Tuesday Storytime: Happy Holidays!

Yesterday was our last storytime of the year - amazing how quickly it all goes. It's ALSO the last storytime before Christmas, so I felt like I ought to do at least one specifically "christmassy" book.

The Snowy Day
Ezra Jack Keats
ISBN: 9780670012701  (50th anniversary edition)
This is a MUCH bigger edition than the original, which makes it much more suited for traditional storytime, instead of a lap-sit or child-held book. I love that the original was small and suited for tiny hands and arms, but it does make it more enjoyable for the pictures to be bigger this time around. There's a lovely section at the end talking about Keats and his work on this book and his dream of having "Peter" representing all the children who never got to see someone who looked like them.

Click, Clack, Ho Ho Ho
Doreen Cronin, illustrated by Betsy Lewin
ISBN: 9781442496736
This cute story follows Duck and all the other farm animals through an ill-fated attempt to bring Farmer Brown some Christmas Cheer, and unfortunately ending up all stuck in the chimney. Thankfully, the real Santa arrives to put things to rights (or at least shove everyone down the chimney into the living room) and the party gets to happen after all.

Bear Snores On
Karma Wilson, illustrated by Jane Chapman
ISBN: 06898780238
The classic story that started the whole thing. I like this one as a low-key holiday party book because there's no indication of them celebrating anything specific at all, just having a nice party with friends. With society as multi-cultural as it is now, it's really lovely to have a book that focuses on the important things: it's cold, it's dreary, and everyone needs an excuse to hang out with the people they love.

Tuesday Storytime: Bedtime!

Bedtime Storytimes are always fun. I hope someday to actually do a "sleepover" storytime at night with pajamas and stuffies!

I'm Not Sleepy!
Jane Chapman
ISBN: 9781561487653
Little Owl is NOT sleepy, but Grandma Owl is patient, kind, determined, and just a bit sneaky. Even through Grandma Owl is the one who eventually gets put to bed, Little Owl is the one who (finally) drops off to sleep.

How to Put Your Parents to Bed
Mylisa Larsen, illustrated by Babette Cole
ISBN: 9780062320643
I normally don't like this sort of sloppy watercolor/comic/squiggly line drawing sort of art style, but it fits the theme so perfectly that I couldn't resist. The full spread illustrating the sleepy parents' faces is PRICELESS.

Bedtime!
Christine Anderson, illustrated by Steven Salerno
ISBN: 0399240047
One of my favorites, and gets used in rotation regularly. Melanie is FAAR to busy to head to bed, but someone has to get ready for bed, and Mom decides Bart the dog is it. Bart gets a nice bath, a lovely ribbon (Melanie's lovely ribbon) gets into pajamas (Melanie's pajamas) and even gets the traditional big good night kiss from Daddy before Melanie twigs to the fact that she's missing out and starts hustling to get herself back into the schedule before she misses her bedtime story.

Tuesday Storytime: Colors Everywhere

A very colorful storytime this week, with a small crowd - still recovering from the back-to-school exodus. 

Baby Bear Sees Blue

Ashley Wolff

ISBN: 9781442413061

Baby Bear and Mama Bear explore the forest and all the different bright and beautiful colors it showcases.

Lucy Lady Bug

Sharon King-Chai

ISBN: 9780553510058

Lucy Ladybug has no spots, so she sets out into the world to try and find some. She doesn't find the traditional spots like the rest of the ladybugs have, but she has a delightful series of adventures, and meets some new friends along the way.

Bear Sees Colors (Bear and Friends)

Karma Wilson, illustrated by Jane Chapman

ISBN: 9781442465367

This concept book addition to the "Bear" book series is VERY RHYMEY, so if you tend towards getting sing-song lines stuck in your head for days (hello friends) then beware! It's cute and sweet and full of great colors and good lines, and it's just the perfect length for storytime. Wilson and Chapman struck gold with this concept and this set of books; they're all really solid reading time choices and this one is no exception. 

