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: Winter is Coming

It's finally starting to get a little chilly, so my coworker has picked out a very good set of "fall turns into winter" books to get us transitioned over, just in time for Christmas!

Every Autumn Comes the Bear

Jim Arnosky

ISBN: 0399225080

Lyrical text with powerful, almost frightening oversized illustrations of a territorial bear arriving before his winter's hibernation. 

Penguin and Pumpkin

Salina Yoon

ISBN: 9780802737335

A nice tone shift back to the light-hearted, Yoon gives us another cute story of Antarctic penguins traveling to see the world of fall colors and plants (we'll skip over the geographic improbability that entails with the whole southern hemisphere being in late spring), and Penguin brings back a crate of pumpkins and fall leaves for his fledgling sibling.

Shelter

Celine Claire, illustrated by Qin Leng

ISBN: 9781771389273

Sweet and (for adults at least) somewhat pointed story about offering shelter to the needy in the cold hard winter, set with forest animals, and not an overt hint of the Christmas story to be found, similarities notwithstanding (and probably intentional). Sweet for the kids, and hopefully hard-hitting for the adults. 

Tuesday Storytime: School Daze

It's chronologically well past time to start the winter-themed storytimes, but it hasn't gotten cold enough yet to really feel like it, so I'm putting them off at least another few weeks with a school-days storytime.

Marco Goes to School
Roz Chast
ISBN: 9781416984757
Marco is a parrot (?) and he's just starting to get bored with his home and room when his mom suggests he start school! He's easily distracted and concerned about how things like lunch will go, but he gets a grand plan to head to the moon, and ropes all his classmates into helping with his ambitious scheme. When everything all falls apart (literally) the teacher and his classmates help him see that there are other worthy goals to aim for in the meantime.

School Bus
Donald Crews
ISBN: 068802808X (Greenwillow Library Ed.)     
Vibrant, but nearly-wordless books are Crews' signature, and this one is no exception. It's bright and pop-arty and full of rows of busses or children or gridlines of streets. Not a lot goes on, but it's straightforward and factual and clear as a bell, all of which is reassuring for little kids who have a whole school career of bus travel in their futures.

Late for School
Stephanie Calmenson, illustrated by Sachiko Yoshikawa
ISBN: 9781575059358
Teacher is late for school, and he uses some pretty forced rhymes to incorporate a lot of varied travel options into his frantic scramble to get in the door by opening bell. It's cute and funny and lets the kids have a chance to anticipate and call out what the next travel choice will be, and the lesson at the end is sweet and helpful.

Tuesday Storytime: Fall Colors

These were selected by my co-worker.

How Big Could your Pumpkin Grow?
Wendell Minor
ISBN: 9780399246845
Strange illustrations highlight the oddities of even stranger pumpkins, growing wildly and grandiosely out of control and overwhelming their landscapes.


Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf
Lois Ehlert
ISBN: 9780152661977
One of Ehlert's classic collage and found-item celebrations, this time of the colors and impressions of fall.

Leaves in Fall 
Martha E. H. Rustad, consulting editor Gail Saunders
ISBN: 9781429600248
Beautiful photography and nature-facts approach make this a lovely nonfiction storytime addition. 

Tuesday Storytime: Thanksgiving Week

A set of classic Thanksgiving reads this year:

In November
Cynthia Rylant, illustrated by Jill Kastner
ISBN: 0152010769
A lovely segue between the natural world settling down into winter, and the social world congregating for thanksgiving celebrations. Very soothing and pretty.

We Share One World
Jane E Hoffelt, illustrated by Marty Husted
ISBN: 0970190786
A short rhyming-couplet poem follows children from countries around the world as they interact with nature in their differing environments. Super sweet message without being cloying.

Bear Says Thanks
Karma Wilson, illustrated by Jane Chapman
9781416958567
I love the Bear books, and this one is no exception. Bear is worried because he has nothing to share with his good friends on Thanksgiving, but all his friends remind him that he's special and loved just for himself, not for his food.

Tuesday Storytime: fall fun

Last week's storytime was given by my co-worker.


Autumn: Leaves Fall from the Trees
Lisa Bell, illustrated by Emily Brooks
ISBN: 1632902605 
Lovely poetic nonfiction uses lyrical text and gentle illustrations to showcase the notable features of the season, both natural and social.

Leaves
David Ezra Stein
ISBN: 9780399246364
Young Bear has a fun adventure out in a forest full of leaves until autumn comes, and he begins to worry about all of the falling leaves. He tries his best to fix them, and to keep an eye on them and the trees, but he is getting soooo sleeeepy! When he wakes in the spring, he's in for a reassuring surprise.

One Leaf, Two Leaves, Count With Me!
John Micklos Jr, illustrated by Clive McFarland
Peculiar art style livens up this counting book following a deciduous tree through the seasons as we count leaves coming in spring, and going away again in fall. Older readers might twig to the notion that there's way more than four leaves per tree (even in the illustrations) but the younger ones will dig the progression of the seasons.

Tuesday Storytime: Monstrous families

I also had Amanda Noll and Howard McWilliam's fantastic I Need My Monster cued up, but the crowd was predominantly littles, so it would have been too long. Highly recommended. 

I Am A Witch's Cat

Harriet Muncaster

ISBN: 9780062229144

Looooooove this book so much. The miniatures/dollhouse/collage illustrations are fantastic, the story is cute, and the premise is perfectly executed. Really excellent.

Go Away, Big Green Monster!

Ed Emberley

ISBN: 9780316236539

Classic cut-out reveal book. Simple, no nonsense, super fast, super fun for the kids to see how the monster grows and disappears. 

Creepy Monsters, Sleepy Monsters a lullabye

Jane Yolen, illustrated by Kelly Murphy

ISBN: 9780763642013

Slow and very sedate, but a welcome change in tone from most upbeat or quirky halloween/monster books. This one is sweet and gentle, and ramps down smoothly from the end of a school day to the nearly endless rituals of bedtime. Sweet.

Tuesday Storytime: Creeping towards Halloween!

This storytime was also done (last minute I might add) by my co-worker.

10 Trick-or-Treaters
Janet Schulman, illustrated by Linda Davick
ISBN: 9780385736145
Small format book is just the right balance of creepy and anticipatory, with bright colors and cheerful thrills as we count down the numbers from a fun night out through to bedtime.

Minerva Louise at Halloween
Janet Morgan Stoeke
ISBN: 9780525421498
Minerva Louise is everyone's favorite slightly addled chicken, and this time around she's bringing her Amelia-Bedelia observations to Halloween night. Cute and sweet and extremely light-hearted.

Little Blue Truck's Halloween (lift-the-flap board book)
Alice Schertle, Jill McElmurry
ISBN: 9780544772533
The character of the Little Blue Truck is cute in his own right, with a series of short stories that are all adorable, but this lift the flap book brings the character and the whimsical Dick-and-Jane illustrations over for trick-or-treating, and it's a great fun little short trip.

Tuesday Storytime: Super-Animals!

These were picked out by my co-worker, they're super cute, and a fun way to highlight the general superhero craze!

Super Duck
Jez Alborough
ISBN: 9781933605890

Super Duck vs The Kite. I think the kite wins. Bonus points for very long-suffering friends who still manage to enforce boundaries on their super (excitable) friend.


What Goes Up
Paula Bowles
ISBN: 9781589251199
Martin is a big-boned dragon with very tiny wings, which means that he hasn't managed to fly yet. This makes him very sad, but the village children are on-board with all of his silly schemes to get him up in the air, and even add a stealth exercise regime of their own. When Martin finally goes airborne, it's surprisingly touching.


