Little Much

It's Vacation Bible School week for Miss Tiff!  Somehow, while having an innocent Sunday School meeting, I ended up running VBS.  I still to this day do not understand quite how this happened, but here we are.  So, this week I'm at my day job, then take a 40 minute break to pet the dog and change clothes, then over to the church for an Amazing Desert Journey!  Then back home, eat an apple, go sleep, repeat.

I'm running on about 1/8th of a tank.  I won't say I'm empty yet, but I'm getting a little crazy right now.  It's never a good thing when you start singing Billy Ocean at random and dancing like Carlton from Fresh Prince at your desk.  Got the visual?  Good, now join me!

What fun for a Wednesday!  I wonder what my addled state will bring tomorrow?  Maybe actual pictures of VBS and ideas for how you can make yourself so crazy that you to sing 80's music and dance like a fool too!

I do promise that there will be a VBS recap once I regain my composure, which should happen sometime around November!

Happy Reading!

The Wedding

My pastor's son got married a couple weeks ago in a beautiful ceremony.  I was asked to watch the kids during the actual ceremony to keep them from getting wiggly and disrupting the love.  I was told that I would be watching 3 year-olds, so I grabbed a bunch of books and a craft and made up treat bags and was all set.

Then, I was given my assignment at the wedding.  Watch 18 week-old Quinlen, whose mom was part of the wedding part and whose dad was watching the little guy's three young siblings.  And let me tell you, there's a big difference between entertaining a gaggle of toddlers for 40 minutes and entertaining a baby for 40 minutes.

Lucky me, he mostly slept, but when he did wake up and saw a strange person holding him, life got rough.  I went downstairs with him and sang while he wailed away and finally hiccuped himself to sleep.  Seriously.  I had no idea that he was asleep because he just kept hiccuping away.

After I was sure that the little guy was passed out, I went back upstairs, but when the couple was pronounced man and wife, the organ came to life with a bang and startled my little wiggler, but luckily with some bouncing he was back to sleep.

I did tell my pastor that this could be a new service that the church offers--child care during the wedding ceremony.  Next time I hope I get some kids that will sit through a story and interact a little more, but my baby time was great too.  But there were some toddlers that needed to be outside the ceremony having a little more fun.

I had two great paper dolls ready, this bride and groom from DLTK Kids.  The groom is adorable, but the bride looks a little bridezilla-ish.  It's one of those relationships where you want to take the guy aside and say "are you sure you want to go through with this?", but kids won't understand that, so you're fine.  My books were all random books I loved, like Bubble Trouble, We Are in a Book, and The Perfect Nest, so I was just planning on inproving a greatest hits storytime.

This is just another way to use library skills outside the library!

Happy Reading

Big Appetites!!

So, I've already shared a Fun Food storytime, but what about BIG APPETITES!  It's a fun theme that about more than just your run of the mill food stories.  Just check it out!

Big Appetites!

Opening Song:  Bendable, Stretchable by Georgiana Stewart

Opening Rhyme:  Dance Your Fingers

Dance your fingers up, dance your fingers down, dance your fingers to the side, dance them round and round.

Dance them on your shoulders, dance them on your head, dance them on your belly, now put them to bed.

Book:  The Incredible Boy Eating Boy by Oliver Jeffers

Rhyme:  Chocolate Rhyme:

Chocolate, chocolate tastes so sweet, how much chocolate can I eat?

Chocolate pudding, chocolate chips, chocolate ice cream double-dips

Chocolate candy, chocolate bars, chocolate cookies in a cookie jar

Chocolate syrup, chocolate drops, chocolate in my lollipops

Chocolate cream pie, chocolate shake.

Too much chocolate means a tummy ache!

Book:  I’m the Biggest Thing in the Ocean by Kevin Sherry

Rhyme:  Caught a Million Fish

Caught a million fish, what’ll I do? (3x)

I’ll bring them home to show you

Alligator ate some, what’ll I do? (3x)

I’ll bring the rest to show you.

Cat ate some, raccoon ate some, what else could eat some?

Three fish left, what’ll I do? (3x)

I’ll have to tell the tale to you.

Book:  I Know an Old Lady by G. Brian Karas

Song:  There was an old lady who swallowed a cheeseburger

Click Here for the text to this song, and maybe print out some pictures to reinforce what the old lady is eating.

