This Weeks Storytime in a Bag
by Denise Mueller

Harry & the Dinosaurs at the Museum by Ian Whybrow; Adrian Reynolds, illustrator
We get many requests at the Children’s Reference Desk for both dinosaur facts and dinosaur stories, so I believed there would be lots of interest in a dinosaur theme. The storyline is an entertaining fantasy as Harry’s dinosaur toys come to life.

Happy Holidays from the Mission Viejo Library staff

Mommy & Me Storytime

December was a short month for Mommy & Me storytimes. We only had two dates early in the month. Here’s a little summary of what we did and the links to the catalog for our books and CDs.

December 1 we did a storytime all about bears. We started by doing the action rhyme “Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear” and then read the classic book Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? We followed that with a flannelboard about teddy bear driving in his car. We guessed which color car he was in and finally found out it was the red one. Our second book was Bear at Home by Stella Blackstone. We got to see all the rooms in Bear’s house including his library with big cozy chairs! Next we did another flannelboard counting little bears from one to five. Our last book was “Quiet Bear, Noisy Bear”, a lift-the-flap book in which Bear illustrates several opposites like happy and sad, and full and empty. We ended by playing with our sponge teddy bears to Hap Palmer’s song “Teddy Bear Playtime” on his So Big CD.

December 8 was our holiday storytime. We began by reading We Love Christmas! by Marilyn Janovitz, a book about two kittens getting ready for Christmas. We followed with a flannelboard and fingerplay called “Chubby Little Snowman”. We laughed when the hungry bunny ate the snowman’s nose! Our second book was Peek-a-Boo Christmas! by Marie Torres Cimarusti. We especially liked the page where Santa peeked out and went “Ho, ho, ho!”. After the fingerplay “When Santa Comes to My House”, we did a flannelboard with five little bells. Storytime concluded with all the children playing bells to several songs including the classic “Jingle Bells” (find a version on “Raffi’s Christmas Album”).

The library will be closed on December 24 and 25, and January 1. Storytimes will resume on January 12, 2009. See you at storytime next year!

Mommy & Me Storytime

If you missed the fun at Mommy & Me storytimes this last session or were there and just want to remember some of the stories and music, here’s a little summary of what we did and links to the library catalog for the books and CDs we used.

We started on November 3 with a storytime all about a toddler’s day. We read Wake Up Me! by Marni McGee which followed a child waking up and getting ready for his day. Then we pretended to brush our teeth with Raffi’s song “Brush Your Teeth” from his “Singable Songs for the Very Young” CD. We dressed our flannelboard teddy to the tune “Mary Wore Her Red Dress” changing it to “teddy wore his red shirt” and so on as we added each new article of clothing. Our second book was Lulu’s Busy Day by Caroline Uff. Lulu’s day sure was busy but she ended it quietly with a nice bedtime story.

November 10 Mommy & Me storytime was all about colors. In our first book, Let’s Go Visiting by Sue Williams, we counted our colorful farm friends from one brown foal to six yellow puppies. We sang “If You’re Wearing Red Today” giving all the children a chance to stand and shout “hooray” when they heard a color they were wearing. We read Snappy Little Colors, a special pop-up book of various animals and their colors. We ended our storytime playing with our colorful scarves to Hap Palmer’s song “Slow and Fast” from his “Rhythms on Parade” CD.

Food and eating was the focus of our storytime November 17. Mouse Mess by Linnea Riley, a colorful book about a hungry mouse looking for food, was our first book. After a flannelboard about five cookies in the bakery shop, we read Crunch Munch about the different ways animals eat. Miss Mary followed that with a rhyme about making pancakes. She pretended to stir the mix in her bowl, poured it in her frying pan, and tried to flip the pancake but missed! It took her several tries before she caught it in her pan. Silly Mary! After playing “Pat-a-cake” (find a version on “Wee Sing Nursery Rhymes and Lullabies”) we read Charlie Chick, a lift-the-flap book about a big chick who eats a lot. We really loved the surprise ending!

Our Thanksgiving storytime was November 24. We read a poem from Round the Turkey: a grateful Thanksgiving about a family coming together to celebrate. After a turkey feathers flannelboard, we read our second book, Thanks for Thanksgiving by Julie Markes. The wonderful illustrations make this my all-time favorite Thanksgiving book for toddlers. After doing a little song and pretending we were turkeys, we read a poem called Thanksgiving Parade from Thanksgiving Day at Our House. Then we had our own parade, playing our musical instruments and marching to the song Seventy-Six Trombones (find a version on the CD “Stars and Stripes”).

The end of November seems an appropriate time to say thanks to all the adults who took the time to bring their little ones to storytime, and to the little ones for sharing their laughter and smiles!