Arnold the Brave
Gundi Herget, illustrated by Nicolai Renger
ISBN: 9781441326508
Arnold is a Super Sheep, and he's ready and willing to defend his flock against the Big Bad Wolf, but even a Super Sheep needs a little sneaky help from a good friend. The spirit is willing, and gravity provides a big assist for this spunky sheep with a brave heart.

 

Tuesday Storytime: October is here! Spooky Storytimes FTW

Halloween time is here again! My favorite holiday of the year, with my favorite month of fun storytimes about monsters and witches and good Halloween fun.

This week we're seeing monsters in three different fun environments.

Monster Chefs
Brian and Liam Anderson
ISBN: 9781596438088
Four monster chefs are caught off-guard by the monster king's demand for something different to eat besides eyeballs and ketchup, and three of them fail miserably, but the fourth finds a pastry chef, and starts a monster culinary revolution!

Boo-La-La Witch Spa
Samantha Berger, illustrated by Isabel Roxas
ISBN: 9780803738867
Cute walkthru of spas and their services and experiences, all with a witchy gloss. Skipped some sections because we have very small attendees this time, but it's spread-based so it's easy to skip past bits at leisure.

Monsters Love School
Mike Austin
ISBN: 9780062286185
The first day of school is fun for all, even little monsters!

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: Stormy Days Ahead

With Florence looming dramatically offshore, and lots of locals either prepping their own properties for rain and floods, or dealing with friends and family evacuating from the shoreline, it's important to normalize weather events and how to deal with them.

It's also important to realize that when routines are shaken up and kids are unsettled from the chaos around them, they're going to act up and be less able to focus on anything: even storytime. It's always better to work with what the kids are capable of at the moment.

Because we had some unsettled kids and families, we only made it through two books today, one of which was very short. That's ok. It's better to have a short but good storytime experience than to make it a stressful or disciplinarian time.

Monsoon Afternoon
Kashmira Sheth, illustrated by Yoshiko Jaeggi
ISBN: 9781561454556
In India, a boy watches the first rains of monsoon season approach, but the rest of the household is busy with work, all except for his grandfather, his Dadaji. The boy and his dadaji play outside in the rain for the afternoon, talking about how the monsoon came when the grandfather was a child, and will continue to come when the boy is a grandfather himself.

Rain Fish
Lois Ehlert
ISBN: 9781481461528
Another of Ehlert's excellent collage books, this one is another short and sweet entry. The format is highly horizontal, so be aware when holding it that it's a little harder to keep balanced. There are some weird and wacky fish made of trash and gutter debris, with a fun rhyme to balance the weirdness out. I do wish there was some way to talk about cleaning UP the materials that make up the Rain Fish, but that's probably a bit of a high bar for a book as conceptual and visual as this is.

I was also planning to read
Thunder-Boomer!
Shutta Crum, illustrated by Carol Thompson
ISBN: 9780618618561
which features a farming family that is much more familiar to my local families here. A storm is blowing in, and the family retreats to the house while the storm and wind and hail and rain all blow past, then head back out into the muddy and windblown aftermath to see what's happened outside. A sub-plot with a chicken ends up being the tagline for the book - very cute. 

Tuesday Storytime: Library Books

Done by my counterpart. Always a fun choice to focus on literacy and library skills with a captive audience. :)

We Are In A Book
Mo Willems

It's Library Day
Janet Morgan Stoeke
I love this author and her books.

Otto the Book Bear
Katie Cleminson

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: Confused Animals

This week we had a set of very confused (but helpful) animals.

The Giant Jumperee
Julia Donaldson, illustrated by Helen Oxenbury
ISBN: 9780735227972
A series of animals are scared in turn by a scary creature who has taken over a burrow; threatening each of them in JUUUST the right way to make them too scared to even LOOK at the obviously scary creature. But Mama Frog is made of tougher stuff (and she's probably got an inside track on who it is anyway) and she marches right in no matter what the creature says. A fun story, and it's cute to have all the "tricked" animals laughing and "in" on the joke instead of upset.

Cock-A-Doodle-Moo!
Bernard Most
ISBN: 0152012524
Cockerel has a sore throat, so the cow has offered to help him out by waking everyone in the morning with the signature CockADoodleDoo! - But Cow isn't really good with languages, so he's having some trouble getting the crow just right. With a lot of trial and error (lots of funny errors) the cow eventually gets it close enough to manage, just in time for Cockerel to feel better after all.

The Thingamabob
Il Sung Na
ISBN: 9780375961069
A lonely elephant finds an interesting Thingamabob, and he quite enjoys playing with it and hanging around with it, even though he has NO CLUE what it's supposed to be or do. He and an assortment of animal cameos make various suggestions for uses, but they all fall through, until it starts to rain, and the Thingamabob suddenly makes perfect sense.

Tuesday Storytime: Kids and Pets

This past month has been crazy busy for me, so my compatriot has been doing all the storytimes for the past month, and has picked out some really fun and interesting themes and stories.

Max and Marla Are Having a Picnic
Alexandra Boiger
ISBN: 9780399175053
Max and Marla are off on their traditional spring picnic, but everything (with the best of intentions) goes horribly awry (Max is the person, by the way - it took me a few pages to decide for sure) and in a very Gift of the Magi sort of way, the love and care the friends have for each other repair the bad memories from the day, and create a new twist on tradition to end with reconnection and care.

My Best Friend is a Goldfish
Mark Lee, illustrated by Chris Jevons
ISBN: 9781512426014
A best friend breakup is never fun, but when a kid has pets, then he automatically has best friends, right? Friends who like ALL the same things, DO everything together, and PLAY in just the same way, right? Maybe not. And maybe after realizing the limits of his pets, our little boy realizes that actual friends have some of the same limitations.

This one got snagged by a patron before I could read it - A good problem to have! I'll add it in once I get a chance to preview it myself.

Tuesday Storytime: Growing Green

I have been waiting almost a full year to use Escargot in a storytime, so I'm very happy that he's had his 15 minutes of fame.

Escargot
Dashka Slater, illustrated by Sydney Hanson
ISBN: 9780374302818
Escargot is a magnifique French snail who journeys with the reader across a picnic table to reach a delightful salad, discussing favorite animals along the way (sad fact, no one chooses snails as their favorite animals) and eventually teaming up with the readers to attempt to frighten off a rogue carrot, then to very bravely try just a bit of it. Adorable, and with just enough french to be fun, but not intimidating to read.

Summer Supper
Rubin Pfeffer, illustrated by Mike Austin
ISBN: 9781524714642
A multi-shades-of-brown family works in a garden, a farmer's market, and a kitchen, before enjoying an outdoor meal and then a musical shindig. The fun here is that all of the words start with the letter S. I felt like I was narrating a segment of Sesame Street, but it was surprisingly seamless. :)

It Starts with a Seed
Laura Knowles, illustrated by Jennie Weber
ISBN: 9781910277263
Very beautiful and ornate book with gilded covers and THICK quality paper (makes the pages a bit hard to turn) with beautiful watercolor and ink linework showing off the growth cycle of a seed through a seedling, sapling, young tree, then mature tree, ending with a spray of seeds landing and sprouting along a tri-fold-out ending spread that is simply beautiful. Very pretty and a nice reminder that animals and bugs eat and live around plants too.

Tuesday Storytime: Dogs and Cats

Selected by my officemate.

The Best Log in the Bog
Marv Alinas, illustrated by Kathleen Petelinsek
ISBN: 9781503823563
A beginning reader format with a cute story of a dog and frog on their adventures in a very pastel and cheerful bog.