Book:  Harry Hungry by Steven Salerno

Rhyme:  Great Big Cookie

I am a great big cookie, chocolately and round

Filled with lots of chocolate chips, the best that can be found.

I am a great big cookie, take a bite of me.

Tasty, sweet, delicious.  I’m oh so yummy.

I was a great big cookie, the very best around.

Now there’s nothing left of me, just crumbs upon the ground.

Rhyme:  3 Cookies

A great big cookie, a medium-sized cookie, a teeny-tiny cookie I see

Let’s count them—1, 2, 3!

Book:  Little Pea by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

Closing Song:  Thank You Clap

My hands say thank you with a clap, clap, clap

My feet say thank you with a tap, tap, tap

Clap, clap, clap, tap, tap, tap

And now we say goodbye!

Quick Tip

How many passwords do you have?  I'm guessing that it numbers in the dozens.  Between email, online banking, magazines, memberships, and the dreaded work passwords that expire every 3 months, I'm up to my eyeballs in passwords.  And it's almost impossible to remember them all, especially since you often can't repeat passwords or use the same password on work accounts.

So, my solution has been to pick a book I've recently read and loved, and change all of my passwords to that for the month.  I don't use titles, but I do use character names, special phrases, and places as passwords.  Then all I have to do is keep a picture of the cover on my board and when I can't remember a password, I look over and that at least narrows it down.

Plus typing in a favorite character name or phrase makes me smile every morning.  It's like getting to remember a good friend everyday.  I recommend this trick if you are a reader and find it impossible to remember all those different passwords.  Just make it a theme from your favorite book.

Happy Reading!

My Dirty Little Reading Secret

I have wanted to admit this for a long time, but since this book is so taboo, so beyond banning, I haven't.  But, since very few people read this blog yet, I'm coming clean.  My favorite book as a child was:

My mom bought the Little Golden Book version of Little Black Sambo on a rummage sale at some point, or maybe we got it from a cousin, but at any rate this was my favorite book and I would ask for it over and over again.  And my mom didn't want to read it to me because she thought it would make me a racist.  True story.

Here's why I loved this book.  

1.  Tigers.  I love tigers, and the year that I was 17 the only thing I wanted for Christmas was a tiger-striped fleece blanket which I still have to this day.  Anyway, I loved these huge talking, ferocious tigers that took Little Black Sambo's things and walked away saying "Now I'm the finest tiger in the jungle"

2.  Pancakes.  Every book I remember from childhood had food in it.  There was  Bugs Bunny camping book where they eat wild onions and a Strawberry Shortcake book where they have a picnic.  And at the end of LBS, our hero eats 169 pancakes "because he was so hungry"!  I'm quoting these lines from memory, by the way.  I don't have the book with me right now.

3.  Tiger striped pancakes.  Does it get better?!  The tigers all meet up and get in a fight about who's the finest in the jungle and they take off all of their finery and grab tails and run round and round the tree where our hero hides and they run so fast that they melt into butter.  Then Little Black Sambo's dad scoops up the butter into a large brass pot that he bought at the bazaar and takes it home for mom to make pancakes.  But since it's tiger butter, it makes tiger pancakes.  Wow!  

To me, as a child, the word Sambo was a name, not some loaded historically hateful term.  I'd never heard it before.  Also, I loved the imagery and world in LBS.  The boy was so adorable to me, and yes, he ends up naked at the end, but kids love naked heinies in books, that's still true!  I loved that the father went to the bazaar and brought back presents for Sambo and that he took off into the jungle and outsmarted those tigers.  I loved how silly the tiger looked with purple shoes with crimson soles and crimson linings stuck to his ears.  I just liked the book for reasons that had nothing to do with race.

The major sticking point for everyone, for good reason, is the portrayal of the characters as negative stereotypes.  The original by Helen Bannerman was extremely offensive, and the version that I read as a child illustrated by Gustaf Tenggren is also problematic.  The term Sambo is also offensive, and it often changed for other versions of the story, but the controversial history of the book lingers no matter the version and this is a story that has been vilified. 

