What We Read This Week 9/11

We went to the bookstore a couple of weeks ago and just got around to reading some of our new books. I had a gift card and spent all of it on picture books! I couldn't resist the great titles out there. We read a few library books, but most were our new goodies.

Doug Unplugged by Dan Yaccarino. My son loves robots, so a story about a robot boy was a dream come true for him! He loved exploring the city with Doug, "boop-boop-boop"ing around the map, and making friends. There is so much to talk about while reading this book aloud: identifying what's on the pages, comparing them to what you see in your neighborhood and on walks, and talking about friendships and family. Very sweet book - it was from the library, but we might have to get a copy.

A Balloon for Isabel by Deborah Underwood, illustrated by Laura Rankin. This might be my personal favorite book from the week. Isabel is a porcupine who wants to hold a balloon at her graduation. Everyone in her class gets a balloon, except the porcupines. It's funny to talk about why porcupines can't have balloons, and the solution is SO clever and cute! Loved this book, and my son loved the balloon illustrations.

Dotty by Erica S. Perl, illustrated by Julia Denos. This is a very cute story about imaginary friends, and when (or if!) it's time to outgrow them. The imaginary friends were all creative and unique - very fun for the kids reading the story! The ending was very sweet.

Best Frints in the Whole Universe by Antoinette Portis. This book is really cute and silly. Yelfred and Omek have been best frints since they were blobbies, but they still sometimes disagree and get in fights. The made-up language in this book was fun to read aloud, and readers are encouraged to make up their own words at the end!

Monsters University by Tennant Redbank, illustrated by Matt Cruickshank. This book is an adaptation of the Monsters University movie, missing the bulk of the story and a lot of details, of course, but it's still really cute. My son loves Mike and Sully, and we have a few other Monsters, Inc. books, so this was a nice addition. My husband found the Golden Book on Amazon and couldn't resist!

I Am a Rainbow by Dolly Parton, illustrated by Heather Sheffield. We got this book in the mail from the Imagination Library, which Dolly Parton created in 1995 to send age-appropriate books to kids every month. It's grown to include several countries, so you should check and see if it's available in your area, if you haven't already signed up! Anyway, let me step off my soapbox and talk about the BOOK. This is a really cute book that explores what colors mean in terms of emotion. It's a good way to talk about colors with younger kids at that stage of learning, but to expose them to emotions. It's a book that will come in handy as kids get older and start to understand emotions.

Love Monster and the Perfect Present by Rachel Bright. We are huge Love Monster fans over here - my son loves monsters, period, but he really loves his stuffed Love Monster. He held it while we read this one. Love Monster books are cute and simple - perfect short bedtime stories that tell a sweet story.

The Not So Quiet Library by Zachariah Ohora. I saw this book on @librarymagic's Instagram feed and knew I had to get a copy, because I work in a library that is sometimes, often, not so quiet. This book is going to be a classic, at least in my house, but probably everywhere. The story is simple and engaging, and the gorgeous illustrations add SO much to the reading experience. I want to wallpaper my house with these pages. Also, my son has the same name as one of the main characters, so that makes it a fun read! (Random fun fact: The other main character's name is actually one I wanted to name my son, but it didn't work with the last name. So I knew I'd love this book.)

Even Superheroes Have Bad Days by Shelly Becker, illustrated by Eda Kaban. Superheroes have superpowers that they usually use for good, but what happens when they have a bad day? Do they destroy the playground, knock over buildings, or cause dangerous weather to spoil a nice day? This book is actually a great partner to Dolly Parton's I Am a Rainbow because it also deals with emotions and how to control them in a calm, logical way. It doesn't hurt that the illustrations are awesome and engaging, and kids love the superheroes. My son loved pointing at the superheroes over and over and asking their names.

