Three very nice ones (one that I've been holding back for a loooooong time (whoops) so I'm very happy that they all read beautifully and were well-received.
You are a Lion and other fun Yoga poses
Taeeun Yoo
ISBN: 9780399256028
Really cute and non-jargony intro to the concept of yoga through some basic poses. I'd heard of downward dog and cat pose, and of Mountain, but I had never heard of lions or snakes or frogs before. Regardless, the kids enjoyed posing, and everyone had fun guessing which animal the poses would end up being.
Quick as a Cricket
Audrey Wood, illustrated by Don Wood
ISBN: 0859531511
Classic read, perfect here. One kid was so taken with the idea that he repeated every line back out-loud, word-and-intonation perfect. It was a little weird, but kindof fun at the same time. I always like it when a book seems to resonate well with an individual kid - those are the memories that happy readers and library-users are built on.
Lion Lessons
Jon Agee
ISBN: 9780803739086
A cute kid is taking "Lion Lessons" from an experienced lion in his town. Only seven lessons to get your official lion certificate! But things don't go so smoothly; from roars to sprinting to food choices - the kid isn't doing too well. But when the chips are down, our wanna-be lion roars into action to protect someone small, and proves that he really did learn his lion lessons.
Showing posts with label Quick as a Cricket. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Quick as a Cricket. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 5, 2018
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Tuesday Storytime: Comparing Yourself to Animals
Because there are enough good quality fun picture books out there to do a storytime SOLELY about comparing yourself to animals, here we are! A trio of excellent storybook authors/illustrators also represented, with very different art styles, so a win all around for this week.
Little Mouse
Alison Murray (Apple Pie A B C)
ISBN: 9781423143307
Retro-bold outlines and bright color-blocked cast of animals follow a little girl through her day.
Our narrator is mommy's "little mouse" when she's all cuddly and snuggly, but she wants us to know that she's lots of other animals too. This one is very fun because she never states out-loud what the animals are, but they appear behind her, so when she is shown grumpily heading for her bath with an irate bear behind her and the commentary "And I'm pretty certain that little mice don't stomp..." (emphasis in the original) the kids are happy to add "like a bear!" to finish the thought.
Quick as a Cricket
Audrey Wood, illustrated by Don Wood
ISBN: 0859531511
Classic stream-of-opposites with an engaging boy emoting along with the animal representative.
I don't read this one very often, but I really enjoy what it does: presents a set of emotional or physical feelings and relates them to the animals that are most associated with that emotion or feeling or attribute in western (American) culture, specifically the ones that have actual phrases associated. So we have "weak as a kitten" and "gentle as a lamb," but also "mean as a shark" and "strong as an ox" all of which are fairly common statements. In addition, there's others that simply make sense "tough as a rhino," "wild as a chimp," "slow as a snail" may not be actual folk-statements, but they hold true and would make sense to most adults.
Monkey and Me
Emily Gravett (The Odd Egg)
ISBN: 9781416954576
A cute little girl and her stuffed monkey (in scribbly pencil art reminiscent of Emma Kate, by Patricia Polacco, ISBN: 9780399244520) act out movements of various animals from the classic jump-rope rhyme.
Love the repetition, and the scrambles of the kids (and the patient hints of the parents) trying to figure out what the girl and monkey duo are acting out. The elephant pantomime is especially clever, and I like the sing-song effects of the repeated chant leading up to whatever they were going to see. The ending is perhaps a bit abrupt - because the story is entirely on sets of spreads, it's over very quickly compared to a lot of stories.
Little Mouse
Alison Murray (Apple Pie A B C)
ISBN: 9781423143307
Retro-bold outlines and bright color-blocked cast of animals follow a little girl through her day.
Our narrator is mommy's "little mouse" when she's all cuddly and snuggly, but she wants us to know that she's lots of other animals too. This one is very fun because she never states out-loud what the animals are, but they appear behind her, so when she is shown grumpily heading for her bath with an irate bear behind her and the commentary "And I'm pretty certain that little mice don't stomp..." (emphasis in the original) the kids are happy to add "like a bear!" to finish the thought.
Quick as a Cricket
Audrey Wood, illustrated by Don Wood
ISBN: 0859531511
Classic stream-of-opposites with an engaging boy emoting along with the animal representative.
I don't read this one very often, but I really enjoy what it does: presents a set of emotional or physical feelings and relates them to the animals that are most associated with that emotion or feeling or attribute in western (American) culture, specifically the ones that have actual phrases associated. So we have "weak as a kitten" and "gentle as a lamb," but also "mean as a shark" and "strong as an ox" all of which are fairly common statements. In addition, there's others that simply make sense "tough as a rhino," "wild as a chimp," "slow as a snail" may not be actual folk-statements, but they hold true and would make sense to most adults.
Monkey and Me
Emily Gravett (The Odd Egg)
ISBN: 9781416954576
A cute little girl and her stuffed monkey (in scribbly pencil art reminiscent of Emma Kate, by Patricia Polacco, ISBN: 9780399244520) act out movements of various animals from the classic jump-rope rhyme.
Love the repetition, and the scrambles of the kids (and the patient hints of the parents) trying to figure out what the girl and monkey duo are acting out. The elephant pantomime is especially clever, and I like the sing-song effects of the repeated chant leading up to whatever they were going to see. The ending is perhaps a bit abrupt - because the story is entirely on sets of spreads, it's over very quickly compared to a lot of stories.
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
Tuesday Storytime: Odd Ducks
Although there aren't actually any stories about ducks in this storytime. I'll have to re-think my titles or my book selections next time.