I still have my Little Golden Book version of Little Black Sambo, and honestly, I'll read it to my kids.  But I have a lot of books on my shelf, plus a library close by, so I have no doubt that my future littlies will have plenty of access to other books, and this one will likely not be their favorite.  Also, as kids get older, this book would make a great talking point about banned books, race, story retellings and the like.  So, I would never force this book on other children, but it was just a big part of my reading experience that I will certainly share it with my kids.

Please, no hate mail.  This is just my opinion.

Happy Reading!

 

Every Day

 

Thank you NetGalley!  Full disclosure, I volunteered to review Every Day by David Levithan from NetGalley, a service that sends free e-books to librarians and such.  Most of the time I end up reading okay to marginal to flat out bad books from this website, but this is a diamond in the rough.  Every Day will be released on August 28, 2012, so mark that day in your calendar.  If you are a fan of YA lit, you won't want to miss this book.

What if every day you woke up in a new body, a new life, a new place?  Would you still be you, or would you cease to exist, just float from one person to another.  That is how A lives.  Let's say A is a male soul for the sake of argument, but gender is very fluid with A.  Some days he's in a female body, other days male, and he has no control over it.  This has been going on his whole life.

Then, when he inhabits Justin for one day, A falls in love with Justin's girlfriend Rhiannon.   They share an incredible day together with A in Justin's body and now, no matter what body he inhabits, A tries to get back to Rhiannon.  

But several days after meeting Rhiannon, A inhabits Nathan and goes to a party in his body, but cuts his time limit close.  Much like Cinderella, at the stroke of midnight, A is ripped from one body and taken to the next, so A leaves Nathan in his car on the side of the road and the only way that Nathan can explain this is that he's been possessed by the devil.  Now, A has two big problems.  He is in love with a girl he can't be with, and he's being hunted.

There are so many parts of this story that are intriguing.  First, how A uses email and the internet to stay connected to his own person.  He has his own accounts, so he has some way to stay in contact with Rhiannon and even Nathan.  Second, the lives of the people that A inhabits are so diverse.  They are always 16 year olds, the age that A is currently.  But one day he's a jock, the next a drug addict, then an illegal immigrant cleaning houses.  He can access memories and some skills, but not all skills, like sports and music.  

Finally, gender and identity play a big role in this book.  What is you identity?  Is it your appearance or who you are on the inside?  Does your gender even matter, or is that just arbitrary?  These are heavy questions that book groups will have quite a time discussing.

David Levithan is a skilled writer indeed.  No matter what type of person A is that day, he is always the same A, the voice is always consistent, yet the reader is able to picture him as all of these different people.  Instead of A becoming a different person every day, it's his body that becomes a different person.  

I highly recommend Every Day to teens, librarians, and anyone that works with teens.  It does have a strong story line about accepting yourself for who you are, so there are several teens that are gay, lesbian and transgendered.  I find this refreshing, but some parents and teachers are going to find it troublesome, and maybe they need to read this book more than anyone.

Why We Broke Up

I am going to start off on a tangent to partially explain why I loved this book.  When Chicken Soup for the Soul books were all the rage, I read one story entitled Eleven.  In it, this girl is turning eleven, but she has a bad day and is made to wear a stinky sweater, and she cries because it's her birthday and why is she being made to wear a stinky sweater?  The point it, she says that she feels like there is a penny for every year inside a tin box, so there are eleven pennies just rattling around, but right now she doesn't feel eleven, she feels four, and that's why she cries.

Well, I still have all of my pennies rattling around too, all thirty of them (when did that happen?) and this book makes me feel like I'm about 15, and my heart's being broken, and you know it's coming and you know it's going to hurt, but you can't stop it.  What I'm saying is, there's a 15 year old in you too.  Let that girl out and read this book.

Min loves old movies, coffee, theater and being with her friends, but when co-captain of the basketball team, Ed Slatherton, shows up at her best friend Al's Bitter Sixteen birthday party, her world changes.  Ed asks for her number and actually calls.  Now, Min, who is "arty" and "different" is with popular Ed at basketball games and bonfires and parties.  Ed makes changes too, seeing movies with Min, drinking coffee, and going to obscure stores.  He even helps Min with her idea to have a party for Lottie Carson after Min thinks she sees her at a screening for one of her old movies.  Ed finds the perfect location and helps Min make an igloo out of square eggs.