Kitty Cat Kitty Cat, Are You Waking Up?
Bill Martin, Jr., illustrated by Michael Sampson
ISBN:
A cute favorite of mine. Mama Cat is doing all she can to convince sleepy kitten to get up and start the day.

Dog's ABC
Emma Dodd
ISBN: 0525468374
This silly alphabet journey follows Dog (a very fat and rolly white blob) through an exciting afternoon of alphabetically-ordered adventures. Very cute and silly.

Tuesday Storytime (and Summer Reading): Closeout Dance Party!

Despite technical difficulties and scheduling conflicts, our very last 2018 summer reading program went off without a hitch. We read some books, danced some dances (courtesy KidzBop) and had a big flashy final event that the kids really enjoyed.

Books read for the Storytime Dance Party:

Dancing Feet!
Lindsey Craig, illustrated by Marc Brown
ISBN: 9780375861819
A fun "identify the animal" progression, using cute little dancing rhymes about various kinds of dancing feet. At the end, it's revealed that all the dancers are kids, acting out dances in the style of "their" animal. It's fun to match them by pose and costume to their particular creature.

Amazing Me! Music!
Carol Thompson
ISBN: 9781846439612
This book wins the "arrived just in time" award, having shown up on the Friday before this last program. I was thrilled to see it, because even though it's short, it's got great representation and rhythm and a good solid set of fun, lively illustrations.

Feel the Beat: dance poems that zing from salsa to swing
Marilyn Singer, illustrated by Kristi Valiant
ISBN: 9780803740211
Shoutout to Valiant for her amazing body and facial expressions all through this book. It really takes a good solid poetry entry and just slides it up into a really really great read. There are LOTS of poems, and so I cheated: we only read the doubled poem: All of the World, Dancing is Joy; Hip-Hop; Merengue; Square Dance; Conga; Waltz (so LOVELY to see a strong black boy dancing); Bhangra; and ended with Swing Dance. There's quite a few more, and also a fun CD of the author reading the poems with the rhythm and mood of the dance style in question. Very cool.



Books read for the Summer Reading Dance Party:

Jazz on a Saturday Night
Leo and Diane Dillon
ISBN: 9780590478939
Moody and jazzy imaginary scene of many of the jazz greats playing all together in a fictional club. Comes with a CD of music either by or inspired by the particular artists featured: Miles Davis, Max Roach, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Stanley Clarke, Ella Fitzgerald,

Hip Cat
Jonathan London, illustrated by Woodleigh Hubbard
ISBN: 0811814890
Practically a jazz improv in book form. Love the colors and the big bold chunky shapes and shimmies of the paintings, love the beat-poetry form of the text on the page, love the visuals and imagery of the Hip Cat wandering through his city.

Tuesday Storytime (and Summer Reading): Musical People

This one was given by my cohort, and was their first Summer Reading Program - they were quite nervous, but realized once they were in there that it really isn't much different.

For Storytime, we have younger kids and an easier craft (and sometimes easier books).

Tito Puente: Mambo King (bilingual, Spanish/English)
Monica Brown, illustrated by Rafael Lopez
ISBN: 9780061227837


Drum Dream Girl
Margarita Engle, illustrated by Rafael Lopez
ISBN: 9780544102293

Ella Queen of Jazz
Helen Hancocks
ISBN: 9781847809186

And then for the older kids we try to add in some more conceptual or free-flowing books:

Bird and Diz
(this is an accordion-fold book, folds out to about 5 feet, then the reader has to reverse and read back through the other side)
Gary Golio, illustrated by Ed Young
ISBN: 9780763666606

Tuesday Storytime: 4th of July interlude, and The Dance of the Violin

There was a program break over the week of July 4th, but parents/caregivers are notoriously creatures of habit, so we always pull aside a few books just in case enough someones come by and we just do an ad-hoc program on the fly. Last Tuesday, it was given by my coworker, who used one of our pre-selected Summer Reading titles, and two more general "music and noise" books she selected.

The Happy Hedgehog Band
Martin Waddell, illustrated by Jill Barton
ISBN: 1564020118
The hedgehog band all plays drums, and they're so good that the other forest creatures want to join the band too, but they don't have any instruments at all!

Barnyard Banter
Denise Fleming
ISBN: 080501957x
There's a ruckus going on in the barnyard that requires the reader to put forth some serious farm animal noises.

Jazz Baby
Lisa Wheeler, illustrated by R. Gregory Christie
ISBN: 9780152025229
Jazz baby's AA family is all about the music and love, and the illustrations are quirky and sinuous.


Back into the swing of official programming, we're on our first week of reading programs instead of performer programs. I'm expecting a slightly smaller turnout, but it's always hard to know for sure. We've got two weeks of reading programs before our final Dance Party and then it's back to the normal selection of themes and titles for the rest of the year. These were the books read for BOTH the storytime and the Summer Reading Program.

The Bear and the Piano
David Lichfield
ISBN: 9780544674547
A bear discovers a thing in the woods that makes very interesting, and eventually, very beautiful, noises. He goes on to become a renowned concert pianist, but his fond memories of his friends and homeland eventually bring him back full circle.

Music Is...
Brandon Stosuy, illustrated by Amy Martin
ISBN: 9781481477024
A boardbook with a basic contrasting content structure for the first 7/8ths, then blossoms into a nearly free-verse experience at the very end. Really good illustrations, and just right for a young age to think about music. Be prepared to explain things like cassette tapes and LPs tho.

The Dance of the Violin
Kathy Stinson, illustrated by Dušan Petricic
ISBN: 9781554519002
About violinist Joshua Bell, who at age 12 entered a music contest and nearly wiped out, but gave it another try and performed beautifully. The art is lovely, but doesn't really align with the way that the "visuals" are described in the book. I think this may just be me being too literal, but when the text is talking about dancers and bears and shipwrecks, I do wish that the art was a LITTLE more representational.

  

Ask A Manager: Work Stuff Book Club

Landing page for the AskAManager.org Book Club

Our first discussion is Friday, July 6th, about Alison's own newest book: Ask a Manager (ISBN: 9780399181818). I'll post a link to the comment thread once the weekend is done.

Our second discussion will be Friday, August 3rd, and with 6 voters in the poll, the winner is Thrive, by Arianna Huffington (ISBN: 9780804140867)

Our next poll for deciding on the September read (September 7th) is up here: https://doodle.com/poll/y2cvw3aqp26p5pc6 and will be linked in my user name on the comment thread.


Please continue to suggest titles or cateogories you'd like to read (falling under the loose umbrella of professional development or interest) in the comments here or there and I'll add them to the list!