This one didn't mesh as well as I wanted it to - all the books are fun to read and enjoyable, but they didn't come together as coherently as I like to have my themes. I'll have to work with the books individually and see if I can't find them better partners for the future.
Elmer
David McKee
ISBN: 0688091725
2D cartoon elephants, unrealistic poses and shapes
I always love reading about Elmer, and I think my very favorite part of the book is the strange plant that grows "elephant-colored" berries. Really? Who ever thinks of that? Elmer is a patchwork elephant, the only one in his herd that isn't normal elephant color. He's also the herd prankster. Elmer has conflated his coloration and his role in the herd, and thinks everyone is laughing at him. When he comes back in disguise, he realizes that his desire to play jokes is inherent, and that the herd really does laugh because he's funny, not because he looks different. The end has an Elmer's Day Parade with all the elephants dressing up as something they aren't - with Elmer as the only "elephant colored" elephant that day.
Kangaroo and Cricket
Lorianne Siomades
ISBN: 156397780X
textured-paper collages against white backgrounds, "hidden" inchworm on each page
"Kangaroo and Cricket, both can jump." Each spread features two very dissimilar animals, but highlights the one way they are alike - mostly in movement. The narrator of the story is an inchworm, who confusingly changes colors and sizes through the book, and the "trick" ending is that as the narrator, he's been doing the same actions as the creature pairs all along, and thus he/she is just like ALL the other animals. Cute, short, colorful.
EDIT - Found Octopus Opposites (Stella Blackstone, Stephanie Bauer, ISBN: 9781846863288) to match with Kangaroo and Cricket. The exact same premise in mirror-reverse, and the illustrations are likewise wild and colorful and painterly, as opposed to the neat collage-work of Siomades' book. Excellent pairing, now I just need a third!
EDIT AGAIN - Was hunting down titles in our system office, saw and remembered Quick as a Cricket, (Audrey Wood, ISBN: 0859531511) which is a perfect third for this theme! Now I want to do it all over again, but I have to wait a while.
Good Thing You're Not an Octopus!
Julie Markes, illustrated by Maggie Smith
ISBN: 9780060284657
round-faced child contrasts daily toddler tasks with the difficulties faced by animal children
The reason you don't want to be an octopus is that you would have to put eight legs into your pants. The reason you don't want to be a shark is that you would have to brush 200 teeth. You don't want to be a kangaroo, because they don't get car-seats - they have to ride in mom's pouch. So forth and so on. It's pretty cute, but the premise is stated as "You don't like to [insert x]?" which can be a little negative for some parents. I liked the idea of comparing activities to animals enough that I overlooked it.
Next week's theme is going to be a complete surprise, because I've gone through all of my pre-selected themes and will have to pick out more from the stacks - always a fun hunting trip.
This one didn't mesh as well as I wanted it to - all the books are fun to read and enjoyable, but they didn't come together as coherently as I like to have my themes. I'll have to work with the books individually and see if I can't find them better partners for the future.
Elmer
David McKee
ISBN: 0688091725
2D cartoon elephants, unrealistic poses and shapes
I always love reading about Elmer, and I think my very favorite part of the book is the strange plant that grows "elephant-colored" berries. Really? Who ever thinks of that? Elmer is a patchwork elephant, the only one in his herd that isn't normal elephant color. He's also the herd prankster. Elmer has conflated his coloration and his role in the herd, and thinks everyone is laughing at him. When he comes back in disguise, he realizes that his desire to play jokes is inherent, and that the herd really does laugh because he's funny, not because he looks different. The end has an Elmer's Day Parade with all the elephants dressing up as something they aren't - with Elmer as the only "elephant colored" elephant that day.
Kangaroo and Cricket
Lorianne Siomades
ISBN: 156397780X
textured-paper collages against white backgrounds, "hidden" inchworm on each page
"Kangaroo and Cricket, both can jump." Each spread features two very dissimilar animals, but highlights the one way they are alike - mostly in movement. The narrator of the story is an inchworm, who confusingly changes colors and sizes through the book, and the "trick" ending is that as the narrator, he's been doing the same actions as the creature pairs all along, and thus he/she is just like ALL the other animals. Cute, short, colorful.
EDIT - Found Octopus Opposites (Stella Blackstone, Stephanie Bauer, ISBN: 9781846863288) to match with Kangaroo and Cricket. The exact same premise in mirror-reverse, and the illustrations are likewise wild and colorful and painterly, as opposed to the neat collage-work of Siomades' book. Excellent pairing, now I just need a third!
EDIT AGAIN - Was hunting down titles in our system office, saw and remembered Quick as a Cricket, (Audrey Wood, ISBN: 0859531511) which is a perfect third for this theme! Now I want to do it all over again, but I have to wait a while.
Good Thing You're Not an Octopus!
Julie Markes, illustrated by Maggie Smith
ISBN: 9780060284657
round-faced child contrasts daily toddler tasks with the difficulties faced by animal children
The reason you don't want to be an octopus is that you would have to put eight legs into your pants. The reason you don't want to be a shark is that you would have to brush 200 teeth. You don't want to be a kangaroo, because they don't get car-seats - they have to ride in mom's pouch. So forth and so on. It's pretty cute, but the premise is stated as "You don't like to [insert x]?" which can be a little negative for some parents. I liked the idea of comparing activities to animals enough that I overlooked it.
Next week's theme is going to be a complete surprise, because I've gone through all of my pre-selected themes and will have to pick out more from the stacks - always a fun hunting trip.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)