Storytime Contenders VI

Contender Title: I’m Me!
Author: Sarah Sheridan
Illustrator: Margaret Chamberlain
Publisher/Year: Chicken House/Scholastic 2011
ISBN: 9780545282222
Storytime appeal: Imogen (how cute is that name?) is spending the day with her Aunt Sara and decides rather than play pretend she would rather just be herself. This book has huge, beautiful illustrations and I was particularly pleased that it featured the relationship between a niece and aunt. I am an aunt myself and can’t wait to share this book with my little niece.
Possible themes: I recently put this in a book bundle about individuality and think it would be great for a storytime along the same theme.

Contender Title: Itsy Mitsy Runs Away
Author: Elanna Allen
Publisher/Year: Atheneum Books for Young Readers 2011
ISBN: 9781442406711
Storytime appeal: True story: I attempted to run away as a child and my mother responded by packing my bag and carrying it to the front door for me. I think we all have a story like this from our childhoods and this book brings that story to life. Itsy Mitsy has had enough of bedtime and decides to run away. This absolutely adorable book has everything like in a storytime book: fantastic illustrations, repetition, and a very sweet story.
Possible themes:  Fathers & daughters, running away, bedtime and maybe even green (Mitsy has a very cute green outfit!)

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Picnic Storytime

Storytime is back! This week was the beginning of our 6 week session. But sadly, I will only be doing three of those weeks. The weather was crummy this morning and I arrived to work with totally soaked pants. Needless to say, I was not in the best of moods but luckily my storytime crew turned that around really quickly. I had a very big bunch today so there was great energy in the room.

Our theme today was picnics, a perfect summer theme.

The first book we read was Picnic by Emily Arnold McCully.

In this book, a family of mice are going on a picnic. On the way to the perfect spot, they lose the youngest member of their family. (Spoiler alert!) Luckily they are all reunited and have a lovely picnic. This is a very simple story and I had the children guess if they would find her. Almost everyone said yes- there’s always one who goes against the grain.

The next book we read was The Best Picnic Ever by Clare Jarrett.

This is a great book about a boy named Jack who is going on a picnic with his mom. He has lots of adventures with animals before sitting down to the best picnic ever. It’s full of imagination and has lots of repetition. It’s a bit long, so make sure you group can handle longer-ish books.

The last book we read was We’re Going on A Picnic by Pat Hutchins.

In this book Hen, Duck and Goose are going on a picnic! They are a bit silly and can’t find the right place to have the picnic. There is a lot of silliness in this book and it’s fun to share with a group.

For our craft today, we made one of my favorite picnic foods: watermelons!

Since it is summer and we have lots of teen volunteers, I had one cut out the shapes prior to the program. I gave them crayons and black circles to glue on as seeds. I told one of my little friends that his watermelon looked good enough to eat. He nicely reminded me “Miss Sarah, you can’t eat paper.” Silly librarian!

Storytime Contenders V

Oh look who’s back! It’s me! I know it’s been a while since I have been updating. I promise I have very good intentions, it just doesn’t always work out that well. Anyway, summer storytime soon there will be some more of those popping up and I really hope do some more of these storytime contender posts.

Contender Title: Rain Brings Frogs: A Little Book of Hope   
Author: Maryann Coca-Leffler            
Publisher/Year: HarperCollins/ 2011
ISBN: 9780061961069
Storytime appeal: This is a nice, quick story about a boy who can find the bright side of every bad situation. I really think it could work in storytime because of its clear, distinct text and easy to follow layout. I like having a few short books in my storytime stack because they are great fillers and a good way to recapture a group’s attention.
Possible themes: This would be good for a rainy day theme, or even one about emotions.  

Contender Title: My Cold Went On Vacation
Author:  Molly Rausch and Nora Krug
Publisher/Year: G.P. Putnam’s Sons/ 2010
ISBN:9780399254741                                  
Storytime appeal: This is a super clever book! A little boy has a cold and when it goes away he imagines all of the places it could go. It might pop up in Iowa (my home state!) or visit various other family members. He imagines it could also take a trip around the world, possibly stopping in Peru, the Alps or sailing the seven seas. He discovers his cold did not go as far as he imagined, it only went across the hall to see his sister. This book is so funny and requires a lot of imagination on the part of the reader. I could see a fun conversation happening after reading this in storytime
Possible themes: This is a great choice for a sick theme. I also think it would be a lot of fun in an imagination/pretending storytime.