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
Showing posts with label Mo Willems. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mo Willems. Show all posts
Thursday, September 13, 2018
Thursday, May 17, 2018
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.
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.
Friday, January 26, 2018
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.
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.
Monday, April 10, 2017
Tuesday Storytime: Bathtime
Found a very cute picture book, and just couldn't resist building a storytime around it.
Bears in the Bath
Shirley Parenteau, illustrated by David Walker
ISBN: 9780763664183
Pastel colored baby bears all have great fun in their various activities, getting quite messy in their individually rhyming ways, until Big Brown Bear (identified as a he in the book, but easily adaptable) drags them all squirming back to the tub to clean off, with Big Brown Bear getting equally messy as a result, and needing a bath as well.
Time for a Bath
Phillis Gershator, illustrated by David Walker
ISBN: 9781454910329
Yeah I know, I try not to have duplicate illustrators or authors, but every once in a while it just seems inevitable. Once again in pastels, but this time at least pastels in greys and creams, with a baby bunny who gets oh so dirty, no matter what he and mommy bunny do. What else is there to do but take a nice bath after every activity? Short, sweet, and rhyming.
The Pigeon Needs a Bath!
Mo Willems
ISBN: 9781423190875
I do love Mo Willems, but I tend to try and avoid his books for storytime, because I feel like he's one of the few modern picture book writers who end up being known well enough that kids will come across either Pigeon, Elephant and Piggie, or Knuffle Bunny all on their own, and I can use my platform to show off lesser-known but equally excellent books. Still, when you have a perfect fit, you have a perfect fit, and the Pigeon definitely fits. He is QUITE dirty, and determined not to take a bath, for various excellent toddler-style reasons. Of course he changes his mind in the end, but the persuading is most of the fun.
Bears in the Bath
Shirley Parenteau, illustrated by David Walker
ISBN: 9780763664183
Pastel colored baby bears all have great fun in their various activities, getting quite messy in their individually rhyming ways, until Big Brown Bear (identified as a he in the book, but easily adaptable) drags them all squirming back to the tub to clean off, with Big Brown Bear getting equally messy as a result, and needing a bath as well.
Time for a Bath
Phillis Gershator, illustrated by David Walker
ISBN: 9781454910329
Yeah I know, I try not to have duplicate illustrators or authors, but every once in a while it just seems inevitable. Once again in pastels, but this time at least pastels in greys and creams, with a baby bunny who gets oh so dirty, no matter what he and mommy bunny do. What else is there to do but take a nice bath after every activity? Short, sweet, and rhyming.
The Pigeon Needs a Bath!
Mo Willems
ISBN: 9781423190875
I do love Mo Willems, but I tend to try and avoid his books for storytime, because I feel like he's one of the few modern picture book writers who end up being known well enough that kids will come across either Pigeon, Elephant and Piggie, or Knuffle Bunny all on their own, and I can use my platform to show off lesser-known but equally excellent books. Still, when you have a perfect fit, you have a perfect fit, and the Pigeon definitely fits. He is QUITE dirty, and determined not to take a bath, for various excellent toddler-style reasons. Of course he changes his mind in the end, but the persuading is most of the fun.
Tuesday, October 4, 2016
Tuesday Storytime: Scary Friends
It's OCTOBER!!!!
Yay! Now I can use all my scary books and my monster books and my black cat books and my pumpkin books and really there are just too many good books to use for as few Tuesdays as there are in October. If I had a storytime every day in October, I might get through them all. Anyway - we start off the month gently, with a set of "scary" friends.
Leonardo the Terrible Monster
Mo Willems
ISBN: 0786852941
Willem's signature colored papers and oddly-placed figures in space.
Leonardo is a really terrible monster. I mean, just horrible. He can't scare anyone! So he hatches a plan - to find a super-scaredy-cat kid and at least manage to scare ONE person. Leonardo is so terrible at being a monster that he can't even manage that, so he makes a scary, big, decision, and finds something he can do wonderfully.
Spike, the Mixed-up Monster
Susan Hood, illustrated by Melissa Sweet
ISBN: 9781442406018
Bright colors and scribbly outlines make this fresh and energetic. Mexican-Spanish phrases and styling.
Spike is an axolotl (its a real thing, go look it up) and he desperately wants to be a scary monster, but he's really tiny, and kindof cute. At least, all the other creatures at the pond think so. When a truly scary gila monster heads over, everyone else flees, and it's up to Spike to scare the other monster away! He's never scared anyone yet - will he succeed this time? I love that the "appearances are deceiving" message goes both ways in this story, and that Spike instantly offers help and encouragement. A good message, with a good set of non gendered anthropomorphic characters.
Wolf's Coming!
Joe Kulka
ISBN: 9781575059303
Kulka's illustrations are dark and forboding and looming, with plenty of expressive faces.
A set of woodland creatures scurry and hide in rhyming sequences as a business-suited, square-shouldered, enormous wolf stalks through the woods, getting closer and closer to home. A sharp eye (or multiple read-throughs) will reveal tiny little hints at a twist ending, but suffice it to say that all the build-up is for a totally different sort of shock than the kids (or parents) are expecting.
