Love is All Around

  February is almost here and soon it will be time for Valentines!  I'd like to share a few of my favorite children's books about love, beyond the usual books specifically about Valentine's Day.

For the youngest children, love revolves around family.  A wonderful family story time could include The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown, Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney.  In both of these titles, a parent or caregiver, expresses the depth of their love for the child.  No matter what you do or where you go, the parent will be there. No matter how much you think you are loved - it is even greater. These are classics!

Another favorite of mine is unfortunately out of print - Monkey Face by Frank Asch.  If you are lucky enough to find a copy, it tells of a little monkey who is making a picture of his mom.  After getting lots of critical advice from his friends to add features, the picture does not resemble his mom at all - but of course she loves it and hangs it on the fridge.  I am so disappointed that I don't have a copy of this book to share. It is a perfect example of parental love.

For older readers there are some wonderful books about first loves.   Alice In Rapture, Sort Of by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor is one book in the series about motherless girl, who deals with growing up along with her sometimes confused Dad and her 19 year-old brother.  As she enters seventh grade, Alice's friend Patrick has become her "boyfriend", but who can give her relationship advice?  A funny and realistic story about first love.

Another lovely story about young love and first love is Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen.  It was also made into a feature film by Rob Reiner.  Bryce and Juli first meet as second graders and in alternating chapters we see how their feelings for each other have changed over the years. Read the book first and then borrow the movie!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Valentine's Day!  Be sure to stop by the library for these and other great books and movies!

Happy Hauntings

Halloween will be here soon, so I thought I'd share two of my favorite scary books.  I'm not a big fan of horror, but during the month of October, I often sample something scary.  This first is an old story time favorite, while the second is a new YA title.

The Tailypo by Joanna Galdone has been one of my favorite stories to read at story times for older children. A strange "varmint" creeps into an old man's cabin.  The man cuts off  it's "..BIG, LONG, FURRY TAIL"  and eats it.  That night he is awoken by sratching and a voice moaning "Tailypo, tailypo, all I want is my tailypo."  Each night the creature gets closer and closer...This is a wonderfully spooky  folktale with wonderfully evoctive language.  It is a perfect tale for the season.  Read it with the lights on!

The Diviners by Libba Bray

It’s amazing how many genres are seamlessly interwoven in this novel –mystery, historical fiction, horror, steampunk and science fiction.  The setting is New York City in 1926 where 17 year old Evie has been sent to stay with her uncle who runs The Museum of American Folklore, Superstition and the Occult.  Evie, along with several other characters, has a secret talent – hers is being able to read a person’s history by holding something that belongs to them. These “Diviners”, including a healer and a seer, are being called to face a coming storm.  Meanwhile, New York City is in the midst of brutal serial murders by the “Pentacle Killer” – who may be the reincarnation of an old evil, "The Beast" , that will bring the world to an end.  This book packs so much into its pages that it was impossible to put down! This is only the beginning and I cannot wait for more.

Fall Has Arrived!

September kicks off the fall story time session beginning this week.  This month we will explore the themes of libraries/story times, apples and fall colors.  I am ready to meet some brand new story time children and see my old friends again.

I'd like to share some favorite stories for these themes.

 To kick off the session I will be using Coming Down to Story Time by Rob Reid.   Illustrated by Nadine Bernard Westcott, this book is a take-off on the song "She'll Be Comin Round the Mountain" that incorporates some of the fun things we do at story time:  "We'll hear a funny story when we come. Ha! Ha!", "We'll make a pretty picture when we come. Draw! Draw!"  I love stories that allow for lots of participation by the children, so we'll add some hand motions, too!

For apples, I always pull out the favorite Apple Farmer Annie by Monica Wellington.  We follow Annie from her apple farm into the city and learn all the ways that apples can be used.  This story can be used for all age groups.

Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert is one of my favorite fall books.  The children love to learn that the collages that make up the illustrations are made from real leaves. For my older groups, we make our own leaf man collages.  The children also love to point out the various creatures made from leaves in the book. 

Some favorite fall fingerplays are:

Way Up High in the Apple Tree

Way up high in the apple tree               Make arms into branches above head
Two red apples were smiling at me 
I shook that tree as hard as I could       Pretend to shake a tree
Down came the apples                         Roll hands down
MMM - they were good!                        Rub tummmy


Falling Leaves

Falling, falling, falling leaves                    Roll hands down
Mother Nature did you sneeze?                 Shrug with arms out
Red ones, yellow ones, orange and brown         
Big ones, little ones                                Stretch big and small
On the ground                                        Touch the ground
Falling, falling, falling leaves                    Roll hands down
Mother Nature did you sneeze?                 Shrug arms out
Aaachooooo!                                          Pretend to sneeze - cover mouth!


I am looking forward to a wonderful fall session of story time!  I hope to see you there!

Monday Night Summer Reading Fun!

It is hard to believe that we are halfway though our summer reading Monday events.  So far we have had some great music and storytelling by Davis and Tincknell, The Frog Prince performed by Pumpernickel Puppets, a spectacularly funny magic show by Steve Rudolph and last evening's program of music by Vic and Sticks.  Over 500 residents of all ages have attended our show and there are more to come! 

