Find books, music, movies, and more.

My apologies!  I forgot to “publish” this post when I wrote it a couple weeks ago.

Today’s storytime was a teaser for our Summer Reading Club: “One World, Many Stories.”  My plan included a mix of cultures, tale types, and formats.  Some of the characters in today’s stories aren’t very nice, but the stories themsleves are enjoyable and reflect storytelling traditions in their own countries.

Why Alligator Hates Dog – E398.2 Reneaux
The Dragon’s Tears – told with Kamishibai cards
Goat in the Chile Patch - told as participation story
Zomo the Rabbit – E398.2 McDermott

I had search the web for help with my Cajun dialect for Why Alligatorbut it was worth the extra effort.  This is a “pourquoi” story that tells why something is the way it is.  Also known as an etiological story, it was told as a way to explain a mystery of the universe – in this case why an alligator might ignore a human, but will snap and growl at the sight of a dog.  As with a lot of folktales, there is some meanness and trickery that helps drive the point home.

Kamishibai is a Japanese storytelling method that uses cards instead of a bound book.   It was popular  in Japan until about 1950 when television arrived.  The artists who illustrated Kamishibai cards paved the way for the manga artists of today.  Dragon’s Tears is a story of kindness and curiosity and a one that reminds you to form your own opinions rather than always believe what you hear.

There are many versions of Goat in the Chile Patch including one found in Nursery Tales Around the World called “The Ram in the Chile Patch.”  I first learned the story as a flannelboard and then adapted as a participation story for larger group telling.  Zomo is a nicely illustrated story about a clever rabbit in Africa in search of wisdom.  Both Goat and Zomo are “Trickster Tales” so both characters use a lot of mischief and orneriness.

Other international read alouds you may want to try:
Seven Blind Mice – E398.2 Young
My Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears – E398.2 Aardema
The Biggest Frog in Australia – E398.24 Roth
Water Hole Waiting – EF Kurtz
Liliana’s Grandmothers – EF Torres
Mama, Do You Love Me? – EP Joose

Tomorrow is Earth Day!  How will you celebrate?

The Salamander Room – EF Mazer
My Garden – EP Henkes
Earth Day Birthday – E782.42 Schnetzler
Compost Stew – EP Siddals
I Love Our Earth – E525 Martin

Not sure if it was the weather, lunar cycle, the books, or just me, but this wasn’t the best storytime.  I do put a great deal of thought into the books I choose and have used all of these successfully in the past.  Not the case today.  Maybe the universe was just consipiring agasint me. 

Not only is Salamander Room a good book for introducing ecology, symbiosis, and environmental awareness, but it’s also a great example for our Tell Stories 6 By 6 skill.  A little boy, smitten with a salamander he has just found, imagines how he will change his room so the salamander will feel at home.  At the end of the book, be sure to flip back to the very beginning to see how his room has changed and talk about the differences (putting them in order of occurance if you can).

Earth Day Birthday has great illustrations and can be read/sung to the tune of Twelve Days of Christmas.  I, for one, find that song tedious and chose just to read the “big print” on each of the page that introduces the new animal.  Large illustrations make it a good read aloud and a good book for counting animals.

My Garden and Compost Stew were both published in 2010.  As different as two books can be, My Garden is a fantasy traipse through a garden that grows exactly the way a little girl wishes and Compost Stew is a semi-nonfiction, rhyming book naming all sorts of things that combine to create nutrient-rich compost.   Both have good potential as discussion starters about Earth Day.

If you attended the 11:15 session, you also got to see the book I Love Our Earth.  This one is cataloged as non-fiction so it often gets overlooked.  Using beautiful photography by Dan Lipow, this book is an around-the-world trip to look at different biomes.  If you check it out, be sure to spend some time with the back matter that tells you more about the places in the photos.

