Thoughts & Updates: It’s a big week! I’m starting my new job today (eek!) as the Youth Manager at Upper Arlington Public Library (still in central Ohio). Between that and my Caldecott appointment starting soon, I will be slowing down on posts in a few weeks. My last program post is coming this week — one more Book Club in a Bag kit, featuring Lumberjanes! And there will be more content to come from my co-bloggers. Make sure to check out Sarah’s Storytime Spotlight post from last week. I read a lot, and there were many new-to-me titles on that list!
For reading this week, I finally made it through most of the backed up graphic novels and first chapter books that have been piling up. Of course, more books continue to be published, and I’m woefully behind on my audiobooks, but I will have a commute again now, so I’m sure those will pick back up.
Reading by the Numbers:
30 Books Read This Week
16 Books with Main Characters of Marginalized Backgrounds (53%)
11 Books by Authors of Marginalized Backgrounds (37%)
I am always on the hunt for the best upcoming or recently-released storytime books. I love getting suggestions from other librarians or storytime presenters when they have discovered a winning title. I have been presenting storytime in some form or fashion for ten years, and there is nothing worse than a book that falls flat by either not engaging the kids or being too long. That can lead to unwelcome storytime chaos and having a real Ben Stiller/Bueller moment, where I really lose the crowd.
I’ve certainly learned some lessons while presenting books in storytime. This series will regularly spotlight books that really work for storytime (at least for me). In Storytime Spotlight, I will focus on titles for Baby Storytime (ages 0-2), Toddler Storytime (ages 2-3), and Preschool Storytime (ages 3-6), as well as some titles that may work for kindergarten and first grade audiences. Feel free to comment with your recent favorites as well!
This is a large-format board book (which may not work for a big storytime crowd), but I love it for it’s simplicity. As the title suggests, it focuses on the steps involved in learning to walk. The cute twist is the narrator is coaching adorable animals on the foot and body position needed for walking. The animal element is great, especially because it lends itself to adding puppets to the story. Puppets are an excellent way to extend the story and actions beyond the page. Babies can really engage with puppets as they are easy to see. Incorporating animal sounds as well supports early literacy because they are often some of baby’s first words. On the final page, we finally meet our baby who has a non-white skin tone. My storytime book choices feature all types of skin tones, ethnicities, abilities, and gender identities.
Another baby title that features a diverse cast of characters; this one is made for baby storytime. It is currently published in hardcover, but I could imagine it will be released as a board book at some point in the future. The title features babies eating, and of course, making a huge mess. The illustrations are relatively delicate and simple, but they work because both the babies and the text are large in relationship to the overall size of the book. And this book incorporates an element that is always baby storytime gold—simple and relatable actions for caregivers to do along with their babies while reading. In Applesauce is Fun to Wear these actions focus on body parts. Being able to name at least two body parts by 12 months is a milestone for neurotypical kiddos. Parents and caregivers will appreciate the extra body part-naming practice.
Toddler Storytime (ages 2-3)
The Sea Knowsby Alice McGinty & Alan B. Havis, illustrated by Stephanie Laberis
Finding books for toddler storytime is always a challenge for me. I feel like it is somewhat of a market deficit to find books that truly suit the 2s and 3s in a storytime setting. The Sea Knows sits comfortably in that age range for several reasons. It deals with both concrete concepts (the ocean and it’s critters) and the more abstract (opposites). I find toddlers (especially 3s) are really able to engage with both as long as the idea is simple and the illustrations are vivid and bold. This book ticks both of those boxes. When read to a large group of toddlers, I would suggest shortening it with the old librarian trick of paperclipping pages together, especially towards the end (“The sea knows crash. The sea knows trouble”). This could be a juncture at which the toddler crowd may be lost as those are difficult concepts for toddlers to grasp.
Barney Saltzberg is a favorite author, and this title is perfect for large crowd sharing. The background is entirely white, which allows the Sandra Boynton-esque animals to be easily seen from far away. Older toddlers will be able to identify the outlier on each page, and if there are preschool siblings in the toddler-preschool crowd, they will likely get the relationships between the creatures (i.e. sheep and a wolf, dogs and a cat). It moves quickly through the story, and the theme repeats throughout, which adds to the predictability of the story. Being able to predict what happens next in the story is an important early literacy skill that is important to highlight during storytime.
As a snail owner, I am always seeking out snail stories like Tabor’s Snail Crossing (another terrific preschool storytime read), and I was anxious to read Tabor’s latest critter adventure. Mel Fell did not disappoint with its sense of humor and charming illustrative style. The concepts of book handling and print orientation are turned on their heads with this title. Preschoolers are just beginning to understand the significance of text and its placement in a book, so sharing Mel Fell will invite a conversation where they can “correct” your orientation of the book. What is even cooler about this idea is that it is flipped—literally—when our protagonist Mel begins to fly instead of fall. Mel meets all kinds of critters that add potential for asides while reading (for example, Mel meeting the hive of bees gives an opportunity to encourage the kids to buzz like a bee). And of course, all preschoolers love a story of overcoming adversity and learning new skills.
