All Egg (Tuesday, April 19)

Roly poly rolling eggs, cricking cracking hatching eggs...all kinds of eggs today in storytime, including An Egg is Quiet, by Dianna Aston, with illustrations by Sylvia Long. This is an excellent book to explore in detail. Once you're done (or at least, ready to move on before coming back), check out A Seed is Sleepy by the same author and illustrator.

Next week is our last storytime for this session, and we'll have a very special guest to celebrate. She has four legs, and we've determined that she isn't a ladybug (because a ladybug has six legs!). Join us next week at 10:15 or 11:15 to see who it is.

Finally, mark your calendars for 10:30 on Tuesday, May 3 for the puppet show The Three Wishes, about a magic lantern, a spoiled princess, a sultan, and, of course, three wishes.

See you next week!

Springy Things (Storytime, Tues., April 12)

I think today's "kid's choice" storytime favorite may have been Will Hillenbrand's new book, Spring Is Here. But, we also had a good time (and practiced our early literacy narrative skills by predicting what happens next) with Esphyr Slobodkina's classic Caps for Sale.

I'm told we had some in attendance just so they could do the Hula Mula, a song that can be found on the CD Exercise Party.

My personal favorite today was If You Find a Rock by Peggy Christian. If your child enjoyed this book, try reading Byrd Baylor's wonderful Everybody Needs a Rock together. And then, of course, go rock collecting! Have a great week everyone!

A Little Bit of This, A Little Bit of That...(Tuesday, March 22)

Today we read Anna Dewdney's story about pangolins, Roly Poly Pangolin. Take a look at Anna's website for some cool pangolin pictures and videos, and the Save the Pangolins page for a pangolin coloring page.

We also read A Mama for Owen, by Marion Dane Bauer, about a young hippo who adopts a tortoise as a parent after being separated from his herd by massive flooding. The true story has been written about by other authors as well; you might take a look at Owen and Mzee by Isabella Hatkoff. Though the text may be too long for your child in it's entirety, they'll enjoy the pictures. Earthquake! is another of Bauer's books related to current events that you might find useful.

We did "10 Little Caterpillars" from The Bill Martin Jr. Big Book of Poetry, a wonderful book that combines poetry your child will love with illustrations from some of today's best-known children's illustrators. This seems to me the kind of book to own and love and thumb through often -- I'm betting your children will remember some of the poems and images into adulthood. Take a look at page 31 for more on the "wind" theme ("Who Has Seen the Wind?") that threaded it's way through today's fingerplays.

We finished with Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, by Mo Willems, and another long-time favorite of mine, Baby Danced the Polka, by Karen Beaumont, with illustrations by Jennifer Plecas. 

To place a hold on any of these titles, click on the title and it will take you to the library's catalog.

See you next week!

Happy to be Hoppy...(3/15)

Today we segued from the happy song to a hoppy book...April Pulley Sayre's new one, If You're Hoppy, with illustrations by Jackie Urbanovic.

This one was popular with the kids, and they'll love April's other books as well. Some of my favorites include Army Ant Parade, about an ant swarm in a Panamaniam forest, Trout are Made of Trees, showing the interconnectedness of nature, and Vulture View.

If you have a child who's interested in the outdoors, science, and the natural world (or one whom you'd like to interest in these topics), take some time to explore April's wonderful books. She also has some great information on her website on "raising a young scientist." Check it out!

We also took a yoga break today, with Watch Me Do Yoga, written and illustrated by Bobby Clennell. Another fun yoga book for kids:

See you next week!

Snow Day! (Tuesday, March 8)

If you make it through the snow to the library today, we'll be keeping warm with these stories, and some music:

      Mini Racer, by Kristy Dempsey

                                         A Visitor for Bear, by Bonny Becker

    The Owl Who Became the Moon, by Jonathan London

           How to Build a Snowman

  Trying to remember that new song we did? Check out the Happy Hatters performing Hula Mula!

I got this song off of the CD Exercise Party, which has lots of fun songs by a variety of artists. You can find it in our system.

  Did you know that you can also download music for free? The library now subscribes to Freegal Music, which lets you download three songs a week with your library card and pin, for free! There's lots of kid's music available through Freegal, so take a look.  See you next week!