Francisco, it might make for a fun game to take out on the road and see how many of the objects you can find in real life.
Recommended by Veronica Meade-Kelley, a science writer who described it as “How I Taught My Kids to Never Leave Home without a Grown Up.” Two children and their pet gazelle run away on an adventure in the sewers in search of treasure. Not for young children, unless they have a high tolerance for creepiness, but great for fans of darker fiction like Roald Dahl or Edward Gorey: E’s for the Evil that lures and Entices, F is for Fear and its many devices.
The Loudest Librarian! 