Title List

All of Alison's Books

Body Language
Barbara and Allen Pease

The Captain Class: the hidden force that creates the world's greatest teams
Sam Walker

Coach the Person not the Problem
Chad Hall

The Coaching Habit
Michael Stanier

The Confidence Code
Katty Kay and Claire Shipman

Confident Digital Content: master the fundamentals of online video, design, writing, and social media
Adam Waters

Contagious: why things catch on (suggested by Anxiety Anon, currently on September poll)
Jonah Berger

The Courage to be Disliked
Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga

The Culture Map: breaking through the invisible boundaries of global business (currently on September poll)
Erin Meyer

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team (for October poll, suggested by ThursdaysGeek)
Patrick Lencioni

The Four Tendencies
Gretchen Rubin

Gift of Fear
Gavin de Becker

Great At Work: How Top Performers do less, work better, and achieve more
Morten Hansen

The Gutsy Girl Handbook
Kate White

The Happy, Healthy Nonprofit (currently on September poll; suggested by Victoria Nonprofit)
Beth Kanter and Aliza Sherman

How to be an Imperfectionist
Stephen Guise

How to be Miserable: 40 strategies you already use
Randy Paterson

How to Talk to Anyone
Leil Lowndes

How to Win Friends and Influence People
Dale Carnegie

Influence (for later poll, suggested by Viola E)
Robert Cialdini

Leaders Eat Last
Simon Sinek

Lean In (suggested by PhyllisB)
Sheryl Sandburg

The Like Switch (by an FBI agent about much better options for getting info out of people than "interrogating" them)
Jack Schafer

Mastering Civility: a manifesto for the workplace
Christine Porath

Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics
Dan Harris, Jeff Warren, Carlye Adler

No Asshole Rule (for later poll, suggested by PhyllisB)
Robert Sutton

No Sweat Public Speaking: how to develop, practice, and deliver
Fred Miller (no votes on August poll, we'll try it again later)

Not Nice: stop people pleasing, staying silent, feeling guilty...
Aziz Gazipura

Off the Clock: feel less busy while getting more done
Laura Vanderkam

The Power of Habit
Charles Duhigg

Predictably Irrational (on September poll, suggested by Emily S)
Dan Ariely

Radical Candor: How to be a kick-ass boss without losing your humanity (on September poll, seconded by Victoria Nonprofit)
Kim Scott

7 Habits of Highly Effective People
Stephen Covey

The Silent Language of Leaders
Carol Kinsey Goman

Smarter Better Faster
Charles Duhigg

Speaking Out: A 21st Century handbook for women and girls
Tara Moss

The Speed of Trust (for a later poll, suggested by Sami)
Stephen M R Covey

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck
Mark Manson

Talk like TED
Carmine Gallo

Thrive
Arianna Huffington (suggested by Emily S., for AUGUST 3, 2018 Discussion)

Thinking Fast and Slow (for later poll, sugggested by Viola E)
Daniel Kahneman

Verbal Judo (updated)
George Thompson

What Every Body is Saying
Joe Navarro

When to Jump: if the job you have isn't the life you want
Mike Lewis

Winning the Talent War through Neurodiversity *not published yet*
William Rothwell and Jonathan Zion  (suggested by Good, Cheap, or Soon, Pick Two)

Work Clean (for later poll; suggested by LilySparrow)
Dan Charmas

Writing Your Dissertation in 15 Minutes a Day (for later poll, suggested by Extra Vitamins)
Joan Bolker

Tuesday Storytime AND Summer Reading: Sound Science!

For storytime, a trio of "school" themed books featuring music or noisemaking. For the summer reading program, a visit from Miss Frizzle, who also read Max Found Two Sticks during her fantastic science-filled program.

Storytime:
Violet's Music
Angela Johnson, illustrated by Laura Huliska-Beith
ISBN: 0803727402
Violet lives breathes dances walks sings and exudes music - which is fine, and generally satisfying, but there's no one else at school who really understands her passion. They all have their own different passions. So Violet starts to look for her people, and when she finds some others who REALLY dig music, they all validate her previous passion and vague loneliness, and then happily start up a band.

Music Class Today!
David Weinstone, illustrated by Vin Vogel
ISBN: 9780374341311
A boisterous music class is kept on a gentle schedule by a bearded teacher, while a shy/introverted/sensitive child hovers around the edges, unsure about all this noise and commotion, until they gather their courage and happily join in the fun. Very short, but very inclusive and positive look at a classroom setting.

Ruby Sings the Blues
Niki Daly
ISBN: 1582349959
I've used this one before, because I love Ruby, with her volume control permanently set to HIGH. She's just excited and happy and wants to be heard, which drives everyone at school and home absolutely bonkers, until someone suggests music lessons, and Ruby discovers Jazz and Blues, and puts her BIG voice to excellent (and finally appreciated) use.

Tuesday Storytime AND Summer Reading! Dance Party!

Our summer reading program was a blast this week, with pulsing african drums and all sorts of great encouraging yells to our dancers and kid (and adult) volunteers. The troupe was amazing, had lots of energy, and was unfailingly kind and professional, even when confronted with about 80 kids and toddlers.

But that's not what we're here for: BOOKS!

Dancing books are so much fun. There are so many, and I do them so often, that I try to find something new to read when I can, rather than recycle ones that are my own personal favorites. This time I ended up with a favorite from a couple years back, a really great read that I'd enjoyed before but never used in storytime, and a delightful newcomer who just stole my heart.

The Newcomer:
Dance is for Everyone
Andrea Zuill
Ballet class isn't quite the same when an alligator joins the practice sessions. But they name their new student Tanya (after the school's prima ballerina founder) and everything goes pretty well once they figure out how to deal with language barriers and very large and swishy tails. In fact, it goes so well that they create a piece specifically for their recital and it goes perfectly! But Tanya doesn't come back to class afterwards. After a few disheartening weeks, the class gets a note (you'll love the note) and they head over to the nearest swamp for an encore performance of their recital. Really cute, and a good match up with Lyle Crocodile or the snake one with the old lady that I can't remember at the moment.

Older Cutie:
Everybunny Dance
Ellie Sandall
This one is very sweet and cool because it totally subverts the fox and bunnies thing, and I love it when the kids are all shook when the fox appears, and then slowly grin and get into the joke when it all turns out all right. An excellent plot and twist and finale for such a short book.

Great (non-storytime) Read:
I Got the Rhythm
Connie Schofield-Morrison, illustrated by George Morrison
Our unnamed sassy AA protagonist girl sashays down the streets, into the parks, and into the hearts of literally everyone she meets as she emits a cool funky beat with every move she makes. Eventually the beats compose into a dance, and there's glimpses of like an Enchanted (Disney live action princess movie, it's great, go watch it) sort of dance montage where you wonder if the rats and roaches are also cutting the rug under everyone's feet, and then it's all faded back and she's left alone sashaying back into the next chapter. No plot worth speaking of, but style and moxie for miles.

Tuesday Storytime AND Summer Reading!

Two-fer posts all summer long, aren't you lucky!

Last week started off with a literal bang, with a great SRP performance by a local magician and musician who did a delightful and very well choreographed performance using a lot of classic music cues. Very clever and thoughtful and the music was integrated into every part of the performance except perhaps the magic rabbit that turned into a real rabbit for the kids to pet, but I'm going to overlook that because soft cuddly rabbit. But enough about him, this blog is about the books.

For the storytime earlier in the day, I focused on general music books to set the mood: later programs have more specific themes (dance, jazz, biographies) so I wanted to keep any of those back to make a connection between those programs.

I ended up with an old favorite, a new classic, and a fun little cutie. 

New Classic:
88 Instruments
Chris Barton
ISBN: maybe later
So this kid goes into a music shop and there are 88 instruments for him to choose from; which one does he want to take lessons with? We wander past the strings, triangles, electric guitar, are dreadfully tempted by the drum set, but then he discovers the piano, which (amazing coincidence not at all contrived by the writer) has 88 keys ALSO! And once he masters them all, he's going to play beautiful music, and then perhaps pick another new instrument to learn after all.

New Cutie:
Rock and Roll Soul
Author: hmmmm
ISBN: reply hazy
I don't normally like "scribbly" art, but I do want to give all different art styles and approaches a fighting chance, and the bubbly happy beat of this book was too much to pass up. I feel like there was a bit of a story (girl is going to perform in her school's talent show) but there really isn't any urgency or flow to that, just a set of spreads of her bopping and rocking out with her bad self and her amazing self esteem. Really fun.

