At the MSLA conference in 2021, Melissa Sweet presented her “Tips and Tools for Nonfiction Read-Alouds,” and since then I’ve been mindful of trying to include nonfiction picture books in storytime programs, as well as in displays and readers’ advisory. This week I had so many to choose from that I didn’t even get to them all!

We ended up with a nice mix of fiction and nonfiction around a loose springtime theme. Today’s weather made Rain! by Linda Ashman and Christian Robinson a shoo-in for the lead-off book. Next we read  Shake A Leg, Egg! by Kurt Cyrus, which connected to our craft (see photos below). Shake A Leg is fiction, but the illustrations of different types of birds and the pond scenes are realistic and detailed. (I also had Whose Egg Is That? by Darrin Lunde and Kelsey Oseid; we skipped it for today, but I’ve had success reading all of their “Whose __ Is That?” books at storytimes. Preschool, kindergarten, and even first and second graders enjoy making predictions and guesses.)

Next we read Ahoy! by Sophie Blackall (and I’m just now realizing that four out of five of today’s books have exclamation points in their titles). A new Sophie Blackall book is always exciting, and this one features imaginative indoor play – perfect for a rainy day. Next we read Play Like An Animal! by Maria Gianferrari and Mia Powell, which features lots of unusual animals and plenty of active verbs and fun facts. And finally, the kids voted for Raindrops Roll for our final book. April Pulley Sayre’s photography is gorgeous, and every word is carefully chosen and necessary, with nothing extra.

The craft for today was inspired by the egg books, and also by the generous supply of die-cuts in the art room closet. I cut cracked egg shapes from pale gray paper so that kids could draw creatures hatching, and they were so creative! One kid made hers a lift-the-flap by only gluing down part of half of the eggshell; another (with help from Dad, I think) draw a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, pizza slice in hand.

What nonfiction read-alouds do you use in storytime?

When I started as the children’s librarian, I had to make one change almost right away, taking away the Monday morning storytime because I don’t arrive at work on Monday until 11:30 (then I’m here till we close at 8pm). However, I didn’t want to reduce the number of storytimes, so I decided to try offering an evening one – a pajama storytime! Also, it was a way of expanding access for families who can’t get here mid-morning on a weekday. I wasn’t sure if it would take off, but I spent a month talking it up, and attendance has been good so far!

Pajama Storytime happens in the Storytime Room, where we have a rug and some colorful, cozy bean bags. I brought in a string of twinkle lights and stuffed them into a clear glass jar (my “star jar”) and I put that on the table with the books. We start right at 6:30 and read till 7. Most attendees are older – first through fourth grade – but a few toddlers show up too, so I try to put the shorter, simpler books first in the lineup, and save longer ones for after the toddlers’ attention span is exhausted.

Not every book I read at Pajama Storytime is specifically bedtime-themed, but a lot of them are. Here’s what we’ve read so far:

Goodnight Veggies by Diana Murray/Zachariah Ohora
Are You Awake? by Sophie Blackall
Goodnight, Everyone by Chris Haughton
In the Night Garden by Carin Berger
Interrupting Chicken by David Ezra Stein
Everyone’s Awake by Colin Meloy
Time for Bed by Mem Fox/Jane Dyer
Awake, Asleep by Kyle Lukoff/Nadia Alam

Just Because by Mac Barnett/Isabelle Arsenault
How to Put Your Parents to Bed by Mylisa Larsen
City Moon by Rachael Cole/Blanca Gomez
Tell Me What to Dream About by Giselle Potter
Bedtime Monsters by Josh Schneider
Hoodwinked by Arthur Howard
There Is A Crocodile Under My Bed! By Ingrid & Dieter Schubert

The Yawns Are Coming by Christopher Eliopoulos
A Spoonful of Frogs by Casey Lyall and Vera Brosgol
Night in the City by Julie Downing
Chicken Wants A Nap by Tracy Marchini
Every Dreaming Creature by Brendan Wenzel
Kitten’s First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes
In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak

