6 Middle Grade Novels About the Beach

	Junonia by Kevin Henkes During her family's yearly winter vacation, everything has changed for Alice except her lifelong desire to find a rare junonia shell.
	Lexie by Audrey Couloumbis Lexie is horrified when her father brings his new girlfriend and her two sons on their summer beach vacation.
	Daisy Dawson at the Beach by Steve Voake Daisy, who can talk to animals, makes friends with two rabbits and a crab and saves a dolphin on her trip to the beach.
	A Million Miles from Boston by Karen Day Lucy must share her favorite vacation spot with her dad's new girlfriend and a mean boy she knows from school.
	The Penderwicks at Point Mouette by Jeanne Birdsall The three youngest Penderwicks spend their summer in Maine with Aunt Claire, where Jane finds love, Batty discovers musical talent, and Skye finds out just how difficult it is to be in charge.
	Summerhouse Time by Eileen Spinelli This novel in verse focuses on Sophie, who struggles to find her place at the family summerhouse, where her older cousin is too cool to hang out with her, and the adults seem unhappy.

Baby/Toddler Story Time, 6/19/12

I found out today that one of my favorite nannies is moving away with the family she works for! She's a wonderful nanny, and I'm so glad the family is taking her along for the kids' sake, but I am so going to miss her! 

This story time sort of had a boxes theme - at least in terms of the books. Everyone seemed pretty engaged and most of the adults managed to keep quiet through the stories.


Opening Song: Hello, how are you?

Rhyme: Wiggle Fingers

Book: Sitting In My Box by Dee Lillegard, illustrated by Jon Agee (1992)
A little one was crying and then exiting the room through the first half of this book, so the group never got as into it as they might have otherwise. This was a find, though. The exact kind of book I love for toddlers.

Song with Puppets: I'm a Little Monkey

 

Book: Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell (2007)
This one always goes over well, but I think the nannies might be sick of it, since I read it not that long ago. It wasn't the huge hit it usually is.

Song: Shake My Sillies Out

Song: Head and Shoulders, Baby
This is a new one we're trying. I like it a lot - it has simple motions, but a new tune we don't use for anything else.

Book: Old MacDonald Had a Farm by Jane Cabrera (2008)
I've discovered that if I sing one book, I can manage to sneak four books into story time. This is a huge improvement over when I used to read just two. The surprise ending of this one is also just perfect, even if there are a few too many animals to sing about before then. 


Song: The Wheels on the Bus

Rhyme: This is Big, Big, Big

Book: The Birthday Box by Leslie Patricelli (2007)
Leslie Patricelli can do no wrong as far as my story times are concerned. I don't think the adults got the "joke" - that a box is sometimes more exciting for toddlers than the gift it contains - but the kids seemed to enjoy the different adventures the baby and puppy have in the box.

Song: Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

Song: Moon Moon Moon 

Song: ABCs

Song: Chickadee

Song: We Wave Goodbye Like This

On Friday, I will do my first story time with the ukulele. I am not sure yet which song I will do, but I have to break the ice sometime! Fingers crossed that all goes well!

Story Time at the Yoga Studio, 6/15/12

On Friday afternoon, I went to the local yoga studio to perform a story time. (This is part of an ongoing partnership we have with the studio. They do yoga at the library once a month, and in exchange, I'll be doing the occasional family program for them.) Though I didn't do any actual yoga, because I have no experience in that area, I did try to include lots of moving around. I think I might actually ask the instructors if we can incorporate more yoga next time, but for a first session, this didn't go too badly.

Opening Song: Hello, how are you?

Book: Higher! Higher! by Leslie Patricelli
A new favorite. The kids loved this, and giggled all the way through. 

Song: Head and Shoulders, Baby 
I have never done this one with a group before, but I am definitely going to introduce it into my regular story times now that I know how well it works!

Book: Rah Rah Radishes by April Pulley Sayre (2011)
This book just does not work as a read-aloud. It seems like it should - it's a vegetable chant! - but it flops every time. I'm not going to use this one anymore.  

Rhyme: 1, 2, 3, 4

This is a new rhyme for me, and it worked really well.

1, 2, 3, 4 

_______'s at the kitchen door.

5, 6, 7, 8

eating _________ off a plate. 

We went around and asked each child his/her favorite vegetable and filled it into the rhyme. 

Book: Pete the Cat and his Four Groovy Buttons by Eric Litwin and James Dean (2012)
This was another huge hit.

Song: Clap, Clap, Clap Your Hands 

Song: I'm a Little Teapot 

Book: Incredible Me by Kathi Appelt
One mom asked me about this book after the session - it was her favorite!

Song: These Are My Glasses by the Laurie Berkner Band
The yoga instructor who was at the story time also showed us the yoga version of this song. 

Goodbye Song: We Wave Goodbye Like This 

Genres in Children's Literature, LaTrobe University, Lecture 1: Introduction Lecture and Lecture 2: Traditional/Modernist Picture Books

Genres in Children's Literature is a course taught by David Beagley at Australia's La Trobe University. Lectures from the Spring 2012 semester are available for download on iTunes U. As I listen to the lectures, I am recording my reflections and responses here on my blog. This post focuses on Lecture 1: Introduction Lecture and Lecture 2: Traditional/Modernist Picture Books.
 
In the first lecture, David Beagley, the instructor, laid the groundwork for the entire course by discussing the differences between adult literature and children’s literature, and emphasizing the importance of respecting books for children as literature worth studying critically. From this lecture, I took away a lot of food for thought.

The idea that struck me the most was Beagley’s assertion that the best children’s books give the child respect as a reader by accepting that the child can feel, and that his or her feelings are valid. He pointed out that great children’s books don’t tell the reader what to feel, but rather present the story and allow the reader to draw his or her own conclusions. As a librarian, I spend a lot of time in the stacks with parents, trying to find the books they want their kids to read, because the parents have an agenda. They want their kids’ books to be educational and edifying and to focus on only those feelings and concepts they themselves are comfortable with. As a reviewer on this blog, I have a tendency to favor those parental concerns, often pointing out bad language or grammar, or sexual content to caution sensitive parents who might object to that type of reading material. I also consider kid appeal a lot of the time, focusing on whether I think kids will enjoy a book or not. But I have never truly considered whether a book actually respects its reader. This is something I’ll have in mind when I’m reading from now on.

The second lecture went on to describe picture books, the first format the course covers. I’d heard some of it before in library school, especially when it comes to the role of illustrations in picture books, but Beagley mentioned other concepts I’d never really considered. I especially liked his comment that children will read books from their own perspectives, and that two readers may not take away the same things from the same book. It sounds pretty logical that this would be true, but I think it’s easy for people who read books critically to get caught up in the notion of a “right” or “wrong” reading. I think adults are even more likely to get caught up in that when we’re thinking about children’s books, because we, like the parents I mentioned, have an agenda in mind for kids’ reading. We want them to get the “right” things out of it. But Beagley pointed out that the reader must contribute something to the experience of a picture book, and I like thinking about the many different ways kids might interpret the various books I read to them in story time. It makes me want to start asking them more questions so they engage more with the story and rely less on my guidance.

Want to listen along? Click here. Read about David Beagley here. Read my previous lecture responses here.