Tuesday Storytime: Nontraditional Bears

I love a good off-beat theme. These fun bear books were selected by my coworker.

Harold Loves his Woolly Hat
Vern Kousky
ISBN: 9781524764685
Harold's woolly hat has been stolen by a crow, and Harold is willing to trade just about anything to get it back.. until he realizes WHY the crow is so attached to it. I'm not super thrilled about the subtext of "stealing is ok if it's for an important reason" but I'm just going to hope that it's above the kids' level.

Bamboo and Friends, The Rainy Day
Felicia Law, illustrated by Nicola Evans
ISBN: 1404812806
Panda bears are totally bears. A rainy day gives a chance for friends to share stories and learn more about nature and the water cycle.

Goodnight Already!
Jory John, illustrated by Benji Davies
ISBM: 9780062286208
Poor bear is exhausted, but his neighbor Duck is a night-owl, and an awfully persistent one. Will Bear ever get his sleep? (Maybe don't read this to very new parents - it's a "sad" ending for the Bear.)

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: SRP Space: Rockets Away!

First set of books bequeathed to my trainee: rocketry is cool and fun. I don't blame her at all for choosing these for her first round.

The Moon (a Bamboo and Friends book)
Felicia Law, illustrated by Nicola Evans
ISBN: 1404812822
Bamboo and friends admire the moon and then take an imaginary rocket journey up to see it.Very cute combo of nonfictional information and cute preschool thinking styles.

On the Launch Pad (a counting book about rockets)
Michael Dahl, illustrated by Derrick Alderman and Denise Shea
ISBN: 1404805818
Counting down the iconic 10, 9, 8 with really good pictures and informational text, and a fun horizontal spread at the end that requires you to turn the whole book sideways.

Roaring Rockets
Tony Mitton, illustrated by Ant Parker
ISBN: 061388857X
Trippy wordplay and anthropormorphic animals traveling up to the moon and back down into a splashdown in the ocean.