Declan is a very friendly monster. He says hello to everything in the forest, from the clouds to the stumps. He also really loves bunnies. He gets super excited when he sees them. Maybe a little too excited…
“Bunnies!!!” by Kevan Atteberry is a wonderful story with bright, inviting illustrations. The simple text is easy to read and understand and practically begs to be read aloud. “Bunnies!!!” can initiate conversations about meeting new friends and when it is appropriate to use loud and soft voices. This is also a fun story to act out with your children or with puppets. Regardless of how large or small your audience is, sharing the book is a delight and will leave you with a smile. Continue reading “2016 Missouri Building Block Nominee: Bunnies!!!”
I love working in the children’s area of the library, especially when I get to see all the shiny new children’s books come in. I instantly dive into these books to see what adventures and lessons are experienced by the characters. Recently “When Penny Met POTUS” caught my eye, partly because of the upcoming presidential election. I picked up the book to dissect the contents and to check for any hidden messages.
In “When Penny Met POTUS,” Penny goes with her mom to work and is told she will meet POTUS (who Penny believes is a friendly monster). But Penny must be patient while her mom has to complete some work. While she waits, Penny daydreams about who POTUS is and how she will help them with their job. What will Penny think when she finally meets POTUS? Will she learn what POTUS stands for? Continue reading “Books We Love: When Penny Met POTUS”
Rex knocks down all the wonderful creations each of his friends builds out of blocks in “Rex Wrecks It!” by Ben Clanton. It makes everyone sad, including Rex. So his friends decide to work together, including Rex, and build something “awesomerific.” Hooray! Now everyone can knock it down together!
I read this story to my young grandsons. One told me we shouldn’t call people names. (Sprinkles calls Rex a blockhead.) We agreed that it was not a nice thing to do. Later when we were playing outside in the sand making castles, my other grandson grinned at me and quoted the last line of the story, “[Let’s] wreck it all together!” So we did. I love it when kids make connections between a story and their own lives. Continue reading “2016 Missouri Building Block Nominee: Rex Wrecks It!”
Everybody knows that Columbia rocks, but did you know there’s an easy and free way for your family to express that sentiment? The project is called CoMo Rocks, which, at its core, is a community-wide hide-and-seek game that sparks creativity within the people of the city.
The premise is simple: you decorate and hide rocks anywhere outside for people to find. The person who finds the decorated rock can then hide the rock in another location. Or they can keep the rock and decorate a new one to hide. This creates a perpetual cycle of making, hiding and finding. Fairview Park, Stephens Lake Park and Cosmo Park are just a few of the common locales for hiding and hunting your rocks. Continue reading “CoMo (and Ashland and Fulton) Rocks!”
The Missouri Building Block Picture Book Award is presented annually to the author and illustrator of the picture book voted the best by preschool and kindergarten children. Over the next 10 weeks we will be featuring book reviews and ways to enjoy this year’s nominees. Once you have read at least five of the nominees, you can vote for your favorite.
Want to get started reading the 2016 Missouri Building Block nominees? Here’s the list! Continue reading “2016 Missouri Building Block Picture Book Award”
This month for toddler story time I put on my brave face and brought out our collection of rhythm sticks. I’ll be honest parents–I wasn’t sure how this would go over with the toddler crew. Would the sticks be used for evil instead of good? Would they take flight across the room? Would a wee one poke their eye?
To my relief, using rhythm sticks turned out great! The toddlers were so excited to try out something new. They tapped, made noise and used them to drum on the floor. And, best of all, there were no accidents. Rhythm sticks will for sure become a part of my regular rotation of story time fun.
The benefits of using rhythm sticks with young children are endless. Rhythm sticks: Continue reading “Rhythm Sticks”
National Elephant Appreciation Day is coming up on September 22, so this is a great opportunity for me to share my favorite elephant books and rhymes with you. The kiddos in my story times have loved these, and I hope you do too!
Books
“There Is a Bird on Your Head!” by Mo Willems
Like all of Mo Willems’ books, “There Is a Bird on Your Head” is full of slapstick comedy that both children and adults adore. Piggie tries to help Elephant get some feathered friends off of Elephant’s head, but her plans don’t work out how she’d hoped. This book can be performed by two readers, bringing the hilarious story to life! Continue reading “Engaging Elephant Reads and Rhymes”
Do you know that we have monthly children’s programs at the Columbia Public Library? Below, I’ve listed several of our monthly programs for the fall. If you have any questions, feel free to call us at 573-443-3161.
TRYPS Theater: Live at Eleven
Saturdays, October 1 & November 5 › 11-11:30 a.m.
Does your child love to act? Stephens College’s TRYPS Theatre presents a workshop where children will play games, sing, dance and act out books. Ages 3-8. Continue reading “Monthly Children’s Programs This Fall”
I recently glanced through a new book that I instantly fell in love with: “This Is NOT a Cat!” by David LaRochelle. LaRochelle has written 15 different titles for young children (and several others for young adults), including “Moo,” “It’s a Tiger” and “The End.” His newest title is a great story with marvelous illustrations by Mike Wohnoutka. However, the best thing about the book is that LaRochelle uses only the five words from the title for the text. Very creative if you ask me. Continue reading “Books We Love: This Is NOT a Cat”
Even though Pokémon has been around for two decades, we’ve seen a massive resurgence with the release of the mega-popular Pokémon GO app.* To celebrate these magical little creatures, the library has purchased a whole bunch of Pokémon books and DVDs for check-out. The Columbia Public Library also threw a Pokémon party on August 12!
We had a big crowd, capping at nearly 120 attendees. There were several fun activities and games, including a Pokémon Bingo scavenger hunt, a Pikachu ears craft, a Pokémon trainer photo op and more! Continue reading “Pokémon at DBRL”
