Weekly Story Time Wrap-Up Volume 3

I only did story time one day this week, and it felt like an off day to me. I enjoyed myself, but I didn't get much reaction from the audience. Also, what looked like a good collection of books turned out not to be not so interesting to the kids. But here's what I read on Tuesday, at my back-to-back Baby/Toddler story times: 

Cupcake by Charise Mericle Harper
Police Hurrying! Helping! Saving! by Patricia Hubbell, illustrated by Viviana Garofoli
Panda Kisses by Alyssa Satin Capucilli, illustrated by Kay Widdowson
One Mitten by Kristine O'Connell George, illustrated by Maggie Smith



I read Cupcake in the first session, and I realized halfway through that toddlers are not old enough to get the subtlety of its humor. We finished the book, the parents chuckled, and applauded, but I quickly crossed it off the list for the second session. It is a cute story, though. A plain white cupcake tries to find an exciting topping to spice her up and hopefully attract someone to eat her. When she teams up with a silly candle, the  two brainstorm together, until finally, the candle stands atop the cake, and the cupcake realizes what a great team they make. The candle never quite catches on, providing the punchline of the joke. I love Charise Mericle Harper, as evidenced by my recent reviews of two of her Just Grace books, and I didn't really know her picture books before this. I think they're even more clever and fun than her chapter books!

I have a lot of boys in my Tuesday group who love cars and trucks, and after the success of My Car last week, I decided to try a different kind of vehicle - police cars. I knew I had a hit with Police: Hurrying! Helping! Saving! before story time even started, when one of the little boys came up to me, pointed at the book and said, "Police!" And though we had some chatty adults who drowned out parts of the story, the kids and I made up for it by making a loud siren noise every time the story called for it. It went over so well the first time around, I repeated it for the second session. It didn't get applause, but I'm discovering that this is because my endings lack enthusiasm, and my transitions from book to song to book suck. I'm working on it.

I had a tough time keeping the audience's attention in both sessions, so I was thankful that parts of One Mitten, a book about the many things you can do with one - and later two - mittens lent itself fairly well to audience participation. When in doubt, I've learned it's best to get the parents doing something, if for no other reason than it stops them from chatting with each other. So when the little girl in the story clapped, made mitten ears, and covered her eyes, we all did, too. I loved the warm colors of the illustrations, and even I was tickled by the moment when the little girl finds her second mitten hiding under her sleeping cat. 

I loved the adorable Panda Kisses story, and thought it was perfect for Valentine's Day, but alas, it was a failure at story time. Too abstract, I guess. Or maybe it was just one book too many. I have a tendency to panic if I think I'm not doing enough books, and I think this one put me too far over the edge. I've decided to start planning out a month's worth of story times ahead of time, so that I have time to really consider the books, and maybe I'll stop worrying so much about filling the 30 minutes. In any case, this book is an easy reader by Alyssa Satin Capucilli, author of the beloved Biscuit series, about a little panda who tries to find the best kiss. After trying low kisses and high kisses, mom kisses and dad kisses, she discovers that the best kisses are the ones the whole family shares at the same time. So cute. I'm not sure what's with me this week, but I'm really into cuteness.

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Ten Black Dots  by Donald Crews
Pots and Pans by Patricia Hubbell, illustrated by Diane Degroat
Big and Little by Margaret Miller

I consider Donald Crews to be an extremely reliable author for toddler story time. But Ten Black Dots just didn't do it for me this week, when I read it to the second session group. I like the concept though - black dots increasing in number from one to ten are shown as parts of different images, from marbles to animal eyes. My group is getting younger and younger as our Friday preschool story time begins to attract the older kids, and I think I need to start adjusting my expectations to suit actual toddlers, under the age of 2, instead of the 2 and 3 year olds I used to get. Because this would have worked at the interim branch, and I was surprised when it didn't seem to appeal this time around.

I tried to turn Pots and Pans into a call and answer type thing, and I had one very helpful Mom, who made every sound and kept a smile on her face through the whole story, even though some other parents were talking. This was perfectly age-appropriate, and though I didn't realize it until after story time, it's by the same author as the aforementioned police book. I'm going to try some more Patricia Hubbell books, even if they do force me to make embarrassing sounds and look like an even bigger fool than usual. (This one is about a baby who takes out all the pots and pans in the house and plays them like drums. I can remember doing that, and it was so much fun. The book definitely lives up to the fun of the experience.)