Good Night, Mr. Panda by Steve Antony
Windows by Julia Denos
A Bedtime for Bear by Bonny Becker/Kady MacDonald Denton
The Little Wooden Robot and the Log Princess by Tom Gauld
Hank’s Big Day by Evan Kuhlman & Chuck Groenink
Sleep Like A Tiger by Mary Logue/Pamela Zagarenski

As you can see, there’s a mix of longer and shorter ones, dreamy and goofy stories, rhyming and not, silly and soothing. I even had one parent thank me because no one had read a story to her in such a long time! (Children’s programming is important for the caregivers, too!)

Is there a Pajama Storytime at your library? What do you like about it? What would you change?

A month flies by! Storytime is always one of my favorite parts of the work week. Here are the books and art projects we’ve done for the past few weeks, and of course we look for Little Mouse every time (“Little mouse, little mouse, are you in the [color] house?”), and open and close with “Hello Friends” and “Goodbye Friends.”

September 28 Storytime

• I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen
• The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle (with flannel board)
• Carrot & Pea by Morag Hood
• Where is the Green Sheep? by Mem Fox and Judy Horacek
• Craft: Coloring with crayons on butcher paper taped to the floor

October 5

• Please, Mr. Panda by Steve Antony
• Circle Under Berry by Carter Higgins
• Perfect Square by Michael Hall
• Blue Chameleon by Emily Gravett
• Where’s Walrus? by Steven Savage
• Craft: Collage with tissue paper and glue sticks on construction paper

October 12

• The Three Billy Goats Gruff by Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen
• Pirate Jack Gets Dressed by Nancy Raines Day (with flannel board)
• There’s a Monster in This Book by Tom Fletcher
• Mr. Scruff by Simon James
• Some of These Are Snails by Carter Higgins
• Craft: Decorating die-cut paper pumpkins with markers and crayons

October 19

• I Will Chomp You by Jory John and Bob Shea
• Bathe the Cat by Alice B. McGinty and David Roberts
• Tickle Monster by Edouard Manceau (with flannel board)
• Stumpkin by Lucy Ruth Cummins
• Somewhere in the Bayou by Jarrett and Jerome Pumphrey
• Craft: Flannel board play with different shapes, colors, and sizes

October 26

• Sam and Dave Dig A Hole by Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen
• Maybe… by Chris Haughton
• How do you say? = ¿Cómo se dice? by Angela Dominguez
• Imogene’s Antlers by David Small
• I’ll Wait, Mr. Panda by Steve Antony
• Craft: Dot markers, crayons, markers on butcher paper on the floor (collaborative)

Storytimes I’d done plenty of before coming to SHPL, but Rhyme Time was a new program for me to lead. It’s kind of like storytime, but without books (although, I think I am going to start adding in one book each time). We do lots of songs, rhymes, fingerplay, and movement, followed by free play. I lead a lot of the songs and rhymes myself, but I also have a computer and speakers to play music. Soon, everyone will be singing and dancing along to Caspar Babypants’ “Butterfly Driving A Truck”!

I start every Rhyme Time with the same three songs:

• “Hello Friends” song
• Hello song (“We clap and sing hello…”)
• The Name Song (“If your name is _____, jump up and down”). This is great because each child gets their moment in the spotlight (if they want it – some just sit on laps and that’s fine!) and it creates a sense of community, helping us all get to know each other.

Then we do a selection of these songs/rhymes with movement and fingerplay. Some of them are on my song cubes (homemade tissue-box creations with a different picture on each side, corresponding to a song, like a teapot for “I’m A Little Teapot” or a spider for “The Itsy-Bitsy Spider.” Because these are short little songs, we sometimes do them three times: regular/fast/slow or regular/loud/quiet.

