Huck Runs Amuck!

Huck, the bug-eyed, bucktoothed wonder, JUST CAN'T RESIST! He's a goat with "super-grip toes," and a desperate obsession for flowers--especially the hard-to-reach kind. Faced with a bleak, flowerless landscape, Huck is compelled to use his unparalleled climbing skills to reach impossible heights for that last patch of...flowery underpants?

Huck's quest is foiled again and again. A tragic outcome looms with each turn of the page. The suspense mounts. Must he make do with munching on plain, brown cardboard boxes or (gasp) rolls of pink toilet paper for the rest of his unnatural existence? No! His single-minded focus wins the day; much to the chagrin of the wedding party. Wedding party? Hey, back up a minute--what wedding?

Children and their reading partners will snort and hoot at Sean Taylor's clever mix of repetitive phrasing, rhyme, and prose as they follow the silly goat's misadventures as interpreted by Peter Reynold's hilariously apropos illustrations. In Huck Runs Amuck, the esteem-building magic of perseverance shines through the eyes of our cloven-hoofed friend--and it is quite infectious.

MightyM

Nursery Rhyme Fun

Are you looking for a fun way to play with you baby, toddler, or preschooler?  Try teaching them a nursery rhyme.  Nursery rhymes are short, easy-to-remember, and often come with music or fingerplays that engage multiple learning styles.  Because they're fun, and offer variety of ways to play together, they've become a standard piece in our weekly storytimes.

 A lesser-known rhyme that is popular in my Babytime is Pizza, Pickle, Pumpernickel.

Pizza, Pickle, Pumpernickel
Pizza, pickle, pumperickel
My little gal (guy) shall have a tickle.
One for her (his) nose,
One for her (his) toes,
And one for her (his) tummy
Where the hot dog goes!

There are multiple ways you can enjoy this rhyme.  Bounce baby on your lap, tickling each body part as you say it.  Give a toddler a rattle or something else to shake, or clap to the rhyme.  Preschoolers can tap the out the rhythm with more sophisticated percussion instruments like sticks, bells, or tambourines.

Hickory, Dickory, Dock is another good bouncing rhyme.  Run your fingers up one arm and down the other, gently patting baby's head or nose or giving her a kiss or lift her up in the air for each dong of the clock's bell.  For a toddler, you can make your fingers run up one side of his body and down the other.  By the time a child is three he or she will enjoy taking over the mouse part.

Nursery rhymes that can be sung are especially appealing. There's something about a simple melody that helps us remember the words.  Other rhymes may be unfamiliar to parents, but everyone joins in when we sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star or Mary Had a Little Lamb. At the Dusenberry-River Library we usually end our nursery rhyme play by singing Do You Know the Muffin Man? Last week I overhead a small voice in our children's room singing Muffin Man while he worked on a puzzle.  He was oblivious to his audience, who probably found the tune swimming in their heads for the rest of the morning.

-Miss Meg

Where's Ellie? (The Infinite Loop)

 

What's more fun than a periwinkle pachyderm?

 

Playing hide-and-seek with a periwinkle pachyderm!

 

Salina Yoon has created another fun book for the under 5 set: Where's Ellie?  This little board book will have you reading, talking and playing with your child as the two of you  move through this colorful, bright world.  Together you can help a little ladybug find her friend Ellie.  It's not as easy as it sounds.  Is that Ellie hiding behind the plant?  No, it's just a teapot!  How about behind the cactus or the flowers?  Not there either.  Naturally, Ellie is hiding behind something much larger.  (I don't want to give it away but it starts with a "tuh" and ends with a "ree.")  Fair warning though, the book ends with the line, "Let's play again," and your child will most likely want to!

 

Although as adults re-reading the same board book or picture book can quickly become tedious, reading the same book over and over helps your child to develop early literacy skills.  Becoming familiar with the story allows them to predict what will happen next and helps them to engage more fully in the reading process.  Pretty soon, you can take a break and ask your child to read the story to you.

 

When you're ready for more reading fun, bring your child to one of our storytime programs and see what other fun books you can discover.

