Alternate Superhero Titles

Flashback
The year is 2010 and it's my first round of summer reading at my new library job. Obviously I'm stoked; eager to impress and please. I was assigned to help other staff members in their programs inducing reading books at storytimes, making crafts etc.

One of our elementary programs had me reading a book about superheroes. The title? Mighty Max by Harriet Ziefert

Great literature it is not. Timeless story, not close but really for me, it was just such an awkward book to read aloud. The plot was just empty and pointless, the ending didn't fit. It just seemed pasted together with images and words to appease superhero obsessed little kids. Pandering to them almost.The only impression it left on me was how bad it was. And how the heck was I going to read this and pretend like it was the "greatest story I've ever read."

It made me nervous. I did my best, while inwards pointing out all my imperfections in my tone, inflection and diction as I read. I got no reaction from the kids. I felt like a comic dying in front of a buzzed crowd at an open mike. All finished I closed the book and wondered for the rest of the day. "Is this what it's going to be like for the rest of the summer? For the rest of my career?"

The panic subsided when I got to take control of programs and I got to choose the books I read out loud. If I ever picked on that bombed, was boring or I only picked it because it matched my theme, I would reminded myself..."Mighty Max"

Now as cool as it would be to do branded superhero storytime all summer. (All Iron Man one week, Batman the next!) kid's library staff are painfully aware that the books based of popular characters purely commercial..at best. They can't hold a candle to the comic genius of Mo Willems or the simple and timeless stories of Eric Carle. But they do get kids to read, so they get points for trying. (I'm just glad if a kid reads period) So instead of the obvious choices of picture books with superhero themes for storytime, I have a few book suggestions for an alternate route.

Ninjas! Ninjas are heroes (or villains...) and they still have massive appeal to even little kids. Publishers finally got the hint and more and more picture book titles about ninjas are on the shelves. Nightime Ninja  and Ninja Ninja Never Stop are a few of my favorite ones.

Hoot Owl Master of Disguse
This book made me laugh and I appreciated that the main character had a bit of a naughty side to him (Just like your typical toddler) It's a chance to do a dramatic reading in a cliche voices. Can't pass that opportunity up!

Superhero Bodies (No not that scene when Steve Rogers turns into a total beefcake in Captain America...but its nice to think about)
Book explaining to kids the awesome superpowers in their own bodies. Books with movement and body awareness. From Head to Toe is a great option.

Hero Mom
Books celebrating moms and dads as personal heroes are great. This one works well for kids who have a parent in the military or not. Kids can still relate. I've been on a lot of school visits the past week talking about Summer Reading. When we mention we are going to have persons from the military for a program, they got really excited.

When my work is done for today, I realized that I when I come back to work after the weekend, it will be June! The Summer Reading Club approaches. Take heed super library staffers everywhere!


P.S. Harriet Ziefert is some sort of magically writing machine who has written over several hundred children's books. My dislike of Mighty Max should not give the impression that she sub par writer because she is far from it.

Best Books I Read: Feburary

So I have something more to talk about than storytime, I'm highlighting my favorite reads every month.

The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend by Dan Santat

Hipster moment...thought this book was cool before it won and award. Like other in library land, I read through a selection of Caldecott hopefuls before the announcements. I enjoyed most of them (some were meh) but I was instantly drawn to Beekle both story and illustration wise. Dan Santat has done stellar art for several other children's books and its nice to see his work finalized recognized.  His art has an appeal of Disney storyboard with bright color schemes that remind me of the work of Mary Blair (if she had a computer and was edgier).
I had an imaginary friend as a kid so this was a nostalgic look back for me. It also vaguely reminded me of the show "Moone Boy" which features imaginary friends.

Henny by Elizabeth Rose Stanton

This book was just sweet and with just the right touch of oddness. It's the story of Henny a hen who is bored with hands. Yes human hands. Imagine adorable simple illustrations of a hen with human hands. I'm already interested. Even though she is teased, Henny discovers that being the same is overrated. In fact she embraces her difference and all the awesome things she could do. If I wrote it, Henny would use her hands to flip her bullies the bird and strut off in her awesomeness. Thankfully, the author has more tact than me. Charming, cute and also just a little weird.

