It’s Monday, What Are You Reading? is hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date, and adapted by Kellee at Unleashing Readers and Jen at Teach Mentor Texts with a children’s/YA focus. The Sunday Post is hosted by The Caffeinated Book Reviewer. These weekly roundups are a great way to discover new blogs and bloggers, share some of the titles you’ve been enjoying, and add to your ever-growing to-read list.
Well, after an incredible, inspiring, hopefully not once in a lifetime vacation, it was back to reality this week.
Adjusting to a daily routine again has definitely felt a bit jarring, and I’m still not quite back in my usual form. Still, it wasn’t a bad week – I was able to spend some of my work hours with several groups of energetic, enthusiastic toddlers and preschoolers, so I did at least feel like a rock star for a little bit, when I wasn’t feeling like a sleep-deprived zombie (jet lag is not very nice).
Now that I’ve got four regular story times a week, I’ve been diving with gusto into the picture book hunt, searching for just the right books for my audiences. The children I serve attend daycares and preschools in inner city neighbourhoods, and many of them are unfamiliar with typical storytime conventions, and face challenges in their young lives that can impact their ability to self-regulate their behaviour. The books I share with these little ones need to be short and snappy enough to hold their attention, but still age-appropriate and never “babyish”. Finding just the right books can be a challenge, but it’s one that I’m looking forward to embarking on!
This week I shared three books with my different groups, with differing levels of success.
I do love this book – the storyline is simple but very child-pleasing. A brother and sister delve deeper and deeper into the depths below their house telling all the different monsters to go to sleep! Eventually they come upon the biggest monster living in the deepest parts of the Earth, who despite its great size is frightened of being alone!
The limited, repetitive text makes for a short and snappy story, but the illustrations just do not work well for large audiences. The spreads are very dark, and much of the detail is just impossible to see when you’re sitting at the edge of a group. I would certainly recommend this one for sharing with children individually or in small groups, but probably not in a daycare, preschool or storytime setting.
This book. Oh, this book. If you work with small children and haven’t read this book, run don’t walk to your nearest library and get your hands on a copy of this absolutely wonderful book. It’s pretty much storytime perfection, and I cannot rave about it enough. The illustrations are simple, bold, and ridiculously charming. The characters are easily recognisable and incredibly adorable. There’s great repetition, minimal text, and opportunities for audience participation. The simple story of an elephant who cheers up all his grumpy friends by sharing is a lovely way to start conversations about empathy, sharing, caring, emotions, and feelings. In my storytimes we talked about how we might be able to tell if someone has “the grumps”, what we might do to cheer up our grumpy friends, and how it’s OK to sometimes just feel grumpy!
If I could have a shelf full of books like this, I would be a very happy librarian indeed!
This is such a fun series of books to share with kids! The “I Spy” books make reading a fun, interactive game, and really bring a sense of excitement to storytime. Some of the animals are more difficult to guess than others – most of the children were able to guess the identity of the polar bear and blue whale, for example, but the fox really stumped all of the groups I shared it with! And to the amazing child who was absolutely convinced that each and every was going to an octopus. I love creative free spirits like that.
So, that was my reading week – how was yours? Have a great week, everybody!
Sounds like you had a great vacation! I remember seeing some pics in one of your earlier posts- what a wonderful country to visit. Hope the jet lag is wearing off!
Go To Sleep Monster looks cute, and so does I Spy.
It was definitely an amazing experience – it was my second trip to Japan, and hopefully not my last! As for the jet lag….ugh!
I love that kid who thought everything was going to be an octopus! I’m going shopping for a gift for a one year old this week. I always buy books, but always hope it’s not one they already have. I’m thinking Hooray for Hat! might be just the thing.
Hooray for Hat is so very sweet and fun, definitely highly recommended!
I’m glad you’re starting to settle back into routines. I haven’t even been away and I’m still struggling with the post-Christmas and holiday malaise.
Ugh, yes…and it doesn’t help that January in Vancouver is typically grey, dreary, rainy and depressing…ugh….
The illustrations on Go To Sleep, Monster! look amazing, and I love the idea of the story. Great choices, and I hope you enjoy reading this week.
My It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? post.
Thanks so much for stopping by! 🙂
Welcome back! Such a cool vacation to Japan! We went 2 summers ago when we honored my mom at Hiroshima. We loved our time traveling through Japan? I have finished the ARC of IT’S A MYSTERY PIG FACE, by fellow Sky Pony author, Wendy McLeod Macknight and it’s a great fun, mystery!Next I’m reading PAPER WISHES by Lois Sepahban and AIM by Joyce Moyer Hostetter. Have a great week?
