Gus, the Dinosaur Bus (2013) Julia Liu, Bei Lynn (ill.)

Gus, the Dinosaur Bus (2013) – Julia Liu, Bei Lynn (Ill.)

This is a fun concept – what if, instead of riding by car or bus, you could ride a dinosaur bus? This picture book takes readers and listeners through the trials and tribulations of Gus, the Dinosaur Bus as he travels through town. The book is fun, but the drawings are too small for larger groups. I’m also not sure about the art – which looks like a kid drew it. I don’t mean that in a derogatory way; lots of kids love art that’s not too far removed from what they can actually do, but I think this would work better in one-on-one situations. 

Storytelling  3
Color Attractiveness  2
Size of Book  4
Text Size  3
Illustrations 2
Participation Potential  2
Overall Appropriateness for Storytime  2.5

Dinosaur Storytime

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

We had a great time in Storytime on Wednesday, reading, talking, singing, dancing and roaring about dinosaurs!

“Shake Your Sillies Out” – Raffi - opening song

The Dinosaurs – activity

How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food? – Jane Yolen, Mark Teague

Dinosaur drawing with shapes

I’m a Mean Old Dinosaur – activity

Little Dinos Don’t Push – Michael Dahl, Adam Record

The Dino Pokey (The Hokey Pokey) – activity/dance

Dinosaur vs. the Library – Bob Shea

“Dinosaur in Your Bathtub” song

“If You’re Happy and You Know It” - closing song

Craft – Color your dinosaur – tape to stick

We had 31 kids and 23 adults – a little smaller group than we’re used to and a very young group! Everyone enjoyed the stories, singing, dancing, activities and roaring!

She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain (2006) Jonathan Emmett, Debirag Allwright

She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain (2006) Jonathan Emmett, Debirag Allwright

She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain is great fun! It's large enough for large storytime groups, colorful, and contains lots of potential for group participation. You might want to have the "responses" written on a chalkboard or poster so you and the other grown-ups can help the kids remember what order they go in (since they do build with each verse). Sometimes the pictures of the little girl are a bit small, but since the author is trying to give you a broad scope, this is somewhat expected. Great fun!

Storytelling  4
Color Attractiveness  5
Size of Book  5
Text Size  4
Illustrations 4
Participation Potential  5
Overall Appropriateness for Storytime  4.5

Tiny Little Fly (2010) - Michael Rosen, Kevin Waldron

Tiny Little Fly (2010) – Michael Rosen, Kevin Waldron (Ill.)

A tiny little fly has a close encounter with an elephant’s great big toes, nose, and eyes before moving to adventures with other animals. The poor fly is just trying to stay out of trouble… Or is he?

Tiny Little Fly is filled with great rhymes and sounds kids can imitate. A double fold-out page really makes the massive size of the animals unmistakable. This should be a lot of fun for animal storytimes.  

Storytelling  4
Color Attractiveness  5
Size of Book  5
Text Size  5
Illustrations 5
Participation Potential  4
Overall Appropriateness for Storytime  4.5

Dig, Dogs, Dig (2013) - James Horvath

Dig, Dogs, Dig (2013) - James Horvath

Dogs and construction: what's not to like? These working dogs, along with their trucks, machines, and digging tools are lot of fun. The rhymes are generally good. The book suffers, however, from two problems: the story goes a little too long and there's just too much activity on several of the pages. This would be a better book for smaller groups (better still for one-on-one situations) than large ones.

Storytelling  4
Color Attractiveness  5
Size of Book  4
Text Size  3
Illustrations 4
Participation Potential  3
Overall Appropriateness for Storytime 4

Tiptoe Joe (2013) - Ginger Foglesong Gibson, Laura Rankin

Tiptoe Joe (2013) - Ginger Foglesong Gibson, illustrated by Laura Rankin 

Tiptoe Joe is a tennis shoe-wearing bear who's all about gathering his friends to show them something they should really see. Tiptoe Joe's adventure is filled with lots of rhymes and opportunities for group participation. The pictures are large and colorful, the story engaging and fun for all. Don't miss this one!