  

 

 

     

Hippospotamus

Read the first sentence of this picture book and you'll likely want to turn the pageamus. "Hippopotamus had a  spotamus...on her bottomus." Hippo is happily swimming along in her cool pool of water when she notices a reddish spot on her bottom.  All of hippos animal friends have a different idea about what the spot might be. Weasel thinks it's measles; fox says it's hippopox; and bear is sure it's an ingrown hair.  None of their cures rid the hippo of her spot.  Written by Jeanne Willis with illustrations by Tony Ross Hippospotamus  is a fun, tongue-twister, read aloud with a surprise ending!  Your preschoolers will giggle at the funny sound of some made up words like notamus, snottamus, and shotamus and very soon they will be making up their own silly, rhyming words. Encouraging your child to play with smaller sounds in words will help them later in learning how to read. You and your children will like this book alotamus.

Miss Julie

Pancakes for Breakfast

Tomie de Paola's Pancakes for Breakfast is a charming picture book that reminds us how much work the simple things in life, even pancakes, can be. 

Our central character wakes up early, hungry for pancakes.  She gets out the flour, but has no eggs.  She goes to the henhouse for eggs, but has no milk.  She milks the cow, and makes some butter to boot.  She now has everything she needs for pancakes!  Except maple syrup.  And everyone knows you can't have pancakes without syrup.  So out she goes, to buy some from her neighbor.  Alas, her pancake dreams are dashed by her naughty dog and cat who have ruined everything in the kitchen by the time she returns.  Luckily the neighbors are having pancakes too, so she gets to have her pancakes at last!

The fact that it is a wordless book allows each family to tell the story in a way that resonates most for them, by noticing different details.  And ideally, children get to be involved in making those decisions.  When they do so, they are honing their narrative skills.  These skills allow them to understand that each story has a beginning, middle and end.  As they learn to read, sharp narrative skills will clue them in quickly that they need to go back for information they missed, or help them to make smart guesses about unfamiliar words.  Don't be afraid to tell your own stories with books that already have words too!

This book gently reminds us that sometimes we have to work hard and be persistent to get what we want.  There can be a lot of little steps involved in something as delicious as pancakes (or as important as reading), but the pay off is certainly worth it.  Now, would you please pass the syrup?

Miss Kate

Little Nelly's Big Book

What's gray, has large ears, a skinny tail, and weighs 11,000 pounds? Answer: a mouse! Little Nelly has determined what kind of animal she is by reading "The Big Book of Knowledge." There's only one itsy, bitsy, teensy, weensy problem: the book has no pictures.

At Little Nelly's insistence, a mouse family takes her in. Granny Mouse makes this unusual situation work in spite of everyone's reservations--until Little Nelly realizes that something's not quite right. After an Internet search, Granny convinces Nelly that there are other mice just like her at the zoo. While Little Nelly settles into her new home, her friend Micky reads "The Big Book of Knowledge" and discovers he's an elephant! (Albeit a mighty small one...)

The phrase, "Just the facts, ma'am," takes on an entirely different meaning as Micky and Nelly explore their identities in Pippa Goodheart's chuckle-inducing Little Nelly's Big Book. Thanks to Andy Rowland, the illustrations are filled with "subtle" sight gags that complement this sweetly-humored story about kindness, friendship, and self-discovery.

MightyM

Lullabies: Powerful Sleep Aid

Are you having trouble getting your little one to sleep?  Try a lullaby.  The slower cadence and repetitive melody soothes your baby to sleep while also relaxing you and relieving any frustration you may be feeling.  Singing while holding your baby strengthens your bond with each other and signals to your baby that you understand his/her feelings.   Singing at stressful times shows empathy, support, and respect for your baby's feelings, and models for baby a positive way to calm and soothe himself/herself.  Children who are sung to regularly often learn to sing themselves to sleep.  How's that for a powerful sleep aid?!!

You can find some wonderful lullabies in the library.  In fact, you might learn a new one when you attend Babytimes!  Once you're there, you can ask your children's librarian if he/she has any suggestions.  Another good start is Wee Sing for Baby, which includes lyrics to the songs on their accompanying CD.  For a full list of CDs featuring lullabies that you can borrow from the Pima County Public Library, click here.  And remember, the only voice your baby wants to hear is yours, so have fun singing!