Rabbit's Snow Dance

Rabbit's Snow Dance by James Bruchac
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A traditional Iroquois story retold by James & Joseph Bruchac about a time when Rabbit had a long tail and short patience. A cautionary tale for anyone wanting lots of snow Right Now, no matter the season or the needs of your fellow creatures.

The repetition and chanting would make this an excellent read-aloud for preschool through elementary audiences.

View all my reviews

 

'Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving

'Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving by Dav Pilkey
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Cute story based on the rhyme/pattern of “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas.” The kids were drawn with different skin & hair colors; however, the adults were both white. The story requires a fair amount of willing suspension of disbelief, but that makes it silly & fun, so OK. The ending does rather seem like it’s trying to influence kids toward vegetarianism, which I have mixed feelings about, but overall it’s a funny book I think my kids will enjoy.

View all my reviews

Bruce's Big Storm

Bruce's Big Storm by Ryan T. Higgins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Like all the other Bruce books, this one is absolutely delightful--funny for kids and for their grown-ups. This time around, Bruce is the reluctant host of all the neighborhood animals during a big storm. When a tree crashes through the roof and slices the house in two, the neighbors rally to fix up the house even better than before--adding a "rumpus room" (It's for rumpusing!) where everyone can hang out and play cards. My kids ask for this as a bedtime story over and over and can now recite pretty much the entire book. Or at least sections of it before dissolving in giggles. We love Bruce books so much!

View all my reviews

I Saw an Ant on the Railroad Track

I Saw an Ant on the Railroad Track by Joshua Prince
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I read this book to my daughter's kindergarten class in honor of the Transportation unit they were working on. The kids were really into it--caught up in the suspense of whether the ant was going to be smashed by the train. However, even these 5 & 6-year-olds were savvy enough to point out that an ant would most assuredly feel the vibrations of an enormous train barreling ever closer and would have gotten off the rail WAY before the train posed any kind of mortal danger. In fact, they blurted this fact out right in the middle of the story, which gave me an opportunity to respond with, "True, but you can pretend anything you want in fiction!" and then quickly move on before anyone thought about all the ways that *isn't* quite true or realized the switchman should have just picked up the ant instead of trying to redirect a TRAIN from its appointed route.

The illustrations in the book are beautiful--sort of a soft-focus photo-realism...aside from the ant who walks on two legs and carries a stick with a bag of belongings hanging from it. That part's pure "photo-fantasy," you might say.

There are some great vocabulary words in the text, and loads of rhyming words, which the kids were having fun listening for. The rhythm of the text flows along well in all but a few spots, so practicing out loud in advance is a must. The stutter-spots can be overcome if you learn which syllables to emphasize, but that's nigh impossible in the moment.

View all my reviews

Look Out, Suzy Goose

Look Out, Suzy Goose by Petr Horáček
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I picked this up to read at a storytime I did in April, and I honestly can't remember whether I ended up using it. It's a cute story about a goose who goes to the woods to escape the loud honking of her flock and is blissfully unaware of the predators stalking her (and each other). There are repeated sounds that kids can say with you (i.e. flip flop, creep creep, honk, etc.), which give great opportunities for interactivity, and you can have the children try and predict what will happen at the end. But I'm doubtful about the authenticity of the food chain depicted. Foxes might see geese as prey, but how often do wolves see foxes as food, or bears eat wolves & foxes & geese? And would any of those predators be scared off by an owl hooting? Maybe??

View all my reviews

Chicken, Chicken, Duck!

Chicken, Chicken, Duck! by Nadia Krilanovich
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I read the description of this book and had to do a double-take because, wait, there was humor? And the animals are "up to something"? Well, OK, at the end they stand on top of each other in a sort of animal-cheerleader-pyramid thing.

I read this book for a toddler storytime because I was looking for a book with a lot of different animal sounds in it. Having kids making/imitating animal sounds is actually an early literacy skill, which is what I was going for, and from that standpoint it was a success. But there is virtually no story to the book, so dialogic reading is essential if you want to keep the children's attention. To be honest, I hadn't noticed any humor or "surprising details in the illustrations"--although the illustrations are well-rendered, it's not like the animals are introduced in any logical order other than what (mostly) makes the rhythm flow.