Fraidyzoo by Thyra Heder

This book is golden with a surprise ending that makes you laugh because it is so spot on and true. The premise is a little girl who is afraid to go to the zoo and her family tries to discover what she is afraid of. After constructing elaborate zoo creatures out of boxes and other house hold items, the girl overcomes her fears figuring nothing her family has presented has frightened her. Until they finally visit the zoo and she comes face to face with the monster that has inspired her fear. (Spoiler Alert! It's the creepy old lady at the ticket counter!)
Nothing is scarier than scary old ladies and god if they are not everywhere striking fear in the hearts of children they meet. Pinching their cheeks! Making comments on how they want to buy them at the grocery store. Exclaiming that they just want to eat them up!  I have a 18 month old daughter and I've gone through months of this nonsense. Seriously old ladies, stay away. You are scaring my kid and creeping me out.

Slow Loris by Alexis Deacon

You really just have to read this because the illustrations are half the story. They also seem quirky and out of place for a kids picture book and remind me of the art found in a adult comic strip. Plus it is about a slow loris which is one of the cutest animals every! (Even if they do move really...really...slow)

What was your favorite read last month?

Storytime From the Liberry: The Color Brown

My favorite storytimes are the ones about colors. But instead of doing one a year about all the colors, I've decided to focus on one color for a story time, which will give me a chance to talk about a variety of things that fall under one basic theme.

For this storytime, we will focused on the often overlooked and unloved color brown. Things we featured in this story time beside the color were construction, mud, teddy bears, cows, and boxes (to name a few) I opened the story time with the discussion of what things can we think of that are brown and got some great answers like dogs, chocolate, dirt, cookies and shoes. Thankfully poop did not pop up as answer but I guess you could include a book about potty training if you are comfortable with that sort of thing. (Sorry, I will never do a potty training story time, not just that I find it gross but I don't trust myself to talk about it with a straight face!)

Books:

Brown Bear, Brown Bear What do You See? By Bill Martin Jr.
(A necessary evil, most people love this book but it bores me to tears. However it was very fitting)

Tip Tip Dig Dig by Emma Garcia

Moo Moo Brown Cow, Have you any Milk? By Phillis Gershator
A expansion on the rhyme Baa Baa Black Sheep. Can also be used for a storytime about farm animals and agriculture

Not a Box by Antoinette Portis

I think the best reaction I got when I asked what the main character was pretending to be now was a little box excitingly exclaiming "A Box Troll! A Box Troll!"






Activities and Songs:

Two Little Blackbirds with some additonal verses

Two Little Blackbirds sitting on a BED
One named BROWN, the other named RED

Two Little Blackbirds flying by a KITE
One named BLUE, the other named WHITE

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear- There alot of different version of this song, most of them involving say your prayers which...yeah I rather not use in a public library. So I have a miss-match verison of my own.

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, turn around
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, touch the ground
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, dance on your toes
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, touch your noes
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, touch your head
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, go to bed
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, wake up now
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, take a bow

I also had a flannel rhyme Five Little Hedgehogs that just didn't get a big response as I hoped when I used it with my group. It got skipped over the next times. Pity, because my hedgehogs were really cute!

I also brought out Little Mouse Little Mouse, Are you in the Red House because the toddlers really love this game/chant! I'm planning to use it whenever I do a color storytime.

Storytime from the Liberry: Happy Feet

So I've done a storytime about hats so it seems a good idea to talk about an article of clothing that rested on the opposite side of our bodies- shoes! (get your mind out of the gutter)

When I previewed it two years ago, my co-worker and friend confided in me that she thought a storytime about shoes was one of the lamest idea she had ever heard.  Oh how she wounded me! Well this co worker left for a while but decided to come back. Welcoming her back I informed her I would be doing her favorite storytime next week.

"The one wear you read 'The Duckling gets a Cookie'?"
"No the one about SHOES!!" *cackle*

I'm sticking to my guns, I like this storytime. Plus we get to use our feet so there is a lot of jumping up and down, stamping our feet and all things toddlers love to do.

Books:

 Shoe Baby by Joyce Dunbar with illustrations by her daughter Polly Dunbar. Just really a cute little story with pleasing rhymes and repetitive phrases. 