Old Favorite:
My Family Plays Music
Author: I should know this but it's summer reading and a tuesday so I can barely remember I need to buy cat food tonight.
ISBN: not a chance
This is my "platonic ideal" book when I want to show people what diversity in picture books looks like. All these people are family, and they are all different, and all different-looking, and they all love each other and NOTHING in the story references their color or their nationality AT ALL. It's beautiful and I love it and it's nearly perfect. The narrator is a young girl, and she plays along with a VERY large musical family in lots of venues, picking just the right percussion instrument to fit in with a dizzying array of differing musical styles and traditions. Clean, clear, crisp, straightforward, no explanations or apologies. Just a family who loves music.

Tuesday Storytime: Like a Lion

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.

Tuesday Storytime: Cats

Cat Knit
Jacob Grant
ISBN: 9781250051509
Cat and Girl are good friends, and then Girl brings home Yarn, a rolly squishy bouncy fun playmate - until Girl plays with Yarn too long and Yarn ends up all constricted and scratchy and no-fun. Well.. it is awfully cold outside. Maybe Yarn's new shape can be a good friend too.

Stack the Cats
Susie Ghahremani
ISBN: 9781419723490
Adorable chibi-style cats in bright neo-mid-century-modern colors flop and roll and yes, stack, in the spreads and pages of this adorable little concept book with numbers and some basic addition.

Cat Nap
Toni Yuly
ISBN: 9781250054586
Cat is tired and wants to sleep, but Kitten wants to PLAY. Cat suggests a game of hide and seek, where Cat hides (and tries to nap) but Kitten is waaay too good at this game and finds Cat very quickly. Parents and caregivers will sympathize with the poor dead-eyed Cat, and kids think it's hysterical that the kitten finds and wakes Cat everywhere. The ending is obvious, but done well.

Tuesday Storytime: Elephants

I maaaaaaay have had these books waiting on storytime for a very long time, and I'm so happy that I finally got to use them. They're all super cute.

When Your Elephant Comes to Play
Ale Barba
ISBN: 9780399163128
On Wednesdays, an elephant comes to visit, and you'd think it would be loads of fun, but there are lots of logistical challenges to playing with an elephant. Swimming is problematic, bed-bouncing wakes the neighborhood, and tree-houses are right out. But still, there are some very nice things elephants are good for, like warm cozy hugs.

Little Elliot, Big City
Mike Curato
ISBN: 9780805098259
Elliot is an adorable miniature spotted elephant, and he lives alone in a big retro city full of regular people. Life is challenging when you're small, but Elliot is generally up for the challenge, but he gets a little blue when he can't manage to get a cupcake; he's too small to see over the counter. But when Elliot meets (and helps out) someone even smaller, he gains two important things: a boost of confidence, and a new friend. Life is always better with both of those things.

Strictly No Elephants
Lisa Mantchev, illustrated by Taeeun Yoo
ISBN: 9781481416474
A sweet boy and his "tiny elephant" are good friends, and they're excited to go to the Pet Club Day, but they're discouraged by the "strictly no elephants" sign on the door. The requisite sad-mood-rain spread happens, and then the boy finds a girl and her pet skunk, also turned away by the restrictive Pet Club. The two of them hit it off, and they start their new club with a growing parade of children and their unusual pets (I'm especially fond of the bat, and of a small narwhal in a goldfish bowl) and hang their own sign, proudly proclaiming "All Are Welcome."

 

Tuesday Storytime: For the Birds

These were selected by my coworker.

Crow Made a Friend
Margaret Peot
ISBN: 9780823432974
Rainbow-colored Crow makes a friend from sticks, then snow, but they don't last - true friendship comes from a mate and eventual nestlings.

That is NOT a Good Idea
Mo Willems
ISBN: 9780062203090
Willems' parody take on nursery rhyme stories has a Greek Chorus of baby chicks intoning all the bad plans along the way, with a "twist" ending.

A Book of Babies
Il Sung Na
ISBN: 9780385752909
All sorts of animal babies included, but ducklings are front and center.

Tuesday Storytime: Friendly Fantasy Creatures

Julia's House for Lost Creatures
Ben Hatke
ISBN: 9781596438668
By the author of Zita the Spacegirl. Julia's house is built onto a giant tortoise, and it's moved in to a lovely spot by the sea - but things are too lonely! So Julia puts out a sign advertising space for Lost creatures, and boy do they show up in droves. The company is great, but the extra housework and messes not so much. How will Julia solve her problem and keep her new friends at her house?

Ribbit!
Rodrigo Folgueira, illustrated by Poly Bernatene
ISBN: 9780307981462
The frog family are distressed by a large pink visitor that only says "Ribbit!" and they work themselves (and a lot of rubbernecking forest creatures) up into a frenzy worrying about this strange pig and what terrible things it could possibly want with them. Finally the Wise Old Beetle offers some common sense, but it's too late for the frogs - or, maybe not? Are frogs afraid of heights? "Tweet tweet!"

If I Had a Gryphon
Vikki Vansickle, illustrated by Cale Atkinson
ISBN: 9781770498099
A dark brown girl laments in rhyming couplets about how ANY fantastical pet would be a better option than her current disappointing hamster. Until she gets a bit further into the scenarios, and realizes that perhaps a fantastical pet may have some significant downsides. Cute and quick, despite covering a lot of ground. Reads VERY fast.

Tuesday Storytime: In Between

Stories of things or people who that aren't quite one category or the other. Books chosen by my co-worker, and this selection specifically chosen by our "pinch hitter" back-up.

Hoot and Peep
Lita Judge
ISBN: 9780525428374
Hoot is excited to show his little sister Peep around town at night, and to teach her all the owly things she needs to learn, but Peep can't seem to get the hang of hooting properly. Hoot tries and tries to get her to do it "right" but eventually learns that relationships and creativity are more important than rules. Very beautiful artwork, but the quality of the art and the tone of the storyline seem a bit mis-matched to me.


A Cub in the Tub
Marv Alinis, illustrated by Kathleen Petelinsek
ISBN: 9781503823570
An "early reader" book, this features Bub the cub who is dirty and needs a bath and then his dinner. Very short and simple, with cute but simple, limited-palette artwork.


Neither
Airlie Anderson
ISBN: 9780316547697
In the Land of This and That, there are blue Thises (bunnies) and yellow Thats (birds) and one really confused green Something Else. No one wants to play with it, no one wants to claim it, and neither side really wants to associate with it. It's shamed as a Neither, and kicked out to find Somewhere Else to fit in. Instead it finds the Land of All, and is welcomed by a set of rainbow-hued imaginary and combinatory animals (I especially like the purple butterfly-kitten and a background bearbat) to have fun and play. After introductions and reminders that All here are different and ok, a pair of This and That (with decorated bodies) arrives, also looking for Somewhere Else, because they don't fit in at home either. The Neither chides them for a moment about sending it away, but then welcomes them both to the Land of All. The following spread shows a great plethora of wild, imaginary, combinatory, and "normal" animals and creatures all playing happily together.

Tuesday Storytime: Dogs and Cats

These were chosen by my coworker this week.

Douglas, You Need Glasses!
Ged Adamson
ISBN: 9780553522433
I always enjoy a funny book about kid-centric fears or challenges, and discovering that you need glasses is a pretty big challenge for a lot of kids. I somehow made it til my driving test before discovering that I was pretty nearly legally blind (that was a fun eye-sight test), whereas a less-blissfully-ignorant friend of mine was leaving her glasses behind at sleepovers, and "accidentally" dropping them behind car tires or into gopher holes at age 5. So there's going to be a lot of interest and sympathy here for poor Douglas, who gets into awful scrapes because he can't see, and then realizes that the world is a lot more fun with glasses. The translation of an eye chart into dog-friendly images is an especially fun sequence.