But Min doesn't fit in Ed's world and Ed doesn't fit in Min's, a fact which Ed's sister Joan sees all too well.  Joan knows exactly what is going to happen to Min, but she can't express it, although she tries in her own subtle way.  So, what should have ended at Halloween, with a bad prisoner and warden costume and exes rearing their ugly heads, doesn't end until after a hotel room, a lie, and a fight in a florist shop.  It's brutal.

So Min boxes up all the little mementos for this from this month or so long relationship and gives them back to Ed, explaining each one; the movie ticket, the tiny truck, the sticky burr, the matchbox and so on.  And in each chapter, you can tell why they broke up, the big reasons and the small reasons.  My inner fifteen year old totally got it.

Daniel Handler, aka Lemony Snicket, did something amazing here.  First of all, this is miles away from Lemony Snicket, not the same at all, thank goodness.  But he showed so well the breakdown of this relationship, and all the emotions within.  It was masterful.

Maybe I'm overselling this book, maybe I'm not doing it justice, but read it.  You'll see.  Maybe I'm the only social outlier that kept weird stuff from relationships and let it eat me alive, but I'm not, I know it.  Read the book, relive the pain, and know that love is sweet because of the bitterness.

Happy Reading!

Super

Let's start at the beginning.  First came Powerless by Matthew Cody.  Basic plot synopsis:  Daniel is a normal kid that moves to Noble Green and discovers that some of the kids there have super powers, but that they lose those powers on their 13th birthday to a dark, mysterious Shroud.  Only Daniel can solve how to save his new friends from such a fate.

Moving on, Daniel does in fact defeat the Shroud, all is well.  The End.  A good solid book with a nice ending that is somewhat, but not overly so, open to a sequel.  Powerless won the Caudill Award in 2012, and for good reason.  It has great kid appeal because kids are the heroes and adults are absolutely powerless.  

And then comes Super

Here is where things start getting interesting.  Basic plot synopsis:  Daniel and the Supers are living normal lives, when a car plummets off a bridge, and super Eric begins to drop it.  Daniel actually saves him by pulling the car off Eric, so is Daniel super now too?  But Daniel only seems able to borrow his friends powers, and only in times of stress.  Add in new power snatching monsters, referred to as Shades, and new members of the Plunkett family and the Supers have plenty of problems to go around.

SPOILERS!!

But here's where is gets good.  Daniel finds that he can take away powers, because he has a ring made of Witch Stone, and is being controlled by Herman Plunkett, and all of that is bad, but, not all Supers want to be super.  Lousia hates being super, so when Daniel borrows her power of intangibility, she pretends it never comes back.   Bud, a super-smelly-Super, begs Daniel to take his powers toward the end of the book.  To some, this isn't a privilege, it's a curse. 

Also, I'm not really giving anything away by saying that the supers win, the Shades go away, and all is well in Noble Green again, but what is interesting is that the shadows of all the kids who Herman Plunkett stole the powers from return to their owners.  So, powers and memories return to adults.  Now instead of six super kids, you have over 200 super humans worldwide, and that can't be ignored.

Finally, Daniel meets Johnny Noble, the original Super, who seemingly abandoned the town and its children.  But Johnny Noble knows a thing or two about being Super, and maybe it's more dangerous than people think.  

While this book wraps up well, it's open to a sequel, and one can only hope that the sequel will address some of these ethical questions, like how do you keep a race of supers in check?  Is it right to steal powers to stop a super gone rogue?  Was it better to let the children live normal lives, rather than let them become super adults?  Can the supers stay innocent, or will they be used as weapons as Johnny Noble feared?

I think the series will get deeper and raise some good questions for young readers.  I was honestly lukewarm about Powerless, I thought it was good, not great.  But when I had the opportunity to read Super free from Netgalley, I took a shot, and I'm glad I did.  I'm starting to see the greatness here.

Any readers that enjoy Percy Jackson, Kane Chronicles, 39 Clues, etc., etc., would likely enjoy these books as well.   And the programming possibilities are pretty great here.  If super-stinkiness is a super power, what else could be?  Have kids come up with strange powers that they would want to have, perform unusual feats of strength, but ask them to identify things by smell or touch, because they could have super senses.  Ask them to sort something really fast, because maybe that's a power!  Who knows!

