Father's Day

It's been awhile since I posted anything on here, but honestly? I thought I had run out of the themes I normally do! And shame on me! Why not be creative and try to cover other themes and ideas that I *don't* do?

 

I was inspired today because Father's Day is coming up and because this book came across my desk this morning:

 

 

Because I'm Your Dad by Ahmet Zappa. It is J'ADORABLE! (Thank you Jonathan Adler for adding that word to my vocabulary.) Nevermind that it was created by two people I absolutely love. Does anyone remember the show Ahmet Zappa hosted on MTV back in the 90s? webRIOT? He was such an oddball, and I fell in love with him then. And of course this post talks about Dan Santat and my other favorite authors and illustrators, so if you want to see me gush about him, you can read it there. BUT - even if it didn't have anything to do with those two, it would still be a cute book. The text (especially the end) gets me all verklempt.

 

 

One that follows the same theme (of all the things a father would to for a child), but is a bit more fantastical is:

 

 

Because I am Your Daddy by Sherry North. The first one covers all the everyday things a dad does for his child. This one is all the things a father would do for a child if he had a certain profession. Then it gets into the ridiculous of "If we were Martians... If I was a wizard...". Ultimately, the ending is similar - it's all about a father's love.

 

This next one we added last year when the summer theme was "Every Hero Has a Story":

 

 

Hero Dad by Melinda Hardin. This is told from the point of view of a child comparing his dad (who is in the military) to a superhero. It was *perfect* for the theme, and it's a great book to read about fathers.

 

 

The Fathers Are Coming Home by Margaret Wise Brown. This shows different fathers in the animal kingdom coming home to their children. The final one is a human father, a sailor, coming home to his kid.

 

My Dad Thinks He's Funny by Katrina Germein. This is basically a book full of dad jokes. It's really corny, but reading it to groups of kids is fun because you'll hear "Hey, my dad says that!". If you're a dad reading it with your child, you'll probably see a lot of yourself in the book.

 

 

These are obviously all newer books. I'm sure there are a number of older ones that are just as good. Please comment and let me know your favorite father/daddy book that I may have forgotten!



Happy Birthday toooooo MEEEEEEE!!!!

Actually, my birthday was a month ago. When I come back from our little mini-break between summer and fall programs though, I tend to do a birthday-themed story time.  Why? Because I'm a summer baby and my birthday always falls in the right time to miss everything.  We don't have programs the week of my birthday. I never had a cool birthday with all my friends from school when I was little because of when my birthday fell. So I do this for myself and all my summer babies who have missed out.

Whopper Cake by Karma Wilson. I talked about this with another post, so I'll keep this brief. This sweet old man sets out to make his wife the biggest and best cake for her birthday, and it turns out to be a doozy.

Moira's Birthday by Robert Munsch. This is about a girl who wants to invite grades 1,2,3,4,5,6 aaaaand kindergarten to her birthday party. Her parents refuse and say she can invite 6. By the end of the day however, she has invited everyone.  The day of the party EVERYONE has shown up to the house and now they have to feed them. So Moira calls and orders 200 pizzas and 200 cakes.  Each can only deliver 10 at the time.  The kids devour them, and want more food.  So they all leave, bring back more food, and devour that. Then in return for cleaning up, they all get to take home a present. At the end of the book, the other 190 pizzas and cakes get delivered. :)

Birthday Present by Catherine Stock. A simple, short book about a boy going to a birthday party. He wants to get the girl all these other toys, but the mom picks out a ball, and it turns out to be just what the girl wanted.

What's Cookin'? A Happy Birthday Counting Book by Nancy Coffelt. Short, cute rhymes, I love when I can incorporate a counting book into a program. This one is great because it has tips in the back for cooking with children, a page about math in the kitchen, AND it has a recipe for cake and frosting!

Birthday Customs Around the World by Sarah L. Schuette. Each page of this book has a short sentence about a custom from another country. There are about 7 or so countries covered. This is a good way to introduce a little non-fiction into the story time, and also start a (hopefully short) conversation about some special traditions people might have on their birthdays.

Other cute ones for this theme include:

Hello! Is This Grandma? by Ian Whybrow

Don't Spill the Beans by Ian Schoenherr

So other than singing Happy Birthday to everyone (unless someone's birthday is really close - or we just missed it), then the only other thing I do is the following:

Apples, peaches, pears, plums,

Tell me when your birthday comes!

