No Storytime this week

I'm having a holiday rest, eating mince pies and going to the zoo with my little boy.

We'll be back next week Monday January 4th.

Christmas!

The Gruffalo's Child by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler
The Gruffalo's child is pretty certain that the big bad mouse is just a fairy tale, he sets out through the snow to try and find some answers. Instead he meets a mouse and a big bad one at that. A charming follow up to the classic Gruffalo story, all set in snowy woods.

Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
Peter wakes up one day to find everything covered in snow, then he has a lot of snow based adventures on his city block. My favourite thing about this 1960s classic is the way the narrative collapses from time to time, it reminds me of the way my son retells events. Also the pocket full of snowball is a brilliant illustration.

One Year With Kipper by Mick Inkpen
Kipper documents his whole year with his new camera then makes the photos into a poster for a Christmas present for his friend Tiger.

Santa's Twinkly Christmas Eve by Janine Amos and Lucy Pearce
Although not a great work of children's literature this little board book has a special feature, it is studded with lights that twinkle when you press the button. Absolutely captivating for the under 3s.

The Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore
There are so many excellent illustrated versions of this poem, I like the Jan Brett one or the newish one by Matt Tavares. The poem itself is a little archaic in parts, but the naming of the reindeer is essential Christmas stuff.

NO STORYTIME THIS WEEK

Storytime is cancelled on Monday 14th December due to illness.

We'll be back next week with a Christmas storytime.

Monsters and Dinosaurs

Bootsie Barker Bites by Barbara Bottner.

Sometimes, people are not very nice. And sometimes children are downright monstrous (even girls). Bootsie Barker Bites addresses this issue with style. Wit, wisdom, dinosaurs, a rocket, chocolate donuts and a salamander all make an appearance in an ideal book for kindergardeners who are just discovering the meaner side of their sweet little friends.

Horns to Toes and Inbetween by Sandra Boynton.

A simple board book with catchy rhymes about parts of the body. I ask the children to point to the part we're talking about, someone always laughs when I ask where their tail is.

Dinosaur Roar by Paul & Henrietta Strickland.

A great opposites book with some happy friendly dinosaurs in it. I love the unconventional opposites too, like "clean and slimy" or "spiky and lumpy". It makes a nice change from "up and down".

The Wild Things by Maurice Sendak.

A classic in which Max becomes the King of All the Wild Things but gets lonely and goes home for his still warm supper. Cover to Cover has a resident Wild Thing, he's about the size of a toddler and a bit dogeared, he often gets sat on. He's stuffed, of course.

The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson.

"there's no such thing as a Gruffal...oh". A clever little mouse talks his way out of trouble with the unwitting help of a creature he thought he'd invented. I love this book, it's smart and funny and a real example of how not to be scared of monsters.

We'll sing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" (including the verse "if you see the Wild Things don't forget to scream"), "Heads and Shoulders, Knees and Toes" and "There's a Monster in my Closet" which is to the tune of "If you're happy and you know it" where we get to choose what colour it is and what noise it makes before we finally get to meet it. And the poem will be "the Dark" by Carol-Ann Duffy.

Things That Go

Yes, we'll be reading stories as usual on Monday morning at 10.30am.

This week we're doing an old favorite. Things That Go.

Smash Crash by Jon Scieszka, David Shannon, Loren Long, and David Gordon
The first of the excellent Trucktown series by Scieszka and what can only be described as contemporary children's illustrator royalty. These books are intened to interest young boys in reading. As such, some parents find them a little difficult to sanction. As the title suggests, two trucks, who are best friends, ride around the town smashing and crashing, sometimes this is helpful and sometimes it isn't. They try to avoid the adult presence in the book, but they can't zoom away forever.

The Little Engine that Could by Watty Piper and Loren Long
his 1950s classic is seen throughout the world as a truly American tale. A struggle over adversity and a triumph for the little engine who wants to be helpful and try her best. I read from a version with the original text and modern illustrations by Loren Long, but I edit as I read. The idea of giving a child a "jack knife" now seems too odd to read aloud. I also edit the mean-spiritedness of the unhelpful trains, although mostly because my audience is normally 3 years and under and expecting them to sit still for the full length of the original text is a little unreasonable.