Dancing Feet by Lindsey Craig It goes without saying, you need to get up and use your feet to make noise with this one. Most of the children got the general idea of making loud stomping noises with their feet or making tip toe quite noises. The text also follows a pattern which is easy to recall and even memorize in case your mind and hands are busy elsewhere directing your group to remember whats on the page!

My Two Hands/My Two Feet by Rick Walton
Whose Shoes by Anna Grossnickle Hines (and one of my favorite illustrators LeUyen Pham)

Yes even for a storytime on the obsure subject of shoes, there are pleanty of great books to choose from. I have at least half of dozen "back up" books I could use that worked well for this storytime, but I simply can't read them all in one storytime.

Activities and Songs:

We did the nursey rhyme, One two Buckle My Shoe
I also repeated the song I used in a summer storytime- Walking Walking

Walking Walking (Tune of "Frere Jacques")
Walking, walking, walking, walking
Hop hop hop! Hop hop hop!
Jumping, jumping, jumping, jumping, jumping, jumping.
Now we stop! Now we stop.

Extra verses including swaying and swimming, stretching and flying. 

So a storytime about shoes! What do you think?

Storytime from the Liberry: The Five Senses

Once upon a time there was a girl who wanted to do storytime about the five senses. How easy. I'll find a book about each sense! Eyes, Ears, Tasting, Touch, Smelling.

For kids who are 2 and 3......*tire screech*

That was my plan long ago when I first thought of doing a storytime about the 5 senses. Doing five activities for each of the sense would work great for older kids, but not toddlers so much. But wouldn't any book as long as it motivates them and has them use actions and their senses to experience it work? Yes I think so!

So on that thought I present Fizz Boom Bang! A storytime about the 5 Senses!

Books:

The Bear Went over the Mountain by Iza Trapani- The only book that truley covered the 5 senses. A great book to sing to!

The Ear Book by Al Perkins

Press Here by Herve Tullet- I asked kids if they wanted to help press the buttons but I only had two enthusiastic helpers! This interactive book is great for all ages really.

Yummy Yucky !  By Leslie Patricelli- I love this book even though it might be more for babies. It was great to ask the kids what they thought was yummy and yucky. It was an easy book to interact with.

Songs:
Head Shoulder Knees and Toes
Do Your Ears Hang Low?

Where is Your Finger- (Tune of "In an Out the  Window")
Where is your Finger?
Where is your finger?
Where is your finger?
Show me if you can? (Repeat with other body parts)

Walking Walking (Tune of "Frere Jacques")
Walking, walking, walking, walking
Hop hop hop! Hop hop hop!
Jumping, jumping, jumping, jumping, jumping, jumping.
Now we stop! Now we stop!
(Repeat with other movements. First time I used this song and it was great to get the wiggles out before we got to our big dance song)

For our after storytime activity we had a bin of rainbow rice and sensory bottles on the tarp. I was hoping they would play with half and half but they all seemed to crowd around the sensory bin and had a great time burying each others hands!

The last time the colors of the rice would ever be separated!

Presidental Poetry

In this post I present you not with one, but two books featuring poems about US Presidents. This strikes me as such a specific topic that I'm surprised there are two books on the subject (and perhaps more.)

However I work in public library where almost anything goes. I was asked last May by several students in a desperation to finish up their poetry assignments if I could help them find a poem about Constitution  Day.  ._.
I couldn't really believe this was an actual assignment until I was presented with the evidence. 3rd and 4th grade students presented with the task of finding and copying a poem about several holidays during the year including MLK Day, Arbor Day, and Constitution Day (which I didn't even know was a holiday) Needless to say despite finding books on holiday poem and America poems, I did not find one about Constitution Day so I suggested the just write the Preamble. (It's poetic, I guess. Close enough)

So if anyone needs a poem about presidents, I'm prepared!

The President is Stuck in the Bathtub: Poems about the Presidents By Susan Katz with illustrations by Robert Neubecker

Rutherford B. Who was He? Poems about out Presidents by Marilyn Singer with illustrations by John
  Hendrix

Each book follows the same format. A poem about (almost) each President along with factual information about their life or administration. All of Singer's poems rhyme, while some of Katz's rhyme and follow the same pattern, other forms are used. Katz also devote a poem to every president while Singer combines lesser known Presidents into one poem. Surprisingly she combines Adams and Jefferson into one short poem.

