Read Across Lawrence for Kids

 

After months and months of preparation, I'm so excited to share with you a community-wide reading event with the goal of getting kids "on the same page".

For 10 years, the Lawrence Public Library has been hosting a city project, Read Across Lawrence, where everyone reads the same book at the same time. This year will be the very first year we also have a parallel program for kids, Read Across Lawrence for Kids, featuring the highly acclaimed, bohemian fantasy, The Cabinet of Wonders by Marie Rutkoski.

 

Yesterday, over 200 kids attended our Read Across Lawrence Pizza Party Kick-Off to enjoy delicious Wheat State Pizza, pick up a FREE copy of the book, watch the offical book trailer, and learn about the variety of events offered throughout the month of September. Lots and lots of events!

• Cover Art Workshop: Local cut-paper artist Angie Pickman will be hosting an art workshop inspired by the cover art of The Cabinet of Wonders.


• Book Trailer Workshop: Kids will learn how to make a stop-motion claymation movie and create a book trailer for The Cabinet of Wonders to premiere at the Read Across Lawrence for Kids Author Talk Finale


• Tour of the City's Own Cabinet of Wonders: Watkins Museum in Downtown Lawrence is going to grant access to library patrons to explore their attic, which looks like a cabinet of wonders. There will also be a short book discussion and craft activity following the tour.


• Cabinet of Wonders Scavenger Hunt: Using pre-programed GPS devices and clues based on the book, kids can navigate downtown Lawrence in search of hidden treasures.


• Cabinet of Wonders Installation: The library is creating it's own community Cabinet of Wonders!


• Book Club: Our monthly children's book club, The Secret Book Club, will be reading and discussing The Cabinet of Wonders for their September meeting.


• Teens Read it First: Drawing in the Teen Zone for advanced readers copies of Marie Rutkoski's YA novel, The Shadow Society, due out this October.


• Read Across Lawrence for Kids Author Talk Finale: Kids will have the opportunity to virtually meet The Cabinet of Wonders author Marie Rutkoski. The book trailer for The Cabinet of Wonders made by the kids of Lawrence will also premiere. Attendees also have a chance to win a copy of the next book in The Kronos Chronicle Series, The Celestial Globe.

The whole month is chock full of activities that take the reading experience one step further.

 

Along with promoting the events in the library with displays and word-of-mouth, the local teachers and school librarians have been the BIGGEST advocates. Twenty classrooms ranging from 3rd-7th grade have either already started or soon will start reading the book as a part of their language arts curriculum. School librarians have been encouraging their students to read the book and continuously keep them updated on upcoming events. They've been a dream to work with! Gotta love teachers and librarians!

With the kids program underway and the adult Read Across Lawrence program kicking off later this week, I feel confident in saying it's going to be a great month of reading here in Lawrence, Kansas.

Stay tuned...

On The Road Storytime

 

Hello Sunday Storytime readers! Yesterday's storytime theme is a tried and true favorite... Cars, Buses, Trucks, and all things that go on the road!

I have to admit... I was completely uninspired for this weekend's storytime. But when that happens, I'm so very lucky to have my "storytime gurus", a couple co-workers who have been doing storytimes for decades, to turn to. With a few of their suggestions, and combining two of their crafts ideas into one, On The Road Storytime was a hit!

On The Road Storytime Line-up:

 

Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle, illustrated by Jill McElmurry

Being kind and having friends gets you far, especially when you need a helping hand.

 

Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! by Mo Willems

Whatever you do, don't let the pigeon drive the bus! The Sunday storytimers never tire of Mo Willems. Who could?

 

Bunnies on the Go by Rick Walton, illustrated by Paige Miglio

A rhyming read-aloud about different modes of transportation.

 

Green Says GO! Flannel Board

I had all the kids stand up and march in place for the different traffic light commands for this interactive flannel board.

Green Says GO!

 

Green Says, "Go!" (march fast in place)

Go! Go! Go!

