Librarians to Dress up as for Halloween

"What are you going to be Halloween?"

"Oh I guess I'll go as a librarian."

"But that's your job..."

"Shush, I know..."

I love Halloween but after planning for several programs at my library, plus trying to squeeze in family plans, and making a costume for my toddler (who insist on being a clock) in the hope she would have a meltdown at the eleventh hour and refuse to wear it for trick or treat....I just don't have the time for an elaborate cosplay.

(Or money... you know who well us library people are paid ;)

Here are some options of fictional librarians to add some spunk to your costume this year.

Belle from Once Upon a Time
A costume that can go two ways. What a choice! You can dress in her fairy tale gowns and corsets, or go the modern route with a chic blue frock.
Accessories needed: Beautiful hardbound copy of fairy tales, ornate key on a necklace.

Marian the Librarian from the Music Man
The head librarian of River City, Iowa who takes no sass from anyone. Whether its the young couples canoodling in the stacks or the slick con man Harold Hill. If you have a friend who works in a community theater, ask to raid their stock of costumes.
Accessories needed: A stack of "dirty books" (Chaucer, Rabelais, Balzac), a large sign saying "Quiet"

Madam Irma Pince, Hogwarts Librarian
Speaking of another Madam Librarian, Madam Irma Pince from the Harry Potter series in another good choice. Dress as a witch and a librarian and really scare the kids who visit your library. Just kidding. What ever you, do don't write in her library books!
"A warning: If you rip, tear, shred, bend, fold, deface, disfigure, smear, smudge, throw, drop, or in any other manner damage, mistreat, or show lack of respect towards this book, the consequences will be as awful as it is within my power to make them."
Accessories needed: Killer witch hat, Jewelry in your favorite Hogwarts house colors (as J.K. Rowling has not given any defiant proof of what house she belonged to in school)

Twilight Sparkle
For the little girl or brony in all of us
Accessories needed:Purple horn, ears, wig and magic of friendship

Barbara Gordon (aka Batgirl)
Librarian by day,  vigilante by night!
Accessories needed: Batgirl costume and utility belt with portable ILS system.

Tammy Two from Parks and Recreation
Yes, you could dress in your regular clothes. But underneath your facade, you are punk ass book jockey and proud of it!
Accessories needed: Pawnee Public Library badge, A thong to flash a "whale tail", long piece of jerky and a mega crush on Nick Offerman.

Maggie from NOSFA2 by Joe Hill (Art by the incredible Gabriel Rodriguez)
Since it's Halloween, I need to read a really scary book. Joe Hill's NOSFA2 did not disappoint! Nail biting, page turning close to peeing your pants in fright horror thrill ride! I was spooked after the first chapter. It's a great novel with great characters including my new favorite librarian, Maggie Leigh. Scrabble champ, occasional psychic  and punk librarian. She has the coolest little office that in the corner with a fish tank that can look out onto the children's section. "It's story hour, the best hour of the day"
Accessories needed: Purple colored hair, Fedora, paperweight in the shape of a gun, cheeky earring made out of scrabble tiles (the letters? F and U)

Happy Halloween Everyone!

Flannel Friday: This is NOT a Pumpkin

This is NOT a Flannel Story!

(Because it's made out of paper)

I made most of my "flannel" stories out of paper not because I'm some sort of rebel against the fabric industry, just because I like paper. It's a more versatile and easier medium to work with for me.

With Halloween coming up, I wanted to do "This is is NOT a Pumpkin" by Bob Staake. If you have read this book, you probably have found it as quirky and charming as I do.

Also if you've used this book in storytime, you'll notice it presents some challenges.
1- It's small (typical board book size)
2- It's an older book and often harder to find in libraries (Our system only had 7 copies)

I researched and googled ideas for a flannel on this story and didn't find one. So perhaps I'm the first person to do this book as a flannel and share it. Enjoy!

This is NOT a Pumpkin- Text by Bob Staake

Book added for scale

This is NOT a pumpkin, 
It's round
It's big, 
It has a steam
But this is NOT a pumpkin

You can turn it sideways
You can even turn it upside down.

You can put it in a corner
or throw it high in the air
And wonder if it will come back down

But no matter HOW you look at it this is NOT a pumpkin!

Why because EVERYONE knows that pumpkins
(Turn you pumpkin around)

Don't SMILE!
NO! NO! NO!

Pumpkins don't smile or frown

Jack-o'- lanterns do.

This is NOT a pumpkin.
THIS is a Jack-o'- lantern!


The trick to creating this is to make sure the back of your pumpkin matches the front of your pumpkin. Since I used laminated paper, I also made sure to place a few pieces of double stick table on each side of your pumpkin and in the corners (for the "putting in in the corner, throwing it up" etc.) If your felt is super good at sticking to your board, kudos to you! But for the rest of us...double stick tape.

The eyes, nose and mouth are removable, chiefly the mouth has to be easy to move so you can turn it upside down to frown.

May your upcoming storytimes be spooky!

BOO!

Storytime from the Liberry: Look Your Best

This storytime is a combination of getting dressed and bath time themes.

Welcome Song: The Wheel on the Bus

Welcome: Our Ready to Read Skill this Week is Reading

Book: Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear? by Nancy White Carlstrom. An oldie but a goodie!