What We Read This Week 9/4

This week was a crazy book week, because we splurged at the bookstore on Sunday (we rarely ever buy new books, preferring to use the library or buy used when we do buy), and I kept finding books to bring home from work! I think we read a couple more than I'm including here, but oh well - I'm sure we'll re-read them this week and feature them in next week's post!

The Two Sillies by Mary Ann Hoberman. My husband originally read this to my son a few weeks ago, but they both thought I would like it, so they put it aside for me to read. It's a fun, silly book (who would have guessed?) about a woman who wants a pet cat, but doesn't understand everything her friend is telling her to do in order to get the cat. The rhyme scheme makes this book even more whimsical.

The Octonauts and the Only Lonely Monster by Meowmi. My son loves the Octonauts TV show, but we didn't know it was based on a book series until our Instagram friend @smashingkidreads shared a photo of the books. We have one in our library system, so I snatched it up one day for us to share. It's a really cute book, a little less detailed than the show (which shares a lot of information about about the animal featured) but still so enjoyable. We will definitely have to find (or buy!) the others.  

Bugs in My Hair by David Shannon. My son is pretty into bugs... meaning he sees one, says "Ew, spider!" and "Gwoss" once it's dead (or ushered outside). He picked this book based on the cover alone, and I didn't think about it, but of course it's about lice! It was still an interesting read, and definitely a great book to read when it's about that time that kids encounter lice. This might be one we re-read...

Arthur's Honey Bear by Lillian Hoban. My son has a stuffed bear he named Honey Bear, and I loved Arthur as a kid (maybe I still do...), so I had to check this book out from the library. It's a little longer than we usually read, so I don't know that my son really followed all of it, but it was a sweet, enjoyable book about Arthur battling with himself about growing up or keeping what he loves.

Swap by Steve Light. The illustrations were the best part of this book - gorgeous! My son had more fun pointing at the pirates on each page, asking "Whos dat?" than looking at the pictures, so I snuck it away with me after. It's fun to see what was swapped on each page, and find the elements that the pirates still had left, plus the new items they swapped for. Probably better for slightly older kids who can appreciate doing that part of the "reading" with you, so this is one we'll revisit in the future.

What We Read This Week 8/28

I couldn't help myself this week: I brought home books from the library pretty much every day... I'm SO thankful I don't work at a bookstore - we'd be broke!

Spare Parts by Rebecca Emberley. My son is crazy about robots right now, so I had to bring this one home for him. It's a cute book about Rhoobart, a robot made of secondhand parts, who needs a new heart. He looks everywhere, asks for help from everyone, but can't get a new heart. The illustrations might be a bit creepy if you have a young or sensitive child, because Rhoobart isn't a polished cartoon robot - he looks like he's put together from scraps. My 2 year old and I loved it, though, so I hope you will too!

Smash! Crash! by Jon Scieszka. Along with robots, my son is all about cars and trucks and machines, so I knew I had to check out this book. Also... Jon Scieszka is my major author crush - have you met him?! He's SO charming and great with kids and quick and witty... wow. My family (including my son, who was only 2 months old!) met him when the first Frank Einstein came out, and it was a childhood dream come true. We've read (and re-read!) all of his books, but I hadn't read anything about Trucktown. It was fun to read for the first time with my son because there's so much to explore - the story is fairly simple, but fun, and there's a lot to look at and talk about in the illustrations and the end papers. Definitely want to read more from Trucktown!

Tea Rex by Molly Idle. I fell in love with the title and the concept because it reminded me of my friend's wacky, silly ideas. Because I already had her sense of humor in mind, the book fell a little flat for me - it was very straight-forward in the story of inviting a T-Rex for tea, and I think there was room for a lot more silliness. Overall a cute book.

The Lonely Book by Kate Bernheimer. Sweet book about a girl who checks out a forgotten book, accidentally returns it, and forgets about it again. The pictures are beautiful but seem more aimed at adults than the kids hearing the story, but the story is interesting and my son seemed to be listening the whole time (but he is a budding book nerd, so...).

