A couple of old standards, and a new nonfiction Thanksgiving book.
A Short History of Thanksgiving
Sally Lee, consulting editor Gail Saunders-Smith
ISBN: 9781491460979
Nonfiction, primary-source images and photography.
This is a delightful short (very short) intro to the concept of Thanksgiving. Just right for this pre-school age group of mine, and I'm very glad to have it in the system. I'll have to check out the other holiday books in this series as well if they're all done as well as this one was.
Thanksgiving Cats
Jean Marzollo, illustrated by Hans Wilhelm
ISBN: 0590037145
Previously reviewed here
Thanks for Thanksgiving
Julie Markes, illustrated by Doris Barrette
ISBN: 9780060510961
Previously reviewed here
Tuesday, November 24, 2015
Tuesday, November 17, 2015
Tuesday Storytime: Bedtime Storytime
It's been a while since I've done one of these.
One Ted Falls Out of Bed
Julia Donaldson, illustrated by Anna Currey
ISBN: 0805077871
Counts from one to ten, and back down again through nighttime adventures of a teddy bear.
Our poor Ted gets dumped from the bed, and the sleeping child is all unaware, so the toys in the bedroom conspire to console him, then to try and get him back into bed. Adorable, and the counting is a very cute way to organize the story.
Small Elephant's Bathtime
Tatyana Feeney
ISBN: 9780553497212
Pen and ink and a few bright splotches of color illustrate Small Elephant's shenanigans.
Our Small Elephant doesn't want to take a bath, and nothing Mommy does (toys, bubbles, pleading) is making any difference. Perhaps getting Daddy involved will help matters? Very cute and short, and love the response from the storytime mamas when the book invoked the Daddy card.
Ten, Nine, Eight
Molly Bang
ISBN: 0688009069
Short and sweet countdown of bedtime with an adorable black father and daughter.
I love this book because it's so sweet and perfect and timeless and universal, and it doesn't have white people as the default. We count down sweet simple calming bedroom things, with a few quiet jokes: "7 empty shoes in a short straight row" (which of course means one is missing, as it always is) and "4 sleepy eyes which open and close" (meaning Daddy is tired also). Very sweet, very calming. A great ending point.
Lots of babies and lots of new storytime toddlers these past few weeks, so I've been purposefully working with shorter and more narratively-simple books to help them feel successful at sitting and listening. There's nothing worse than having a really fun long book, but trying to present it to a young audience that's just so done with concentrating and books already.
Don't make things hard on yourself - there's always time later to move on to the complicated or longer books. Focus on each storytime as its own singular interaction, and do your best to make it the best it can be for the majority of the attendee children, and you'll come out on top most of the time.
One Ted Falls Out of Bed
Julia Donaldson, illustrated by Anna Currey
ISBN: 0805077871
Counts from one to ten, and back down again through nighttime adventures of a teddy bear.
Our poor Ted gets dumped from the bed, and the sleeping child is all unaware, so the toys in the bedroom conspire to console him, then to try and get him back into bed. Adorable, and the counting is a very cute way to organize the story.
Small Elephant's Bathtime
Tatyana Feeney
ISBN: 9780553497212
Pen and ink and a few bright splotches of color illustrate Small Elephant's shenanigans.
Our Small Elephant doesn't want to take a bath, and nothing Mommy does (toys, bubbles, pleading) is making any difference. Perhaps getting Daddy involved will help matters? Very cute and short, and love the response from the storytime mamas when the book invoked the Daddy card.
Ten, Nine, Eight
Molly Bang
ISBN: 0688009069
Short and sweet countdown of bedtime with an adorable black father and daughter.
I love this book because it's so sweet and perfect and timeless and universal, and it doesn't have white people as the default. We count down sweet simple calming bedroom things, with a few quiet jokes: "7 empty shoes in a short straight row" (which of course means one is missing, as it always is) and "4 sleepy eyes which open and close" (meaning Daddy is tired also). Very sweet, very calming. A great ending point.
