Family Storytime: New Books!

We kicked off Family Storytime this spring with the theme of new books! Even though this is a great way to promote new books in the library, I was a bit hesitant with this theme because there are so many wonderful new picture books to choose from and because I thought it might make it difficult to come up with flannel board activities that matched the books. Despite my concerns, this was a great storytime thanks to the group!

After we followed along to the bean bag song, I dived right into our first story, Still a Gorilla! by Kim Norman. This was a silly story about a gorilla who wanted to be different animals, but always stays a gorilla. This is a great story that allows kids to participate in answering the question if Willy the Gorilla becomes another animal. All-around good storytime book that allows participation, learning of animals, and silly fun. 

Since our first story was all about different animals, I used different flannel board animals and handed them out to the group. I called for them to bring up their certain animal and then had the group make each animal noise. The group had fun and the loudest response was the lion's roar. 

It was after our animal sounds that one child in the group brought up a book from the display table to read. Since our theme was new books, all the books on the table were new to the library. I was happy to see an eager reader, so I quickly abandoned my lesson plan and got to reading. Well sure enough, all the kids wanted to choose a book from the display so we all had a turn to have our book read! 

I felt the kids were paying extra attention because they chose the books and I felt this was a good way to encourage them to read and let them know they have the choice of what book they can pick for both storytime and at home. 

Throughout my library career, I have seen parents express disappointment in what books their child has chosen to read, but I believe it is a good thing to see them reading, regardless of what the content is about unless of course it is age-inappropriate. I would rather see a child pick up a comic book, a book on vampires, a Harry Potter book than not pick up nothing at all. By letting a child choose what book they want to read, you are developing a future reader who knows his or her interests. Wasn't one of the worse things in school was having been assigned a book to read that you just couldn't get into? 

Because of their eagerness to read the books they chose, I was able to read a total of six books! I was thankful that most of the books on display happened to be shorter ones so that they all could each choose. I had a family or two come in late, but they were happy to just sit and listen to the stories that were previously picked.

We read The Magic Word by Mac Barnett, Pete Likes Bunny by Emily Arnold McCully, The Cookie Fiasco by Dan Santat, Your Alien Returns by Tammi Sauer, and Sweet Competition by Elizabeth G. Reed. 
 

What happens when Paxton C. Heymeyer says "the magic word?" It's not the magic word you're thinking of...

Pete has a crush on Bunny and the other kids tease him in class.

Four animal friends, but only three cookies...it's a fiasco! A fun math story.

What happens when you visit your alien friend's home? This is a sequel to Your Alien.

Unique illustrations paired with a story about competition among desserts.

Out of all these books, Pete Likes Bunny and Sweet Competition seemed to have fallen short for the group. The most fun to read out loud was The Magic Word and The Cookie Fiasco.

We ended our storytime with a bookmark craft. I had stickers and different shaped foam cutouts for them to glue on and we beaded the yarn to make a pretty bookmark.