Yellow says, "Slow." (march slow)

Slow... slow... slow...

And Red says, "Stop!" (freeze stop)

GO! GO! GO! (march fast)

Slow... slow... slow (march slow)

STOP!!! (stop)

 

Toot Toot Beep Beep by Emma Garcia

Love Emma Garcia's books. I like them so much, the craft was inspired by this book.

On The Road Collage Craft:

Our library will be re-locating for a renovation in the very near future. To prepare for the move there has been a cleaning (and purging) of our craft supplies. This craft was inspired by two separate crafts we had leftover supplies from.

It was also inspired by Emma Garcia's collage work in her book Toot Toot Beep Beep.

The materials used for this craft include leftover dye-cut cars, traffic signs, and roads, scraps from the Piet Mondrian craft, wood peices, cardboard scraps, magazine clippings, large sheets of bright blue paper, glue sticks, and scissors. To recreate at home, all you need is some construction paper, magazines, glue and scissors.

First, they kids glued the road down. If you don't have an accucut machine handy, cutting strips of black paper works just as well.

After the road was laid down, various rectangle magazine cut-outs, colored construction paper, and cardboard pieces were glued to the paper to act as a cityscape. These were cut out before storytime, so the younger kids wouldn't have to use scissors.

Paper street signs and cars were also glued on as roadside additions.

Or not.

The majority of the kids chose to not glue their paper car on so that they could move it up and down along the road. In the future, I would love to get a huge sheet of butcher paper some time and assemble a city with the kids. Hmmmm..... I think I see a "Big City Storytime" in the near future...

Reading Together

The latest and the greatest books we've been reading together the past few weeks! Please feel free to share what you've been reading--- we're always looking for recommendations!

Elephant and Piggie Books by Mo Willems

Now, I've read Elephant and Piggie for storytime before, but they have finally found their way into our home. L is obsessed. We have checked out every single one of them the past few weeks. She has each book memorized.

Zoe Gets Ready by Bethanie Deency Murguria

A sweet story about a girl who's favorite day is Saturday because that's the day she gets to pick out whatever she wants to wear for the day ahead.

My No, No, No Day! By Rebecca Patterson

Anyone with a toddler will appreciate this story. That is all I have to say.

Day By Day by Susan Gal

A beautifully illustrated story about a moving to a new home, making new friends, and settling in day by day.

Happy by Mies van Hout

A simple story about fish and their emotions enhanced with an electric color palette.

When the Moon Forgot by Jimmy Liao

The first time I read this book I thought it was quite odd. The second time I read it it grew on me. And now every time we read it together I love it more and more.

The Belly Book by Fran Manushkin

A book about bellies!

No Bears by Meg McKinlay, illustrated by Leila Rudge

One little girl is sick and tired of reading books about bears, so she decides to write her own book with NO BEARS. A new favorite author/illustrator duo of mine (I'm currently reading their book Duck for a Day, a new children's beginning chapter book)

Small Bunny's Blue Blanket by Tatyana Feeney

Small bunny loves his blue blanket just the way it is. But when his mother wants to wash it, it takes him some time to warm up to the idea.

Mrs. Giggle Belly Is Coming For Tea by Donna Guthrie, illustrated by Katy Keck Arnsteen

A co-worker introduced this book to me to read with L and we are both head over heals for it. Such a sweet mother-daughter story.

How Do you Say It Today, Jesse Bear? By Nancy White Carlstrom, illustrated by Bruce Degen

Ever since we read Happy Birthday Jesse Bear! and Jesse Bear What Will You Wear?, we've been really into Jesse Bear books.

You Are My Sunshine by Jimmie Davis, illustrated by Caroline Jayne Church

You Are My Sunshine and the next book The More We Get Together are a part of a simple series of favorite songs translated into a board books perfect for babies and toddlers. I really enjoy Caroline Jayne Church's illustration style.