Steve Rudolph July 9th

The weather has cooperated so that we were able to have the last 2 programs on stage in Queset Gardens!  If you have not attended an event in the garden yet, it is an experience not to be missed.  At 4:30 the lawn is shady and you'll be tempted to join the children as they dance barefoot through the grass.  The beautifully rebuilt stage is a wonderful backdrop for the entertainers.  It is easy to imagine all of the wonderful performances that took place there over the last 100 years!

Vic and Sticks July 16th

 Next Monday we will be treated to the story of Gwendolyn the Graceful Pig read by the author, David Rottenberg and performed as a ballet by The Starline Dance Academy of Stoughton. 

Please join us for a sure to be one-of-a-kind perfomance on Monday, July 23 at 4:30 p.m.



Garden Story Time

This week's story time theme is Gardens.  There are many books, songs, and fingerplays that fit this theme so I thought I'd share some of my favorites.

For the Mother Goose under 2 groups I have planned to read  3 titles.  One Mole Digging a Hole by Julia Donaldson is a simple counting story with colorful illustrations by Nick Sharratt.  Up, Down, and Around by Katherine Ayres is fun as it allows me to have the children and parents participate actively throughout the book by reaching up, patting down on the floor, and moving their hands around on their laps.  For the final story I chose Big Yellow Sunflower by Frances Barry as the pages open petal by petal to form the flower.
In between we had our usual songs, including a shaker song with our shaker eggs as well as "Bumble Bee" by Laurie Berkner (I use a bumblebee puppet with this) and the classic "PawPaw Patch."

For my Toddler group I used the Ayres title again along with one of my favorites My Garden by Kevin Henkes. This is a story full of imagination as a little girl describes her ideal garden:

 "In my garden, the rabbits wouldn't eat the lettuce

becasue the rabbits would be chocolate

and I would eat them."

I also sang along with the new book Jo MacDonald had a Garden by Mary Quattlebaum.  This is another story that has lots of audience participation in singing and activities:  " And in that garden was a worm, E-I-E-I-O.  With a wiggle-wiggle here..."  The only problem was that once in awhile I'd revert back to Old MacDonald instead of Jo!  This books is a fun new addition to my story time and I have the feeling it will become another classic for me.

Fingerplays include the folowing:

Rain 
Pitter-pat, pitter-pat                            (drum fingers on the floor)
The rain goes on for hours

And though it keeps me in the house
It's very good for flowers                       (Hold fists out, palms up then open and spread fingers upward)

Five Little Flowers

Five little flowers standing in the sun                                     (Hold up 5 fingers)

See their heads nodding, bowing one by one                  (Fold fingers down one at a time)

Down, down, down comes the gentle rain                       (Flutter fingers down)

And the Five Little Flowers lift up their heads again         (Raise fingers back up straight)

I hope everyone has fun at story time this week!  Hopefully we'll have lots of May flowers this year!

School visits

Wow!  I am back to story times after taking time away to visit the local elementary schools to distribute library cards and get the students excited about the library.  It is wonderful to visit the students and see so many familiar faces!  Last week I read the story Otto the Book Bear by Kate Cleminson, a wonderful new book about a bear who lives in a book, but comes to life when no one is around.  After some adventures he ends up in the library!!!  In one of my favorite pictures  all of the book characters come out to play when the library is empty.  Isn't that a great dream? 

Check out this book if you haven't seen it yet! 

Story Theme - Ducks

This week I will be doing story times with the theme of ducks.  This is always a fun theme each year as there are so many great stories, songs and fingerplays featuring ducks.

For the youngest group I will one of my Big Books - oversize picture books for library use,  Five Little Ducks - illustrated by Penny Ives.  This is a picture book version of the song, so it'll be sung instead of read.  I will then "retell" the story using my Mother duck and 5 duckling puppets.  This repetion is wonderful for early literacy.  Another book will be Little White Duck by Walt Whippo.As this story unfolds, the children and caregivers will help with some action and words. They will "quack" with the duck and "Hiss!" and slither with the snake.  Again, with be fore or after the book "reading" we will listen to the song and act it out. 

Other songs and fingerplays include:  "Four Little Duckies" on Ralph's World, "I Know a Chicken" by Laurie Berkner (we use shaker eggs with this and will change the lyrics to I Know a Duck.), "Six Little Ducks" from Toddler Favorites, and "Three Little Ducks" from Songs for Wiggleworms.

For the toddler story time, I will add the Big Book One Duck Stuck:a mucky ducky counting book by Phyllis Root and/ or Do Like a Duck Does by Judy Hindley.  For the first, I will stop several times to have the children count the various animals and also have them pretend to pull. 

For my preschoolers, I will use some favorite duck stories which include:

 Make Way for Ducklings - Robert McCloskey (As a Boston girl this is a must!)

A Jez Alborough duck book such as Duck's Key, Where Can It Be?, 

A Jackie Urbanovic booksuch as Duck Soup,

Mr. Duck Means Business by Tammi Sauer,

A Doreen Cronin book such as Giggle, Giggle Quack,

Farmer Duck  by Martin Waddell

This should be a fun week of storytimes!!!