Tuesday Storytime: Firefighters

Back to me again, and a theme I had prepped waaaaaay back in February. It's been waiting patiently, and I figure it's a great one for a big boisterous crowd like today. It's also our last self-pick theme before our Summer Reading kicks off next week and we move into all sorts of Space books.

Fire! ¡Fuego! Brave Bomberos!
Susan Middleton Elya, illustrated by Dan Santat
ISBN: 9781599904610
Multi-ethnic and male/female fire-fighter crew rescues a cat from a burning building. Santat's illustrations are as always rich and vibrant and lively, with animated faces and postures, and vivid environments.


Fireman Small
Wong Herbert Yee
ISBN: 0395689872
Probably my most-used picture book. I just love how sweet and calming the repetitive portions are, and how simple and easily-understood the fire-fighter's work is, and the pause for gratitude and community at the end. Sweet and unassuming, but classic quality.

Fire Engine No. 9
Mike Austin
ISBN: 9780553510959
"wordless" in the sense that there are a lot of onomatopoeic bits, and lots of sound, but the "story" is carried by the illustrations and the sound effects. There is "soot" on the pages, and the illustrations are gritty and punchy - a few kids were visibly slightly distressed at various pages (the window-breaking was cause for a good bit of verbalized concern) but everything ends well and the endpages have interesting (ie distracting) equipment to distract away from fears or intense feelings.

Tuesday Storytime: Scaly Friends

This is the second set of picks from our trainee, and these are all very cute. They acknowledged that they'd possibly do better to split them up into different themes for each type of scaly friend (we have alligators, dragons, and dinosaurs represented) but that they liked them and liked the thought of doing two of their own sets of picks in a row. These DID end up a little on the long side all matched together, but not insurmountably so, and they noticed that as well, so a good training experience all around.

If You Happen to Have a Dinosaur
Linda Bailey, illustrated by Colin Jack
ISBN: 9781770495685
Very bright dinosaurs in otherwise mundane environments, getting used for all sorts of chores or tasks. The idea is very Flintstones, but the execution is closer to Family Guy. EXCELLENT facial expressions all around, and funny page-spreads of visual jokes.

Gator Dad
Brian Lies
ISBN: 9780544534339
Gator Dad is taking his kids out for a day of adventures. Slightly smaltzy but saved by the protagonists being alligators, and by a series of misadventures along the way. Beautiful artwork, but a little bit on the dark side (visually speaking).

Me and My Dragon
David Biedrzycki
ISBN: 9781580892780
I've done this one recently, but it was far enough back that I felt ok with it being used again. Love the ambiguity of the protagonist kid (brownish and with floppy hair) and the mundane chores of pet-ownership filtered through the prism of a baby dragon. Useful lessons in a cute package.

Tuesday Storytime: Monkeys

Storytime duties are getting shared with another trainee, and this is her first set of selections, and I think they're a great first choice. Monkeys are a perennial favorite (also see sharks, fire-trucks, and dinosaurs) and these three are cute and a show off a lovely spectrum of styles.

What Do You Say When a Monkey Acts This Way? 
Jane Belk Moncure, illustrated by Terri Super
ISBN: 0516057448
Moncure's books all have a very classic 1970s-80s Little Golden Book sort of "teaching" vibe to them, whether they are manners books or books about the alphabet or about phonics. Despite that, they're cute and repetitive in a good way, and clear and have attractive simplistic images. Here we have a young monkey acting in normal heedless ways, until other monkeys prompt it to behave more pro-socially: saying thanks and please, sharing and being respectful. The monkey goes to visit the grandparents at the end, and proves all the lessons well-learned.

The Monkey Goes Bananas
C. P. Bloom, illustrated by Peter Raymundo
ISBN: 9781419708855
Graphic-novel style, with very few words (leading to a lot of "filling in" to keep the younger ones clear on what's going on. Monkey lives on a small island, and there is a bunch of bananas on a neighbor island. Unfortunately there is a shark in the water. Monkey tries various plots to get the bananas, with a cute but very obvious twist at the end.