Storytelling  5
Color Attractiveness  5
Size of Book  5
Text Size  5
Illustrations 5
Participation Potential  5
Overall Appropriateness for Storytime  5

Earth to Clunk (2011) Pam Smallcomb & Joe Berger

Earth to Clunk (2011) Pam Smallcomb & Joe Berger

Earth to Clunk is a wonderful story about a boy who’s forced to have a pen pal, even though he doesn’t want one, not even an alien pen pal named Clunk. The boy sends all sorts of disgusting things (including his sister) to Clunk, hoping that each package will end the “friendship.” But Clunk keeps sending the boy cool, strange presents. 

I loved what Earth to Clunk has to teach kids about friendship and diversity. It’s a fun story that would be most engaging for an older Storytime audience. Vibrant colors, imaginative artwork and a compelling story make this one a winner for smaller, older groups. (If your group has more than 20 kids with most of them in the 2-3 year-old age range, this one probably won’t work so well.)

Storytelling  5
Color Attractiveness  5
Size of Book  4
Text Size  4
Illustrations 4
Participation Potential  3
Overall Appropriateness for Storytime  4

The Boy Who Cried Bigfoot! (2013)

The Boy Who Cried Bigfoot! (2013) - Scott Magoon

The Boy Who Cried Bigfoot! gets a lot of things right. Primarily, it's a fun story about kids and what they think they see, what they want people to believe, and much more. It is, of course, a variation on the old "Boy Who Cried Wolf" story.

The book itself is large, although the characters are sometimes drawn small (especially the boy), leaving a lot of room for the outdoor scenery and, of course, Bigfoot himself. Most of the book features dark colors, which may be a deterrent for large groups, but the colors still work. The text, also, is a bit small at times, but the strength of the story and the opportunities for group participation are very good.

Storytelling  4
Color Attractiveness  3
Size of Book  4
Text Size  3
Illustrations 4
Participation Potential  4
Overall Appropriateness for Storytime 3.5

Chloe and the Lion (2012) - Mac Barnett and Adam Rex

Let me start by saying that Mac Barnett is one of my favorite children’s authors and Adam Rex one of my favorite children’s illustrators. And while Chloe and the Lion is a fun, clever and intelligent children’s book, it simply does not work for a Storytime setting.

First, the book is 48 pages long, rather than the more standard 32. That wouldn’t necessarily make the book problematic, but the story is quite complex with lots of starts and stops in the form of Barnett and Rex appearing throughout the story (as clay figures), arguing over parts of the story. Most of the children we have in Storytime are on the younger side and would not understand the interaction of the creators; they’d only know that these scenes interrupt the story.

Also too many pages consist of multiple panels more appropriate to a graphic novel format. This makes the visual elements too small for large groups. The book contains very few opportunities (if any) for group participation. While Chloe and the Lion would make a great story for some one-on-one situations (or even better, for independent reading), it simply does not work for a Storytime situation.

Storytelling  2
Color Attractiveness  2
Size of Book  2
Text Size  1
Illustrations 2
Participation Potential  1
Overall Appropriateness for Storytime 1.5

How to Be a Cat (2013) - Nikki McClure

Nikki McClure’s How to Be a Cat only features three colors – black, white, and blue – but it makes effective use of those colors. Most of the artwork covers a two-page spread with only one word of text, words like “stretch,” “explore,” “tumble,” “lick”… You get the picture.

The book allows for a good bit of audience participation by imitating what the cats are doing. There’s really no story, just a sequence of words/actions, but who cares? I wouldn’t use How to Be a Cat for a large group, but for just a few kids (and those on the younger side), it might be a good filler book.   

Storytelling  1
Color Attractiveness  3
Size of Book  4
Text Size  5
Illustrations 4
Participation Potential  4
Overall Appropriateness for Storytime 3.5

Dog Storytime

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

We had a great time in Storytime today reading, talking, singing, and woofing about dogs!