• “The Wheels on the Bus”
• “Shake Your Sillies Out” (Raffi)
• “Five Green and Speckled Frogs”
• “Row, row, row your boat”
• “If You’re Happy and You Know It”
• “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes“
• “Where Is Thumbkin?”
• “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”
• “I’m A Little Teapot”
• “The Itsy-Bitsy Spider”
• “The ABCs”
• “I Had A Little Turtle”
• “Open Shut Them”
• “The Kookaburra Song”
• “Zoom zoom zoom, we’re going to the moon”
• “We Are the Dinosaurs“
• The Party Freeze Dance Song
• Caspar Babypants songs (“Stompy the Bear,” “Butterfly Driving A Truck,” “Bookworm” etc.)

We end with two goodbye songs:

• Goodbye song (“We clap goodbye like this…”)
• “Goodbye Friends“

If the weather is nice (or, okay, decent) and we’re outside, I bring out sidewalk chalk and balls for the kiddos to play with. If we’re inside, it’s parachute and bubbles. This gives everyone a chance to move around and socialize.

This month I returned to public libraries and am really enjoying being a children’s librarian again, serving kids and their caregivers with book recommendations, weekly storytimes and rhyme times, arts and crafts, and all those “did you know…?” hidden gems that the library offers, like the OpenDyslexic font built into Libby.

I’m especially thrilled to be doing storytimes again. I’ve modeled my current program on the “Step Into Storytime” I did at the Winchester (MA) Public Library, which was aimed at two- and three-year-olds and their siblings and caregivers. I don’t intentionally choose themes (although three of today’s five books involved elephants), and I lead off with the longest book, as attention spans tend to wane over time.

Here’s my storytime format, with today’s books and activities as an example:

• Welcome, introduction
• Early literacy tip: the five ECRR practices (TALK, SING, READ, WRITE, PLAY) all support children’s early literacy skills
• “Hello Friends” (Jbrary) with ASL
  • Teach/review signs for “hello” and “friends” 
• There’s A Bear on My Chair by Ross Collins
• Oh, No! By Candace Fleming
• A Kiss Like This by Mary Murphy
• “Little Mouse” game with flannel board (“Little mouse, little mouse, are you in the [color] house?”)
• A Parade of Elephants by Kevin Henkes with flannel board (today it just so happened that there were five kids, and I have five elephants! So they each got to hold one the whole time, and stick them to the board at the end)
• Now by Antoinette Portis
• “Goodbye Friends” (Jbrary) 
  • Teach/review signs for “goodbye” and “friends” 
• Craft: Rubber stamps and stamp pads on construction paper 

Last week’s books were Mina by Matthew Forsythe, Huff & Puff by Claudia Rueda, Pete’s A Pizza by William Steig, Matilda’s Cat by Emily Gravett, and Lots of Dots by Craig Frazier. Books that have interactive elements, like Huff & Puff, or can be made interactive (like pretending to roll out dough and sprinkle cheese for Pete’s A Pizza) are great for holding the attention of little ones and the engagement of adult caregivers as well, who can help the littles with the actions, improving large and fine motor skills. 

 

Books we read the first week of September were The Giant Jumperee by Julia Donaldson, Spots in a Box by Helen Ward, Triangle by Mac Barnett, and Grumpy Pants by Claire Messer. Both Jumperee and Triangle were checked out afterward, which I take as a mark of success; I always tell families that they are welcome to borrow anything I read aloud at storytime.

As it’s September, one batch of kids has just started preschool or kindergarten, so the storytime regulars are on the younger side; lots of them come to Rhyme Time also (more on that later). I’ve been pulling from my list of great books to share with two- and three-year-olds, as well as newer picture books (I made that list in 2019). I’ve also been keeping crafts basic and process-oriented: so far, we’ve used dobbers/dotters (“do-a-dot art sponge tip applicators”), glue sticks, and rubber stamps – all washable and nontoxic, of course.

What are your favorite read-aloud books to share with littles? Favorite arts and crafts?