Lots of babies and lots of new storytime toddlers these past few weeks, so I've been purposefully working with shorter and more narratively-simple books to help them feel successful at sitting and listening. There's nothing worse than having a really fun long book, but trying to present it to a young audience that's just so done with concentrating and books already.
Don't make things hard on yourself - there's always time later to move on to the complicated or longer books. Focus on each storytime as its own singular interaction, and do your best to make it the best it can be for the majority of the attendee children, and you'll come out on top most of the time.
Tuesday, November 10, 2015
Tuesday Storytime: Problem Friends
Making friends isn't easy, and there are often some setbacks and roadblocks along the way.
Too Many Frogs!
Sandy Asher, illustrated by Keith Graves
ISBN: 0399239782
Quirky characters here, in a story about imposing on other people, and getting permission.
Rabbit has a lovely neat orderly life all alone. He has his routines, and no mess and no fuss. Until Frog stops by one evening and sort of invites himself in to listen to Rabbit's goodnight story. Night after night, Frog keeps making himself more comfortable, to Rabbit's growing (but unspoken) chagrin. The final straw comes when Frog shows up with his whole extended family, and Rabbit finally speaks up. The ending of the story is not as solid as it could have been, with some unfortunate choices and implications, but the message of clearly asking permission and not taking advantage is still present.
You Will Be My Friend!
Peter Brown
ISBN: 9780316070300
Lucy the bear sets out into the forest to MAKE some critter into her friend.
Lucy is enthusiastic about her new mission: to make a friend. Enthusiasm isn't everything, and Lucy runs into some pretty extreme setbacks. She even gets a little bossy and snappy at one point, before collapsing in exhausted defeat. Still, friendships can come looking for you, even when you can't make one happen on demand.
Don't Copy Me!
Jonathan Allen
ISBN: 9781907967207
Little Puffin does NOT like this game.
Little Puffin is taking advantage of the lovely weather to go for a walk, but he's being followed and copied by the little Gull siblings, and he is not a fan of this game. Nothing he can think of to do makes them stop copying him; "How annoying!" Still, he keeps trying, and eventually hits on a strategy that works out. This one is also very useful for kids having troubles with much younger siblings or siblings of playmates.
Too Many Frogs!
Sandy Asher, illustrated by Keith Graves
ISBN: 0399239782
Quirky characters here, in a story about imposing on other people, and getting permission.
Rabbit has a lovely neat orderly life all alone. He has his routines, and no mess and no fuss. Until Frog stops by one evening and sort of invites himself in to listen to Rabbit's goodnight story. Night after night, Frog keeps making himself more comfortable, to Rabbit's growing (but unspoken) chagrin. The final straw comes when Frog shows up with his whole extended family, and Rabbit finally speaks up. The ending of the story is not as solid as it could have been, with some unfortunate choices and implications, but the message of clearly asking permission and not taking advantage is still present.
You Will Be My Friend!
Peter Brown
ISBN: 9780316070300
Lucy the bear sets out into the forest to MAKE some critter into her friend.
Lucy is enthusiastic about her new mission: to make a friend. Enthusiasm isn't everything, and Lucy runs into some pretty extreme setbacks. She even gets a little bossy and snappy at one point, before collapsing in exhausted defeat. Still, friendships can come looking for you, even when you can't make one happen on demand.
Don't Copy Me!
Jonathan Allen
ISBN: 9781907967207
Little Puffin does NOT like this game.
Little Puffin is taking advantage of the lovely weather to go for a walk, but he's being followed and copied by the little Gull siblings, and he is not a fan of this game. Nothing he can think of to do makes them stop copying him; "How annoying!" Still, he keeps trying, and eventually hits on a strategy that works out. This one is also very useful for kids having troubles with much younger siblings or siblings of playmates.
Tuesday, November 3, 2015
Tuesday Storytime: Fall Weather
We've had yet another weekend of miserable wet weather here, and although I know we need the rain, the combination of dreary drizzly dark days with the sudden arrival of Daylight Savings Time has made me acutely aware that we're solidly into fall.
