Tuesday Storytime: Autumn Thanks

Since we covered Thanksgiving pretty thoroughly last time around, I focused on a few of my newly-acquired fall books this time around.

Hocus Pocus, It's Fall!
Anne Sibley O'Brien, illustrated by Susan Gall
ISBN: 9781419721250
An entire book of fold-out flaps gives very short rhymes on different fall themes and situations, and then a "magic word" (a different one each time - there are SO MANY OF THEM!) to fold out the flap and show the "magic" change of seasons on the fold-out continuation of the spread.

Thanks for Thanksgiving
Julie Markes, illustrated by Doris Barrette
ISBN:  9780060510985
Short and as inoffensive as possible, this set of "thanks" are offered generally to no specified person or entity, and focus on the experiences of children - school and dress-up, play-dates and parents.

My Autumn Book
Wong Herbert Yee
ISBN: 9780805099225
Sweet but just a liiiiitle bit too long for my very young group this time around. A possibly-Asian girl notices lots of natural changes in the world as proof that autumn is approaching, and collects items to remember the season, building a book of memories to read in the winter.

Tuesday Storytime: Thanksgiving is Coming

My compatriot had lots of fun picking out Thanksgiving-themed books before she realized the rotation had her on the week before - but that's ok! We're not super tied to a schedule here, so there's no reason we can't have an anticipatory storytime a week ahead of time to remind kids what all the fuss is about.

She chose:

The Thanksgiving Play (a Herbster Reader)
by Cecilia Minden
Herbie and his school friends try hard to put on a fun and interesting Thanksgiving School Play, but everything keeps going wrong!

The Leaves on the Trees
by Thom Wiley
A beautiful nonfiction picture book focused on nature's glorious and varietal fall colors, to the tune of "The Wheels on the Bus."

Bear Says Thanks
by Karma Wilson
Another of the really delightful Bear books - this time focusing on the importance of family and friends as a cause for celebration and happiness.

Tuesday Storytime: Fall is Here!

With Monster Month safely behind us for another year, it's time for the rotation to begin having a solid selection of "fall" themed books, and oh there are just so many good ones to choose from. This time around I went with two solid favorites, and a new discovery just recently published.


Wonderfall
Michael Hall
ISBN: 9780062382986
A tree narrates a set of short non-rhyming poems as the season progresses from the end of summer to the beginning of winter, hitting on the start of school, Halloween, and Thanksgiving, along with blustery winds, animal migrations and foraging, and even composting! Really well done, and a delightful addition to our collection.


Mystery Vine
Cathryn Falwell
ISBN: 9780061771989
This one really needs to be done very early in the fall, so I wanted to go ahead and use it while summer is still fairly fresh in people's minds. A pair of kids follow a garden through the year in cute little rhyming couplets while a "mystery vine" grows along the fence until fall, when everything else in the garden is dead or dying - it's of course a pumpkin vine. There's a spread about trick-or-treating, but the focus is on the outdoors and the garden.


Moon Glowing
Elizabeth Partridge, illustrated by Joan Paley
ISBN: 0525468730
We follow a squirrel, bat, beaver, and bear through the developing fall into winter, as they prepare for the coming cold weather. Very sparse text, very short, not much content. Chosen to be a short final story for our typical fall crowd of very very young babies and toddlers, who are nearing (or well past) their attention spans by the last book of the day. Sweet and a bit solemn,

Tuesday Storytime: Happy Halloween!

A cute set of books for Halloween, picked by my partner.

Trick or Treat
Leo Landry
ISBN: 9780547249698
Oliver the ghost is hosting a Halloween party for all his spooky friends, but one of the invites goes astray into the perfectly ordinary neighborhood house next door, allowing a pair of cute trick-or-treaters the chance to attend their first REAL Halloween party. All goes well, and Oliver ends up invited to a party himself!

Ten Orange Pumpkins
Stephen Savage
ISBN: 9780803739383
Graphically intense (all oranges and blacks and grey-scaled-desaturated colors) counting book with really nifty illustrations, and a serviceable "story" to accompany the counting.

Boo to You!
Lois Ehlert
ISBN:9781416986256
A clever crew of mice band together to outwit a mean cat in this Halloween-adjacent story made of fall-items-and-papercraft collages.