Hiding Phil by Eric Barclay. This is one we first read two years ago, when my babe was actually a baby! We just re-read it this week and he's asked for it several times since. It's a very short book about kids finding an elephant and wanting to keep him as a friend, so they try to hide him - but hiding an elephant is hard. A lot of great opportunities to talk to your kid while you read this one and get them involved in the story.

Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich by Adam Rex. We already liked Adam Rex because the movie Home is based on his book The True Meaning of Smekday, and we are completely in love with School's First Day of School. This is a book of silly monster and (sometimes) food poems that took us a couple of nights to read (due to attention problems), but was constantly asked for! My son would point and say "Monster one!" even after we had read our nightly two books. It was really funny to me, too, so I can't wait to read more of Adam Rex's poems and books.

Construction by Sally Sutton. Along with robots and cars and trucks, my son loves construction sites and machinery. This short board book was a major hit - he carried it around the library proudly until he checked it out, and we've read it every night since. 

The Three Ninja Pigs by Corey Rosen Schwartz. Dan Santat is probably one of our favorite illustrators,  and he really made this book come alive. The pigs were silly and the illustrations were gorgeous, so it was a fun book to read aloud.

Piggies in Pajamas by Michelle Meadows. My son loved the rhymes in this book, and the idea of pigs creeping around when they should be in bed, but narrowly escaping their mom each time. I hope he didn't get any ideas...  Shh! Was that a creak in the hallway?

What We Read This Week 8/21

Working in a library, I bring home new (to us) books pretty much every day. Even so, some books just don't hit the spot at home like you think they will when you're browsing at the library. Sometimes you just have to go back to your favorites, the books with worn spines that you've read time and time again.

That was this week for us.

Monsters Love Colors by Mike Austin. We got this book from the library over a year ago, and we both loved it so much I added it to our wishlist. We bought it recently with some Barnes and Noble ebook settlement credit (I still don't understand the whole thing, but I'll take it!) and have read it countless times since it arrived on our doorstep! My son calls every color "bah-loo" or "yallow" or "orange" - yeah, he can say orange perfectly, go figure! But anyway, I thought it would be a fun book to help him work on his colors, so I ask questions about the monsters and give him a chance to name the colors before the monster can. Don't get me wrong, though - we DO just read it for fun a lot! It's a super silly fun book about monsters dancing and wiggling as they play with colors. It's so bright and creative that you won't mind reading it aloud every night!

Do Cows Meow? by Salina Yoon. My brother, sister-in-law, and nephew gave this book to my son for his first Christmas, which means I literally can't count how many times we've read it. We read it a lot before he was really speaking because he loved animal noises, and could do them really well. Once he figured out how to lift the flaps, it was over! He asks for this book almost every night by saying "Cow one!" It's a good book to quiz your kid about animals - names and noises - just like Monsters Love Colors is good to help learn the colors. It's also just a fun book to read aloud, because you get to make animal noises with your kid!

Miss Spider's Tea Party by David Kirk. This is actually my copy of the book from when I was younger, but I didn't really remember the story too well. My son has been asking for it a lot lately, calling it "the yallow one" (because of the spine color) or "bird-day party!" (because of the tea party), and I don't mind reading it aloud often at all, because the rhymes are great, and it's a cute story, and my son loves pointing out the different bugs. 

Thomas and Friends Rolling Wheels. My son loves trains and Thomas, so when I saw this book at Target I had to grab it. It was his first "interactive" book, where he can press the buttons to play a sound clip at certain points in the story. I didn't initially realize that you also rolled the wheels along with parts of the story, so that's become my son's favorite thing to do. Who doesn't love being involved in the story?! The book is pretty short, and it's definitely aimed at fans of Thomas because it's not really a standalone book, it's pretty much just merchandise. That being said, it's not bad to read night after night because it's so short, and though there are only three buttons, there are nine sounds total so you don't hear the same thing over and over and over.

