Family Book Clubs

I'm posting this well after the fact, considering I hosted these book clubs for School Library Month in April, but I've just started thinking about my next round of book clubs and was excited to share these.

April was National School Library Month, with the theme of Everyone Belongs @ Your School Library. To welcome "everyone" (of course just the extended school community, with safety and privacy concerns), I hosted Family Book Clubs for each age level.

Early Childhood students (3-6 years old) read The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend by Dan Santat. Families read this book at home, and I sent home two emails of talking points, articles of interest, and discussion questions. 

Parents and children were invited to share their answers at the book club meeting. We also made a craft - a Beekle crown out of metallic gold paper! I created bookmarks of other books written and/or illustrated by Santat. This age group is the largest population in our school, so having a more informal book club meeting with a few questions/talking points, a craft, and of course snacks(!) was perfect.

Lower Elementary students (1st-3rd grade) read The Enormous Crocodile by Roald Dahl. Just like for the younger students, families read the book at home. For this age group I wanted to pick a book that was more challenging than a picture book, but wasn't so long it seemed daunting. I also wanted the book to be one that parents and children could read together, or independently. I sent emails out with talking points and discussion questions.

There are fewer students in these grades than in Early Childhood, so their questions asked more of the students - more imagination, more room to talk and draw. I knew our club time would be a little more structured and that they would be able to explain themselves more... let's say concisely than the younger ones. 

We had snacks at the meeting, of course - books and snacks just go hand-in-hand! We also made a craft - an Enormous Crocodile magnet clip!

Upper Elementary students (4th-6th grade) read Book Scavenger by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman. This is the smallest group of students in our school, and of course the oldest. I sent out two emails (in code), challenging them to code secret messages and create their own codes. I was blown away by this group! I had reports from parents and teachers that all they were doing at home and on the playground were creating codes! We had so much fun at our book club meeting, cracking either others' codes and answering each others' secret questions. I also had a scavenger hunt based on trivia questions from the book. I hid clues around the library and let them loose with the first clue, coded of course. The hunt branched off from there, and the winner got a hardback copy of the second book in the series, The Unbreakable Code!

I had so much fun planning these book clubs and sharing the stories with students and their families. I'm already planning another set of book clubs for the fall, with the hopes of holding them every fall and spring, instead of just during School Library Month!

We LOVE Valentines Books!

We have been reading Valentine's Day books at bedtime for almost a week now because my son is so excited about the holiday! There are a lot of great Valentine books out there, but we wanted to share a few of our favorites.

The Runaway Valentine

written by Tina Casey, illustrated by Theresa Smythe

This story starts in a card shop on Valentine's Day, and all of the cards are showing off, hoping to be picked to share their love. One card in particular is ready to be picked; he has glitter, lace, and could sing songs when you press a button. He knew he would be the first card picked! But he is too eager and gets swept under the card rack. He manages to escape the store and knows someone out in the world will pick him--and he's right! But he's not used in the way he originally expected to--he is too beautiful to be used as scrap paper! Will it all work out for this Valentine in the end?

We loved this story because it was fun to see how the Valentine would be used next!

Valentine Surprise

by Corinne Demas, illustrations by R.W. Alley

Lily wants to make her mom a Valentine, but can't seem to get the hearts just right. She tries every day of the week, but none of them look good. Now it's Valentine's Day, and Lily is all out of paper--she can't even try to make her mom a nice card! But she looks at all her imperfect hearts and gets an idea...

We loved this story because it helps learn days of the week, and also shows children that what they think is "wrong" or "bad" is still meaningful since it comes from the heart.

Rhyme Time Valentine

by Nancy Poydar

Ruby is so excited for Valentine's Day and her class party. She made custom Valentines for everyone, including a rhyme--Ruby loves rhymes! She keeps bragging about her wonderful cards, but on the way to school, a gust of wind blows them away. Ruby is sad she won't have anything to share with her friends, especially since all the red paper in the classroom has been used up. What will Ruby do to show her friends how much she cares about them?

We loved this story because both of my boys are in school, and are preparing for class parties. There are also some "unfinished" Valentine rhymes at the end of the book, and it was so much fun to see if they could finish them on their own. (They are pretty easy rhymes - the 3 year old knew most of them.) There are also instructions on the last page to make a Valentine that looks just like Ruby's!

Imaginary Friends

I think today was my favorite storytime I've had with SRVS! The theme was "imaginary friends" - we've all had them, and some of us still do! We talked about that for a few minutes, and then I read Imaginary Fred by Eoin Colfer, illustrated by Oliver Jeffers. The class remembered Oliver Jeffers from other programs, like when we read The Day the Crayons Quit and The Day the Crayons Came Home. They also remembered that we read The Incredible Book Eating Boy at the first storytime! I love Imaginary Fred so much, I made a rave review video about it for A Book A Minute.

Next I showed them the Beekle cover, and then took off the dust jacket. The room seriously gasped! This is the most beautiful book I've ever seen. The gorgeous cover made the class eager to read the book.


I lucked out one day at Bargain Hunt and found this cool "Padzooks!" book for two bucks; it has 36 little paper bobbleheads that you can fold up and accessorize. I thought it would be perfect for this program because we could make our own "unimaginary" friends like Beekle and Fred. Everyone loved picking what character they wanted to fold and accessorize; some people even made more than one!


I've also written about previous library programs for adults with disabilities.

Lucky Four Leaf Clovers!

Today a class from SRVS came to the library wearing green (I checked, pinching fingers poised!) to hear some St. Patrick's Day stories and make a craft.