Tuesday Storytime: Only One More (Storytime) til Christmas!

With apologies to the Muppet Christmas Carol, there was only one more storytime til Christmas, so it's the final opportunity to showcase some really sweet Christmas stories. Every year at this time we have a lot of returning storytimers who have "graduated" into school attendance - they're all off on their winter breaks, and it's lovely to have a chance to see them all again in storytime. It also makes for a difficult balancing act between their older and more mature tastes and concentration levels, and the needs of the still very young infants and tiny toddlers who are just barely holding on for a full storytime as it is.

The Night Before Christmas
Clement C. Moore, illustrated by Kathy Wilburn (Little Golden Book)
ISBN: 03070475501
I used to read this book at Christmastime at my Grandmother's house, and I have very fond memories of the illustrations. The book itself is on the small side, but we all scrunched up close and managed anyway. The kids loved it, and I'm glad I put it first while attention and interest was strong enough to make it through.

Dream Snow
Eric Carle
ISBN: 0399235795
A humble farmer dreams of snow blanketing himself and his handful of farm animals (named One through Five) and his single farm tree (named Tree) and the kids have a blast guessing the identities of the farm animals based on their white-draped shapes before I pull away the transparency to reveal them one by one. The end of the book has the farmer in his suspiciously-red winter warm clothes tramping outside with a sack of toys and shiny things to decorate Tree for the Christmas season. A big hit because of the interaction.

Bear Stays Up For Christmas
Karma Wilson, illustrated by Jane Chapman
ISBN: 0689852789
I love these books so much. Bear is normally asleep at this time of year (hibernation, you know) but his friends are determined that he'll be awake for Christmas at least once. So they plan a full day and night of activities, and the sleepy Bear manages, until all the friends fall asleep themselves from exhaustion. A delighted tricksy Bear spends the night creating presents and decorating for them while they sleep, and they all enjoy a lovely Christmas morning together. So cute. 

Tuesday Storytime: Bedtime Stories

There comes a time in all novice storytellers' development when they realize that the established routines of bedtime can be gleefully pilfered for storytime themes, and thus we have our trainee's first Bedtime Storytime theme.  :)

Time to Say Goodnight
Sally Lloyd-Jones, illustrated by Jane Chapman
ISBN: 9780060543303
Forest animals in Chapman's sweet style all share bedtime rituals with their young ones.

Lovely sweet book, good length, lots of lovely animals  (including some nighttime animals having a "breakfast" storytime) are all out in natural habitats, but at the end there's a bit of a twist, as the animals all turn to ask a question of the audience/reader, revealing a child in bed surrounded by stuffed forest animals, from the classic floppy bunny and stuffed bear to a mascot-looking cardinal and a beanie-baby-style deer. Rhyming quatrains on each spread make for a sweet lilting cadence, but some of the meter is a bit forced, and there are word-choices that caused some stumbles, despite preparations. Personally, I think I would have switched the places of this one and Close Your Eyes and had this one to close up with, but that's more individual taste than anything else.  

Sweet Dreams, Maisy
Lucy Cousins
ISBN: 0763628743
Another in the everlasting Maisy series, this one tackles bedtime by verbalizing sweet general rituals.

Very short, and very Maisy, with colorblocked sections and wide shaky cartoon borders around everything. Maisy and Panda are getting ready for bed, and go through a quick run-down narrating the various comforting steps to sleep, from admiring the sunset and the rising moon, to bedtime stories and songs, to bedtime benedictions (from moon and stars, rather than any religious affiliation).


Close Your Eyes
Kate Banks, illustrated by Georg Hallensleben
ISBN: 9780374313821
A cute little sloppy-painted tiger cub tries in vain to avoid bedtime by listing all the things he'll miss, but his clever mother reminds him all those things will be in his dreams.