Katz's poems present the lighter side of the presidents while Singer's are much more informational. Some of them present the reader with some serious heavy thoughts after reading them, partically the spread about JFK and LBJ.

For example.

Singer's poem about  Lydon Johnson lay out his many accomplishments "Great Society. War on Poverty. Clean Air. Medicare..." but point out that this legacy was undone by the war in Vietnam.

In the next poem, about Nixon, a similar point is made. "Who protected the environment? Who opened the gateway to China? Would people remember Watergate, nothing but Watergate?"

Some of the stories and anecdotes are already familiar to me and some of them repeat. (William Henry Harrison's claim to fame is his short term and poor Taft gets stuck in the bath again) But I did learn some new things. In summary, I preferred Singer's poetry over Katz and her book had much more information in it. While I also love the work of both illustrators,  John Hendrix's illustrations are so well done, full of detail and featuring hand drawn text. It makes the book beautiful and eye catching to compliment the poems.

Presidental Anecdote for Kids

Continuing my love and quest of all presidential trivia great and small, I'll be looking at two new books today about Presidential anecdotes published for kids.

President Taft is Stuck in the Bath 

Did President William Howard Taft, our heaviest President, get stuck in the White House bathtub? Some say yes, others deny it. If you told a kid that the president was stuck in the bath and asked him how he would get out, they might have the same wacky ideas that are presented in this book.

President Taft decided to call in the vice president and all his cabinet members for solutions of how to get unstuck from his small bath. They range from useless to absurd including greasing the tub with fresh butter and blasting him out with TNT.

I read this book out loud with my family and it gave my husband a really good laugh.There were some things that poked fun of the absurdity of the government and the idea of calling a committee to assist with getting someone out of the bath. Things that would be completely missed by younger readers but appreciated by adults. My favorite was the Sectary of the Treasury suggestion "Throw money at the problem"

However while we were enjoying this book, we did have to admit, it was a bit of "mean fun". We were laughing at a very large naked man stuck in the bathtub. In a kid's book its hilarious. In real life, it would be embarrassing. The illustrations by Chris Van Dusen are amazing and he is presented with a challenge of rendering a naked 300 pound plus man. People who are squeamish about the naked body or can't read through a potty or bath-time picture book without feeling weird would want to skip this. I found my mind straying towards the gutter while trying to admire the illustrations and not be distracted on what was lurking underneath those cleverly placed bubbles.

My one pet peeve about this books was how often the word "said" was used. It probably because I was reading it out loud and getting tired of saying it. I feel if you are introducing this book to kids who at least have an idea of what a president is and an appreciation for the subject, you might wanted to include some more verbs for the sake of introducing more vocabulary.

Hot Dog! Eleanor Roosevelt Throws a Picnic

The year is 1939. To celebrate the arrival of the first British Royals to visit America in over 150 years, The Roosevelts decided to host a picnic. And what's a picnic without hot dogs!

We are introduced to our title characters, both Eleanor Rossevelt and hot dogs in the first page, but they seem to go in and out of focus throughout the book as the reader is clued into the history and back story of this event. The focus on this book is how serving hot dogs to the King and Queen of England would be odd and almost offensive.

However, hot dogs are a staple in the diet for kids and so common that I don't think anyone would bat an eye if President Obama or Prince William chowed down on them.  "What's the big deal?" is the question I'm sure kids would have while reading this, and I don't think the book makes this point very clear. It would take further explanation outside of reading to help kids understand the point of view for that time period.  Also would the idea of a hot dog be so foreign to Brits at that time? It's a sausage or a "banger" if we are using slang.  According to the story, King George chowed down on two of them, while Queen Elizabeth cut hers into pieces. (which isn't that strange because she would have done the same with a sausage, am I right?)

Besides just relying a story, I'm not sure what the point was of this book. I'm not sure if the American viewpoint in 1939 was to regard the English as so different from us just because they have a monarchy. Or was it because we hadn't had a visit from the royal family in so long that we still regarded Great Britain as our enemies from the Revolution? The "moral" of this story is that Roosevelt's hospitality enabled them to develop a good relationship with the royal couple and ensured a strong bond as we became close allies during World War II (which puzzles me since we were allies with them before in World War I)

I think this book would be good in the classroom to help aid the study of this time period, but as a stand-alone book, it falls flat.

