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!