This Weeks Storytime in a Bag
by Mary Locke

Clip-Clop by Nicola Smee
I was drawn to this book because of the simplicity of the story and the way children will relate to the farm animals' reaction to an unexpected finish to their ride from Mr. Horse. It's a true-to-life example of childhood joy!

School Library Journal's Best Books 2008

The editors from the library magazine School Library Journal each year list what they think some of the best books. Here is a list of the books from the list that the library owns.

Picture Books
COTTIN, Menena. The Black Book of Colors. tr. from Spanish by Elisa Amado. illus. by Rosana Faría.
FERN, Tracey E. Buffalo Music. illus. by Lauren Castillo.
FOX, Mem. Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes. illus. by Helen Oxenbury.
FRAZEE, Marla. A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever. illus. by author.
GEORGE, Jean Craighead. Goose and Duck. illus. by Priscilla Lamont.
GORBACHEV, Valeri. Christopher Counting. illus. by author.
GRAHAM, Bob. How to Heal a Broken Wing. illus. by author.
GRANT, Judyann Ackerman. Chicken Said, “Cluck!” illus. by Sue Truesdell.
GREY, Mini. Traction Man Meets Turbodog. illus. by author.
HARRIS, Robie H. Mail Harry to the Moon! illus. by Michael Emberley.
HENKES, Kevin. Old Bear. illus. by author.
HORSE, Harry. Little Rabbit’s New Baby. illus. by author.
HOWE, James. Houndsley and Catina and the Quiet Time. illus. by Marie-Louise Gay.
JENKINS, Emily. Skunkdog. illus. by Pierre Pratt.
LEE, Suzy. Wave. illus. by author.
MCGILL, Alice. Way Up and Over Everything. illus. by Jude Daly.
ROHMANN, Eric. A Kitten Tale. illus. by author.
ROSOFF, Meg. Jumpy Jack and Googily. illus. by Sophie Blackall.
SHULEVITZ, Uri. How I Learned Geography. illus. by author.

Nonfiction
ARNOSKY, Jim. Wild Tracks! A Guide to Nature’s Footprints. illus. by author.
BISHOP, Nic. Nic Bishop Frogs. photos by author.
BRADLEY, Timothy J. Paleo Bugs: Survival of the Creepiest. illus. by author.
DENENBERG, Barry. Lincoln Shot: A President’s Life Remembered. illus. by Christopher Bing.
FLEISCHMAN, Sid. The Trouble Begins at 8: A Life of Mark Twain in the Wild, Wild West.
FLEMING, Candace. The Lincolns: A Scrapbook Look at Abraham and Mary.
KERLEY, Barbara. What to Do About Alice? illus. by Edwin Fotheringham.
KUKLIN, Susan. No Choirboy: Murder, Violence, and Teenagers on Death Row.
MACAULAY, David, with Richard Walker. The Way We Work: Getting to Know the Amazing Human Body. illus. by David Macaulay.
NATIONAL CHILDREN’S BOOK AND LITERACY ALLIANCE. Our White House: Looking in, Looking Out.
STONE, Tanya Lee. Sandy’s Circus: A Story About Alexander Calder. illus. by Boris Kulikov.
THOMAS, Peggy. Farmer George Plants a Nation. illus. by Layne Johnson.
WINTER, Jeanette. Wangari’s Trees of Peace: A True Story from Africa. illus. by author.

Fiction
AVI. The Seer of Shadows.
BLUNDELL, Judy. What I Saw and How I Lied.
CASHORE, Kristin. Graceling.
COLLINS, Suzanne. The Hunger Games.
CONNOR, Leslie. Waiting for Normal.
DOCTOROW, Cory. Little Brother.
DOWD, Siobhan. The London Eye Mystery.
GAIMAN, Neil. Coraline: Graphic Novel. adapt. & illus. by P. Craig Russell.
GREEN, John. Paper Towns.
HARDINGE, Frances. Well Witched.
HORVATH, Polly. My One Hundred Adventures.
LANAGAN, Margo. Tender Morsels.
LOCKHART, E. The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks.
MURDOCK, Catherine Gilbert. Princess Ben: Being a Wholly Truthful Account of Her Various Discoveries and Misadventures, Recounted to the Best of Her Recollection, in Four Parts.
MUSSI, Sarah. The Door of No Return.
MYERS, Walter Dean. Sunrise Over Fallujah.
PEARSON, Mary E. The Adoration of Jenna Fox.
PENNYPACKER, Sara. Clementine’s Letter. illus. by Marla Frazee.
PRATCHETT, Terry. Nation.
REEVE, Philip. Here Lies Arthur.
SMITH, Hope Anita. Keeping the Night Watch. illus. by E. B. Lewis.
WEATHERFORD, Carole Boston. Becoming Billie Holiday. illus. by Floyd Cooper.
WERLIN, Nancy. Impossible.