2 posts tagged “children's books”

"Everything is a shared experience when children are small, and I think one of the special times of the day is when a mother or father reads a story before they go to bed... I think it's very sad when one hears of people who never are read to. I think it's a very good start in life to be read to and then to learn to read that way."

Michael Bond, the creator of Paddington Bear, everyone's favorite clumsy but polite traveler.  PBS aired the TV series in America, and I always wanted to give Paddington a big squeeze when he would get into trouble.  From this BBC article.

Last week, I had my first storytime ever.  I'm a Reference Librarian, but we all do some storytimes when they are part of a class tour.  I was so nervous before because I don't have much experience with groups of children, but I got rave reviews from both the teacher of the class that came in for the story and my supervising librarian. 

The Kindergarten class was going to the farmer's market later in the month on a field trip so I decided to do a farm animal theme.  I thought I'd share the books since I have neighbors with kids and neighbors who are expecting.  These were all fun, but I'll give a mini review of each.

I started with Book! Book! Book! because it is about farm animals who go to the library and have trouble communicating with the librarian.  The kids liked it, but it had my least favorite illustrations of them all.  I like bright, bold illustrations in children's books and the watercolor just didn't seem as eye-catching.  But the kids liked it and laughed at the animals trying to talk to the librarian.

Giggle, Giggle, Quack was a lot of fun to read to the kids.  They were very excited when I picked this one up because they have heard Click Clack Moo:  Cows That Type by the same author.  I would highly recommend both.  The illustrations are really, really cute in this book, and the story is funny.  It's about a conniving duck who takes advantage of the farmer's brother while he is watching the farm.
This one was my favorite.  Marjorie the cow is depressed because she can't do handstands and ride bicycles like the other cows so the chickens get together and make it look like she laid an egg to make her feel better.  The story is so funny and sweet at the same time, and it's a fun one to read aloud.  The illustrations were really cute in this one too.  Very bright colors.
This book is about a rooster who forgot how to crow, but still manages to save the farm from a fox.  You get to make a lot of fun animal sounds while reading this one to kids, and they get a kick out of that.