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