Pigeon Math by Asia Citro and illustrated by Richard Watson
Asia Citro’s first foray into the picture book world is a charmer. Unless you have a crowd of extremely precocious preschoolers, the math concepts will fly (pun intended) well above their heads. Nonetheless, the pigeons are silly and engaging enough to entertain preschool-aged kiddos. The action of the birds can be extended easily by having the participants join in with what the pigeons do on their wire throughout the book. And when reading to an older group of kindergarteners or early school-agers, the kids can shout out the answers to the math problems. All around, this one appealed to me for many reasons, and I’m always going to gravitate towards books about pigeons, the true underdog (underbird?) of birds.
Take-and-make kits; craft kits; programs to go: whatever your library calls these programs in a bag that have become a staple of no-contact offerings, one thing is fairly standard: these kits are well loved, but they take time to make. I love creating materials for kits and thinking about how a family might interact with program materials at home. I’ve introduced a new pair of kits for ages 6-11: Book Club in a Bag (also known as Leap Off the Page, since we already have book club kits at our library, and the original name became confusing). This week, a non-fiction addition: Two Truths and a Lie by Ammi-Joan Paquette and Laurie Ann Thompson.
The Book Club in a Bag kits look a bit different from some of my previous kits. Instead of focusing on just one book universe, these kits each feature four characters, hopefully some old favorites as well as some new, diverse characters.
In May, these featured characters or books included (links provided as the bag contents are shared on Book Cart Queens):
The Two Truths and a Lie Kit can be as simple or as elaborate as you’d like. Most of this kit can be re-created simply using a printer, with the addition of extra items depending on your budget.
Want to use make a Two Truths and a Lie Kit at your library? Download the PDFs at the links below, or write a comment or send an email (bookcartqueens@gmail.com) for editable files.
Two Truths and a Lie General Materials
Each bag contains some of the same basic materials, and the Two Truths and a Lie kit is no different.
Slideshare not working? Download the PDF featuring all kit activities here.
Slideshare not working? Download the PDF listing all book titles here.
Slideshare not working? Download the PDF listing readalikes here.
The Tristan Strong readalikes bookmark features these titles:
Create your own Two Truths and a Lie chapter with this activity book. It provides space for three stories — A, B, and C — which they can then offer to someone else to guess which is the lie.
Slideshare not working? Download the activity book here.
The kit also included a Two Truths and a Lie research BINGO, encouraging participants to do their own research to discover whether some fun statements are truths or lies.
Thoughts & Updates: Well, I did some reading! I read a book just for me over my much-needed vacation, but I still got plenty of reading done around the trip too. If you are an adult historical romance fan, Sarah MacLean’s Bombshell was a ton of fun (read as an eARC). My vacation broke my audiobook habit, and I’m still trying to get back into that groove. Also, I’m finally chipping away at that stack of graphic novels on my nightstand!
Reading by the Numbers:
26 Books Read This Week
14 Books with Main Characters of Marginalized Backgrounds (54%)
9 Books by Authors of Marginalized Backgrounds (35%)
Take-and-make kits; craft kits; programs to go: whatever your library calls these programs in a bag that have become a staple of no-contact offerings, one thing is fairly standard: these kits are well loved, but they take time to make. I love creating materials for kits and thinking about how a family might interact with program materials at home. I’ve introduced a new pair of kits for ages 6-11: Book Club in a Bag (also known as Leap Off the Page, since we already have book club kits at our library, and the original name became confusing). This week: Tristan Strong by Kwambe Mbalia.
The Book Club in a Bag kits look a bit different from some of my previous kits. Instead of focusing on just one book universe, these kits each feature four characters, hopefully some old favorites as well as some new, diverse characters.
In May, these featured characters or books included (links provided as the bag contents are shared on Book Cart Queens):
The Tristan Strong Kit can be as simple or as elaborate as you’d like. Most of this kit can be re-created simply using a printer, with the addition of extra items (like notebooks) depending on your budget.
Want to use make a Tristan Strong Kit at your library? Download the PDFs at the links below, or write a comment or send an email (bookcartqueens@gmail.com) for editable files.
Tristan Strong General Materials
Each bag contains some of the same basic materials, and the Tristan Strong kit is no different.
Slideshare not working? Download the PDF featuring all kit activities here.
Slideshare not working? Download the PDF listing all book titles here.
