Strange Books

A companion to "Things I've Found Cleaning Out the Office" this is a list of the truly spectacular gems I've found while weeding fiction and non-fiction paperbacks- because Summer Reading season is the PERFECT time to start a gigantic weeding project.

Snapshots from the Wedding by Gary Soto

A look at traditional Mexican wedding traditions this book has the creepiest illustrations ever. In addition to not really sharing any wedding traditions that are uniquely Mexican, the illustrator choose to have the groom in an arm sling, and feature dirty feet and keg beer. In a children's book.

It also somehow won a Pura Belpre award for illustration. To each their own.

 

  

Cats Sleep Anywhere by Eleanor Farjeon 

It's true, they do. I just didn't know someone had written a book about it.

The Shaggy Dog: The Movie Storybook
This book has never circ'ed. Not once. And it serves as a prime example of what our collections person called "Trivial" when explaining the MUSTIE method of weeding.




















Ice Mummy: Discovery of a 5,00 Year Old Man by Mark Dubowsi
I just really like the text on the back cover. It seems like a free verse poem doesn't it?

If You Were There in 1492 by Barbara Brenner
I really take issue with the cover illustration. A tiny blond white boy would not, I repeat, not be rowing a nicely dressed black girl anywhere in 1492. Even if you can explain away the racial issues, which isn't likely, they are unchaperoned and that is simply unacceptable.

Benny the Penny and the Big Secret by Philip Edles
Is the big secret that you shouldn't litter?


















Jane's Class Makes Big News and The Children Who Wanted to Know by Lillian Caesar-Sutherland
 I can't decide what I like the least: the poorly drawn illustrations, the passive aggressive attempts to make you seek out more of this author's books or the level of detail on kidney disease and dialysis that is completely inappropriate for the age range that it is targeting. 

Meet My Neighbor: The Hip-Hop Dancer by Marc Crabtree
The Meet My Neighbor series is awesome for last page "huh?" plot twists. Meet My Neighbor: The Librarian spends the final half of the book talking about the librarian's upcoming wedding and the inclusion of her Indian culture into the ceremony but the Hip-Hop one takes the cake. After getting to know our neighbor, Marcello, his dance crew and a series of dance moves he just up and takes off for "The Artic" to teach a bunch of kids there the love of dance.

 Straight gangster.

Sticker placement Fails
Finally, these just really made me giggle. Due to the placement of author initial stickers, these well known picture books take on a whole new identity.

Nappy Hair becomes Happy Hair
The true story of a girl whose hair stood on end when she was happy and fell down when she was sad.

 The Bicycle Man becomes She Bicycle Man
A delicate examination of transgender identity so rarely seen in picture books.

Theme Thursday: BRRRRRRR

Sometimes I can get really sick of summer. Like really really sick of it. I don't like it when it's too hot to ride my bike or sit outside and enjoy a good book. So in the midst of a heat wave, I like to do a story time on all things cold.

Song: Good Morning Dear Earth

Finger Play: I Had a Little Turtle

Song: Open, Shut Them

Flannel: Alphabet Soup- COLD

Book: The First Day of Winter by Denise Fleming

Flannel: 5 Little Snowmen

Song: Mi Cuerpo from Best of the Bowl: Ingles y Espanol

Song: Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes

Book: Jingle-Jingle by Nicola Smee

Song: Wheels on the Bus

Song: Turn Around from Getting to know Myself  

Make and Take Craft: Snowpeople at the Beach

Supplies:

-snowmen coloring sheets

-construction paper

-crayons

-glue sticks

Process:  

To go with the snowmen coloring sheets I cut out quick paper doll like outfits for them including sunglasses and both men and women's bathing suits. To size the suit correctly, place a piece of construction paper underneath one of the coloring sheets and using a pen or sharp pencil heavily draw a swimsuit directly onto your snowman. When you lift the paper you will see the outline of your drawing on the construction paper. Let the kids color and glue to their hearts delight!

Tutu Party

The last time I went to the fabric store I noticed that tulle was on sale for 1.49 a yard. And you know what that means? TUTU PARTY!

A lot of our story time girls love princesses and fancy dresses and when one mom in particular asked me if I knew where to get a cheap tutu for her little girl, I knew that a program of this type could go over really well. We try not to do distinctly gendered programs, so I was a little bit worried about this one. It's true, no boys showed up, but I was prepared to show any boy who seemed interested how to use the same techniques to make a lion's mane or warrior head dress if tutu's seemed just a bit too girly.

Supplies:

-scissors (prep)

-tulle

-thick ribbon for the waistband (we used a spool of Christmas decorating ribbon that was languishing in our craft closet and it worked perfectly)

Process:

I learned how to make tutu's using an internet tutorial ages ago- for the past 3 years my Halloween costumes have included a tutu element because, why not? I no longer remember where the original one is (bad librarian) but it's the same basic knot technique as this one. So refer to that in case my description gets confusing.