I hate to say it, but I had a tough time finding decent books for this program. I thought there would be a lot of fun books about St. Patrick's Day, leprechauns, rainbows, and luck, but I didn't find much. I checked out about a dozen library books, but none of them stuck out to me as being fantastic to share. The two I ended up picking were, in my opinion, the best of the selection I had access to, but the audience didn't seem to care about the stories too much.


Luckily (see what I did there?), we had a fun craft planned! We made four leaf clovers by folding strips of green paper! This project would typically call for glue sticks, but the paper I had was more of a yardstick, so we had to use clear tape to make sure everything held together without popping loose.

After we folded and taped, we strung the clover onto necklaces so we could wear luck all day long. Some people even made extra clovers to take back to the learning center and spread the luck around!


I've also written about previous library programs for adults with disabilities.

Christmas Storytime

Today was the Christmas storytime for two classes from SRVS! I read Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree by Robert Barry and Olive, the Other Reindeer by J. Otto Semibold and Vivian Walsh.

Mr. Willowy's Christmas Tree is a cute rhyming story about a too-tall tree that keeps getting trimmed down. The craft tied in with that book - we made Christmas ornaments to hang on our trees at home!

Clockwise from top left: Hard at work // The whole world // LaQuita's signature style is brightly colored stripes // I love how this one looks like a Christmas tree with a huge heart beside it!

We ended the session by reading Olive, the Other Reindeer. This is a really fun book about Olive, a puppy who is convinced she's a reindeer because the words to the famous Christmas carol tell her so: "Olive, the other reindeer!" This is a great book to read aloud because listeners can sing along with the well-known lyric. There was a lot of laughter when everyone realized how Olive had misheard the song! I think we can all relate to misunderstood lyrics...

I've also written about previous library programs for adults with disabilities.

Thanksgiving Storytime

Last Thursday, I held a Thanksgiving storytime for a class from SRVS. I read Turkey Trouble by Wendi Silvano, illustrated by Lee Harper, followed by One is a Feast for Mouse by Judy Cox, illustrated by Jeffrey Ebbeler.

Turkey Trouble reminded me a lot of Hoot Owl, Master of Disguise, except instead of disguising himself to catch dinner like Owl, Turkey is disguising himself so he won't become dinner!

One is a Feast for Mouse reminded me of the song "The Green Grass Grew All Around" because Mouse makes a huge stack of food morsel upon food morsel, and the stack is repeated each time something new is added. It's extra fun to point at the illustrations and have everyone say the item along with you. Spoiler alert: you will be out of breath by the end!

After reading those two books, we made turkeys using toilet paper rolls and construction paper feathers. To save time, I pre-cut the feathers, so each individual got ten and glued them to the back of their toilet paper roll. Then they used crayons to draw eyes and a beak on their turkeys!

I've also written about previous library programs for adults with disabilities.

Hoot Owl Storytime

A project for my LS5343 Youth Programs class was to design a storytime program. I picked one of my son's favorite books, Hoot Owl, Master of Disguise by Sean Taylor. Check out my program ideas on Glogster to see the song and craft, too!

Halloween Storytime

Yesterday I held a Halloween storytime for two classes from SRVS. I know, I know - it's only the beginning of October! But for now, this program is only held once a month, so I had to share these excellent books while I could!


See the setup in a better light here.
I read:
- Goodnight Goon by Michael Rex
- Little Shop of Monsters by R.L. Stine and Marc Brown
- a few poems from Your Skeleton is Showing: Rhymes of Blunder from Six Feet Under by Kurt
   Cyrus, illustrated by Crab Scrambly
- Monster Mash by David Catrow

I encouraged the group to speak/sing along as I read Monster Mash; we also listened to the song by Bobby "Boris" Pickett and danced. Then I turned off all the lights and asked for volunteers to tell ghost stories.

It was a fun program, but several of the individuals asked if we were making monster crafts. I had substituted the ghost stories section for craft time, since we have a little less than an hour for the whole program, and I pay for supplies out of pocket. For future Halloween programs, I'll definitely have a fun monster craft planned. Lesson learned!


I reviewed the first three books on the read-aloud list as "Best Books for
Halloween" and made a short video, so check it out for more on those titles.
I've also written about previous library programs for adults with disabilities.

The Day the Crayons Storytime

Today was my second time holding a library program for adults with disabilities! Two classes from SRVS came for a colorful storytime! I read The Day the Crayons Quit and The Day the Crayons Came Home by Drew Daywalt, illustrated by Oliver Jeffers.

I made the books a little more interactive by letting the individuals call out what color was writing the letter based on the illustrations. In the second book, they had fun trying to remember what color crayon had renamed himself "Esteban"!

For the craft, individuals colored their own bookmarks with an assortment of crayons, trying to use them all equally so none would get mad and quit! Check out these beautiful bookmarks!

I've also written about previous library programs for adults with disabilities.

My First Storytime with SRVS!

The backstory behind my library program for adults with disabilities is explained here.
Two weeks ago today, on August 13, 2015, I held my first library program for two classes of adults with disabilities from SRVS! I was pretty nervous because my experience of reading aloud is limited to my one-year-old. I picked two books I really loved because I knew I'd be comfortable reading them aloud. Bonus: both books are really funny, so I knew my audience would be laughing!

I started with The Incredible Book Eating Boy by Oliver Jeffers, then read Hoot Owl, Master of Disguise by Sean Taylor, illustrated by Jean Jullien. The craft was to make Hoot Owl pencil toppers out of construction paper. I pre-cut all the pieces for the owl because we have a little less than an hour for this program. The individuals glued them together, then taped the owl to their pencil. A SRVS teacher and I took requests from the individuals and we made disguises for each owl! See the super cool spy glasses pictured above.

This program was so much fun to lead, and I'm excited to continue it every month. I can't wait to see how it grows and develops into more!