"All About the Library" Storytime on Friday November 6, 2009

Even though our library system will be cutting four of it's seven libraries in the next few weeks, I thought it might be appropriate to emphasize how important libraries are with a "All About the Library" storytime. I found three really cute books about libraries but two of them were a little longer then the kids are used to so I decided to play it by ear and see how the kids were feeling.

Books

The first two are the longer stories more for K-2nd grade! Even though I wasn't certain about the length of the books, when I asked the kids if they wanted to read more or listen to a song they said with excitement, "READ MORE". Surprising Huh!

"Dewey: There's a Cat in the Library!" by Vicki Myron

I have to say this is one of the cutest books I have read, it may be because I have a little orange tabby at home. This book just gives me warm fuzzies and I wish we could have a cute orange kitten roaming around the library. Obviously this book is adapted from the adult book by the same author "Dewey: The Small Town Cat Who Touched the World". This title has great illustrations that are large and I think you just have to watch out for the length.

"Winston the Book Wolf" by Marni McGee

The kids thought this one was funny. Adapted from the Little Red Riding Hood, Winston the wolf loves devouring books at the library, he literally eats the books. Obviously the library staff puts a stop to this and kicks him out. Winston then meets a young girl named Rosie who helps him devour books with his eyes by teaching him how to read. Winston ends up sneaking into the library dressed up as an old lady and reads stories during storytime. The book ends with a cute "A note to the reader: If your story lady wears long skirts and floppy hats, she may be a wolf in disguise..." which made the kids giggle and asked me if I am a wolf.

"Read It, Don't Eat It!" by Ian Schoenherr

A fun easy book that goes through all the things you shouldn't do at a library or to your library books. For instance, "Find someplace else to sneeze" and "Don't overdue it, just renew it." The book is great because it teaches kids how to take care of their library books. After each guideline that I read I asked the kids if they ever did any of them and most of them said no, it was fun because they got to really think about their library books as highly valuable possessions.

After each story I went through some fun songs like, "Shake My Sillies Out", Teddybear Playtime" and "If You're Happy and You Know It".

Next Storytime will be our last, due to budget cuts so we are going to have a grand party to go out with a big bang.