Sweet but a leeeeetle bit on the long side. I think I would have done this one first, and let Chapman's sweet gentle art usher us out. Regardless, this one is sweet, and I love how the clever mom turns all of the reasons why the little tiger can't close his eyes back onto him. It does get a little repetitive, but the spreads are colorful and full of dreamlike imagery, which helps. It really doesn't SEEM that long on the face of it, but because there's no real narrative drive, and because it's so dreamlike and gentle, it takes longer to get through it, or it FEELS longer because it is so lilting and gentle.

Tuesday Storytime: Nighttime Noises

I'd been holding on to Bear Feels Scared since October when I didn't manage to fit it into the Halloween roster, so I snagged a couple of other "scary nighttime" books to offer a creepy-but-reassuring night-time themed storytime.

Creatures of the Night
Stephen Brooks, illustrated by Rodger Wilson
ISBN:  9780976901716
A catalog of the various animals that live nocturnally, with very little plotline.

I started out on this one because it's a straight call-and-response with the kids.  I flip the pages and they tell me what animal that is, and they all feel very competent and smart and adult.  The animals are a straightforward bunch, and the artwork isn't much past competent, but it flows smoothly and reads easily.  If it werent for bookending the scary part, I would have put this one in the middle because of the length and speed of reading.

Bear Feels Scared
Karma Wilson, illustrated by Jane Chapman
ISBN:  9780689859861
Bear stays out a bit late as a storm blows in, and gets disoriented and scared in the dark.  Friends rush to help out.

This one spends most of the time on the bear's big feelings of being scared and lost and worried, interspersed with bear's animal friends searching.  The comforting ending is a bit pat and quick, but no-one cried on me, which is what I worried about.

The Night World
Mordecai Gerstein
ISBN: 9780316188227
A boy is wakened by his cat and they venture through the dark of pre-dawn outside to see animals and plants in a strange new way.

This is a beautiful book and I really wish it didn't start off with practically three spreads of wordlessness.  That's just a rough hurdle for a storytime book, and while the payoff of the book is worth it, it does make for a challenge to the storyteller.  The boy and the cat wander through a confusing-dark house, where familiar objects seem odd and out of place, into a dark yard where plants and flowers are strange without color from the sunlight.  The animals begin to get excited about an upcoming event, and when the nighttime animals begin to leave, the astute reader realizes the sun is rising, as the skyline changes from blackness to greys to beautiful sunrise colors and sky blue.  Very pretty, and strangely-powerfully done considering the slim concept.

Tuesday Storytime: Christmas

It's our last storytime before Christmas, and our last of 2015, so I picked a lovely trio to end us on.  We'll start up in January with lots of books about snow, and hope that Mother Nature gets the hint.

Snowmen at Christmas
Caralyn Buehner, illustrated by Mark Buehner
ISBN: 0803729952
Luminous but cheerful and lighthearted spread paintings of animated snowpeople all festive.

This is actually a sequel to Snowmen at Night, but I like this one better as a Christmas story.  That said, I do have, and might read Snowmen at Night in the next couple of months with all the snowy themes.  This one is nice for Christmas for several reasons:
1) rhyming text means I can get through a slightly more substantial story in much better time.
2) this is one of the least-Christmassy Christmas books out there (only one veiled religious reference)
3) snowman party.


A Short History of Christmas
Sally Lee (consulting editor: Gail Saunders-Smith)
ISBN: 9781491460955
Very primary-grade juvenile nonfiction explaining the historic basis for Christmas traditions.

Really loving this series, and very happy to see them on the shelves.  This one is just as factual as Thanksgiving, and very straightforward, starting with the December festival of Saturnalia, the birth of Jesus, choosing of December 25th by church leaders, Saint Nicholas into Santa Claus, the tradition of caroling, Queen Victoria's German Christmas tree, and modern traditions of charity.  Not bad for just under 250 words total.  I just really wish there were similar books for the less-recognized holidays of the season: Hanukkah, Eid, and Solstice.


Bear Stays Up for Christmas
Karma Wilson, Jane Chapman
ISBN: 0689852789
Bear and Friends series, Bear's friends help him stay awake for Christmas Eve and Morning.

