Tuesday Storytime: Ducks!

I went with a nice simple theme and picture today since we had a daycare attending.  My normal group of about 20-odd warm bodies ballooned up to over seventy people today - I needed all the easy I could get!

Little Quack

Lauren Thompson, illustrated by Derek Anderson

ISBN: 0689847238

Math-concept book focuses on the first time ducklings leave their nest to go swimming.

Fuzzy bright simplistic paintings use the spreads to great advantage as the looming mother duck convinces her timid ducklings to leave the nest and join her in the water.  The math is relegated to the bottom of the panels, and could easily be left out - all I did was ask the kids each time how many of the ducklings were in the water.

Have You Seen My Duckling

Nancy Tafuri

ISBN: 0688027989

Caldecott Honor book.  Vivid naturalistic colored-pencil drawings have the missing duckling hidden.

An old classic.  Hard to do in storytime usually because there's not anything to DO really - just turn the pages and ask on occasion: "have you seen my duckling?" but with a group this large, there's going to be a few kids who can be counted on to answer questions and anticipate events, so I can ask: "what sort of animal is mama duck talking to?" and "do you see the missing duckling?" (and of course point it out each time so that everyone can share the joke.  I don't do a lot of wordless or near wordless books, so it's nice to be able to use this one at last.

Five Little Ducks

Ivan Bates

ISBN: 0439746930

Bates' illustrations are always sweet and just this side of precious, paired perfectly with the nursery rhyme.

Ivan Bates is a gifted illustrator, and his beautiful pictures always warm my heart.  Something about how he lays down colors and the slightly scribbly edges on his shapes and the almost-minimalistic backgrounds just resonate really strongly with me, and I simply adore looking at them.  Calming and fun at the same time.  Matching that feeling up with an old nursery rhyme is a perfect choice, and makes for an instant classic.  The only downside is that I never heard this particular one as a song, only as a chant, so I don't actually know how to sing it!  I have to settle for halfway between reading and chanting, and my natural cadence is not quite up to the task.  Oh well.  Small price to pay for such a sweet and beautiful book.