I’ve definitely fallen in love with Japan – it was my second trip, and hopefully not my last! We didn’t make it to Hiroshima, but we did visit Nagasaki. Such a powerful experience – a reminder of the devastations of war, a celebration of the resiliency of the human spirit, and a call for lasting peace.
ARCs are so much fun, they kind of make me feel like I’m part of an exclusive club, getting to read amazing books before the rest of the world! 😀
These all sound interesting. I’ll have to look for Hooray for Hat. It sounds like one some of my younger readers would have fun reading. Thanks for sharing!
Hooray for Hat is just perfect for the youngest readers – such a simple, repetitive text, but with so much joy and colour. 🙂
Just the thought of “story time” makes me smile. 7th graders don’t have quite the same feedback as preschoolers, but I love it just the same!
Your children remind me of the ones I worked with back in the 1960s, in San Francisco. They were also in inner city neighborhoods and welcomed the attention we gave.
I was taking a course in Children’s Literature that semester, and loved sharing book love with them.
Welcome back from Japan…so glad you had a great time. Here are MY WEEKLY UPDATES
Sounds like a wonderful experience you had back in the day – sometimes just being there and giving that attention and care can really mean a lot to young children, and help them realise how important and valuable they are.
I guess it’s both great and hard to be back from your wonderful trip! I’ll be sure to find the “I spy” book for my youngest granddaughter. Here’s one I recommend for the young ones in your groups: Have You Seen Elephant by David Barrow. You may know it, but it’s terrific and funny for younger readers. Have a great week, Jane!
I had heard about Have You Seen Elephant but I’d never used it in a group before, and after reading your comment I went out and grabbed a copy – it’s so funny and sweet, and I can’t wait to give it a try! This is why I love being a part of the IMWAYR community – it’s such a great professional development resource!!
Sounds like a great trip. The illustration you shared from Go to Sleep Monster makes me want to run out and grab that book. After spending so much time looking at illustrations during our Caldecott unit, I definitely have a renewed appreciation for that part of the process. It sounds like it is a fun story too.
I feel the same way – I got into the habit of assessing every picture book by my story time standards, but since doing a Mock Caldecott at work I’ve really started to pay more attention to illustrations, and I absolutely have so much respect for illustrators!
Oh, I miss Japan too! My husband and I lived in Japan for four years and we have never stopped thinking about how much we grew from the experience!
I have added 2 new to me books to my library bag, Hooray for Hat and Go to Sleep Monster. As a first grade teacher, I like to fill the small odd minutes (waiting in line for lunch, waiting for the art teacher etc.) with books kids can’t help but fall in love with! Certainly, you’ve read The Book with No Pictures to your kiddos?
Living abroad is definitely a learning and growing experience!
The Book with No Pictures is such a winner, it lets you really unleash your inner actor! 😉 First grade must be so wonderful – the kids are still young enough that they haven’t reached that “I’m too cool for school” point yet, but they’re old enough that you can really do some fun activities and more extensive books. Such a fun stage!
Go To Sleep Monster looks awesome! I’ll have to check it out! Have a great week!
I do love Brian Won’s work! The colors he chooses makes me happy!
Hope you get sleep, tea, and start feeling more like yourself! Welcome back 🙂
Thanks so much, it’s great to be back! 🙂
I’m really looking forward to getting my hands on a copy of Hooray for Today!
Oh, how wonderful it would be to visit Japan! I’ve never been there but my boyfriend lived there for two years when he was in the U.S. Air Force. “Operation: Visit Japan” is now in progress! “Hooray for Hat!” looks so, so, so adorable! I’ll have to check if we have a copy in our library! Thank you for sharing your books today!
Hurray for Operation: Visit Japan! 😀 It’s such an amazing country – I’ve travelled to a few places, but Japan is just unlike anywhere else I’ve ever experienced, totally unique and amazing.
I hope you can get your hands on a copy of Hooray for Hat, it’s just lovely, and perfect for sharing with little ones.
Hooray for Hat looks like one my 2.5 year old will LOVE! I must get a copy.
Side note, I love the style of your blog. I think the heading art is wonderful.
Oh, thank you so much! 🙂
Hooray for Hat is such a wonderful book, I hope you love it as much as I do! 🙂
I didn’t go on vacation but with the election, the holidays, and Snow Days here, I feel I’ve been having to try and get back to the groove of things in awhile. Thank goodness for books to keep me sane!