Super will be released on September 25, 2012.  That gives you three months to read Powerless and catch up!  Don't miss out on this series.

Happy Reading!

Shark vs. Train

Shark vs. Train by Chris Barton and illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld has everything a kid could ever want from a book!  So, why not do an entire storytime about it?  

Shark vs. Train! 

Opening Song:  Good Morning

Good morning, good morning, how are you, how are you?

Good morning, good morning, how are you, how are you?

How are you this special day, I'm so glad I came to play!

Good morning, good morning, how are you, how are you?

 

Opening Rhyme:  My Hands

Make my hands go up, make my hands go down.

Make my hands go to the side, then go round and round.

Dance them on my shoulders, dance them on my head.

Dance them on my belly, and now put them to bed!

Book:  Shark vs. Train by Tom Lichtenheld

Rhyme:  Choo Choo Train

Choo-choo train, choo-choo train, puffing down the track

Now we’re going forward, now we’re going back

Now the bell is ringing (ding-ding), now the whistle blows (toot-toot)

We can make a lot of noise everywhere we go!

Book:  The Three Little Fish and the Big Bad Shark by Ken Geist

Rhyme:  Teasing Mr. Sharkie

Five little fishies swimming in the sea

Teasing Mr. Sharkie, can’t catch me, can’t catch me

Along comes Mr. Sharkie, quiet as can be and he goes snap!

Book:  Dinosaur Train by John Steven Gurney

Song:  Peanut Sat On the Railroad Track

A peanut sat on the railroad track, his heart was all aflutter

Along came a choo-choo train, now he’s peanut butter!

A grape sat on the railroad track, getting all hot and sweaty

Along came a choo-choo train, now that grape is jelly!

You put some peanut butter on the bread, then you take some jelly.

You fold it up and you take a bit, now it’s in your belly!

 

Book:  Smiley Shark by Ruth Galloway

Rhyme:  Slippery Fish

Slippery fish, slippery fish, swimming in the water

Slipper fish, slippery fish, gulp, gulp, gulp!

Oh no!  He’s been eaten by a Jellyfish

Jellyfish, tuna fish, great white shark, enormous whale

Gulp, gulp, gulp.  Oh no!  He’s been eaten by me!

Book:  Goodnight Train by June Sobel

Vote:  Shark or Train?

Uniterrupted Reading

Last week my hubby was out of town seeing his family, then on a golf vacation, poor baby.  So, that meant that the dog and I were on our for most of last week.

The week started out pretty great.  I blew through several books-The Dunderheads Behind Bars, Showoff, the Phantom of the Post Office, Where Things Come Back, and then I started on Why We Broke Up.  Now I had set quite a rigorous reading schedule for myself.  I was hoping to blow through two other books before the end of the weekend, but I found that I just couldn't read anymore.  GASP!  Can it be?

Yes, after four days of coming home from work, walking the dog, and reading for several hours, I wanted to talk to someone, other than Lucy of course.  Before I was married, I read constantly, and I often feel really bad about how little reading I do now.  And how little cooking, and how little guitar practicing, and how little everything else when I only had to worry about taking care of myself kinda stuff.

But, I've moved on.  I no longer only think about me, but a guy and a dog too.  So, yeah it was straight up weird being the only person in the house, and I ended up missing my hubby a lot more than I thought I would.  I mean, I'm an independent woman, I don't need him around, but life is sure better when he's there.

So, after four days of uninterrupted reading, I'm ready for some interruptions.  Just goes to show that you can have too much of a good thing.

Funny Food

Summer food is the best!  Picnics and barbeques and ice cream and garden fresh fruits and veggies.  So, summer is the best time to do a food story time.  Luckily, there are a lot of great books out there about wacky, crazy food.

Bonus, you don't have to be a good cook to read a good book!

Funny Food

Preschool Storytime

Opening Song:  Bendable, Strectchable by Georgiana Stewart

Opening Rhyme: My Hands

 Make my hands go up, make my hands go down, make my hands go to the side, then go round and round.

Dance them on my shoulders, dance them on my head, dance the on my belly and now put them to bed.