1) Cut the tulle

Cute the tulle into long strips, approximately twice as long as you want the tutu to be. Tulle can be tricky to work, especially cut, since it's so thin, but folding it makes it more manageable and fewer cuts are required.

2) Measure the waistband

We took the ribbon and wrapped it around each girl's midsection (or where ever she wanted the tutu to sit) then we added about 10 inches to each side. Tie knots where the ribbon meets. The ribbon on the outside will be the ties, while the ribbon on the inside is what we'll be working with.

3) Tie the tulle

Pick up a piece of tulle and fold it in half. Pull the ends of the tulle through the opening at the end, catching the ribbon in between so it creates a knot. At this point, please refer here where there are great pictures to help.

4) Take a quick break and tie some around your ponytail too, creating a fabulous head piece.

5) Repeat step three until the ribbon inside the knots is completely covered. 

You can pull the tulle tighter or looser depending on your preference and amount of tulle. The pulling the tulle closer together will make the tutu poufier, but also requires more material. 

6) Tie the tutu around your waist and strike a pose!

Note: This is where I really wish it was okay for me to put pictures of children on the internet without their knowledge/permission. Because while you can see exactly how cute their tutus turned out, you cannot see the looks of absolute JOY on their faces. And let me tell you, they were ecstatic. As one girl said "Girl, we look creative, you better know it!"

I greatly underestimated the interest in this program and therefore we ran out of tulle pretty quickly, leaving a few girls with unfinished tutus. I went back to the fabric store, restocked, and the next week we had materials available for kids to finish their tutus. A few little girls who had missed the first program were even able to make one with some help from the older girls!

While we didn't have time to do this, incorporating a tutu making session into a Fancy Nancy or Pinkalicious themed tea party/program would be a smash hit.

Theme Thursday: I Scream, You Scream

Story time this week was all about my favorite thing- ICE CREAM!

Song: Good Morning Dear Earth

Flannel: Little Snake

Finger Play: I Had a Little Turtle

Flannel: Alphabet Soup: ICE CREAM

Book: Isaac the Ice-Cream Truck by Scott Santoro

 Song: Jumping and Counting from Jim Gill's Irrational Anthem and More Salutes to Nonsense

Song: Mi Cuerpo from Catchin' Some Peazzz by Hot Peas 'N Butter (2012) Audio CD

Book: What Can You Do with a Paleta? by Carmen Tafolla

 

Song: Open, Shut Them

Song: Turn Around from Getting to know Myself 

Make and Take Craft: Paletas

Supplies:

-construction paper

-popsicle sticks

-glue sticks

-crayons

Process:

Before story time cut out popsicle shapes of construction paper. Let the kids color their popsicle/paleta and then glue it onto a popsicle stick. My kids liked gluing them in a sandwich around the stick so they had a double sided popsicle. Yummmm.

Cleaning the Office, Part 2

Back by popular demand, here is another list of things we've found while cleaning out desks and store rooms. Again, partially illustrated.

- loads of prizes from summer reading past. Some of them kinda smell like gasoline (I'm looking at you water bomb balls)

- a working fog machine! Let me repeat: WORKING FOG MACHINE

- Holiday decorations including wreaths and a 6 foot fake Christmas tree.

 

-Copious amounts of fake tattoos  

-Art Straws

 

-Plug in calculator

-Bouncy Ball in the Hole game (that I played for a good fifteen minutes

- Official government slinky (that doesn't work on our steps, too deep I think)

-5 boxes of never before opened wooden blocks

-Karaoke microphone without machine

- This

-Flashcards

2013 Reading Challenge Check-In

Welcome Back! Happy July!

It's hard to believe the year is half over, I literally have no idea where the time went. None.

At the beginning of the year, Ms. E and I issued a challenge to ourselves, the kids and their caregivers. We wanted to see how many books and how much time we spent reading during 2013. I personally pledged to read 100 books during the year, and we got several of the kids to set their own goals as well. In order to keep track of our reading goals and challenges, we set up the dot wall. You can read more about it here, but the rules are pretty simple. Read a book, or read for 20 minutes, get a dot.

The wall looked like this when we started back in January.

And here's how it looks today!

We've filled up the entire wall behind our desk! Where to go from here? Don't worry, we'll figure it out. And soon, we've got even more dots just waiting to be added.

If you're a person who likes number breakdowns, it goes a little something like this.

There are over 280 dots on the wall, representing 5 adults and over 50 kids and teens. A pair of brothers have dominated the wall, contributing over 50 dots between the two of them. I have read 46 books, just a little behind schedule!