I Don't Want a Cool Cat!
Emma Dodd
ISBN: 9780316036740
A girl goes down the list of types of cats that she definitely does not want, until she reaches the end to state that really all she wants is just a cat - any cat - of her own. Sweet and cute (there's a dog version also).

Wolf's Coming!
Joe Kulka
ISBN: 9781575059303
Forest animals start giving warnings to each other and sneaking through the woods and into corners and hidey-places in houses as the Wolf starts to approach, but it's all in good fun at the end, as the animals are there for an entirely different type of surprise. I still think my favorite part of this book is the Wolf's dapper business suit with the giant '80s-style power shoulders. My second favorite is the scared look on his face as he peers into his strangely-dark house (our first real clue that something's up). Very suspenseful, and the tension might get to some younger kids - the colors are saturated and dark towards the reveal of the surprise.

Tuesday Storytime: Cardboard Boxes

I did a "box" storytime (cough) years ago, and I had the WORST time finding good picture books for the topic, which I thought was so weird - cardboard boxes are totally a THING with kids, right? Now I'm happy to say that there are quite a few good "box books" out there to choose from, and I've got three really nice ones.

Big Friends
Linda Sarah, illustrated by Benji Davies
ISBN: 9781627793308
Birt and Etho are Big Friends, and they love taking their giant cardboard boxes up to the top of the nearby hill and playing fantastic games with them. Until Shu, a younger boy, gets up the nerve to ask to play also, and suddenly being a trio is just too much for Birt. He bails and sulks and avoids the other two boys until they come by his house with an amazing cardboard construction to share - maybe a trio isn't so bad after all?

Not a Box
Antoinette Portis
ISBN: 9780061123221
This is like the platonic ideal of a box book. A cute little black outlined bunny and box appear on each spread, with a question about what the bunny is doing with/at/in that box? Answers are on the next spread, as the phrase "not a box" is repeated (with just enough variation and emphasis) alongside the same illustration of the bunny and box repeated, but with added red outlines of the imaginary item that the box is representing. Very very good interactive and fun super short book. Remember to use a good robot voice for one of the "this is not a box" repeats.

What to do With a Box
Jane Yolen, illustrated by Chris Sheban
ISBN: 9781568462899
This is like a more dreamlike and artistic version of Not a Box. Yolen's slant rhymes and strange cadences work more often than not, but can be a bit tongue-trippy at times. The artwork is fake collage done with watercolors and colored pencils and inks, very well done, but perhaps a litttle overproduced? Just the tiniest bit? The kids seem to be siblings, but that's not made hugely clear, and they aren't diverse or minority, which is a shame, because the "story" doesn't require a static cast of characters to present the concept. I would have liked to see more and varied faces and bodies enjoying the boxes, rather than the same duo of "samey" white kids we always see. Very pretty, and artistically quite clever, but I sort of prefer the directness of Not a Box, or the more depthful friendship message in Big Friends.

Tuesday Storytime: Puppies!

Some really cute books picked out by my coworker this week!

Puppy, Puppy, Puppy
Julie Sternberg, illustrated by Fred Koehler
ISBN: 9781629794662
Adorable bi-racial infant (and exhausted parents) trail around after a rambunctious puppy that beautifully shows the potentials of a strong bond between kids and pets.

Spot Goes to the Park (lift the flap)
Eric Hill
ISBN: 0399218335
Spot is a perennial favorite, especially so because the stories are so short and simplistic. We always have a lot of babies and very young or new toddlers, and a short interactive story like this sets them up for success.

Mister Bud Wears the Cone
Carter Goodrich
ISBN: 9781442480889
Bud and Zorro are pets together, and when Bud licks a hot spot, he has to wear the dreaded cone all day while the people are away. Zorro is a horrid tease about it, and the cone is awkward and clumsy, and by the end of the day poor Bud thinks he is a very bad dog indeed. The ending is upbeat and sweet, and Zorro gets his in the endpages.

Tuesday Storytime: Spring Flowers

This week's program was selected by my coworker.

Flower Garden
Eve Bunting, illustrated by Kathryn Hewitt
ISBN: 0152287760
An adorable black girl works with her father to create a miniature garden in a flowerbox in their city brownstone apartment, as a birthday present for her mother.

Planting a Rainbow
Lois Ehlert
ISBN: 0152626093
A long-time classic. Ehlert's cut-out collages are bright and vibrant, and generally short and sweet. About halfway through the book, there is a section of gradated-width pages that feature different colored bands to show progressively more flowers of that color. Really well designed.

The Flower's Busy Day (Bamboo and Friends)
Felicia Law, illustrated by Nicola Evans
ISBN: 1404812814
Bamboo the panda and his diverse animal friends investigate the day cycle of a flower in this nonfiction-adjacent conceptual picture book. Lots of information packed into a pretty tight narrative. They are cleverly done, but the illustrations aren't quite my style: a little too loose and bright and overproduced. Vibrant and fun and true.

Tuesday Storytime: Helpful Friends

Another set of books pulled very long ago, and finally getting used. These all feature friends trying to do the right thing and help out in tough situations. Sometimes it works - sometimes it doesn't, but it's the thought that counts.

Peace, Baby!

Linda Ashman, illustrated by Joanne Lew-Vriethoff

ISBN: 9781452106137

Pastels and scribbly open-edges make for a welcoming and lively set of vignettes and single-page spreads of before/after scenarios. In loose verse, diverse kids are shown encountering "difficult" situations; a sibling or friend accidentally hits them while roughhousing, a child cheats or grabs at shared toys, difficulties sharing, messes, bumps, and general life. Each time the scenario is presented, the option is shown to have "peace, baby" and this child is shown choosing a pro-social coping method. "Dress up time: You grab the gown, but Phoebe snags the sparkly crown. Would a princess push her down?" with this text we have a set of girls with angry faces arguing over a trunk of dress up clothing. Facing page shows the same girls happily bowing to each other as before a courtly dance, with smiling faces, and each with one item from the trunk. "No! Peace, baby!" Admittedly preachy, but sweet and basic.

Boo Hoo Bird

Jeremy Tankard

ISBN: 9780545065702

Tankard's "Bird" features in a lot of stories, but this one is especially cute. When a game of catch results in Bird getting bonked on the head, he cries and cries and cries as his friends try to console or help him. At the end, they're all discouraged and crying when Bird realizes that perhaps the bonk wasn't so bad after all, and everything is back to fun and games again (until the endpapers, where we see that they're playing catch again, with unfortunate results).

ouch!

Ragnhild Scamell, illustrated by Michael Terry

ISBN: 9781561485116

Hedgehog has just finished her cozy winter nest, but then an apple plops down and sticks in her spines, and she can't fit into her house any more. Her friends try to help, but they only make things successively worse, getting more and more descriptive items stuck in her spines as the book goes along, until she desperately pushes through a hedge and meets a final friend; Goat. He's got the right idea, and Hedgehog can finally fit into her snug home.

 

Tuesday Storytime: Teddy Bears

These were chosen by my coworker, and they're too cute.

Waiting for Goliath
Antje Damm
ISBN: 978776571413
A cute little bear waits patiently on a park bench for days and nights and seasons for his friend Goliath to arrive. Despite a very clear Waiting for Godot vibe, the friend DOES show at the end, and there's a very good reason for things taking so long. Cute, but slow (pun intended).