The More We Get Together by Caroline Jayne Church

Basher 1, 2, 3 by Simon Basher

Basher books are so kooky. And so fun! We like reading this Basher 1, 2, 3 book and Basher A, B, C.

I Spy Under the Sea by Edward Gibbs

"I spy with my little eye" picture book guessing game with sea animals. Also incorporates counting down from 10 to 1.

Press Here by Herve Tullet

I can't believe I haven't mentioned this book yet! We've been reading it whenever it's available to check out.  The most cleaver, interactive picture book I've ever read. And one of my favorites to suggest to kids. I love how big their eyes get when I read them the first couple pages. It doesn't seem to ever stay on the shelf for very long.

The Game of Light by Herve Tullet

Another favorite of ours by the same author of the interactive story Press Here. This book should only be told in the dark with a flashlight. See the story play out on your ceiling.

 

***’Reading Together is a sampling of picture books I’m currently reading aloud to LBD (also known as L or Little L), my toddler daughter. Since I work in the children's room of a public library, I’m always bringing home stacks and stacks of books to share together. Old and new. These are our favorites. Some of which have been read over and over and over again…. Times thirty. To the tenth power.***

Dragon Storytime

With our medieval armor and trusty steeds, the Sunday storytimers and I journeyed into the mountainous terrain of of books only to come face to face with fire-breathing (and taco eating) DRAGONS!

That's right! Yesterday's storytime theme was DRAGONS! (I feel the word DRAGON should always be in caps, don't you agree?) We read some of my favorite dragon picture books and then made our very own fierce fire-breathers.

Dragon Storytime Line-up:

Dragons Love Tacos by Adam Rubin, illustrated by Daniel Salmieri

What?! You didn't know dragons love tacos? Well, they do.. they like them a lot. What don't dragons like? Spicy salsa. The kids loved listening to this new picture book hit.

The Sunflower Sword by Mark Sperring, illustrated by Miriam Latimer

A personal favorite, this picture book is about what happens when you replace fighting with friendship.

The Best Pet of All by David LaRochelle, illustrated by Hanako Wakiyama

After one boy's mother constantly rejects the idea of getting a dog, she agrees to adopting a dragon. It's only a mater of time when they both soon find out that dragons make terrible pets.

King Arthur's Very Great Grandson by Kenneth Kraegel

This story about a 6-year-old boy, the very great great great great great great great grandson of King Arthur, takes off in search of adventure on his donkey, Knuckles. The dialogue in this book is hilarious.

Fire-Breathing Dragon Craft:

This fun and fiery dragon craft idea come from KangarooBoo Blog! What you don't see from this image is a hole in the back of the dragon head. Blow into the hole and make the dragon's flames flicker and spark.

Materials needed: Paper cups, pom-pom balls, googly eyes, crepe paper, construction paper, stickers, liquid school glue, tape, pen, and scissors.

First, punch a hole in the bottom of the cup. I did this to all the cups pre-storytime.

Cut the crepe paper into 5-10 inch strips and tape to the inside lip of the cup.

You are going to want to tape the strips to the top part of the dragons mouth for maximum fire-breathing effects.

To decorate the dragon's face, glue two pom-pom balls where you'd like the eyes to be.

Count to 20 and then glue the googly eyes on top of each pom.

This example dragon was also decorated with construction paper and stickers. I cut the paper into small triangles and folded them at the base. Then I glued them on using school glue. Since I ran out of prep-time for this particular craft, the kids didn't use construction paper triangls. Instead they used the foam shape stickers left over from last week.  We also used left over star stickers from Olympic Storytime.

Final product: Fire-breathing DRAGONS!

Here L demonstrates how to wreak havoc.

A lot of kids loved this craft and a lot of them found it difficult. The little ones needed extra help and I ran out of supplies. But everyone had fun listening to stories and was able to take a dragon home with them. Quest completed.

Note: No children were burned during this project and the library still stands today.