Goodnight Goodnight Construction Site by Sherri Duskey Rinker and Tom Lichtenheld. We have the interactive version of this book because my son loved the previously mentioned Thomas book so much. He loves construction sites and machines, so I thought the sounds would add a lot to the story for him. He really loves being able to push the buttons at the right parts in the story, and will carefully check out the icon on the page and match it up with the buttons on the right side, catching himself with a soft "nope" if his finger is hovering over the wrong button. He asks for it pretty much every night, and I have to say I get a little tired of reading it, just because it's a longer story, and sometimes my son isn't the quickest with pressing the right button, so the story drags on a big longer. It's a fun book, though, and I think the sounds add a lot to a story like this.

What We Read This Week 8/7

My graduate school days are dwindling away, and though I've recently started a new job, I'm excited by the idea of having *free time* on my hands for the first time in what seems like forever! No school? Seems like a luxury! So I wanted to introduce a new feature that I think will help me keep this blog active, since I got into a reviewing slump and was only posting podcast recaps for quite some time.

What We Read This Week is a weekly round-up of all the books my son read - the good, the bad, and the ugly. I'm going to write micro-reviews of the books we shared, and include all of our reactions in order to give a well-rounded idea of if you and your kids would like these books.

Here we go!

Ollie Forgot by Tedd Arnold. This book was fun to read aloud because of the repetition of the (few!) things Ollie remembered. My son LOVES repetition, so I actually repeated the lines a few more times than they were written, and the story didn't suffer for it. There's room for a lot of embellishment and interaction in this cute story about Ollie running an errand for his mother, and everyone he encounters along the way. We all enjoyed this book, and it will definitely be re-read.

Pigs and a Blanket by James Burks. This story of a brother and sister learning to share is told more in bright, inviting illustrations than words. It's a great interactive book because you can talk about the illustrations and have your little one chime in with what's going on. My son picked this one as his favorite book of the week when I asked, but he might be a little biased - he loves piggies!

Daddy Makes the Best Spaghetti by Anna Grossnickle Hines. Daddy read this one aloud, of course, because the daddy is the star of the show! It's a sweet story about a little boy running errands and helping Daddy around the house while Mommy works. It's a playful book so it's fun to read, but it also goes over routines done throughout the day and enforces that idea to the reader.

The Raven and the Loon by Rachel and Sean Qitsualik-Tinsley, illustrated by Kim Smith. This book is beautiful - the cover and illustrations are so gorgeous I had to bring it home when I saw it on the library shelf. This is one of those books that might be more for adults though - it's gorgeous, but I don't think kids would be sucked into the illustrations too much. The book is an origin story of how the raven and the loon came to look as they do, so it's better suited for older kids who can ask and understand "why", as well as appreciate the folklore aspect.

Fix This Mess by Tedd Arnold. Another favorite of the week - a cute story about a messy house and a pup who's too lazy to clean it himself. The puppy sends away for Robug, a cleaning robot machine. Except Robug doesn't so much CLEAN the mess as relocate it... will the house ever get cleaned? My son loves robots, so he loved Robug and keeps asking for it to be read again and again. This is a library book, but we might have to get our own copy since it's such a hit.

Call Me Ahnighito by Pam Conrad, pictures by Richard Egielski. My son is way too young for this book. He picked it off the library shelf himself, but he wasn't too interested in listening to it. The illustrations are very realistic and dark-colored, as well, so it wasn't too engaging. The story is pretty long; it's based on a true story of a meteorite that fell to earth, so it'd be better suited for older kids interested in rocks, space, and science.

Infinity and Me written by Kate Gosford, illustrations by Gabi Swiatkowska. This is another book that might be more for parents than children. The illustrations are gorgeous, and the story is very well done, but I think it would be over most kids' heads. Even when kids start to wonder how big the sky is, how many stars there are, and what infinity is, the book doesn't really answer the question too clearly. It's fine to wonder about things and have your question lead to other questions, but when it's trying to tie in a new pair of red shoes, it just doesn't really work for me. This might be better for older children, though I can't see those at the appropriate age wanting to read a picture book...