I adore this Christmas book.  It's so sweet and perfect and has just about everything you'd want out of a Christmas book - including the difficulties that children have staying awake for the fun!  Bear is the perfect sleepy focus, and all his friends are genuinely helpful and caring.  This entire series is beautiful, but this one is perfect for Christmas in a way that is deeply satisfying.  I personally would have been fine without an appearance by Santa as well, but that's not a battle I feel motivated about - it's just a slight preference.

Tuesday Storytime: Mud Puddles

In case you missed it, South Carolina has been suffering from some pretty intense rainy weather.  We're in good shape in the Upstate, but thousands of people are without power or water, and it's literally been raining for over a week now.  The sun was out today, but I've got some lovely rainy-day books, and wanted to give kids a lighter and more optimistic counter narrative to the news they're seeing every night of flooding and evacuations.

Muddigush
Kimberly Knutson
ISBN: 0027508439
Marbled-paper collages look almost like Japanese papercuts.  Language is intensely poetic.

This one is a bit of a challenge to read, because the language here is just straight up poetry.  I love all the onomatopoeia going on, and the rhythms of the wording are just lovely.  Here's a bit:

The riverbed slime
is shivery and quivery,
bubbly and wiggly,
cold and jiggly.
Spread it, pat it,
till it's shiny and flat.
Smack and whack that
smucky mush
smacky mush
squooshy slooshy muddigush!

So fun to read.


One Duck Stuck
Phyllis Root (Oliver Finds His Way), illustrated by Jane Chapman (Bear books with Karma Wilson)
ISBN: 0763603341
Counting up to ten in the swamp with animals trying to help a duck with his foot buried in mud.

This is a fun and quick counting book.  There's lots of text, but it reads very quickly, and even with lots of expressive pauses, it still just hums along.  ONE duck is stuck, and then TWO fish come over and try to help, then THREE moose, and so on.  My favorite part is the different creative ways the animals try to help - all failing until ten types of animal have assembled, and all work together to rescue the poor duck.  Cute, fun wordplay, simple but bright and vibrant paintings, and a good message.  Also mud.  


Red Rubber Boot Day
Mary Lyn Ray, illustrated by Lauren Stringer
ISBN: 0152053980
Previously reviewed here.

Still one of my absolute favorite rainy-day books.  It's just such a perfect marriage of luminous paintings and child-focused interest.  There's only so much a creative child can do inside when it's raining before they just have to go outside and run around in the wet.  Super short, super attractive, and an absolute joy from start to finish.

Tuesday Storytime: Friendship

Two new ones, and one that I read somewhat recently, but I like it, and it's short, so I read it again.

Very Special Friends
Jane Chapman  (I'm Not Sleepy, Don't Be Afraid, Little Pip, Bear Feels Sick)
ISBN: 9781561486
Soft-edged woodland creatures in a sweet whimsical gentle woodland world.

Jane Chapman is a gifted illustrator, and her stand-alone books show that she has sweet whimsical stories in her repertoire as well.  She nearly always centers in on the emotional world of children where emotions are primal and happy times seem to last forever, and friendships are the linchpin of the world.  This one is no exception: Mouse heads to the riverbank to wait for her special friends, and is joined in her vigil by Rabbit, Frog, and Turtle.  At the end of a lovely day of visiting and waiting, Mouse announces that she's heading home, and her companions demur, saying that she should keep waiting for her friends.  Mouse answers that she's been with her special friends all day!  Just a smidge on the saccharine side for me to truly adore, but it's sweet and the illustrations are so gentle and happy.


The Story of Fish and Snail
Deborah Freedman
ISBN: 9780670784899
Reviewed here.

Still love this cute story of friends working through their differences (and a nice rip-roarer of an argument) and compromising and growing in order to stay together.  As a thought, it would go very well with Brigitte Weninger & Eve Tharlet's similarly conflict-resolving book, Why Are You Fighting, Davy?


