Art Storytime

"Everything you can imagine is real." -Pablo Picasso

The Lawrence Public Library is collaborating with the Lawrence Arts Center for "Summer in the City", this year's new summer reading program. So, with that in mind I thought it would be fun to give the Arts Center a shout out with "Art Storytime".

Even thought I've done a similar theme with Starry Night Storytime in the past, choosing books for this storytime was incredibly hard. There are so many great ones to choose from. I also had a hard time narrowing down a craft, so we ended up making two crafts, a Peit Mondrian-Inspired Collage and Wearable Mini-Masterpieces Buttons.

Art Storytime Line-Up:

Mouse Paint by Ellen Stoll Walsh

The library has a super-size version of this book which is very appealing to use for storytime. It's also an excellent book use when teaching the color wheel and color mixing.  The kids know it and love it. With good reason.

Alphab'art by Anne Guery and Oliver Dussutour

Using famous works, this books asks the reader to find the hidden letters of the alphabet in each famous painting.  I did not read this book to the kids, but using that idea we did play an I-Spy game together with a few of the paintings/hidden letters. Peit Mondrain is featured for the letter "F", so it was a fun way to tie in our artist inspiration behind the storytime craft.

Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse by Eric Carle

Before reading this title, I started out by telling the kids that one of the fun aspects of art is that when you paint a horse it doesn't have to be brown, or white, or black. It can be any color you can dream it to be.

Jeremy Draws a Monster by Peter McCarty

We are on a Peter McCarty kick in our house, so I couldn't resist his first Jeremy book. If you liked this book,  I encourage you to check out The Monster Returns.

I'm the Best Artist in the Ocean by Kevin Sherry

This is one of L's favorite books. Kids love Kevin Sherry's goofy Squid who likes to be the biggest and the best.

Art by Patrick McDonnell

Love this book. Love Patrick McDonnell. Loved using this book to end an art-tastic storytime.

Art Storytime Crafts:

The first craft was a Piet Mondrian-inspired puzzle collage inspired by this post from The Crafty Classroom. I really like that this craft could be as simple or as complex as you make it out to be and that it also teaches shape and primary color recognition.

Materials used: White cardstock, colored cardstock, sharpie, ruler, scissors, and glue.

Pre-storytime, using a ruler and a sharpie, I made two templates inspired by Mr. Mondrian's work on white cardstock.

A simple version...

And a more complex version for the older kids.

After these were finished I photocopied as many copies I would need to hand out to each child at storytime onto cardstock.

I also photocopied the designs on the colored paper as well.

And cut out the shapes from the colored paper.

Then when it was time for the craft after storytime, the kids were instructed to find like-shapes and to glue them to their template. They could glue as many shapes or as few as they'd like. They are the artists so they're the ones calling the shots.

I also had washable markers available to them if they wanted to color in any of the spaces.

Like so.

The older kids had a lot of fun sorting through all the different shapes to see which ones worked out in the templates provided.

I wish I had taken pictures of a few of the kids' creations, because they did a fantastic job with this craft.

For the second craft....

Our library now owns a button maker (Yeee!), which my co-worker generously loaned to Sunday's Storytime. For our second craft we made what I call "Wearable Mini-Masterpieces". I sized and printed out mini-Screams and mini-Mona Lisas for the kids to color in. They could also make their own drawing or draw faces on our "Summer in the City" icons. After their masterpiece was pressed, they wore their artwork around like proud little artists.

Next week it's a day all about dads for "Father's Day Stortyime".

Till then!

Summer Book Hook: Graphic Novels

It's week 2 of the Summer Book Hook: 10 weeks of recommended kids' reads! This week's theme is "Graphic Novels for All-Ages".  I've collected a kid-favorite, parent-approved list of books I regularly recommend sorted by age group to keep your kids interested in reading over the summer months.

Graphic Novels are booming. Although kids love them, I feel as though each time I guide a reluctant parent over to the "Graphic Novels" section in the children's room of the library, I can hear the books whispering, "We come in peace, we come in peace!"

If you didn't grow up reading comics and/or graphic novels, graphic novels can be slightly intimidating. The most common questions are usually, "Don't they just look at the pictures and skip the reading?" or "Does a graphic novel even count for their summer reading for the library?" My answer is always this: Graphic Novels are a great way to get kids interested in reading and are also a great way to exercise one of the many diverse ways a person can read. It's just a different lesson in reading. They are also an excellent way to participate in and enhance their summer reading experience.