Fall Leaves
Loretta Holland, illustrated by Elly MacKay
ISBN: 9780544106642
Beautiful (if wordy) nonfiction about the progression of the season via natural environment changes.
This was a bit of a gamble - it's nonfiction and the content text is very small (so hard for a storyteller to read) and very dense (I admit freely that I did a lot of skipping and eliding of content) - but the illustrations are so beautiful, and the clear and grounded progression of the season was so lovely and so delightful in it's dedication to being totally grounded in science and observable natural phenomenon, that I just felt like I had to. I really like presenting nonfiction whenever I can, because I feel like it gets unfairly ignored by parents who are intimidated by the nonfiction stacks. That's a real shame, because even very little kids can enjoy a lot of nonfiction content, and there is a lot of that content being created for even the youngest audiences. Anyway, it's absolutely stunningly beautiful to look at, and the book itself is a delight. I think it would be a lot better as a one-on-one lapsit book.
When Autumn Falls
Kelli Nidey, illustrated by Susan Swan
ISBN: 0807504912
Dimensional collage illustrations with minimal text emphasizing the "fall" in the season.
This is a cute little read, and it's a staple this time of year because it is so short and cute. We set off through an idealized small town in fall with short direct text: "Leaves on the trees fall..." "The temperature falls..." "Ripe apples" and "football players" also. We learn that "sunlight falls through the almost-bare trees" and "days fall shorter" as we end the day and the book with "We call it fall."
Leaf Man
Lois Ehlert
ISBN: 0152053042
Ehlert's signature bold colors and outlines are interpreted here through collages of fall leaves.
A lyrical story of fall told through the creation of a Leaf Man who blows away in the wind and the reader is asked to imagine where he goes and what he sees on his autumn journey. The journey imagines gardens and crops, farm animals and flying geese, migrating butterflies and swarming fish in rivers, but all of the illustrations are created entirely through images of various leaves. It is beautiful and somewhat haunting. The Leaf Man himself is re-created at the end with a prompt to find your own real Leaf Man out in nature.
Fall Leaves
Loretta Holland, illustrated by Elly MacKay
ISBN: 9780544106642
Beautiful (if wordy) nonfiction about the progression of the season via natural environment changes.
This was a bit of a gamble - it's nonfiction and the content text is very small (so hard for a storyteller to read) and very dense (I admit freely that I did a lot of skipping and eliding of content) - but the illustrations are so beautiful, and the clear and grounded progression of the season was so lovely and so delightful in it's dedication to being totally grounded in science and observable natural phenomenon, that I just felt like I had to. I really like presenting nonfiction whenever I can, because I feel like it gets unfairly ignored by parents who are intimidated by the nonfiction stacks. That's a real shame, because even very little kids can enjoy a lot of nonfiction content, and there is a lot of that content being created for even the youngest audiences. Anyway, it's absolutely stunningly beautiful to look at, and the book itself is a delight. I think it would be a lot better as a one-on-one lapsit book.
When Autumn Falls
Kelli Nidey, illustrated by Susan Swan
ISBN: 0807504912
Dimensional collage illustrations with minimal text emphasizing the "fall" in the season.
This is a cute little read, and it's a staple this time of year because it is so short and cute. We set off through an idealized small town in fall with short direct text: "Leaves on the trees fall..." "The temperature falls..." "Ripe apples" and "football players" also. We learn that "sunlight falls through the almost-bare trees" and "days fall shorter" as we end the day and the book with "We call it fall."
Leaf Man
Lois Ehlert
ISBN: 0152053042
Ehlert's signature bold colors and outlines are interpreted here through collages of fall leaves.
A lyrical story of fall told through the creation of a Leaf Man who blows away in the wind and the reader is asked to imagine where he goes and what he sees on his autumn journey. The journey imagines gardens and crops, farm animals and flying geese, migrating butterflies and swarming fish in rivers, but all of the illustrations are created entirely through images of various leaves. It is beautiful and somewhat haunting. The Leaf Man himself is re-created at the end with a prompt to find your own real Leaf Man out in nature.
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