Wednesday we not only had our regular storytime but also played host to a field trip from a local elementary school. About 50 children came on the fieldtrip and we read 3 stories. Can I just say what a great bunch they were? They were mostly kindergartners with a few older children, but they were so sweet and quiet and attentive! They laughed at all of the funny parts, and guessed what was going to happen next in the story. They were awesome, I’d love to have that group back!
Now to review the stories we read…
First up was Giraffes Can’t Dance by Giles Andreae which is a sweet, fun story about a giraffe named Gerald who wants to dance with all of the other animals, but every time he tries he fails. All of the other animals laugh at him and Gerald is very sad and disheartened. That is until one tiny creature believes in him and tells Gerald that he just hasn’t been dancing to the right song, everything has a song and Gerald can dance if it’s to the right music! The book was a bit predictable, but it was very cute and it taught the lesson that everyone is different and does things differently and that that is ok! Also the illustrations were great, very funny and colorful. The children particularly liked a page that showed all of the different animals of the jungle dancing, each couple doing a different sort of dance.
I give this story 5 bookies, for great illustrations, originality, humor, and a soft moral.
Next we read Hugless Douglas by David Melling. Hugless Douglas is the story of a young bear named Douglas who wakes up one morning and decides he wants a hug, and so he goes all over searching for the perfect hug. But no matter how hard he looks he can’t find just the right hug, they are all too big or too tall or too afraid of him. With some help from his friends Douglas finally finds the perfect hug! I love this book, the kids love this book. Basically this is one of those books that you can’t help but love. It’s too funny, I had a hard time stopping myself from laughing long enough to read the next page. We particularly enjoyed a page at the end that had tons of sheep demonstrating all of the different kinds of hugs you can give. The illustrations were very fun, and funny!
5 bookies, excellent story, super humorous, sweet ending, lovable character. It made you want to hug someone!
Last but not least we read The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and The Big Hungry Bear by Audrey Wood. Let me preface by saying that the reason I chose this book was because of it’s staying power. I had a teenage customer come in the store some weeks back asking for this book because he remembered having it read to him as a child and wanted to get a copy of it. If that doesn’t qualify a good book I don’t know what does. Ok, so the story is told as if the reader is inside the tale which gets lots of cool points. The little ones got really into it because it’s kind of a suspenseful tale. The little mouse finds a delicious looking red, ripe strawberry and decides to pick it. But everyone knows that if you pick a red, ripe strawberry the big, hungry bear will come find it, no matter where it is, and take it from you and eat it. So the little mouse tries to hide it, but no the bear can sniff it out. The little mouse tries to guard it, but the bear can get through anything. Then the little mouse tries to disguise it but the bear can see through even the best disguises. Oh no! Whatever is the little mouse to do? This book had wonderful, colorful and fun illustrations. And it kept you wondering what the little mouse was going to do up until the very end.
This one also gets the coveted 5 bookies review! It was original, told from an interesting perspective, was cute and funny, and had a charming ending.
Next post, the books from Wednesday’s actual storytime! Stay tuned.
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