Song: One Two, Buckle My Shoe

Book: Animal Baths by Bob Banner. The last pages go through all the actions of animals covered in the book and is a good segue into a motion activity for your group. Or you can always skip it if the crowd isn't feeling it.

Flannel Board: Five Elephants in the Bathtub You can download a template for this flannel song here you make up your own

Book: Pete the Cat I Love My White Shoes by Eric Litwin

Dancing Song: Shake Your Sillies Out

Book: Small Elephants Bathtime by Tatyana Feeny- A new book just published this year. I read another one of her titles and they are pretty cute. As a small detail, I appreciated the typography in this book.

Craft: Decorate a Shoe- Just like Pete, the toddlers decorated their own white shoes in whatever color they wanted. We used markers and yes I punched the holes laced, and tied every single craft I handed out. I told the grown up that I wasn't expecting the toddlers to know how to tie their shoes at this stage in their development, but a lacing craft was good practice for them and their fine motor skills.

Craft Template from ZiggyZoom

Somehow my theme accidentally became heavy on the elephant theme. So might use some of these books again if I want to do an elephant storytime.

Banned Books Week 2015

Last year, I featured Fun Home by Alison Bechdel as one of book in our display, since BBW featured banned graphic novels. Back then it was a rather obscure graphic novel with maybe a dozen or so copies in our system.

What a difference a year makes! Fun Home is now an award winning Broadway musical. We have 90 copies in our system, with a hold queue and even more copies on order. The book is still making waves as students at Duke University refused to read the book on "moral reasons" 

Researching about banned books is in my top ten list of things I like to do at my job. I enjoy the look of my patron's and co-worker's faces when they pass a display of banned books and exclaim "Wait? Why was this book banned?"

It's also that time of the year when library staff can be a little bit naughty and entice patrons to read those "dirty books" full of insensitive materials, offensive language and depressing subjects.  I feel like the shady figure lurking on a street corner, with a trench coat concealing black market goods; hungry for eager customers.

Which leads to the inspiration for my display. That odd logo on signs across America, the neighborhood watch creep. Who always has reminded me of Phantom of the Opera.

🎶 The Phantom of the Opera wants you....to read these books....🎶 

What horrors lie beneath?

GASP!

Storytime from the Liberry: Avast! Pirates!

When I was told in my new job that I was going to eventually take over for toddler storytime, I made of list of themes I wanted to talk about.

Pirates! was the first thing on the list.

September 19 is National Talk Like a Pirate Day. And this usually happens at the start of our fall storytime schedule. The best thing about this storytime is 90% of the picture books about pirates I find enjoyable, hilarious and really entertaining. Can't say that about every theme (I'm looking at you "getting dressed" books)

Also as I was prepping for storytime and gearing up for a new season, I did something new. I actually timed how long it took me to read each book, to make sure I wasn't going too slow or too fast. I discovered that I book that I thought was short, was actually the longest read in my set and therefore should not be used as the last story after the kids had been hyped up by shaking their sillies out.

timing how long it actually takes me to read a picture book to help plan storytime...because I'm crazy? #librarylife #storytime

— J. J. M. (@fromtheliberry) September 14, 2015

I also took a tip from the world of the restaurant kitchen. Make your last plate (book) as good as your first. (or in my case books) Service/Storytime can take a lot out of you, and you don't want to be close to the finish stuck with a book you really don't want to read. It will drag and you will drag. Even if you are exhausted you still have to finish strong. The last book you read should have as much enthusiasm as the first book you read. That just my way of seeing it. ( My inspiration mainly comes from  an awesome read about the industry Sous Chef: 24 Hours on the Line by Michael Gibney which I highly recommend)

Welcome Song: The Wheels on the Bus

Ready to Read skill this week is Talking. We practiced out best pirate voices with "Yo, ho ho." and "Arrrr"

Book: Peg Leg Peke by Brie Spangler - Lots of wonderful literacy opportunities in this unassuming book. As the reader you have to act as the voice of the narrator and the dog. You can break the fourth wall and engage with your group to talk back to the dog or answer questions. It has great words for vocabulary development (sextant, anchor and pekingese). Plus it's just really cute and about a dog who becomes a pirate. What else do you want? This is one of my favorite storytime books that I own in my personal library. We read it so much at home, my daughter has it practically memorized.

Song: My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean

Book: Pirate Nap: A Book of Colors by Danna Smith

Song: Row Row Row Your Boat- the pirate edition!

Row, row, row your boat
Gently cross the sea
Merrily, Merrily, Merrily, Merrily
A Pirate's life for me

Swap, swap swap the deck...
Walk, walk, walk the plank...
Hoist, hoist, hoist the flag....

Book: Pi-Rat by Maxine Lee- This book is just fun and silly for little ones and grown-ups. Full of puns and lots of pirate phrases


Dancing Song: Shake Your Sillies Out

Book: I love my Pirate Papa by Laura Leuck- A good "awwww" book to end storytime. Very sweet.

Closing Song: Wheels on the Bus

Our activity was a treasure hunt. I taped red "X"s under tables and on low book shelves and placed a handful of plastic pirate coins. The kids had to find the x, and bring me back one coin in order to get a sticker. I let them keep both the coin and the sticker. This was an exercise in following directions as for my first two groups, I had many paper x handed to me instead of coins.

Enjoy me hearties!!