Some other Earth Day options:
Dear Children of the Earth – EF Schimmel
The Great Kapok Tree – EF Cherry
The Tree That Would Not Die – E976.4 Levine
Henry Hikes to Fitchburg – EF Johnson
Each Living Thing – EP Ryder
A Tree Is Nice – EF Udry

I had the pleasure of visiting the new Linwood Community Library in Linwood, KS for a special evening storytime back on April 14.  It was week 2 in their 4-week series of programs on early literacy and my role was to demonstrate how easy and fun it is to wrap our 6 By 6 skills into the books parents & caregivers were already reading to their kids.

I hope I succeeded!

There Are Cats In This Book – EF Schwarz  (Have Fun With Books)
Pepi Sings A New Song – EP Ljungkvist (Talk Talk Talk)
Shape Capers – EP Falwell (Look For Letters)
I’d Really Like To Eat A Child – EF Donnio (Tell Stories)
Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that type – EF Cronin (Notice Print Everywhere)
Bubble Gum, Bubble Gum – EF Wheeler (Take Time To Rhyme)

I hope everyone in Linwood had fun!  Thanks for inviting me!

There is always some risk in using a book for the first time in storytime.  One might be a terrific solo read, but a horrible read-aloud.  I threw caution to the wind this week and selected all new books (published in 2010 or 2011) for my storytime:

Dog Loves Books – EF Yates
Pepi Sings A New Song – EF Ljungkvist
Disappearing Desmond – EF Alter
Little White Rabbit – EP Henkes

I’m planning to use Dog Loves Books next time I do a storytime about reading and libraries.  Dog opens a bookstore with less-than-expected patronage.  While waiting for customers, he reads books that transport him to surprising places.  Without being able to discuss what was happening, I was afraid the concept of “travel by imagination” would be lost.  However, a quick survey of one storytime attendee (thanks, Clark!) proved that he understood the story perfectly.  Whew!

I have permanently added Pepi to my list of great books for our Talk Talk Talk pre-reading skill.  What an incredible way to introduce rare words and interesting vocabulary.  Every other page resembles a visual dictionary of the places Pepi visits.  I found it best to pause for a few seconds and let the kids look at all the stuff on the page before starting to name each object.

Disappearing Desmond is a nice book about a bashful cat who learns to shine with the help of a gregarious but very nice classmate.  It’s a wonderful example of our Tell Storiespre-reading skill as well as a good book about friendship.

I only read Little White Rabbit in the 11:15 session.  It’s quite similar to other Henkes picture books of the past few years: Old Bear, Birds, and My Garden.  Not only did this work well for storytime, but I think this gentle and affirming story would be perfect for bedtime.

A few other new books that I find particulary interesting:
Drum City – EF Guidone
I Can Be Anything – EP Spinelli
Whose Shoes? – EP Swinburne
Little Owl Lost – EP Haughton

Hungry yet?

Yum Yum! What Fun! – EP Bergman
The Little Red Hen (Makes a Pizza) – EF Sturges
Sylvie – EP Sattler
The Carrot Seed – EP Kraus  (I used the Big Book version)

A couple of first-time books in this storytime and I was very happy with both of them.  I believe Yum Yum would work equally as well as a lap book as it did for the group.  In fact, for a lap book, you might even be able to follow the illustrated subplot of Katie and James making their big mess.  For the group, it was fun to guess the animal sneaking into the kitchen based on the sound and the part you could see before turning the page.  Sylvie was also new and fits into a variety of themes from identity, food, colors, and family.  It’s also an interactive, predictable book which made it perfect for the group.

After Yum Yum I did a media story using laminated pictures of various animals that somehow get mixed into a cake batter.  I like this not only because it’s fun, but also because it has a rhyme and repetative letter sound component (both elements of our Take Time To Rhyme skill):
     A flea flew
     A butterfly blew
     A frog flipped
     A snake slipped
     A duck danced
     A pig pranced
After the addition of every animal, we stirred our imaginary mixing bowls and said, “Oh! What a cake that did make!”