I recently hopped on the graphic novel bandwagon last year and found the best way to break past whatever preconceived notions you have about graphic novels is like anything... try them out yourself. Read a few of the recommended books below or try out an adult or teen graphic novel. My gateway into graphic novels was Castle Waiting by Linda Medley. I also enjoy titles by Adriane Tomine and Craig Tompson.

Or check out A Parent’s Guide to the Best Kids’ Comics: Choosing Titles Your Children Will Love by Scott Robins and Snow Wildsmith. You'll be sure to find many of the titles listed below and so, so, so many more. I also recommend checking out the book Nursery Rhyme Comics: 50 Timeless Rhymes from 50 Celebrated Cartoonists which I found was a great introduction into the different artistic styles of graphic novels.

Are you a fan of graphic novels? Are your kids?

Whether you and your kids are new to graphic novels or you're already well versed in this diverse medium, I hope you find something new to get you hooked.

The Summer Book Hook: Graphic Novels for All-Ages

Graphic Novels for Ages 2-6:

Silly Lilly and the Four Seasons by Agnes Rosenstiehl

In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak

The Snowman by Raymond Briggs

Benny and Penny series by Geoffrey Hayes

Hippo and Rabbit in Three Short Tales by Jeff Mack

Owly books by Andy Runton

The Meeting, from the Mr. Badger and Mrs. Fox series by Brigitte Luciani and Eve Tharlet

Johnny Boo series by James Kochalka

Nursery Rhyme Comics: 50 Timeless Rhymes from 50 Celebrated Cartoonists

 Graphic Novels for Ages 7-9:

Sticky Burr by John Lechner

Lunch Lady series by Jarrett J. Krosoczka

Babymouse series by Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm

Guinea Pig Pet Shop Private Eye series by Colleen Af Venable, illustrated by Stephanie Yue

Robot Dreams by Sara Varon

The Adventures of Ook and Gluk: Kung-Fu Cavemen from the Future by Dav Pilkey, George Beard, and Harold Hutchins

Binky series by Ashley Spires

Tower of Treasure Book One of the Three Thieves series by Scott Chantler

Geronimo Stilton Graphic Novels series by Geronimo Stilton,  Elisabetta Dami, illustrated by Flavio Ferron

Squish series by Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm

Fashion Kitty series by Charise Mericle Harper

Graphic Novels for Ages 9 & up:

Sidekicks by Dan Santat

Little Vampire by Joann Sfar

To Dance by Siena Cherson Siegel, illustrated by Mark Siegel

Zita the Spacegirl by Ben Hatke

Amulet series by Kazu Kibuishi

Bone series by Jeff Smith

The Adventures of TinTin books by Herge

Mouse Guard series by David Petersen

Smile by Raina Telgemeier

Around the World by Matt Phelan

Olympians series by George O'Connor

Wonderland by Tommy Kovac, Sonny Liew

Next week's Summer Book Hook is all about audiobooks! Stay tuned...

And if you're searching for ways to keep everyone interested in reading over the summer, be sure to check out these tips.

 

image source: Bone Reading

Summer Storytime

The Lawrence Public Library's Summer Kick-Off Party of lawn games, moustaches, and old fashioned fun was Saturday. On Sunday, the celebration kept on going with more summertime fun at "Summer Storytime". We read books about camping, swimming, ice cream, hot days, and ended it with a craft highlighting summer reading- personalized summer reading folders.

Summer Storytime Line-Up:

A Camping Spree with Mr. Magee by Chris Van Dusen

What starts out as a camping vacation turns into quite the wild adventure.

Should I Share My Ice Cream? by Mo Willems

Elephant and Piggie continue to be favorites at our library. This one is about an ice cream sweet tooth and a lesson in sharing.

"Ice Cream Ryme" Flannel Board

After reading Should I Share My Ice Cream?,  I followed it with a flannel board rhyme I found on What Happens in Storytime.... Here is the complete version from The Big Book of Stories, Songs, and Sing-Alongs by Beth Maddigan and Stefanie Drennan:

Ice Cream Rhyme

First we need a cone,

Nice and crunchy.