(* = planned, but didn't get used this time)

"Shake Your Sillies Out" - Raffi - opening song

Dog Storytime Drawing

Bark, George – Jules Feiffer

Five Little Puppies (fingerplay)

"Bingo"

The Pigeon Wants a Puppy – Mo Willems

“This Old Man” *

"If You're Happy and You Know It" - closing song

Craft - Dog Ears

We had 57 kids and 37 adults - a little bigger (and slightly older) audience than last week. Everyone enjoyed singing, dancing, barking and woofing!

Bear Storytime

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

We had a great time in Storytime today reading, talking, singing, and dancing about bears!

(* = planned, but didn't get used this time)

"Shake Your Sillies Out" - Raffi - opening song

Bear Storytime Drawing

“I Don’t Care!” Said the Bear – Colin West

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear (fingerplay)

"Are You Sleeping Little Bear?" *

“The Bear Went Over the Mountain” * 

A Bear and His Boy - Sean Bryan, illustrations by Tom Murphy

“We’re Going On a Bear Hunt” 

"If You're Happy and You Know It" - closing song

Craft - Bear Wakes Up (from hibernation!)

We had 45 kids and 26 adults - a little bigger (and slightly older) audience than last week. Everyone enjoyed singing, dancing, quacking and growling!

Duck Storytime

We had a great time in Storytime today reading, talking, singing, and dancing about ducks!

(* = planned, but didn't get used this time)

"Shake Your Sillies Out" - Raffi - opening song

Duck on a Bike - David Shannon

The Little Ducklings (fingerplay) *

"The Duck Song"

"The Ducks on the Bus" (sung to "The Wheels on the Bus")

The Duckling Gets a Cookie!? - Mo Willems

"Five Little Ducks" song/fingerplay

Duck in the Water fingerplay *

The Doghouse - Jan Thomas

"Ducks Like Rain" song *

"If You're Happy and You Know It" - closing song

Craft - Make a Duck!

We had 30 kids and 26 adults - a little bigger (and slightly older) audience than last week. Everyone enjoyed singing, dancing, quacking and waddling!

Cowboy & Cowgirl Storytime

I thought I’d try archiving what I’m doing in Storytime both for the benefit of anyone looking for ideas and for myself in case I have partial memory failure someday (which, let's face it, could be any day now…).

A few things: 

All the librarians in our branch take turns doing a month (or two) of Storytime. I'll do four of the five Tuesdays in April (A co-worker will cover for me the one week my schedule flips for another program.) and also Storytimes in October.

I don’t use pre-recorded music, but perform all the songs myself, singing and playing guitar. (Sometimes I'll look for the chords online, which is fairly easy for the more familiar tunes; other times I'll just pick out the chords by ear.) Although I’m no great singer or guitar player, I do enjoy having the flexibility to change the music to fit the situation (adding verses, repeating, speeding up the tempo, slowing it down, etc.). 

I usually have more material than I can use. Sometimes I’ll make an on-the-spot decision to do something, repeat something, or not do something. Items marked with an * are things I left out for this particular Storytime (mainly because of time).  

Cowboy & Cowgirl Storytime April 2, 2013

Welcome & Introduction

“Shake Your Sillies Out” - Raffi (Always a good opening song!)

“The Little Cowboy Song” (to the tune of “I’m a Little Teapot”)

TheCowboy ABC (2001) – Chris L. Demarest

“Cowboy Boots” – Charlie Hope (If you aren't familiar with her music, you should be. Learn more here.)

Let’sSing a Lullaby with the Brave Cowboy (2012) – Jan Thomas

“She’ll Be Comin’ ‘Round the Mountain” *

The Cowboy Pokey (dance - modified from this version)

“Home on the Range” *

Cowboy Bedtime (fingerplay)

“If You’re a Cowboy and You Know It” (to the tune of “If You’re Happy and You Know It”, a good closing song)

“Happy Trails” * 

Crafts: 

Decorate your own sheriff’s badge

Make a cowboy moustache (various sizes and shapes)

Cowboy & Cowgirl coloring sheets

We had a pretty light crowd: 20 kids, 15 adults and very much on the young side. (I'd say the oldest kid was 4 years old.)  As usual, it was a lot of fun!

More next week!