Teddy Bear Teddy Bear (classic nursery rhyme) (board book)
illustrated by Michael Hague
ISBN:0060733047
Bright colors and cheery spreads keep the rhyme moving along smoothly, although the "go upstairs/say your prayers" verse is included, which may make some families uncomfortable.

Room for Bear
Ciara Gavin
ISBN: 9780385754736
A sweet story of adoption and focusing on similarities instead of differences, and in working together to make things work for everyone. Very cute, and very sweet natured. There is a sequel.

Tuesday Storytime: Dance

I pulled these ages ago and I'm glad to finally be able to use them (and get them back into circulation, whoops!).

Miss Lina's Ballerinas
Grace Maccarone, illustrated by Christine Davenier
ISBN: 9780312382438
Eight dancers with names-that-rhyme-with-Lina live and go to school in-house, and they are very organized in their routine in their two rows of four dancers (shades here of Madeline) until a new dancer joins them and they must regroup into three rows of three. A later book has a boy joining the fun - these are silly and lighthearted and very fluffy.


Baby Dance (board book format)
Ann Taylor (original poet), illustrated by Marjorie van Heerden
ISBN: 0694012068
Colorful and fun - A Black father dances with his young daughter while the mother (referenced in the poem) rests on a couch behind them. Very Very short, but really cute and fun.


Color Dance
Ann Jonas
ISBN: 9780688059903
A representative variety of leotard-clad young dancers represent primary colors, as well as greyscale in this short and simple book that introduces the concept of color mixing through the visuals of fluttery translucent scarves which are danced about by the dancer representing that color. Lots of good interesting color names, and very direct concepts and clear artwork.

Tuesday Storytime: To The Birds

Birds of a feather flock together - or sometimes not. This storytime was selected by my coworker, and the books are super cute.

Wow! Said the Owl
Tim Hopgood
ISBN: 9780230701045


Flight School
Lita Judge
ISBN: 9781442481770


Goose Goes to School
Laura Wall
ISBN: 9780062324375

Tuesday Storytime: Getting Along With Others

Ok fine, I'm a giant drag, I know. I use storytime to force my agenda of purposefully acquiring manners and learning cooperation and developing emotional regulation on 4 year olds. Sorry not sorry.

Do Unto Otters: A Book About Manners
Laurie Keller
ISBN: 9780805079968
What it says on the tin, basically. Rabbit discovers his new neighbors the Otters, and is concerned about them being good neighbors and good friends. He learns the maxim "Do Unto Otters" (you get the idea) and spends the book laying out what exactly, behavior-wise, that sort of thing entails. Really really good for being clear and obvious about social expectations while also being cute and tongue-in-cheek.

When Sophie Gets Angry
Molly Bang
ISBN: 9780590189798
Love how this book just straightforwardly deals with emotions, and shows a valid way of processing them out in nature, and shows the progression of a general upset from rage to anger to frustration to sadness to acceptance and re-integration into the original scene. It's a lot of really big concepts that are conveyed perfectly clearly through illustrations and colors and perspective, and carefully chosen child-level vocabulary. Classic and nonjudgmental.

llama llama and the bully goat
Anna Dewdney
ISBN: 9780670013951
Llama llama and his preschool class (and Zebra! preschool teacher) deal with a kid who is leaning into acting in bullying ways. The resolution is a leeeeetle bit too pat, but with kids this young, there's a fine line between being a bully and just being un-social and needing a bit of help. I'm choosing to view it as the second, and they're just using the bully terminology because the beginning of "here's how to handle this" is the same in both cases: advocate for yourself, use your words to clearly set boundaries, then involve a trusted adult or authority figure. After that if it really is a settled bully and not just a fellow kid having a singular bad day, things get a bit too complex for a book I'm willing to read in storytime.

Tuesday Storytime: Pets

A really stellar lineup from my coworker today: a trio of adorable animal books.

Zorro Gets an Outfit

Carter Goodrich

ISBN: 9781442435353

Zorro is an adorable pug dog, and he has been put into a superhero outfit, and the other dogs all laugh at him. He's inconsolable until another dog at the dog park shows up in a pirate outfit and just so happens to be a really cool dog - who likes Zorro's outfit! A good story about friendship and identity and feeling shame and pride.

Have You Seen My New Blue Socks

Eve Bunting, illustrated by Sergio Ruzzier

ISBN: 9780547752679

Eve Bunting is channeling her Dr Seuss here, with a cute rhyming (perhaps just a slight bit tooo cutely rhyming) quick story about a forgetful and perhaps somewhat disorganized duck who has lost their new blue socks somewhere. A progressively-further-unlaced shoe provides a tiny visual clue about the location of the socks as the story goes on.

Papillon Goes to the Vet (The Very Fluffy Kitty)

A. N. Kang

ISBN: 9781484728819

This is the cutest book about a very fluffy kitty with a very unrealistic story of what happens at a vet's office, but it's ok, because it's adorable. Papillon is soooo fluffy that he floats! Which is quite fun, until he accidentally ingests a cat toy and has to spend the night at the vet. Very low-key explanations of how Papillon feels less than well, which keeps the very lighthearted feeling flowing through even at the vet. 

Tuesday Storytime: Valentine's Day

Valentines books are so much fun. I got a late start on them and so I went with several tried-and-true classics, but there are some other good ones on hold that should filter in soon, and I will review them when I get a chance to see them. Always good to have ideas and books for next time around!

The Day It Rained Hearts
Felicia Bond
ISBN: 0066238765
Scribbly backgrounds and stylized simple outline cartoon characters still manage to carry sentiment and interest in this short story of personalized and thoughtful valentines. I also like our double-barreled named heroine: Cornelia Augusta. She plucks the falling "rain" hearts, and uses them carefully to make valentines for her friends, all of them carefully individualized. Short and sweet.

A Short History of Valentine's Day
Sally Lee & Gail Saunders-Smith
ISBN:9781491460986
Lots of historical photographs liven up a VERY short and preschool-aimed history of the concepts and impetus behind the current holiday. Like some of the others in this series, the end is a bit abrupt.

Just Because You're Mine
Sally Lloyd-Jones, illustrated by Frank Endersby
ISBN: 9780062014764
Daddy red squirrel and his baby squirrel are out and about for the day, with baby squirrel demonstrating all the amazing squirrely things he can do, and wondering if those things are why his Daddy loves him. The answer of course doesn't come til the end, repeating the title. Really adorable sweet art, like Sam McBratney, Ivan Bates, or Anita Jeram. Sweet without being maudlin.

Tuesday Storytime: Loving Feelings

We're getting close to Valentine's Day, and so my coworker is excited about all the sweet loving books there are out there to choose from. She was a bit disappointed that I used Mama, Do You Love Me last week, but these three are just as sweet.

Sam and Jump
Jennifer K. Mann
ISBN: 9780763679477
Jump is Sam's stuffed rabbit, and they're best friends, until a fateful trip to the beach where Sam happily plays with Thomas (yay for an AA character!) ... and LEAVES Jump behind! Happy endings abound, but the book spends a good deal of time with the physical signs of feeling loneliness and guilt and sorrow.

Always
Emma Dodd
ISBN: 9780763675448
Sweet book, but I don't know that I like the silver print conceit enough for it to carry the whole book. I would have maybe liked to see the capstone line repeated through the book to make it more positive and repetitive for younger listeners. Still adorable, just like all of Dodd's work.