Yay! Now I can use all my scary books and my monster books and my black cat books and my pumpkin books and really there are just too many good books to use for as few Tuesdays as there are in October. If I had a storytime every day in October, I might get through them all. Anyway - we start off the month gently, with a set of "scary" friends.
Leonardo the Terrible Monster
Mo Willems
ISBN: 0786852941
Willem's signature colored papers and oddly-placed figures in space.
Leonardo is a really terrible monster. I mean, just horrible. He can't scare anyone! So he hatches a plan - to find a super-scaredy-cat kid and at least manage to scare ONE person. Leonardo is so terrible at being a monster that he can't even manage that, so he makes a scary, big, decision, and finds something he can do wonderfully.
Spike, the Mixed-up Monster
Susan Hood, illustrated by Melissa Sweet
ISBN: 9781442406018
Bright colors and scribbly outlines make this fresh and energetic. Mexican-Spanish phrases and styling.
Spike is an axolotl (its a real thing, go look it up) and he desperately wants to be a scary monster, but he's really tiny, and kindof cute. At least, all the other creatures at the pond think so. When a truly scary gila monster heads over, everyone else flees, and it's up to Spike to scare the other monster away! He's never scared anyone yet - will he succeed this time? I love that the "appearances are deceiving" message goes both ways in this story, and that Spike instantly offers help and encouragement. A good message, with a good set of non gendered anthropomorphic characters.
Wolf's Coming!
Joe Kulka
ISBN: 9781575059303
Kulka's illustrations are dark and forboding and looming, with plenty of expressive faces.
A set of woodland creatures scurry and hide in rhyming sequences as a business-suited, square-shouldered, enormous wolf stalks through the woods, getting closer and closer to home. A sharp eye (or multiple read-throughs) will reveal tiny little hints at a twist ending, but suffice it to say that all the build-up is for a totally different sort of shock than the kids (or parents) are expecting.
Saturday, January 23, 2016
2015 Review Round-Up: Juvenile Illustrated Fiction: The Story of Diva and Flea, Mo Willems & Tony DiTerlizzi
The Story of Diva and Flea
Mo Willems (Pigeon, Elephant and Piggie), illustrated by Tony DiTerlizzi (Spiderwick, Changeling)
ISBN: 9781484722848
Quirky illustrations and an almost Lemony-Snicketish narrative voice make this friendship story sing.
This is the most adorable book I've read all year and it's absolutely perfect. Diva is a VERY small dog who lives with the caretaker of a set of Paris flats, and she's petrified of feet, but otherwise very brave and very clever. She is pampered and spoilt and happy. Flea is a lanky angular black cat, famous as a neighborhood flaneur (professional wanderer). When Flea happens upon Diva's set of flats, a beautiful friendship develops as both these spectacular personalities learn new and exciting things from their very different friend.
Did I mention that this book is PERFECT? It is. It is beautiful and perfect and special and it is why the universe was created, and why books were invented. Just for this story. Go find it and see if I'm wrong. I dare you.
Mo Willems (Pigeon, Elephant and Piggie), illustrated by Tony DiTerlizzi (Spiderwick, Changeling)
ISBN: 9781484722848
Quirky illustrations and an almost Lemony-Snicketish narrative voice make this friendship story sing.
This is the most adorable book I've read all year and it's absolutely perfect. Diva is a VERY small dog who lives with the caretaker of a set of Paris flats, and she's petrified of feet, but otherwise very brave and very clever. She is pampered and spoilt and happy. Flea is a lanky angular black cat, famous as a neighborhood flaneur (professional wanderer). When Flea happens upon Diva's set of flats, a beautiful friendship develops as both these spectacular personalities learn new and exciting things from their very different friend.
Did I mention that this book is PERFECT? It is. It is beautiful and perfect and special and it is why the universe was created, and why books were invented. Just for this story. Go find it and see if I'm wrong. I dare you.
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
Storytime Potentials: The Pigeon Needs a Bath, Caterina and the Perfect Party
So we got even more picture books in today!
Here we go:
The Pigeon Needs a Bath ("I Do Not" says the Pigeon on the cover)
Mo Willems
ISBN: 9781423190875
The Pigeon, Mo Willems.
Not as amazing as Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! and The Duckling Gets a Cookie? but still funny. Pigeon is now totally filthy, and needs a bath. Well, that's what YOU think. The Pigeon thinks that you are full of it, and he's just fine thankyouverymuch. Unless of course he really does need a bath - OK FINE! But then the bath is too hot, too cold, too lukewarm, too full, too empty, too hot, too cold, too reflective, too wet, too empty, too many toys... (this was a lovely page) until he finally takes the plunge, and then TEN HOURS LATER we find him happily still lounging in the tub. I don't even have kids and I know this is truth in publishing.
Caterina and the Perfect Party
Erin Eitter Kono
ISBN: 9780803739024
Adorable owl in cat-eye glasses. Seriously too cute for words.
This is a book for the young Pinterest-obsessed craftschild. Caterina has lists of everything, and she needs everything to be just perfect, especially her very first party ever - she's inviting all of her friends, you see, so it has to be perfect.