The Very Lonely Firefly
Eric Carle (Mister Seahorse, )
ISBN: 0399227741
Carle's signature illustrations follow a firefly through the night - the last page has battery-operated lights inside a swarm of fireflies.

Carle is always fun.  Here we have a lonesome firefly, just born, seeking out the lights in the night for companionship.  There are all sorts of lights that are NOT fireflies first; porchlights, candles, flashlights, headlights, animal eyes gleaming, fireworks (no lightning tho) before the persistent little creature finds the company they've been searching for.  I never noticed until this reading that the firefly is never gendered during the story, which is always a nice touch.

Tuesday Storytime: Swimming

Following up on our beach theme last week, I got all of my swimming books into the library early enough to move on to swimming, leaving boats for next week.

These are all new to me, and all three are adorable, but Don't Be Afraid, Little Pip is my favorite (not surprised, Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman are a great duo).

Don't Be Afraid, Little Pip
Karma Wilson, illustrated by Jane Chapman (Bear books)
ISBN: 9780689859878
Plump and cuddly penguins over colorful but soothing backgrounds of beaches and oceans.

It's time for all young penguins to learn to swim, but Little Pip isn't too thrilled about the deep dark ocean.  She'd rather fly, but after taking lessons from several birds, she's still grounded, and her final lesson ends with an accidental plunge into the sea!  Once in, she learns that swimming is natural, and swimming in the ocean is much like flying in the air.  My only quibble is that I would have liked that metaphor to be a little more metaphorical - "swimming is flying" doesn't work well with literal-minded toddlers.



Two Dogs Swimming
Lynn Reiser
ISBN: 0060086483
Naive art of two curly-haired dogs in a primary-colored world of grass and pond.

Spot and Whistle play together.  They are well-matched in their games of chase, fetch, and jump - "sometimes one wins, sometimes the other" - but when they are swimming, Whistle can't figure out why Spot always makes it back to the edge of the pond first.  The not-so-secret is that Spot isn't actually swimming - he's walking on the bottom, and not going all the way across the pond.  Another accidental plunge, and Spot forgets that he needs to walk with one set of legs, and accidentally starts swimming!  Now the games are equally matched no matter where they take place.  Very cute, with a little touch of dry humor.


Sergio Makes a Splash
Edel Rodriguez
ISBN: 9780316066167
Part of a series about Sergio the pop-art colored penguin.

Sergio likes soccer, fishies, and water, but he can't swim yet, so he's not too sure about the big field trip to the ocean to learn to swim.  Bolstered by helpful classmates and a kind teacher, and a good helping of positive self-talk, Sergio takes the plunge (safely ensconced in snorkel, swimmies, and a life-preserver) and learns that the ocean is not just water, it's LOTS of water (with bonus fishies), and great fun into the bargain!  While I like the illustrations and narrative of Little Pip, I have to say that Sergio is a much better choice for modeling behavior - Sergio is the only one who chooses to jump into the water - and also for representation of him encouraging himself despite having "scary" thoughts.

Next week, boats!

Tuesday Storytime: Owls

I like owls.  I also like that there are umpty-bajillion picture books about owls, which makes searching for new and interesting ones very easy.

Owls are also a bit "on trend" at the moment, as far as decorating goes.  Weird how that works.

Here's what we read today!

cock-a-doodle-hooooooo!
Mick Manning, illustrated by Brita Granstrom
ISBN: 9781561485680

A poor lost owl blunders into a hen-house, where the chickens try to recruit him to be their rooster, but he's woefully unsuited to chicken-like behaviors, especially crowing.  However, the hens re-prioritize when rats invade their hen-house, and owl behaviors come in handy.



Wow! Said the Owl
Tim Hopgood
ISBN: 9780374385187

This one is sweet and short (longer review in one of my Storytime Potentials posts) and was a perfect middle selection for my rowdy crowd today.



I'm Not Sleepy!
Jane Chapman
ISBN: 9781561487653

Again, longer review in my Storytime Potentials post, but this one was a good closer, with the focus on bedtime and winding down.  I had a few wiggleworms, and a couple of crying bouts (daylight savings time is rough on everyone) but we got through it pretty well.