(Place cone on flannel board.)

 

Then We need some ice cream,

Sweet and yummy.

Scoop 'em, on,

Stack' em on,

Up to the sky.

We love ice cream, my oh, my!

 

First comes vanilla,

(Place white felt on the cone.)

 

Cold and sweet.

Then comes chocolate,

(Place brown felt on white.)

 

A delicious treat.

Here's some strawberry,

(Place pink felt on brown.)

 

Orange sherbert too.

(Place orange on top of pink.)

 

A super-duper ice cream cone

Just for you!

 

Once scoop, two scoops,

Three scoops, four.

We love ice cream,

Who want's more?

Splish, Splash, Splat! by Rob Scotton

Next we read a book about another summer activity... going to the pool, featuring the popular book character Splat the Cat! Our library's kids love Splat the Cat. Or I should say, they LOOOOVE Splat the Cat!!! This read was an easy win with the crowd.

Rattletrap Car by Phyllis Root, illustrated by Jill Barton

Rattletrap Car was such a fun book to read aloud! I usually have such a wide age range of kids that attend storytime and selecting books everyone will sit through and enjoy can be challenging.  This book appealed to every single one of them.

I had also planned to read Bats at the Beach by Brain Lies but decided against reading it at the last minute. Wanted to make sure the kids had enough time making their nifty summer reading folders...

Summer Reading Folder Craft

Throughout the summer, the kids of Lawrence can pick up a reading log from the library or they can print one off online. We have many eager readers participate in extra credit reading and various activities throughout the summer, so I thought it might be fun to create a folder for them to keep everything together.

Materials used: School folders (I reused an old stack of folders from the library), colored paper or cardstock, double-stick tape, scissors, glue stick, labels, foam stickers.

For pre-storytime prep, I taped a sheet of sky blue paper to each folder with double-stick tape.

I cut green cardstock into thirds and trimmed one of the long sides with specialty scissors.

I also cut out clouds from white paper and used leftover sun cut-outs from a previous project. Using a  glue stick, the kids glued the green cardstock (the grass), the clouds, and the sun on the blue paper.

I created and printed out a bunch of "My Summer Reading" labels that the kids chose to decorate their folders with.

Summer Reading Folders were then personalized with foam sticker letters.

I also had a bunch of foam stickers left over from various projects that they also used.

Bright and fun.

Just like the summer.

For more info about the Lawrence Public Library's Summer Reading Program click HERE.

For information on a local library's summer reading program near you click HERE.

Happy Summer and Happy Reading!

 

Introductions First... Hello Armchair BEA!

Armchair BEA is conducting a "meet and greet" for this year's book blogger participants. Each blogger picks five questions to answer about themselves and their blog. Really excited looking forward to meeting everyone involved, but first let me introduce myself....


1. Please tell us a little bit about yourself: Who are you? How long have you been blogging? Why did you get into blogging?

Hello! I’m Rebecca from Sturdy for Common Things. I live and breathe the simple life as a mother, wife, and children’s librarian in Lawrence, Kansas.  After leaving a demanding job as a as a fashion publicist in New York City for the simple life in middle America, I found myself needing a creative outlet. Sturdy for Common Things has become that place for me (more on that here). Sturdy for Common Things is my first blog.

2. What are you currently reading, or what is your favorite book you have read so far in 2012?

I'm currently reading Three Times Lucky by Shelia Turnage and after I finish I plan to read One for the Murphys by Lynda Mullaly Hunt.

My favorite kids book I've read so far this year has to be Wonder by R.J. Palacio. Hands down. Favorite teen book is Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley and favorite adult book is The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt.

 3. What is your favorite feature on your blog?

My favorite feature is sharing the books I'm currently reading with my daughter, "Reading Together". Also, I have a lot of fun with my "Sunday Storytime" posts where I write about my weekly library storytime including a step-by-step of the post-storytime craft we make afterwards.

4. Which is your favorite post that you have written that you want everyone to read?

I think my favorite post is still my very first blog post. My favorite book-related post is about a library program I hosted this year, The Tournament of Kids Books.

5. If you could eat dinner with any author or character, who would it be and why?

Do I have to pick only one? I have a severe sweet tooth, so having dinner with Willy Wonka would be have to be my pick.