Slideshare not working? Download the PDF listing readalikes here.
The Tristan Strong readalikes bookmark features these titles:
Slideshare not working? Download the PDF listing discussion questions here.
The Tristan Strong Discussion Questions included:
When Tristan Strong first talks about his name he states, “I hated that name. It made me appear to be something I’m not. My name should have been Tristan Coward, or Tristan Failure, or Tristan Fake.” Based upon this statement, how does Tristan feel about himself? How does his family view him? Is there something about yourself that you have disliked in the past? Why?
As Tristan narrates the novel, he often talks about “grown-ups.” Based upon his perspective, how is he treated by adults? How does he view the adults in his life?
How did the author make connections to other folktales and myths?
Describe the first interaction between Gum Baby and Tristan. What characteristics are evident about Gum Baby? Do you think Gum
I feel like I failed Tristan Strong on these bonus activities. This is one of my favorite book series ever, but I floundered on the inspiration for these activities. I hope to come back to this book series someday to give it a better kit.
The main activity was writing focused — participants got their own small notebook and a fable writing instruction guide.
Slideshare not working? Download the fable writing guide here.
Second, participants received a half sheet with suggested African American myth and folklore books for kids. I think this is where I started floundering for kit content because I wanted to provide a much more detailed collection of folklore books by African American or African authors — and these are very few and far between (especially anything new published in the last decade).
Slideshare not working? Download the book list here.
The last activity was a simple memory game. I wanted this to be something a little more nuanced, but it did let me use the wonderful artwork on the Rick Riordan blog.
Slideshare not working? Download the memory game here.
Thoughts & Updates: I finished some really great audiobooks this week! I’m taking a mini-vacation for a few days next week, which could mean that next Monday’s update has very few titles — or it could mean that it has a ton of books, since my vacations typically involve some reading.
Reading by the Numbers:
16 Books Read This Week
13 Books with Main Characters of Marginalized Backgrounds (81%)
12 Books by Authors of Marginalized Backgrounds (75%)
Take-and-make kits; craft kits; programs to go: whatever your library calls these programs in a bag that have become a staple of no-contact offerings, one thing is fairly standard: these kits are well loved, but they take time to make. I love creating materials for kits and thinking about how a family might interact with program materials at home. I’ve introduced a new pair of kits for ages 6-11: Book Club in a Bag (also known as Leap Off the Page, since we already have book club kits at our library, and the original name became confusing). This week: Last Kids on Earth by Max Brallier.
The Book Club in a Bag kits look a bit different from some of my previous kits. Instead of focusing on just one book universe, these kits each feature four characters, hopefully some old favorites as well as some new, diverse characters.
In May, these featured characters or books included (links provided as the bag contents are shared on Book Cart Queens):
The Last Kids on Earth Kit can be as simple or as elaborate as you’d like. Most of this kit can be re-created simply using a printer, with the addition of extra items (like board game pieces) depending on your budget.
Want to use make a Last Kids on Earth Kit at your library? Download the PDFs at the links below, or write a comment or send an email (bookcartqueens@gmail.com) for editable files.
Last Kids on Earth Kit General Materials
Each bag contains some of the same basic materials, and the Last Kids on Earth kit is no different.
Slideshare not working? Download the PDF featuring all kit activities here.
Slideshare not working? Download the PDF listing all book titles here.
Slideshare not working? Download the PDF listing readalikes here.
The Last Kids on Earth readalikes bookmark features these titles:
Slideshare not working? Download the PDF listing discussion questions here.
The Last Kids on Earth Discussion Questions included:
What do you think caused the monster apocalypse?
At the beginning of the series, Quint wanted to stay in his house to do research in his lab. Do you think he made the right decision to go to the treehouse with Jack?
Jack has made many improvements to his treehouse. What would you add to your end-of-the-world treehouse?
How do Jack and his friends pass the time in the treehouse (besides fighting zombies and monsters)? What would you do if you were in Jack’s situation?
Jack faces off against many evil villains. Would you prefer to battle against a monster, a zombie, or an evil human villain? Why?
What advice would you give Jack and his friends before their next adventure?
This bag also included two bookmarks, printed on white cardstock.
First up: Last Kids on Earth survival guide! Learn about the characters and the villains and complete simple games and puzzles to build your Last Kids survival skills.
Slideshare not working? Download the ready-to-print survival guide here.
And finally, one of my absolute favorite things I’ve designed for a program: a Last Kids on Earth board game! Players tried to move around the book the fastest, traveling to a magical portal and back to the treehouse before the other players.