I have adapted Sturges’ Little Red Hen into a storytelling version and now it’s hard for me to read the book as written!  I apologize if the words I said don’t exactly match the words in print!  This is an excellent fractured fairy tale with all of the particiption characteristics of the original tale.  I followed this book with a song I learned from local musician Dino O’Dell where we brinstorm different pizza toppings and we sing about them.

If you are still hungry, here are some other titles:
Don’t Forget the Bacon – EF Hutchins
Pancakes, Pancakes – EF Carle
Little Nini’s Pizzeria – EP Barbour
Never Let Your Cat Make Lunch For You – EF Harris
Hammer Soup – EF Schubert
Sheep Out To Eat – EP Shaw
Mucumber McGee and the Lunch Lady’s Liver – EF Loehr
The King’s Taster – EF Oppel

There simply aren’t many St. Patrick’s Day stories that are good for a group storytime, so long ago I started looking for titles about things that are green.

Picky Mrs. Pickle – EF Schneider
Jump, Frog, Jump! – EF Kalan
Little Blue and Little Yellow – EP Lionni
Go Away, Big Green Monster – EP Emberley

Mrs. Pickle nearly always appears on my Green storytime roster.  Its Seuss-like rhymes and tongue-twisty words make it fun to read aloud and the small details in the illustrations make it fun to look through.  One great early literacy extention activity is to look at the list of flavors offered at Igor’s Ice Cream stand and come up with your own unusual ideas.

I have used Jump Frog many, many times, but for some reason it just fell a little flat today.  I had a hard time getting the kids to repeat the refrain with me and no one seemed very interested in the cumulative story.  Oh well… It’s still a good book (some even consider it a classic) and I’ll keep it in mind.

The selling point of Little Blue is being able to mix blue and yellow tinted water afterwards to actually make something green.  It’s one of the only bits of science magic I know.    What I absolutely loved about reading it today was the little boy who, while we were looking at the end papers, noticed the pattern of dots.  We then looked for patterns throughout the entire book; an unexpected learning opportunity.

One mom was so inspired by our Big Green Monster hand puppet last time that she make her own!  She brought it in to show me and it looks nearly identical to the one we bought.  The story works with many concepts: fears, monsters, sequencing, colors, vocabulary.

A nifty color-themed movement activity helped me keep the pace:

Blue is the Lake, (pretend to swim)
Yellow is the sun (point to the sky)
Silver are the stars,
When the day is done, (wiggle fingers in the air)
Red is the apple, (make circle with hands)
Green is the tree (raise arms over head like branches)
Brown is a chocolate chip cookie for me! (rub tummy)

Other green books:
The Monster Who Ate My Peas – EF Schnitzlein
Where is the Green Sheep? – EP Fox
The Whole Green World – EP Johnston
Little Green – EP Baker
Eat Your Peas, Ivy Louise – EF Landry

It seems logical that every book I read would emphasize the “Tell Stories” skill, but these are exceptional examples:

Sally and the Purple Socks – EF Bechtold
The Perfect Nest – EF Friend
My Friend Rabbit – EP Rohmann
Alphabet Under Construction – EF Fleming

I really enjoyed all of these stories.  They all contain a strong narrative and a clearly defined sections – beginning, middle, and end.  Recogizing those parts of a story and being able to re-tell it in the correct order is a major component of our “Tell Stories About Everything” skill.  Sally sort of starts and ends in the same way… With a pair of socks.  But all of the ways she uses the socks throughout the book makes it great for retelling.  The socks get bigger, so she finds a bigger use.  This book is also a good source for rare words.  The socks are described as cozy and luxurious.  Great words that kids probably don’t hear very often.  You’ll also notice that the story begins even before the words appear on the page; be sure to talk about the illustrations at the very, VERY beginning.