View all my reviews

I'm a Frog!

I'm a Frog! by Mo Willems
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Gerald panics when Piggie starts ribbitting and announces she's a frog. Will HE be turned into a frog, too? He doesn't want to be a frog! Piggie has to explain that she's just PRETENDING to be a frog, and he can pretend, too. But Gerald doesn't want to be a frog.... Moooooooo!

This book is funny and makes my kids laugh, especially when I act out the voices and facial expressions. The pictures really tell the story even more than the words do!

View all my reviews

Chickens to the Rescue

Chickens to the Rescue by John Himmelman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Farmer Greenstalk & his family are incredibly lucky to have such amazing chickens! The plucky poultry retrieve a watch from a well, cook dinner, rewrite a chewed up book report, bring back a stolen truck, rescue a cow from a tree, and bring home lost sheep. Chickens to the rescue! But by Sunday, they are tired and deserve a rest. ...Pigs to the rescue!

This hilarious tale of resourceful hens had the preschoolers in my storytime cackling with glee. We practiced saying the repeated phrase, "Chickens to the rescue!" before we began, and they belted it out with enthusiasm on every other page (spread).

I do wish the human characters weren't all so pale-skinned, but otherwise this is a fantastic, funny, farce.

View all my reviews

King Bidgood's in the Bathtub

King Bidgood's in the Bathtub by Audrey Wood
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

All day long and well into the night, King Bidgood is enjoying his bath so much that he makes everyone else join him instead of getting out. He hosts mock naval battles, lunch, fishing, and a masquerade ball. Oh, who knows what to do?! (spoiler alert: his Page does! *glub, glub, glub!*)

I wasn't sure how well this would go over when I read it to a preschool storytime because you really have to look at the pictures to appreciate the story, but the kids LOVED it. The repetition of, "...King Bidgood's in the bathtub, and he won't get out!..." had one little boy throwing up his hands by the end and saying, "Not AGAIN!" The parents and other children all laughed or nodded vigorously in response, and my own chuckling made it somewhat difficult to read the rest of the story. It ended up being really interactive to have the kids look at the pictures and announce what was happening in the tub throughout the day.

It comes with a CD, but I haven't listened to that yet.

View all my reviews

Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale

Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale by Mo Willems


My rating: 5 of 5 stars

My very favorite part of this truly excellent children's book is when Trixie goes "boneless." Cracks me up every time. Well, the whole thing does, really. I LOVE this book! You really can tell that Willems knows kids and can capture their expressions in his artwork perfectly.

View all my reviews >>

Leonardo, the Terrible Monster

Leonardo, the Terrible Monster by Mo Willems


My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I love Mo Willems' books. This one is an adorable story about a young monster who is terrible at being scary. It'd work well as a read-aloud at home or for a storytime. Just be sure to take a deep breath before reading Sam's big rant. :)

View all my reviews >>

Five Minute Tales

Five Minute Tales: More Stories to Read and Tell When Time is Short by Margaret Read MacDonald

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars

I enjoyed reading the stories, and I think they would be good ones to tell when you're trying to kill a few minutes somewhere or (in some cases) need a bedtime story. Some would be easier to memorize than others, however. But I can attest that the Monkeys in the Rain story--I call it the Brazilian monkey story--works very well for use in a library story time!


View all my reviews.

Thump, Quack, Moo: A whacky adventure

Thump, Quack, Moo: A Whacky Adventure by Doreen Cronin

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars

Funny!!

From the author of Click, Clack, Moo comes a tale of Farmer Brown enlisting the help of his animals in preparing his corn maze. Each animal has to be bribed (hammers for the chickens, paint for the cows, and special-order organic feed for the duck) to help, but eventually all are on board. The results, however, are not quite Farmer Brown had in mind, but kids (and adults) will love them. Watch for the subtle humor of the mice and their meteorology correspondence course. :)

Suitable for a preschool/kindergarten storytime; lends itself to audience participation with the repeated noises ("Cluck Whack! Moo Thwack! Thump Quack.")


View all my reviews.