Big and Little suffered, once again, from the "one book too many" syndrome. I also think the photos might have looked a little dated. It's a book of opposites, basically, showing real kids in real situations. Normally, toddlers like to look at other kids doing things, but this was tacked onto the end of the story time with no transition, and I just lost them. So we went back to singing songs after that, and called it a day.

Better books next week, I hope.

Weekly Story Time Wrap-Up Volume 2

These are the books I read at my library story time sessions this week, 1/31 through 2/4.

This Place in the Snow by Rebecca Bond 
The Dinosaur Who Lived In My Backyard by B.G. Hennessy, illustrated by Susan Davis
The Seven Silly Eaters by Mary Ann Hoberman, illustrated by Marla Frazee

I read these three books at Family Story Time on Monday afternoon. There weren't actually many families in attendance. In fact, I had one preschool group from a neighborhood school, and only a handful of moms with little ones. And these books could not have been worse choices for the age group.

I read only about half of This Place in the Snow before reading it to the kids, which is against my usual policy of previewing a book by reading it cover to cover. Because I didn't finish it, I didn't realize how strange it was until it was too late to recover. From what  I gathered, it's about a neighborhood coming together to build some sort of structure out of  the snow that falls on their streets. But it was very abstract and strange, and the kids were totally bored.

The Seven Silly Eaters was another mistake. I was looking for one long book and two short ones, and chose this to be the longer one, but it was way, way too long for preschoolers. I love Marla Frazee and could easily spend hours with her illustrations, finding new things to enjoy with each new viewing. But the rhyming text is just okay, and it was difficult to get the rhythm right while also maintaining good inflection. It just felt like it went on forever, and I didn't know the book well enough to skip any sections and fake my way to the end.

The Dinosaur Who Lived In My Backyard was the hit of the three, but it was a bit more like a non-fiction book than I remembered, and while the kids were engaged, I felt like they were waiting for a story. They did have a lot to say in response to the text, though, and they laughed at the size of the dinosaur in the illustrations compared with everyday things, such as a house and a school bus.

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My Car by Byron Barton From Head to Toe by Eric Carle A Sick Day for Amos McGee by Philip C. Stead, illustrated by Erin E. Stead Eyes, Nose, Fingers, and Toes by Judy Hindley, illustrated by Brita Granstrom

These books are from my Tuesday morning story time. I read the same books for both sessions, since they were  pretty successful the first time around.

My Car was a big hit with the toddler boys, some of whom came up to touch the book while I was reading it. It was the first one to be checked out at the end of the second session, and probably  the one the kids were quietest for. It probably helped that it was the very first one we read. In simple sentences, the book introduces us to main character, Sam, who explains how he cleans his car, fills it with gasoline, and drives it to work. When he gets to work, though, he drives a bus. I love Byron Barton's style, and I wish more authors did such great books for the baby/toddler audience.

From Head to Toe was another good one, because of all the audience participation. Rather than sitting still and listening to a story, the kids were a part of an interactive experience where they turned their heads like penguins, swung their arms like chimpanzees, and imitated other animals. Thankfully, the parents and other caregivers in attendance weren't shy about looking silly, and  they participated as well. I don't know if you can ever go wrong with a book by Eric Carle.


A Sick Day for Amos McGee is not a favorite of mine. I feel kind of guilty saying that, since it's so beloved by so many people, and it won the Caldecott, but it just doesn't do anything for me. And I read it to the kids, almost rooting against it, hoping I'd have some validation for my "blah" feelings about it. Much to my chagrin, however, the kids really seemed to like the fanciful notion of animals wandering out of the zoo, and taking a bus to visit their sick caretaker, and this book, too, was snatched up quickly after session two.

I chose Eyes, Nose, Fingers and Toes only because I needed one more book, and I wanted it to feature babies. I've read most of our Helen Oxenbury, Karen Katz, and Mem Fox books to this group within the past few months, so I didn't want to repeat them just yet, but this seemed like a decent read-alike. It wasn't remarkable, or even particularly original, but it was another story that lent itself to physical movement, which is great when I'm reading to toddlers, and it was cute, which is a parent-pleasing characteristic, if nothing else.