How to Lose a Lemur
Frann Preston-Gannon
ISBN: 9781454911319
Slightly oversized pictures and very cute lemurs (not exactly monkeys, but I'm not going to quibble) follow a boy who is searching over the whole world for friends, only to get lost and realize that perhaps those pesky lemurs might be what he's been looking for. Very cute and very sweet. Love the art-style of textured painting and collage pieces.

Tuesday Storytime: Gone Swimming

As the weather warms up, the chances of my storytime families getting involved in swimming lessons or simply trips to the pool goes way up. These are calming and ultimately fact-based "experiences" stories to help manage expectations and fears, and provide touch-points to reference later.

Maisy Learns to Swim
Lucy Cousins
ISBN: 9780763634800
Maisy is a popular mouse character done in faux naive childish style with heavy borders and bright colors. Like if someone did a Byron Barton book, but were a bit scribbly about it. In this particular installment, Maisy and her friends go to a swimming lesson, going through all the generally accepted motions thereupon. Everyone is excited and happy and successful, and the story ends with warm towels and hot showers.

Leo Can Swim
Anna McQuinn, illustrated by Ruth Hearson
ISBN:
9781580897259
Leo is Lola's little brother, and Lola is the Black protagonist of a set of slightly older-aimed experience books set in England. Those and Leo's books have only recently migrated across the pond, and I'm very glad they did. I love having poc in my stories, especially when that isn't the focus of the story. Here, Leo is obviously an infant, and he's attending baby swim class with his Daddy. (Also a great touch.) Once again all the general descriptive steps are there: from getting dressed to the different parts of the class to the shower and lotion and nap afterwards. Sweet sweet illustrations.

Sergio Makes a Splash
Edel Rodriguez
ISBN: 9780316066167
Sergio is a baby penguin, and his class takes their first field trip to the ocean, but Sergio can't swim. He's outfitted with swimmies, a lifejacket, and a swim ring, an encouraging teacher, enthusiastic friends, and a nicely-illustrated bit of positive self-talk, which I like to see modeled, so he's ready to tackle his fear. The ending is a BIT of a let-down, but it's still solid enough to be enjoyable.

Tuesday Storytime. Excellent Eggs

This was supposed to be the storytime for the Tuesday after Easter, but we had a slight technical difficulty and so it got used today. Example #three-million-and-one for why I do slightly off-note storytimes when I can for holidays or themed days; I can re-use general egg storytimes, but Easter storytimes are a little harder to explain three weeks after the fact. :)


An Egg is Quiet
Dianna Aston, illustrated by Sylvia Long
ISBN: 9780811844284
Beautiful nonfiction picture book showcasing the diversity and beauty of eggs. Really lovely and lyrical and fantastic; while being absolutely grounded in reality and information. Perfect layout to choose what age-group or complexity-level to engage with, which makes it a great school pick.

Egg
Kevin Henkes
ISBN: 9780062408723
Almost wordless picture book with comic-book framing on several pages (it's like a gentle version of a Mo Willems Pigeon book) tell the story of four eggs and their slightly diverging paths through life. The "mystery" got a lot of traction from my audience, and there were several exlaims of shock and interest. Always a great thing to get from a storybook.

The Egg
M. P. Robertson
ISBN: 0803725469
While I appreciate the mystery of the egg-hatching as much as anyone (especially when it makes an impact like it did today on an appreciative audience) I have to say that this particular book for some reason is THE HARDEST to find when you don't remember the author's name! Librarian Problems. Anyway. George (first clue) finds a GIANT egg under his mom's favorite chicken (love that detail) and proceeds to play mommy for the fantastic find. A really sweet and funny and beautifully illustrated fairy tale ensues, and one that's actually short enough to read during storytime! One of my all-time favorite picture books, even if I do forget the author's name all the time.