Diversity in Children's Books

I didn't know it was this bad....

Read more here

Storytime From the Liberry: A Whale of a Tale

A toddler storytime about whales?  Hey why not?

A Whale of a Tale

Probably a rather obscure topic to teach to 2 and 3 year olds, but something I wanted to tackle right from the start when I took over storytime from a coworker.  My inspiration and title of the program oddly came from the film 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (yes the old Disney live action one) Well not so much the film, who only highlight for me are Peter Lorre and seal but the song in the beginning of the film, sung by Ned Land (Kirk Douglas)

Inspiration such as Baby Beluga, songs and rhymes came later. You can also combine this theme with ocean animals in general, sailors or pirates. I use sailors in mind because I already have a story time devoted to just pirates. If you are looking to incorporate Ready to Read skill, I pair this storytime up with Singing. You can play noises of whale calls and explain that whales talk by singing and they sing loud so others can hear them from far away. So let’s sing loud and clear today

BOOKS:

If you want to see a Whale by Julie Fogliano

A rather quirky  non-linear books, but very charming with great illustrations! I adore this team’s other book “And Then it’s Spring” I cut down some of the length and asked my storytime friends to be sure and tell me if they see a whale. Many of them got very excited about trying to find it.

A Big Guy Took My Ball by Mo Willems

I am on a desperate crusade to get my toddlers (and their grownups!) to appreciate the humor of Mo Willems. This one is great because of the change to do three voices. Elephant, Piggie and the great big voice of the whale.

Baby Beluga by Raffi

Ahhh son, this is my jam! I was born in the mid 80’s so I was a toddler right as Raffi was making it big. My parents apparently dropped some serious dough to get me tickets to his concert when he came to town. They let me place this tape on loop and sang all the songs with me. Even to this day when I hear the song Baby Beluga, I hear it in my father’s voice still singing to me.

You can use this as a song or with a book if you have a copy. I’ve sung along with the recording in the past, but I decided to ditch that this time and sing it a cappella. If you sing it with the recording, heads up you’ll be flipping pages real fast and have to deal with an awkward break in the middle.

Kavna, the inspiration for "Baby Beluga" Sadly, she passed away in 2012 at age 46.

Way Down Deep in the Deep Blue Sea by Jan Peck

Lots of sea creatures to see and repetitive text. I encourage my friends to wave hello and good bye at every animal we meet. Also I handed out puppets of sea creatures (“our reading buddies”) and would look out if I could see the octopus or the shark in the crowd when we read about them.

Sailor Boy Jig by Margaret Wise Brown

This is such a great book for movement, but my branch has one of the very few copies left. (*Clutches it for dear life*)

Storytimes from the Liberry: Mad About Hats (Toddlers)

Social Media, blogs and Pinterest have helped me so many times as a librarian, I couldn’t count. 

So in an effort to share and share alike, I’ll start posting my own ideas for storytimes here on my blog. Please feel free to share, use and adapt for your storytimes at your library, childcare or home. Library books are free and sharing the love of reading should be free too.

For reference, I run the toddler storytime at my library and my age group is 2-3 year olds ( everyone seems to have a different classification for toddlers) So the idea posted here are geared towards that age group and are often packed into a fast pace 20-25 minute session

Mad About Hats

Inspiration: Being a child of the 80’s-90’s I was addicted to Care Bears and one of my favorite silly songs was from “Care Bears Adventure in Wonderland” sung by the Mad Hatter himself “Mad about Hats”

To this day it is an inside joke in my family. If you ask “Do you like hats?” or mention hats in a conversation , my mother and/or myself will reply “I’m Mad about hats!” (that’s the insanity talking)

Hats was a theme I knew I wanted to tackle and it was one of the first story times I created. I repeated it in January after two years and some sprucing up.

BOOKS:

Do You Have a Hat? By Eileen Spinelli
A longer book to start out, you can skip a few pages to shorten it. I've read this one before but I switched it out for this next one

Under my Hood I Have a Hat by Karla Kuskin

Okay, so the hat is a small part of this story, but it is an adorable book to read for winter.  Kids can really relate to the clothes and the simple text. It's fairly simple to ask kids at this age if they wore a coat, hat, mittens today and what color they are.