Tuesday Storytime: Black History Month, Children

I don't like to make a big deal out of Black History Month for my storytimes, but I do feel like I ought to at least reference major national observances just like I do holidays.  My usual approach is to simply select my usual storytime themes, but to limit my titles to those with obviously Black illustrated characters.  This means that I don't often do biographies of famous people, or "issues" stories very often, and I wonder sometimes if most people even recognize that I'm doing it, since I don't mention the Month during storytime at all.  On the one hand, that feels a little stealthy, but on the other, I like that I can actually DO a storytime about bedtime or families or city life without it having to be explicitly a "Black" story.

Little Monster
Barrie Wade, illustrated by Katinka Kew
ISBN: 0688095976
Mandy overhears her mom praising her for being good, but when everyone laughs about "little monster" Jimmy, she reconsiders.

I really like this story because it perfectly illustrates how kids overhear and interpret adult interactions, molding their behavior to gain a specific reaction or to empirically prove their ideas true or not.  Mandy is up late one night and overhears her mom praising her for being good, but when her brother Jimmy gets multiple laughs for being a "little monster," Mandy isn't so sure that being good is all it's cracked up to be.  The next day she's a holy terror in the most innocent of ways - sticking out tongues, minor direct disobedience, general acting-out, and by the end of the night, mom snaps and calls Mandy a "little monster," but mom being the bright sort, figures out immediately what's up, and reassures Mandy that love and affection and laughter are unconditional, whether a kid is a "little monster" or "good as gold."  Very sweet, but some families might be a bit uncomfortable that Mandy isn't punished for any of her "bad" behavior.


Ten, Nine, Eight
Molly Bang
ISBN: 0688009069
One of my favorite bedtime books.  A sweet father and daughter go through a countdown rhyme as she prepares for bed.

Previously reviewed here.  Always delightful, and even though I did it quite recently, it's a perfect middle book because of the very short narrative.


Please, Baby, Please
Spike Lee & Tonya Lewis Lee, illustrated by Kadir Nelson
ISBN: 0689832338
Adorable toddler is front and center in oversize, child's-eye-view illustrations.

This one isn't my favorite to read, and I hate that.  I LOVE the illustrations, and the "baby" is delightfully expressive and perfectly a toddler, getting into things and being entranced by things - just absolutely beautiful work by Nelson, and I really adore the loving attention he paid to details.  But, the narrative is 60% comprised of the words "please" and "baby" arranged in different orders as thus: "please, baby baby, please" or "baby baby baby please" "baby please, baby baby" etc.  Which is not only repetitive, but difficult for the reader.  It's not enough to keep me from doing it every once in a while, but it's absolutely enough to keep this book off my favorites list, which is a crying shame.