Book:  On Top of Spaghetti by Paul Brett Johnson

Rhyme:  Five Little Sausages

Five little sausages frying in the pan

The oil got hot and one went BAM!

Keep counting down until all your sausages are gone!

Book:  Burger Boy by Alan Durant

Song:  Banana Song

Bananas unite, bananas split

Peel bananas, peel peel bananas WOO!

Peel bananas, peel peel bananas WOO!

Bananas to the left!  Bananas to the right!

Peel your banana and WOO take a bite!

Go bananas, go go bananas WOO!

Story:  The Giant Carrot

I just tell this story, so go to your library and search Giant Carrot or Enormous Carrot or try to stump the librarian by saying you need a book about a giant carrot. 

Rhyme:  Carrots

See the carrots in the ground,

I pull them hard without a sound.

I wash and clean them up and down

I love to eat them all year round!

Book:  To Market to Market by Anne Miranda

 

Rhyme:  Gardening Song

First you take a shovel, a rake and a hoe

Plant a little garden, plant seeds in a row

Water them and weed them through all the summer heat

And then you’ll have fruits and vegetables to eat.

Closing Song:  Thank You Clap

My hands say thank you with a clap, clap, clap

My feet say thank you with a tap, tap, tap

Clap, clap, clap, tap, tap, tap

And now we say goodbye!

Stories about Stories

This one gets a little meta.  Everyone loves a good story within a story, so what not have a whole storytime about stories about stories.  (See what I mean-mind blowing!)

This is a great storytime to do for National Library Week, since one story will only lead children to another story featured in the first story.  I'm getting confused, so right to the storytime.

Stories about Stories

Preschool Storytime

Opening Song:  Bendable, Strectchable by Georgiana Stewart

Opening Rhyme: My Hands

Make my hands go up, make my hands go down.  Make my hands go to the side, now go round and round.  

Dance them on my shoulders, dance them on by head, dance them on my belly and now put them to bed!

 

Book:  Chester by Melanie Watt

Rhyme:  Little mice

Little mice are creeping, creeping, creeping

Little mice are creeping through the house.

Little mice are sleeping, sleeping, sleeping

Little mice are sleeping through the house

Old gray cat is creeping, creeping, creeping

Old gray cat is creeping  through the house.

And the little mice run away!

Book:  Hurry Up and Slow Down by Layn Marlow

Rhyme:  Hop Little Bunnies

See those little bunnies sleeping, until it’s nearly noon

Come let us wake them, with our merry tune.

Oh so still!  Are they ill?

Wake up little bunnies, hop, hop, hop

Wake up little bunnies, hop, hop, hop

Wake up little bunnies, hop, hop, hop

Hop, hop, STOP!

Book:  An Undone Fairy Tale by Ian Lendler

Rhyme:  All Around the Castle

All around the castle, the knight chased the dragon

The dragon thought was all in fun,

Roar! went the dragon

 

Book:  Ivan the Terrier by Peter Catalanotto

Song:  The Books are Coming Home Again 
a Miss Tiff Original

(Sing this to the tune of The Ants are Marching Home, and print out book covers so the children can identify each character.  Also, have the kids join in on the hurrah's  and such!)

The books are coming home again hurrah, hurrah!

The books are coming home again hurrah, hurrah!

Curious George climbs up the self

The Little Red Hen says “I’ll do it myself”

They can hardly wait to go out again to read by a friend!

The books are coming home again hurrah, hurrah!

The books are coming home again hurrah, hurrah!

Olivia and the Pigeon too

Followed by Elmer and Little Boy Blue

They can hardly wait to go out again to read by a friend!

The books are coming home again hurrah, hurrah!

The books are coming home again hurrah, hurrah!

The Big Bad Wolf blew and blew

Shoe Baby said “How do you do?”

They can hardly wait to go out again to read by a friend!

The books are coming home again hurrah, hurrah!

The books are coming home again hurrah, hurrah!

Goodnight stars and goodnight air

Goodnight noises everywhere.  SHHHH…….

They can hardly wait to go out again to read by a friend!

 

Closing Song:  Thank You Clap

My hands say thank you with a clap, clap, clap

My feet say thank you with a tap, tap, tap

Clap, clap, clap

Tap, tap, tap

And now we say goodbye!