I Will Love You
Alyssa Satin Capucilli, illustrated by Lisa Anchin
ISBN: 9780545803106
A white mom and an ambiguously brown curly-haired girl feature in this breezy testament to parental love. Beautiful spreads, but this one is a litttttle too unironically sappy for my taste. It's still very sweet, and sure to tug at the heartstrings of any less cynical parent. Very pretty pastels and water-color feels to the spreads and panels.

Tuesday Storytime: Winter Mamas

I cheated slightly with these, as they are all set in winter, but the focus is on the relationship between the mother and child. 

Mama, Do You Love Me?

Barbara M. Joosse, illustrated by Barbara Lavallee

ISBN: 0590459848

A lovely stylized book focusing on a traditional Inuit mother and child, with the child wondering whether Mother would still love her under different circumstances, ranging from accidents to michief to ever-more-outlandish propositions of transformations into scary animals. Very sweet, illustratively fantastic.

On Mother's Lap

Ann Herbert Scott, illustrated by Glo Coalson

ISBN: 0395589207

Another Northern Native American (unfortunately unidentified in the text, but widely considered to also be Inuit) mother and child story. Michael is ready for a nice afternoon on the rocking chair with Mother, but he wants to include all of his toys and blanket and pet.... and really there's just no room for the little sibling at all. Mother gently intervenes and reminds the boy that there's always room for everyone.

Big Snow

Jonathan Bean

ISBN: 9780374306960

David and his mom are getting ready for a big snow, and for overnight guests. Well, MOM is getting ready, and David is helping sporadically before getting perpetually distracted by the onset of snowy weather. An interesting naptime dream makes for some late-story drama, and the conclusion is a bit abrupt.

Tuesday Storytime: Expressing Feelings

Ok, time for a break in the winterpalooza. I can only handle so much snow and winter before the grey green grass outside gets really depressing (although I do appreciate that it's MUCH warmer here than in truly wintry stomping grounds).

This storytime focuses on feelings, and how they're all natural, and fine, and how to articulate them, and how everyone feels them.

Tough Guys (have feelings too)
Keith Negley
ISBN: 9781909263666
A parade of "tough guys" from Knights to Ninja to Astronauts to Luchadores to Race Car Drivers to even Superheroes, Cowboys, and Biker Dudes all show sadness and grief and lonliness in circumstances familiar to every child: loss, lonliness, frustration. The only picture I skipped was right at the end - because there were so many younger children present, I chickened out of showing the spread where the Biker Dude mourns a small furry roadkill squirrel. Books like these are really important for showing kids that all their emotions are healthy and permissible, and teaches them words and concepts to help feel more in control of what are sometimes very scary internal states of being.

I Am So Brave!
Stephen Krensky, illustrated by Sara Gillingham
ISBN: 9781419709371
A cute AA child (mostly coded as male but not specified) shows off paired illustrations on each spread with short couplets of what they feared and then overcome. Our first illustration goes right for it: the child is hiding behind an adult's legs, while a black dog and other dogs take up most of the foreground. Opposite tho, there's a happy embrace between the child and a rambunctious and happy black puppy. The drawings aren't done to heighten a sense of drama or fear in the "scared" panels, and the child looks roughly the same age and ability in each pair. It's very powerful and punchy.

My Friend is Sad (Elephant and Piggie)
Mo Willems
ISBN: 9781423102977
Gerald (the elephant) is sad. So Piggie tries to cheer him up by sneaking up on him in various elaborate costumes: cowboy, then a clown, then a robot. Gerald cheers momentarily, but then resumes being morose. Piggie gives up and heads over to apologise for not being able to provide any lasting cheer, and discovers something important about their friendship (and about the state of Gerald's eyesight). It veers juuuuust a touch into codependency at the end, but overall it is sweet and a direct reminder that fun times are more fun with people to share them with, and that friends really do need their friends in a real way.

   

Tuesday Storytime: Blizzard!

We got whomped by winter weather this week, and had a small crowd, but the books were right on target!

These books were selected by my coworker.

Snowballs
Lois Ehlert
ISBN: 0152000747
Ehlert's signature blend of collage and found items in a wintry installment focused on snowmen and the fun of building them, and the curious supplies and random objects that can make up their expressions and ornaments. Busy and folksy.

Penguin and Pinecone, a friendship story
Salina Yoon
ISBN: 9780802728432
Ok, the anthropomorphized pinecone (who never talks or moves) and the resulting "friends" the pine trees... a little odd. But it's still a cute story of helping things (or people) get to where they belong, and of cultivating friendships even over time and space, and in thinking of others in a loving way. Even if the other is a pinecone. Sweet but strange.

Blizzard
John Rocco
ISBN: 9781423178651
Rocco's hometown was swamped by a blizzard when he was a child, so he created this picture book as a memoir and a record of that event. The illustrations are only a BIT dated, but the story of adventure and boredom (and parental worry) is pretty timeless, even if the setting and protagonist are solidly stereotypical mid-century americana. Dramatic and funny.

Tuesday Storytime: Fun in the Snow

Christmas is over, the cold is finally kicking in, we are starting to see actual frost (and even the occasional snowflake or overnight icing!) and so it's time for the traditional Post-Christmas Snowy Storybook Extravaganza.

These books were selected by my coworker.

Slither, Slide, What's Outside?
Nora Hilb, illustrated by Simon and Sheryl Shapiro
ISBN: 9781554513871
An odd book, but a charmer. This is a four-seasons book, nonfiction, with both nature photographs (everything from worms to stars) and fun playful illustrations. The narrative is in rhyming quatrains, creating little mini-verses on each page with instructions that could be used for a movement section if the leader/reader wanted to go that route. Cute and different.

Mimi and Bear in the Snow
Janee Trasler
ISBN: 9780374349714
I've used this cutie before myself. Mimi is a sweet little bunny and she and her bear play (and get lost) in the snow. Short and sweet and charming.

100 Snowmen
Jen Arena, illustrated by Stephen Gilpin
ISBN: 9781477847039
A most peculiar counting book. Snowmen cavort and play and make really bizarre facial expressions (some of them nearly terrifying) as the narrative counts up to 100 snowmen total throughout the whole book. Weird and wild.

Tuesday Storytime: Snow Day

An impromptu storytime on demand with a leftover non-specifically-Christmas book from last year, and a couple of books liberated from upcoming planned storytimes.

Walking in a Winter Wonderland
based on the song by Felix Bernard and Richard B. Smith
as sung by Peggy Lee
illustrated by Tim Hopgood
ISBN: 9781627793049
I actually sang this one, and I didn't notice too many winces from the grownups, so I think I did ok. A lovely slightly-overlarge picture book with full spreads of beautiful stylized colorful winter landscapes full of cheerful people and animals. The kids were mesmerized, at least partially by the oddity of singing the text of a picture book, and the families knew the song well enough to come in and sing with me on the repeated title line "walking in a winter wonderland." Very cute experiment, glad it worked!

In the Snow
Sharon Phillips Denslow, illustrated by Nancy Tafuri
ISBN: 9780060596835
A lovely nonfiction, naturalistic book, focused on the types of birds and small wild animals that come for seeds and nuts left in the snow for them by a caring child. It seems VERY short, but it feels much longer when it's being read - I'm not sure why.

Snow
Cynthia Rylant, illustrated by Lauren Stringer
ISBN: 9780152053031
I've done this one before a few times, and I love the lyricism and gentleness of this tender heart-of-winter story that uses snow as the lynch-pin. Our narrator tells us all about the different types of snow (all good, in this story) and the different lovely things that are done in and with and during the snow. It's sweet and peaceful and a little bit sad in a way that goes straight over little kids' heads, but hit the adults right in the feels. This is always a good one to end on.

Now I just have to find replacements for next week!