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The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton

I read The Little House to a group of second through fourth graders who came to the library for a tour and a story on Thursday. I wanted to choose a funny book, but ran out of time to track one down, so I  went with an old standby that I thought might appeal to older kids. One young girl in the group knew the book, which pleased me, and I didn't have a lot of rude outbursts or interruptions while I was reading, which either indicates very good manners, or just politeness born of boredom. I loved this story's illustrations, where everything changes but the little house, and I loved the sense of history, and the fact that the story comes full circle. Sadly, I'm not sure anyone else in the room enjoyed those things.

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That was my story time week! How was yours?

Weekly Story Time Wrap-Up Volume 1

Since I am doing the Read To Me Picture Book Challenge hosted by There's a Book, and since my new branch library is now open, and I'm conducting weekly story time programs again, I've decided to do a (hopefully) weekly post highlighting what I read at my story time and how it is received by my audience.


Here is this past week, 1/24 through 1/27, in review:

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I Can Read With My Eyes Shut by Dr. Seuss
Wild About Books by Judy Sierra, illustrated by Marc Brown

I read these two books to a group of preschoolers, most of whom I think were around four years old. The Seuss I had planned to read and practiced, but Wild About Books was one I had to pull at a moment's notice, and it turned out to be a bit too much for the group. I realized this when the book referenced Harry Potter, and a child actually had to ask me who that was. Oh boy.

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I'm Not Cute! by Jonathan Allen
Five Little Monkeys Bake a Birthday Cake by Eileen Christelow
Freight Train by Donald Crews (Big Book)
If You Give a Pig a Pancake by Laura Numeroff, illustrated by Felicia Bond

These four books were read at my first Baby/Toddler session on Tuesday morning, which really winds up being a catch-all session for kids from birth to 3. Freight Train was a big hit, as always, but the Five Little Monkeys book was way too long, and I'm Not Cute made the nannies and parents laugh, but not so much the kids. It probably didn't help that my voice sort of gave out in the middle of it.

I was also kind of disappointed in the Five Little Monkeys book. I guess I'd never read one in that series before, but I was expecting the writing to be a lot more smooth than it was. It made a nice segue in the kids' beloved Five Little Monkeys song, but I wouldn't read it in a story time again.

If You Give a Pig a Pancake was a good one, but still a bit long for this group. It's a good standby, though, and a parent-pleaser.

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My Friend Rabbit by Eric Rohmann
I Love Animals by Flora McDonnell
Jamberry by Bruce Degen

These are the books I read to my second Tuesday morning session, which was also intended for babies and toddlers, and which was insanely crowded and rowdy. None of the books was a hit. Jamberry seemed to be a favorite of a few families, but the big book was unwieldy, and I had trouble holding it up, even with help from a mom. And I had a brain fart and forgot that My Friend Rabbit is partly wordless, and got to those wordless pages without a plan for getting through them. Some people said they liked the book because it was "different," but who knows if that was a compliment.

I will say, though, that I Love Animals, though not brilliant, definitely got the crowd going with some nice animals sounds, which basically saved me from going insane. It's a book I can really only describe as cute, but it worked for me in a pinch.

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The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
Bark, George by Jules Feiffer
How Do Dinosaurs Get Well Soon? by Jane Yolen, illustrated by Mark Teague
We All Sing with the Same Voice by J. Philip Miller and Sheppard M. Greene, illustrated by Paul Meisel


The staff person scheduled to do our Friday story time was sick, so I was unexpectedly on again, and we had a nice, intimate crowd for story time. Due to our recent weather conditions, The Snowy Day seemed appropriate, and, since it is the book I read in the interview to get this job, and one I have read many times before, I knew I'd be good with that one. Bark, George was also a big hit, and one of the kids checked out Dinosaurs, and We All Sing with the Same Voice, because her mother said she loved them.

I was particularly impressed by the recording that accompanies We All Sing with the Same Voice. It's a Sesame Street song (hear the original on YouTube, here), but the recording that goes with this book is an updated, modern version, with much more exciting rhythms and a less whiny and high-pitched singing voice. I played the recording instead of reading the book, and the parents sang along, which was lovely. I'd do it again. And I will, when the child who took the book home eventually brings it back.

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So that was this week. Though I am posting this later tonight, my plan is to make this post on Saturday mornings from now on.