The game included:
2 11×17 Board Games (printed on regular 11×17 printer paper)
Thoughts & Updates: Mostly picture books this week as I wrap up things at my current library, plus one absolutely fantastic chapter book–Firekeeper’s Daughter. Lots of things to wrap up as I leave Westerville Public Library a little over five years to the day after starting my practicum there. I’ve got a short vacation planned in the upcoming weeks, so I may miss a week or two of posts (and generally have less reading to report). The rest of the world keeps turning at what feels like breakneck speed–sending best wishes to all of my fellow librarians who are figuring out what new mask rules mean for you and your patrons. I’ll be right back into that soon, but I am happy for a short break from it all. Keep an eye out for a few more Book Club in a Bag posts in the next few weeks!
Reading by the Numbers:
14 Books Read This Week
5 Books with Main Characters of Diverse Backgrounds (36%)
Take-and-make kits; craft kits; programs to go: whatever your library calls these programs in a bag that have become a staple of no-contact offerings, one thing is fairly standard: these kits are well loved, but they take time to make. I love creating materials for kits and thinking about how a family might interact with program materials at home. I’ve introduced a new pair of kits for ages 6-11: Book Club in a Bag (also known as Leap Off the Page, since we already have book club kits at our library, and the original name became confusing). This week: Sadiq by Siman Nuurali.
The Book Club in a Bag kits look a bit different from some of my previous kits. Instead of focusing on just one book universe, these kits each feature four characters, hopefully some old favorites as well as some new, diverse characters.
In May, these featured characters or books included (links provided as the bag contents are shared on Book Cart Queens):
The Sadiq Kit can be as simple or as elaborate as you’d like. Most of this kit can be re-created simply using a printer, with the addition of extra items (like DIY journals) depending on your budget.
Want to use make a Sadiq Kit at your library? Download the PDFs at the links below, or write a comment or send an email (bookcartqueens@gmail.com) for editable files.
Sadiq Kit General Materials
Each bag contains some of the same basic materials, and the Sadiq kit is no different.
Slideshare not working? Download the PDF featuring all kit activities here.
Slideshare not working? Download the PDF listing all book titles here.
Slideshare not working? Download the PDF listing readalikes here.
The Sadiq readalikes bookmark features these titles:
Slideshare not working? Download the PDF listing discussion questions here.
The Sadiq Discussion Questions included:
Talk about Sadiq and the Fun Run:
What reason did Sadiq’s parents give for not letting him try out for football? Do you think they were being fair?
Sadiq feels left out when his friends Manny and Zaza talk about their football team. Share an experience you’ve had of feeling left out.
Sadiq receives a lot of encouragement as he trains for the Fun Run. Who helps Sadiq prepare? Discuss how they help him.
Talk about Sadiq and the Perfect Play:
Manny feels upset while the Friends Theater Club works on the play. Why do you think he was mad?
Mr. Anderson, the director of Aliya’s play, tells Sadiq a director must ask others for help on completing a project. How do you delegate or ask others to do certain tasks?
Baba and Hooyo help Sadiq with his problems in the story. What are some of the lessons they teach him as he puts his play together?
This bag also included one swag item: a 2.25″ button made with our button maker.
First up: draw constellations! Each bag included two half sheets of black construction paper, a white crayon, a gold star sticker sheet, and constellation identification cards.
Slideshare not working? Download the constellation cards here.
Slideshare not working? Download the constellation instructions here.
The second craft also involved science–specifically sunlight. Participants made their own pipe cleaner creatures using pony beads and UV beads When put in sunlight, the UV beads will change color! For an extra challenge, participants can try to find something that they can wrap or coat the UV beads in that will stop them from changing color when they are placed in sunlight.
Thoughts & Updates: Big news this week–well, this month! A few weeks ago I was elected as a member of the 2023 Caldecott Committee–a huge honor that I still can’t quite wrap my head around. Thank you so much to everyone who voted for me! This is the reason for the slow down and eventual stopping of these book posts (for a while anyway!) as I adjust to this new opportunity and abide by the social media rules attached to this commitment.
There is more news too–I’m going to be leaving the amazing Westerville Public Library for a new job! In just a few weeks, I will be the new Youth Manager at Upper Arlington Public Library (not too far away from my current workplace). I’m thrilled for the opportunity, though I am sad to be leaving behind such a great team at WPL. This may also mean that program posts will be slowing down in the immediate future, as I adjust to all of these new changes. There are still five more Book Club in a Bag posts to come (since those kits are already made!) as well as some amazing contributions from my co-bloggers.
Lots of changes and, of course, lots of great books too! A particular shout out to Ana on the Edge — this is a wonderful, wonderful own voices book about a nonbinary main character that needs to be at the top of your to-read stack. See more of this week’s favorites below!
Reading by the Numbers:
29 Books Read This Week
16 Books with Main Characters of Diverse Backgrounds (55%)