Machines go to Work by William Low
One of those beautiful books which is more about the illustration than the story. A series of machines at work and some whole page flaps make this a very popular one with the under 3s.

B is for Bulldozer by June Sobel and Melissa Iwai
We can find all the letters of the alphabet on this construction site and the last page gives us a great and eXciting surprise.

Tractor Trouble
A little board book about a cow who thinks she can drive a tractor and the chaos that ensues. This one is not available to buy, unfortunately as it is published by UK retailer Marks & Spencer. Good old M&S :)

You, Me and Everyone

(This is a slightly nebulous theme which allows me to include some great new books. Although it could also be titled "being ourselves and being together")

All the World by Liz Garton Scanlon and Marla Frazee

A brand new book with warm illustrations and a simple rhyming scheme which links together everything and everyone in the world. It's an inspirational read, just in time for the holidays.

Jeremy Draws a Monster by Peter McCarty

Jeremy never plays outside with the other children from the neighborhood, so when he draws a very demanding monster who comes to life, he has to rely on his own wits to get it out of the house. A book about tackling your inner demons and about joining the group to save yourself, from yourself. I also think that this book gives children the opportunity to see an abusive relationship where one party is unequivocally monstrous.

On a lighter note, that's the funniest hat I've ever seen a monster wear.

My Truck is Stuck by Kevin Lewis and Daniel Kirk

From the dream team that brought us the classic Chugga Chugga Choo Choo is a truck related story with some sneaky counting and off kilter rhythms. Fun all round.

The Curious Garden by Peter Brown

A little boy discovers a small patch of green growing in the city and helps it along until the city is full of garden and gardeners. Crisp modern illustration, with a fantastical twist and a simple storyline make this one of my favorite new books of 2009. It's actually the story of the Highlands railway, a disused railway track in NYC which has been converted to a community garden.

Duck on a Bike by David Shannon

Duck decides to ride a bike and show off to all the other farm animals. Their responses are complex, they say moo, or squeak, or oink or maaa, but they think something different and then they do something else entirely! It's difficult to know what other people really think, but it's easy to have fun playing together.

The songs will be “This is Me” by Laurie Berkner, "Heads, Shoulders Knees and Toes" and "Old Macdonald"

In the City

Noisy City Night by Sara Anderson. There are lots of good noises in this excellent board book, the weeeeee you of firetrucks the rumble of underground trains and the old man muttering. It's a delight to read aloud and always catches the toddler's attention. The book is also made of cityscape cut outs and has a number of jokes for the grown ups, take a look at the wording on the billboards, my favourite is "you never did like peas".

Block City by Robert Louis Stevenson and Daniel Kirk. That's right, that Stevenson. It's a great little poem about a boy building a city from blocks and then laying waste to it. Daniel Kirk is an expert illustrator and he really brings the poem and the city to life.

Corduroy by Don Freeman. There are many department stores in the city, just like the one that Corduroy the bear lives in. A charming children's classic which stands the test of time. A small bear really wants someone to take him home, but he needs to find his missing button first, he has quite an adventure looking for the button. In the end though, he doesn't need it for someone to love him and take him home.

The Adventures of Taxi Dog by Debra Barracca, Sal Barracca, and Mark Buehner. A stray dog is adopted by a taxi driver in New York and together they meet lots of new faces. Just like the other Barracca and Buehner books there are lots of things to see in the illustrations. I always skip the page with the pregnant woman thought, she's not "sick", she's having a baby, a strange association to make in a modern book.

Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems. A fantastic little book about the perils of taking a beloved toy to the laundrette. I love it when the Dad is about to give up looking for Knuffle Bunny, takes one look at his daughter and decides to look harder.

We'll be singing "The Wheels on the Bus", "Train is a-Coming" and "My Dog" and the poem will be Julia Bird's "Picture Book for Urban Babies".