Chickens

This week storytime was about chickens! The kids all wore chicken hats, graciously donated by my mother, who made them for a "hen" party pre-wedding. What surprised me was that I put on a chicken hat and told the kids if they also wanted to wear one they could come up and pick a color. Nobody budged. I made a fool of myself by making chicken noises until a few of the older kids put some on. Once the older kids had approved it, the younger ones had no problem looking like a silly chicken and all 22 of us had hats on. Out of all the books below, the one with the most audience participation was Bob. The craft took a bit longer, but there was a lot of cutting and logical thinking required to put the Little Red Hen together. All in all, we had a good time!

Flannel Board Template

Craft Template

Heroes

Having a storytime on September 11 can be a bit challenging, but I wanted to get across the idea that all of us can be superheroes when we need to. We talked a lot about community helpers and what they do. We read some books about dressing up as a superhero and having adventures. I tried to balance the fun with the serious, but I don't think I quite got there. I'll try to bump things up a notch for this particular storytime before next year. We read the three books below, did a Community Helpers Dress-Up flannel board and the Best Super Hero Suit flannel board, and made super hero bracelets/cuffs with construction paper, then taped the ends together to fit their wrists.

End of Summer Reading

I've read a lot this summer but here is the latest (that I can remember!). Click on a book to read a description.

Teachers

At the start of each fall storytime season, I like to use a Back to School theme. This year it was teachers! We read a book about the first day of school, and one about the last day of school. We read about a student who thought her teacher was so great that she wanted to become one herself. We sang the song "APPLE" using the tune of "BINGO" and used a flannel board called "There's a Bug on My Teacher" where you place a bug on the parts of the teacher the rhyme describes. As our craft, we used a die cut apple that the kids could color or write their name on, and glued it to a clothespin that had a magnet on the back. Now they can hang school papers on the fridge so everyone can see their good work!

I Love My Library!

We're back from our after summer break and the kids are ready for storytime!

This week we read books about the library and reading. We used a flannel board named "Five Little Books in the Library" created by another librarian in our system. We sang the alphabet and talked about the library, librarians, library cards, and the parts of a book. We made a bear toilet paper roll craft to have our own "book bear."

Beach Day

Children enjoyed the following books in this beach themed story time: A Beach Tail by Karen Lynn Williams, A House For Hermit Crab by Eric Carle, and How Will We Get to The Beach? by  Brigitte Luciani. Children helped with the flannel board rhymes “Five Little Shells” and “There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Shell”. Story time ended with parachute play and a popsicle craft.

Summer Reading

Here is what I have read since the last update. It's amazing how much time I devote to reading books, and then I forget the titles or plots a few weeks later. It is very frustrating to me that my memory is that bad! 

From Library Journal

A young woman's promise to her dying grandmother leads her on a quest to discover the truth of her own family's mysterious beginnings in this grim retelling of the classic fairy tale "Briar Rose," or "The Sleeping Beauty." In Yolen's modern-day version, the wall of thorns becomes a barbed-wire prison, while the sleeping princess is both victim and heroine. The latest in the "Fairy Tale" series showcases Yolen's skill at transforming the real world into a realm of fantasy. A good selection for adult and YA fantasy collections.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Mirabelle Lively knows little about her past or her deceased parents; her loving, though overprotective, guardian godmothers, Elsa and Bliss, have kept it that way. But with her sixteenth birthday approaching, Mira runs away to Beau Rivage to visit her birthplace and her parents’ graves, hoping to find answers. The city and residents are not as they appear, and as mysteries and secrets unfold, so do revelations, including whether or not curses and fairy tales could be real and whether Mira is destined for happily ever after or a more sinister fate. Incorporating suspense and romance, this contemporary, edgy, Grimm-based novel is an entertaining and well-written entry in the crowded but popular genre. With nods to many fairy tales—including Cinderella and Hansel and Gretel—readers will find familiar, if occasionally predictable, elements. However, there are also some creative twists as the engaging YA cast navigates issues ranging from destiny versus free will to self-discovery to the power of love. Includes some strong language and mature scenarios. Grades 9-12. --Shelle Rosenfeld 

From Amazon
He's b-a-a-ack! Despite their best efforts, Carter and Sade Kane can't seem to keep Apophis, the chaos snake, down. Now Apophis is threatening to plunge the world into eternal darkness, and the Kanes are faced with the impossible task of having to destroy him once and for all. Unfortunately, the magicians of the House of Life are on the brink of civil war, the gods are divided, and the young initiates of Brooklyn House stand almost alone against the forces of chaos. The Kanes' only hope is an ancient spell that might turn the serpent's own shadow into a weapon, but the magic has been lost for a millennia. To find the answer they need, the Kanes must rely on the murderous ghost of a powerful magician who might be able to lead them to the serpent's shadow . . . or might lead them to their deaths in the depths of the underworld.

 From Amazon
Fourteen-year-old Sherlock Holmes knows that Amyus Crowe, his mysterious American tutor, has some dark secrets. But he didn’t expect to find John Wilkes Booth, the notorious assassin, apparently alive and well in England—and Crowe somehow mixed up in it. When no one will tell you the truth, sometimes you have to risk all to discover it for yourself. And so begins an adventure that will take Sherlock across the Atlantic, to the center of a deadly web—where a friend is in peril and a defeated army threatens to rise again.

 From Amazon

Allison Sekemoto survives in the Fringe, the outermost circle of a vampire city. By day, she and her crew scavenge for food. By night, any one of them could be eaten.
Some days, all that drives Allie is her hatred of them. The vampires who keep humans as blood cattle. Until the night Allie herself is attacked—and given the ultimate choice. Die…or become one of the monsters.
Faced with her own mortality, Allie becomes what she despises most. To survive, she must learn the rules of being immortal, including the most important: go long enough without human blood, and you will go mad.
Then Allie is forced to flee into the unknown, outside her city walls. There she joins a ragged band of humans who are seeking a legend—a possible cure to the disease that killed off most of humankind and created the rabids, the mindless creatures who threaten humans and vampires alike.