Caterina weathers some crafting mishaps like a pro along the way - the invites get a little drowned in red paint, the decorations might have gotten stepped on, and the food prep was a bit more intensive than she realized, but everything is still great for the party - except that it was an outdoor party, and it rains. Caterina is despondent at the failure of her debut, until all of her friends show up anyway, and prove that a great party is in the people, not the preparations.
Did I mention that Caterina is an adorable owl with cat-eye glasses? Did I? Because it's important.
Here we go:
The Pigeon Needs a Bath ("I Do Not" says the Pigeon on the cover)
Mo Willems
ISBN: 9781423190875
The Pigeon, Mo Willems.
Not as amazing as Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! and The Duckling Gets a Cookie? but still funny. Pigeon is now totally filthy, and needs a bath. Well, that's what YOU think. The Pigeon thinks that you are full of it, and he's just fine thankyouverymuch. Unless of course he really does need a bath - OK FINE! But then the bath is too hot, too cold, too lukewarm, too full, too empty, too hot, too cold, too reflective, too wet, too empty, too many toys... (this was a lovely page) until he finally takes the plunge, and then TEN HOURS LATER we find him happily still lounging in the tub. I don't even have kids and I know this is truth in publishing.
Caterina and the Perfect Party
Erin Eitter Kono
ISBN: 9780803739024
Adorable owl in cat-eye glasses. Seriously too cute for words.
This is a book for the young Pinterest-obsessed craftschild. Caterina has lists of everything, and she needs everything to be just perfect, especially her very first party ever - she's inviting all of her friends, you see, so it has to be perfect.
Caterina weathers some crafting mishaps like a pro along the way - the invites get a little drowned in red paint, the decorations might have gotten stepped on, and the food prep was a bit more intensive than she realized, but everything is still great for the party - except that it was an outdoor party, and it rains. Caterina is despondent at the failure of her debut, until all of her friends show up anyway, and prove that a great party is in the people, not the preparations.
Did I mention that Caterina is an adorable owl with cat-eye glasses? Did I? Because it's important.
Monday, February 3, 2014
Picture Book Bonanza 3/3: Kevin Henkes' Penny and Her Marble, Mo Willems' A Big Guy Took My Ball!
Penny and Her Marble
Kevin Henkes
ISBN: 9780062082039
Read February 3, 2014
Small-format picture book
Penny is a mouse (as are most of Henkes' characters) and she fights a great moral battle here, and comes off victorious in the end. While taking a walk, Penny happens upon a marble in the grassy verge of the sidewalk, in front of a neighbor's house. Penny covets the marble, and takes it. Afterwards, she suffers very noticeable pangs of guilt about having done so, culminating in a set of nightmares. In the morning, Penny (without intervention or advice from any adults or other characters at all, which I LOVE) heads back to her neighbor's yard to return the marble to whence it came. At this point, reality and picture book plots diverge, as the neighbor informs Penny that she had placed the marble there for someone to find, and Penny gets to keep the marble with a clear conscience. Adorable, and with a nice gently delivered message, as are all of Henkes' stories.
A Big Guy Took My Ball!
Mo Willems
ISBN: 9781423174912
Read February 3, 2014
An observant or devious reader will notice the catch slipping right on by at the beginning, but Piggy has a problem because a BIG GUY came and took "his" ball. Elephant is ready to leap to the rescue, until he realizes just HOW BIG this guy really is. Their avenging fury is averted when the big guy sweetly thanks Piggy for finding his ball for him, and all is well again. This one is not nearly as epic as Should I Share My Ice Cream (which should be required reading for everyone ever) but it's worth it to see Elephant (normally so unflappable) waxing dramatic about the size differential between him and the big guy in question.
Kevin Henkes
ISBN: 9780062082039
Read February 3, 2014
Small-format picture book
Penny is a mouse (as are most of Henkes' characters) and she fights a great moral battle here, and comes off victorious in the end. While taking a walk, Penny happens upon a marble in the grassy verge of the sidewalk, in front of a neighbor's house. Penny covets the marble, and takes it. Afterwards, she suffers very noticeable pangs of guilt about having done so, culminating in a set of nightmares. In the morning, Penny (without intervention or advice from any adults or other characters at all, which I LOVE) heads back to her neighbor's yard to return the marble to whence it came. At this point, reality and picture book plots diverge, as the neighbor informs Penny that she had placed the marble there for someone to find, and Penny gets to keep the marble with a clear conscience. Adorable, and with a nice gently delivered message, as are all of Henkes' stories.
A Big Guy Took My Ball!
Mo Willems
ISBN: 9781423174912
Read February 3, 2014
An observant or devious reader will notice the catch slipping right on by at the beginning, but Piggy has a problem because a BIG GUY came and took "his" ball. Elephant is ready to leap to the rescue, until he realizes just HOW BIG this guy really is. Their avenging fury is averted when the big guy sweetly thanks Piggy for finding his ball for him, and all is well again. This one is not nearly as epic as Should I Share My Ice Cream (which should be required reading for everyone ever) but it's worth it to see Elephant (normally so unflappable) waxing dramatic about the size differential between him and the big guy in question.
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