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.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Yesterday, several individuals from SRVS came to the library wearing red sweaters, ready to celebrate Valentine's Day!

We read two books about making Valentines for special people in your life, The Day it Rained Hearts by Felicia Bond and If You'll Be My Valentine by Cynthia Rylant. The last book was much sillier - The Yuckiest, Stinkiest, Best Valentine Ever by Brenda A. Ferber.

Then we made origami hearts. This was a great project because it required fine motor skills to fold the thin paper, and also because it made a cute little pocket heart! The individuals could give the heart as a Valentine, or put candy or a love note in the pocket before giving it to someone they love!

This program especially warmed my heart because there was a tea party the individuals could have gone to, but eight of them wanted to come to the library instead!

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

Celebrating Dreams with Martin Luther King

Today was the first 2016 library program for adults with disabilities! Since Martin Luther King, Jr. day is Monday, he was the subject of the day.


Several individuals knew about Dr. King's life and work, so we started by talking about what we knew. Since we live in Memphis, Tennessee, we have the unfortunate distinction of being the city where Dr. King was shot and killed. Many individuals in today's program have visited the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel, where there is a tribute to Dr. King on the balcony where he was shot.

By reading A Picture book of Martin Luther King, Jr., we learned a lot about him that we didn't already know. We learned that his birthday is January 15th, which is why Martin Luther King, Jr. day is around that date every January. He graduated from high school at 15 and started college early!

I Have a Dream is a selection from Dr. King's famous speech illustrated by beautiful paintings. We read this one, and then talked about our dreams for a perfect world, or even just a perfect day. We wrote and drew our dreams.


A lot of people said their dream of a perfect world started with their homes or churches -
spending time there with family and friends who care about them.


One person traced his hand and drew people holding hands across it.


This just might be my favorite...all the colors working together to make a beautiful picture.

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

Christmas Book Bonus!

Last week I posted a booktube video of three favorite Christmas books we'd been reading.


Then this week, several books I had on hold came in, so we had a new stack of Christmas books to read! Since Christmas is the season of giving, I wanted to share more of our favorites.

The Last Christmas Tree is a cute book about a scrawny tree that is constantly overlooked in favor of bigger trees. It's still in the lot on Christmas Eve, all alone...only a Christmas miracle can help the tree find a home. The illustrations in this book are gorgeous and colorful, and the story is one that we will re-read each year.

Dinosaur vs. Santa is a fun book because my stepson loves dinosaurs, and we love the character from the other Dinosaur vs. books. The text in this book is simple, which leaves the bright, bold illustrations to tell a lot of the story. It's fun for kids to see what Dinosaur does in each picture to help move the story along.

The Gingerbread Pirates is about a boy and his mother who are making cookies for Santa. They make gingerbread men, but decide to decorate them as pirates - including a toothpick as a peg leg! After the boy goes to sleep, the gingerbread men come to life and try to avoid being eaten by Santa. The cookie illustrations in this book are really cute, and the story is sweet - no pun intended! I especially like this book because I reviewed another pirate Christmas book in my video: A Pirate's Night Before Christmas.

Little Robin's Christmas is another book we'll be reading each year. The animals are adorable, especially round Little Robin, who has seven sweater vests to wear the week before Christmas. When Little Robin goes out, he finds animals that seem to need a vest more than he does, so he keeps giving them away. The ending is really sweet and helps remind children that this is the season of giving, and that it's important to be kind.

I hope you enjoy reading these Christmas books as much as we have. Merry Christmas!