The birds in Perfect Nest give me an opportunity to use my horrible Mexican, French, and Southern US dialects.  I should probably worry more about offending people with my dialects than with books like last week’s Naked Mole Rats!    Nevertheless, Perfect Nest tells the story of Jack the cat who builds a nest not because he wants a bird, but because he wants an egg for an omlette.  But we know what sometimes happens with an egg in a nest… Crackety, Crackety, BOOM!  Now Jack is a father.

Rabbit is nearly wordless which allows for any reader to make up the story on their own.  Mouse (the narrator of the story) begins and ends the book in the same way, with the same words.  An excellent example of a clear narrative.  My last book today, Alphabet, doesn’t really support this particular skill, but I included it because all of our new Early Literacy Space activities are based on this book.  I wanted to make sure as many people were familiar with it as possible.

Non-book components of today’s storytime included acting out the story “Going On A Lion Hunt” and a singing of the story “Had Me A Cat.”  Typically for that song, I have the kids supply which animals they want to sing about and the appropriate sound.  Not only does it allow for more participation, but it keeps them invested in the song waiting for their suggested animal to sound off.

Lots of great “Tell Stories” stories.  I actually suggest you visit our 6 By 6 booklist  page for more suggestions.

If you have ever met me, you know I am not a slave to fashion. 

Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed – EF Willems
Mrs. McNosh Hangs Up Her Wash – EP Weeks
Joseph Had A Little Overcoat – EP Taback
Animals Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing – EP Barrett

Well, I did it.  I was warned against using Naked Mole Rats because someone might find it offensive, but I used it and I think it went over well.  It’s far deeper than just about clothing and the nakedness in illustration isn’t really offensive at all.  A photo of an actual naked mole rat is far more upsetting.

Mrs. McNosh is a 1998 book by Sarah Weeks in which Nelly McNosh hangs all sorts of things on the clothesline to dry.  It’s a rhyming story, a silly story, and a chance to explain the function of a washboard and a clothesline.  I enjoy turning the book upside down when she hangs the bats upside down.  I believe little tricks like that help reinforce the direction and orientation of normal print.

Although I didn’t read Taback’s Joseph today, I did use a storytelling doll to tell my own version of the story.  The doll has hook-and-loop clothing that can be moved & removed as his overcoat dwindles down to a button.  The book version had die-cut pages so you can actually see bits of his clothing from one page to the next.

My closing book today was Animals.  It’s short, somewhat repetitious, and has fantastic illustrations.  I also like the vocabulary Barrett uses to describe why putting clothes on each animal would end in disaster.

Mixed in was my old standby flannelboard called “Not Yet Agnes” about a girl forgetfully getting dressed and a round or two of “If You’re Wearing Red Today” to the tune of “Mary Had A Little Lamb.”  I also used this movement activity/rhyme:

We wear some shoes,
they come in twos.
One, two,
Clap your hands.

We wear a shirt,
Brush off the dirt.
Brush, Brush.
One, two.
Clap your hands.

We wear some pants,
To do a dance.
Dance, dance.
Brush, brush.
One, two.
Clap your hands.

We wear some socks,
To jump on rocks.
Jump, jump.
Dance, dance.
Brush, brush.
One, two.
Clap your hands.

Now we’re all dressed,
We look our best!
Big smile.
Jump, jump.
Dance, dance.
Brush, brush.
One, two.
Clap your hands.

Some other fashionalbe books you may enjoy:
A Boy and His Bunny – EF Bryan
Aunt Lucy Went To Buy a Hat – EF Low
Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear – EF Carlstrom
Mary Wore Her Red Dress – EP Peek
New Socks – EF Shea

There are also lots of great clothing books that are simply too long for preschool storytime, but might make excellent bedtime books:
The Philharmonic Gets Dressed – EF Kuskin
Lucille’s Snowsuit – EF Lasky
Emperor’s Old Clothes – EF Lasky
Truly Terribly Horrible Sweater That Grandma Knit - EF Macomber
Smitten – EF Gordon
Smelly Socks – EF Munsch