And now for the Finale! This is the last Summer Reading Program for my location, and I'm a little sad, and a little ready to have a break.
We did some great books and crafts and activities tho, and had a big time.
Even Aliens need Snacks got read again, as our Summer Reading featured title, and then I had a trio of other short books to round out the program with a bang.
Where Does Food Come From?
Shelley Rotner and Gary Goss, illustrated (photographs) by Shelley Rotner
ISBN: 07613269358
I really liked this nonfiction title, with very little text, and excellent pictures. It made for a great interactive read as the kids told me all about their experiences and preferences with each food that we learned about. I don't know what it is about nonfiction photographic picture books, but they really do make it nearly irresistible for a kid not to tell about what they know. I love it. I think I'm going to hunt a copy down for my home library, just to have something there to spark an interest in the real world. We start with major foods (rice, milk, corn, apples, potatoes..) which each get a full spread - going from the plant to the food item, to the finished product (rice, milk, popcorn, apple juice, french fries) getting eaten by one of many engaging multicultural kidlets. Peanuts and grapes share a spread for PB&Js, and then we're on to single pages devoted to honey, maple syrup, salt, and sugar. The only thing I would improve is to have a "landing page" at the end more substantial than the montage of faces asking what foods the reader/listener enjoys.
The Little Green Witch
Barbara Barbieri McGrath, illustrated by Martha Alexander
ISBN: 9781580891530
This is a totally un-spooky "Halloween" version of the Little Red Hen, but I don't find that it's very Halloweeny - the peculiar family is no more weird than any other monster or ghoul group in picture books. Fairly straightforward re-telling, where a Little Green Witch does all the work while a ghost, a bat, and a gremlin laze about and refuse to help. At the end, to tie the homage up with a bow, the Little Green Witch does a POP of magic and turns the useless trio into little red hens (which was greatly appreciated by my audience). Scritchy pastel drawings on white backgrounds reinforce the benign nature of the story and the characters.
The Lion's Share: A Tale of Halving Cake and Eating It, Too
Matthew McElligot
ISBN: 9780802797698
Sharp-eyed readers will note that this makes two books by McElligot that I read in one storytime. Normally, I try to avoid that, but in cases where the author or illustrator has very few books (Dan Yaccarino) or they have different books with very different styles (David Shannon), or have written books with very different collaborators, then sometimes I'll slip a double-header into the mix. In this case, McElligot's style for The Lion's Share is so different from Aliens Need Snacks that I don't even think the kids would have realized it if I didn't point it out to them.
I really like this book. An ant gets invited to a royal dinner, her tablemates have atrocious manners, and the cake for dessert is halved by each recipient so that the poor ant only gets a crumb which she can't even split with the King. She is humiliated (although it's not her fault) and offers to bring him a cake in recompense. Each of her tablemates is outraged and refuses to be stood up, and doubles her offer, which gets ridiculous quite quickly. I loved watching the kid's eyes widen as the amounts grew and grew. I didn't do it this time, but in the past, I've done the trick of folding paper to illustrate the halving concept, first with a small piece of origami paper, then a huge sheet of butcher paper, and finally with a very large square of thin wrapping paper. The kids were quite impressed that no matter the original size, it's nearly impossible to fold after so few folds.
And that's us for the summer! I hope some of the recommendations and reads are helpful for you and your audiences!
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