Read them for yourself!
Krensky, Stephen. The Last Christmas Tree. Illus. Pascal Campion. New York: Dial Books for Young Readers, 2014. Print.
Shea, Bob. Dinosaur vs. Santa. New York: Disney Hyperion Books, 2012. Print.
Kladstrup, Kristin. The Gingerbread Pirates. Illus. Matt Tavares. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press, 2009. Print.
Fearnley, Jan. Little Robin's Christmas. Waukesha, WI: Little Tiger Press, 1998. Print.

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.

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!

Otto’s Orange Day

Plot Summary
Otto’s favorite color is orange. He colors with orange crayons and sings songs about orange. When his aunt sends him an orange package, Otto is thrilled with the orange lamp - even though it’s a little dusty. When Otto cleans off the lamp, a genie appears! Otto wishes for everything in the world to be his favorite color, but when everything is orange, trouble starts! Can Otto save the orange day?

Critical Analysis
Graphic novels for children are a great idea because the heavily-illustrated books are appealing, and are a great stepping stone from picture books to chapter books. There is a fair amount of dialogue that can be read aloud, but it is still easy for the young reader to follow along with the text. Even if the reader doesn’t know many letters or words, the context clues in the illustrations can help them tell the story and guess what might happen next. It’s also great that graphic novels teach young readers to read panel to panel. Traditional reading is limited to left to right, top to bottom - and of course that’s a crucial thing to know, but learning how to read a panel and take in all that is being told and shown to you is really important, also. It shows young kids that they need to look around and take everything in to get the whole story, instead of just focusing on a word or sentence at a time.

Personal Response
My five-year-old stepson picked this book out on his own, and loved hearing it read aloud. I think it was read to his two or three times in a single visit! It’s a book he can look through himself because the pictures are appealing. Since graphic novels depend so much on illustrations, he can tell the story to himself just by looking at the pictures.
     I thought this book was really cute, too; it’s something I could definitely see as an animated short. There are other Otto books that we’re looking forward to reading, but Toon Books are definitely something we’ll be looking for, regardless of the main character!

Reviews & Awards
Booklist’s top 10 graphic novels for youth, ALA’s core collection of graphic novels, Graphic Novel Reporter’s core list of graphic novels for kids, and ALSC’s best graphic novels for children.

Connections & Activities
The back of this book is a great resource for reading graphic novels and comics aloud with children. The book itself is cute and entertaining, but I recommend it for the end pages alone! Tips include: pointing to the character speaking, so the kid can follow along with the expressions and text; get into the story and read the dialogue like a play; talking about the pictures and letting kids guess what’s happening and what will happen next.
     The TOON Books website has great resources for parents/educators as well as kids. Their book list is broken down according to reading level, so you can make sure you’re getting the best books for your beginning readers! Check it out at toon-books.com, but be prepared to spend a LOT of time exploring!

Read it for yourself!
Lynch, Jay and Frank Cammuso. 2008. Otto’s Orange Day. New York: TOON Books, an imprint of Candlewick Press. ISBN 9780979923821

Battle Bunny

Plot Summary
On his birthday, Alex is given a sickly sweet book called Birthday Bunny by his gran. It must be too boring for him, because Alex takes his pencil to the book and draws all over it, completely changing the story! He modifies the illustrations and changes the text, adding in his own lines as well. Birthday Bunny is quickly transformed into the more interesting and suspenseful Battle Bunny!

Critical Analysis
This book is actually two stories in one - three, if you count the original, yet bland, Birthday Bunny tale! On the surface, there is the story of Battle Bunny, but older readers will be able to appreciate the underlying storyline of Alex changing the book himself.
     The story of Battle Bunny is interesting, but the best part is the illustrations and overall book layout. It’s fun to search each page for what Alex added to the pictures and text. He ever wrote on the copyright page and the back cover. The original illustrations are beautiful, sweet cartoons that looks like a classic picture books. Alex’s additions actually look like pencil marks - you’ll be tempted to take an eraser to them just to see if they’re real!
     This book will inspire children to use their imaginations more - not just when they’re playing by themselves or with friends, but also when they’re reading! It shares a great message that you don’t have to read just the story on the page - you can also make up your own adaptations!