Overall, pretty happy with how these flowed together.

Next week: hats!

Storytime Potentials: Wow! Said the Owl, Tim Hopgood & I'm Not Sleepy!, Jane Chapman

Found a couple of owl books - I love owls, and I think it's nifty that they're rapidly becoming a meme.  That said, lots of owl books are either very lyrical (Owl Moon) or a bit too cutesy (Owl Babies) for my tastes.  That said, both of those have made more than one appearance at storytime, so I don't hate them - simply always looking for something more interesting to present.

So, without further ado:

Wow! Said the Owl (A Book About Colors)
Tim Hopgood
ISBN: 9780374385187
Read Feb 24, 2014

First off, can I say how REALLY AWESOME AND THRILLING IT IS THAT THIS IS A GIRL OWL?  There are no pink bows, no indication on the cover that this is a "gendered" book, but the protagonist, our little fuzzy non-obviously-male-or-female owl buddy is a GIRL!!!  Huzzah and shout it to the rooftops.  (Not going to get into WHY it is so distressing that this should make me so happy.)

Anyway, this curious little girl owl (LOVE THIS) decides to nap one night so she can stay up the next day to see what daytime is like - so she goes through the day experiencing all the bright beautiful colors in short text blocks on vibrant saturated pages, and then compares them to the beautiful stars of the night.



 
I'm Not Sleepy!
Jane Chapman
ISBN: 9781561487653
Read Feb 24, 2014

Jane Chapman is the illustrator of the lovely Karma Wilson Bear books, which I adore with all my heart.  This one is not quite to that level, but it's nicely executed, and sure to strike a chord with weary parents and determined toddlers alike.  As evidenced by the title, Mo is NOT SLEEPY, and Grandma (again with the non-traditional families - I'm so glad that this is finally gaining traction here in picture-book-land) is up to her ear-tufts in trying to get him down, until she finally decides that since SOMEONE has to go to bed at bedtime, why not make it her, and make little Mo do all the work putting her there?  Smart Grandma, cute story, storytime win!

Tuesday Storytime: We're Beary Beary Sick.

I've had my annual sinus infection for the last two weeks, and I was actually going for a general "sniffles" theme.  I was amazed that there are three good story-time appropriate books featuring sick bears.  I suppose I shouldn't have been, and I couldn't resist the wordplay.

Sneeze, Big Bear, Sneeze!
Maureen Wright, illustrated by Will Hillenbrand
ISBN: 9780761459590
Bear is wandering the fall woods, and the personified Wind is messing with his mind by blowing things away every time he sneezes.  Poor bear insists that it's his sneezes, and tries to fix the damage (tacking leaves back on trees with hammer and nails, stacking fallen apples on branches) while the Wind grows more and more upset with him, finally chasing him back to his cozy den.

Bear Feels Sick
Karma Wilson, illustrated by Jane Chapman
ISBN: 9780689859854
I love all of these books,  Chapman's illustrations and Wilson's rhymes just fit so perfectly together into a happy warm fuzzy place where nothing bad ever happens.  In this one, Bear is, obviously, sick, and his friends pull together to help him feel better.  In the end, Bear is better, but the friends have all caught the bug, and now need care themselves.

The Sniffles for Bear
Bonny Becker, illustrated by Kady MacDonald Denton
ISBN: 9780763647568
Poor bear here looks almost rat-like at times, with his dolorous red schnozz and his weakly curled hands as fate and illness are bemoaned and overacted.  I'm just tickled by the pictures.  This Bear is DRAMATICALLY SICK.  Perhaps DYING.  Unfortunately, mouse is not suitably impressed by this terrible news, and insists on mundane comforting advice and companionship.  What's a drama-bear to do?  Perhaps DIE... or maybe just a nap.  The ending here, like Bear Feels Sick, makes a point that the caretakers usually end up sick themselves, just when the sick-ee is feeling better.