We clap and go around the room chanting that and each child is supposed to tell me their birthday.  Usually whatever parent is there with them is who ends up answering.

My Favorite Authors/Illustrators

I thought I'd take a minute to talk about my favorite authors and illustrators. Usually it isn't hard to pick out with someone when they mention the same books or series of books from someone over and over and over. My predecessor loved Patricia Polacco and Jan Brett.  How do I know?  Well not only did I work with her and I heard her say it, but she also ordered EVERY SINGLE BOOK both of them wrote.  We have a collection we rotate between daycares, and I swear, there are 30 Jan Brett books in there - and half are duplicated of each other.  Now don't get me wrong, I think both are fantastic.  Polacco's stories that draw from her own life and her family's are touching and extraordinary.  Jan Brett's illustrations are beautiful and extremely detailed.  However, neither is my preference.  So, here's a post devoted to my favorites (probably leaning more heavily on illustrations, since my degree is in Art, and that's just what I'm drawn to).

William Joyce

William Joyce has SUCH a distinctive style.  I just love it. Lots of his books have been adapted into shows or films and it really translates well to screen.  Anyone remember Rolie Polie Olie?  Yep, that was him.  Meet the Robinsons? Based on his book A Day with Wilbur Robinson. His latest book, The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore, won an Oscar for the short film adapted from it. (Made me cry.  Stupid film.)

Dan Santat

Again, here is someone with a style uniquely their own and instantly recognizable. His latest book (that he wrote and illustrated), The Adventures of Beekle, an Unimaginary Friend, won the Caldecott Medal this year. He also illustrated favorites of mine such as Crankenstein and OH NO! (Or How My Science Project Destroyed the World).

Oliver Jeffers

I absolutely adore Oliver Jeffers and his books. He is my Jan Brett.  I order all of his books.  The stories are simple, but cute and the illustrations are - well, the same. One of my favorite books of his is The Heart and the Bottle about a girl who gets her heart broken when (presumably) her father dies.  So she puts it in a bottle so she can't get hurt, but then she forgets how to love, until she meets a little girl who teaches her how to wonder and imagine and love. Stuck is another good book of his about a boy who gets something stuck in a tree, so he just keeps throwing things up there to try to get it unstuck, and it keeps getting more ridiculous.  Also, I'd recommend The Incredible Book-Eating Boy. Really, I'd tell you about all his books, but that would be the whole post, and it would be disgusting how much I'd gush over him.

Karma Wilson

I thought it was time to give a shout-out to someone who is solely an author (as far as I know) now.  She has so many books that I use during my story times. Frog in a Bog, about a frog that gets too greedy and almost gets eaten by an alligator. Hilda Must Be Dancing about a hippo with a passion for dancing, who just needs to find the right place to do it. Whopper Cake about a sweet (ha!) old man making the most gigantic cake for his wife's birthday.

Mark Teague

I am sad to say that I am not as familiar with Mark Teague as an author as I am an illustrator.  I really think the mark of a great illustrator is when they put their own stamp on things, and he really does. The one book of his I *have* read is The Secret Shortcut, about two boys who have trouble getting to school on time, and whose excuses are the most ridiculous things in the world.  They find this secret shortcut, which turns out to be as ridiculous as their excuses. He's the illustrator for the How Do Dinosaurs series and Poppleton. Who doesn't love dinosaurs or animals in clothes?

Mo Willems

Maybe the illustrations in the books don't impress you, but you can't deny that his books are just fun to read. (By the way, I like the illustrations. It can be really hard to get something to be simplistic, but still look good and be expressive.) It's no secret that I ADORE reading the Pigeon books aloud in story time.  I feel like the Pigeon is the embodiment of my id. Maybe I should get a Pigeon tattoo. Oh - and the Pigeon apparently has his own Twitter account. Cute. The Elephant and Piggie books are great too, AND (how cool is this) they've been made into a play.  WHAT?!  Yep. Elephant & Piggie's We Are In a Play. Super-awesome! That's got to show you the appeal of these characters. That is Not a Good Idea is a fantastically twisted book.  It definitely leads you into thinking one thing is going to happen and then takes a big left turn at the end.

Ok. I think you guys are probably done with me praising and going on about my favorites. I have more, but we'll leave it here for now.