Personal Response
This book was interesting to read aloud to my five-year-old stepson and six-month-old son. They both might be a little too young for it (well, one DEFINITELY is!), because most of the enjoyment comes from seeing what was scratched out. The pictures are greatly embellished, though, so kids can really get a lot from looking at the illustrations and seeing what Alex added on to them. When reading aloud, my fiancé read the main story, and when a lot of a line was scratched out, I said “Instead of…(original text).” It was a little awkward to read that way, but we wanted to make sure my stepson realized the story had changed, and since he asks questions and points things out during storytime, it wasn’t the worst way to read aloud.
     The five-year-old originally didn’t want to read this book - my fiancé and I pushed it on him a bit, because we wanted to see it since we saw Jon Scieszka in August 2014. We thought it sounded like a great book, but couldn’t find a copy anywhere until our last library visit. My stepson got into the book as we read it, and afterwards he played “Battle Bunny” for hours, as if he were a superhero!
     I’m blown away by the creativity of this book! I can’t count how many times I, as an adult, have wished for a story to go just a little bit differently - and I’m sure kids feel the same with picture books! Now they get to see how one book and its illustrations can be easily transformed into something drastically different. Just make sure you remind the readers they can’t draw in books! Since it’s intended for older kids, there is probably little chance of this happening, but you can’t be too sure! But there is a way they can tell their own version of Birthday Bunny…

Connections & Activities
The authors, illustrator, and publishing company behind this book are so brilliant, they set up MyBirthdayBunny.com, where kids can go and explore the pages of Battle Bunny - and make their own version! You can download the book and print off the pages so kids can make their own versions of the story!
     If you’re especially proud of your creation, you can email your work to the site and they’ll share them on the Battle Bunny Tumblr!

Reviews & Awards
Battle Bunny won the 2014 Gryphon Award. Kirkus Reviews says “[…] a great writing inspiration to use on old books headed for the bin.” School Library Journal gave it a starred review, saying“"This is a perfect book to give independent readers who are looking for something a little different. The unique layout and design will inspire creativity in readers.”

Read it for yourself!
Scieszka, Jon and Mac Barnett. 2013. Battle Bunny. Ill. by Matthew Myers. New York: Simon &
Schuster Books for Young Readers. ISBN 9781442446731

Read Aloud 101

One of my favorite sites, The Bookworm Club, recently shared a helpful
infographic with tips on how to make storytimes rich for children.


I think I've mentioned before that I had next to no experience with kids before having my own baby, and while I've loved reading my whole life, I only read for myself. Even reading my own work aloud for classmates in my creative writing MFA programs was a little difficult.

Now I read aloud to my son almost every day, and I've learned a lot about how to do that. Though he's too young to ask questions or interrupt the story, over time I've found myself stopping to point out things in the pictures, or ask "What's going to happen?" as I struggle to turn the page while hanging on to his wiggly self.

My 5-year-old stepson has gotten more interested in books with each visit to our house, and I love picking books I think he'd like. After going to the zoo, for example, I picked Put Me In the Zoo by Robert Lopshire. It was one of my favorites as a girl, and I loved seeing my stepson hop around and show off what he could do with his spots. When I recently read Knuffle Bunny to him, he spoke like baby Trixie for days afterwards as he played.

I love seeing how a simple story can influence children! I look forward to reading with my son as he grows, because my stepson was so eager to help turn pages and point out things in the illustrations and ask questions and make guesses about what would happen next. When reading to children, you're actually sharing the stories because you're presenting it to them, interacting with them as they understand what's being read to them, and get to see them delight in the book's world.

But I digress! The Bookworm Club's guide to reading aloud is fantastic and I felt like it needed to be shared, so I'm posting the image here (with permission). Please also check out their post about the tips, and take some time to peruse their excellent site!


Read Aloud 101