Don't let the pigeon stay up late! by Mo Willems

I haven't yet found a book that I don't like by Mo Willems, and his stack of awards proves he has truly figured out what captures kids attention.

Don't Let the Pigeon Stay up Late has an interactive format, where the listening audience has to prevent a sleepy pigeon from staying up past his bedtime. The pigeon in question tries every trick in the book to stay up late (some familiar, some hilariously creative).

Before reading, I primed the kids about what the book would be like by having a puppet try to convince them that he should be able to stay up late.

The puppet asked the kids why he had to go to bed, and one particularly savvy child answered "You'll be grumpy!"

To which the puppet answered: "I don't care!"

Surprisingly, they all said, in very shocked tones: "That's RUUUUDDDDEEEEE!" So cute!

After they had gotten used to telling the puppet to go to sleep, I read
Don't Let the Pigeon Stay up Late I think the parents in the room might have enjoyed the story even more than the kids.

Once the book was done, I expanded the story by having the puppet from the original interaction get into his "bed" (in this case a plastic bin). The puppet kept popping up out of the bed to complain that the bed was too hard. I had brought along a bag of full scarves (essential storytime props) and took one scarf out. I explained that it was a blanket, and with it I would tuck the puppet in. The puppet kept popping up and demanding more blankets. Luckily, I had a whole bag full, and I was able to distribute the "blankets" to all the kids, who also tucked the puppet in. A few even gave him a goodnight kiss or hug.

Little beauty by Anthony Browne

This book was recommended by an Early Language Specialist at a workshop I attended a few weeks ago. What a great recommendation! The book is a perfect story time choice: there is about a sentence per page and the illustrations are extremely colourful and beautiful. The story tells a simple tale about a gorilla who learns sign language and asks for a friend, and so is given a kitten to take care of. In the end, the kitten also learns sign language which saves their friendship.

When I read the book, the kids were absolutely enthralled, and I made sure they understood the ending by asking questions.

Once we had sang a few action songs, I brought out our amazingly realistic gorilla puppet, and had it act very sad.

"Why do you think the gorilla is sad?" I asked the kids.

"Because it doesn't have a friend!" they answered.

Then I took out a big canvas bag.

"What do you think I have in this bag?" I asked.

"A friend! A friend!" they replied.

Slowly, slowly, I pulled out various objects out of the bag, like a tennis ball and a shovel and a plastic snake. Very innocently, I asked the kids if they thought the various items would make a good friend for the gorilla. The kids were very adamant that they would not.

Eventually I got to the bottom of the bag. I put my hand in the bag and starting making mewing sounds.

"Do you hear that? What do you think it could be?" I asked.

"A kitten!" they all shouted.

I had the kitten walk out of the bag, and walk over to the gorilla. Then I had the kitten nudge the gorilla to get its attention. The gorilla turned to the kitten, and then gave it a huge hug.

All the kids clapped with joy.

Next I taught them two words in sign language:

friend



and cat



Another great story time!

Kitten's first new moon by Kevin Henkes

I read this book for the first time just last week and immediately made the librarian sitting at the desk next to me read it too.

Poor Kitten, she has mistaken the moon for a big bowl of milk, and she just can't get it no matter how hard she tries. Black and white simple yet beautiful illustrations really show the reader the hardship of the kitten, especially poignant is a full page close-up of the poor kitten soaking wet after falling into a pond. As soon as I showed the children that page during the story time, there was a collected sigh of sympathy throughout the crowd.

Once the story was done, we acted out all different kitten like behavior: walking, mewing, purring, climbing, lapping, yowling and even arching our backs and hissing.

Then I took out a white bowl, and held it up to the sky.

"Now kittens, try to get the milk!"

We all tried as a group to get the milk the same way that the kitten did in the story. We begged, we purred, we mimed climbing, jumping and even swimming.

After we had acted out all the main actions of the kitten portrayed in the story, I took out a small white kitten puppet and had the puppet act out being hungry and wanting some milk. Then I passed around the bowl, and had every kid "pour" milk into the bowl. When they had all had a turn, I asked them for suggestions as to where I could put the bowl so that the kitten would see it best. This was a great opportunity to act like I didn't understand simple directions. "Put it on the table!" The kids cried. "Oh, is this the table?" I asked, putting the bowl on the floor. Hilarity ensued.

Finally, the bowl was somewhere visible, and I had the kitten puppet happily lap it up. I got all the kids to pretend to lap it up too.

Once the story time was over, this book was quickly snapped up by an eager parent. Having the kids really participate and imagine themselves to be part of the story translated a good book into a great story time!