Monthly Archives: February 2016

Book Review: The Greatest Zombie Movie Ever by Jeff Strand

The Greatest Zombie Movie Ever by Jeff Strand

3.5 out of 5 stars

Summary: Justin, Bobby and Gabe are amateur film makers who decide they are going to make the greatest zombie movie ever within a month. While they have the passion to create the movie they have to overcome many obstacles, such as borrowing $5,000 from a grandmother that expects interest, a house fire and a car accident. Will these 3 friends be able to pull off making the zombie movie of the century? Or more importantly, will they still be friends after it?

Review: Jeff Strand strikes again with a hilarious book that appeals to a vast audience. This book won’t win any awards or be declared a classic but it will make you laugh. The characters aren’t all that relatable and you don’t really connect with him but you can’t help but love the quirky characters. The plot line, while not believable, goes along at a good pace and keeps the reader guessing what crazy antic is going to happen next.  It’s nice to read a YA novel that isn’t full of epic adventures and love triangles.  This is a great book to get reluctant readers, especially boys, to pick up a book.

*please note that I received an advanced copy of the book from NetGalley

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Storytime: Library / Books

Opening Story
Hello Friends (with sign language)
Hello friends,
Hello friends,
Hello friends,
It’s time to say hello
Source: jbrary

Book

Library Mouse by Daniel Kirk

While I love the book “Library Mouse” and it went perfectly with our craft I will say that the book is a little longer than I typically use for story time. The illustrations are great and I ended up paraphrasing the story, the kids loved it!

Hickory Dickory Dock
Hickory, dickory, dock (walk fingers up arm)
The mouse ran up the clock
The clock struck one (clap hands)
The mouse did run (walk fingers down arm)
Hickory, dickory, dock

Hickory, dickory, dock
The mouse ran up the clock
The clock struck two (clap twice)
The mouse said “BOO”
Hickory, dickory, dock

Hickory, dickory, dock
The mouse ran up the clock
The clock struck three (clap three times)
The mouse said “Whee”
Hickory, dickory, dock

Hickory, dickory, dock
The mouse ran up the clock
The clock struck four (clap four times)
The mouse said “No more”
Hickory, dickory, dock

Let’s Take a Look at this Book
Let’s take a look at this book (palms together vertically)
Here is the cover (lay palms horizontally)
We open it wide (open hands)
Here are pages hidden inside (wiggle fingers with palms up)
There are words and pictures (sway hands)
We look and look
And when we are finished
We close up the book (clap hands together)
Source: jbrary

Book

We’re Going on a Book Hunt by Pat Miller

This is another book I paraphrased. “We’re Going on a Book Hunt” is a great tool to use to start a discussion on how to find a book.

If You’re a Reader and You Know It
If you’re a reader and you know it clap your hands
If you’re a reader and you know it clap your hands
If you’re a reader and you know it and you really want to show it
If you’re a reader and you know it clap your hands
(stomp your feet, shout I am)

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear
Teddy bear, teddy bear turn around
Teddy bear, teddy bear touch the ground
Teddy bear, teddy bear reach up high
Teddy bear, teddy bear touch the sky
Teddy bear, teddy bear touch your knees
Teddy bear, teddy bear sit down please

Book

Lola at the Library by Anna McQuinn

Flannel Board

IMG_6995 (1)Five Little Books
Five little books at the library
Five little books as great as can be
Along comes (child’s name) with their library card
To take one home and read!
(count down)
Source: What Happens in Storytime

Wiggle Worm
Wiggleworm, wiggleworm
Hiding in a book
Wiggleworm, wigglewom
Where should we look?
Source: Itsy Bitsy Mom

This is a fun guessing game where I hide the worm behind a book and ask children which color book the worm is hiding in. Children love coming up to the board (if it’s a small group) and picking a book or yelling out colors (if it’s a large group). Miss Mary Liberry made up a great song to encourage children to close their hides while I hide the worm.

Everybody Close Your Eyes (Tune: London Bridge)
Everybody close your eyes
Close your eyes, close your eyes
Everybody close your eyes
We’re not peeking
Source: Miss Mary Liberry

Closing Song
Goodbye Friends (with sign language)
Goodbye friends
Goodbye friends
Goodbye friends
It’s time to say goodbye

Craft:
IMG_6991
For a craft we made a book. Children (and some adults) were given sheets of cardstock stapled to a construction paper cover. The kids received crayons, stickers, foam stickers, old magazines and construction paper to use to create their books. Parents and children alike had a lot of fun talking about their stories.

 

 

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LEGO Checkout Challenge

This winter the Adult Department decided to have a reading challenge, if an adult reads 12 books they will be entered into a raffle. Now I’m not one to let the adults have all the fun! While I do not have the budget to purchase prizes I decided on a cheaper alternative incentive…. LEGOs! We have a big box of LEGO bricks that we take out once in a while for special programs, the kids are constantly asking to play with them but with minimal staff and without an area for them to really play we unfortunately have to say no. That is when the Winter Checkout Challenge came to mind! I can’t take all of the credit for this idea, I originally saw it last year at Bryce Don’t Play but completely forgot about it until my coworker and I started brainstorming ideas. They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery!

 

What We Did:
We put 3 bricks into sandwich size plastic bags and put them behind the Circulation desk. Every time a child checks out a book (it does not matter how many books) they receive a bag with the LEGO bricks. Next they come into the Children’s Department, add their bricks to our structure and get their picture taken for our Checkout Wall of Fame.

IMG_6978
Checkout Wall of Fame
Construction paper was cut to look  like LEGO bricks, this is after 3 days (we missed taking some pictures). As more children check items out the construction paper structure is growing! Kids love coming back and finding their photo on the wall.

How It Was Received:
Wonderfully! The LEGO structure is on display right at the entrance to the Children’s Department and is one of the first things the children gravitate to. (It is also right in front of the Children’s Desk so we can keep an eye on it). Quite a few children have asked what it is and if they can play with it, we explain to them that if they check out some books then they will receive 3 bricks to add to the structure and their picture will be put on the Wall of Fame. The presence of the LEGOs has greatly encouraged children to check out books, parents have also been using it as a tool. As families are leaving I’ll hear the parents remark “Are you sure you don’t want to check out any books? You can add to the LEGOs and get your picture taken.” It’s great to see that a prize free incentive is really encouraging and getting the children excited about checking out books.

IMG_6980

Week 1

IMG_7082

Week 3

IMG_7099

Week 5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What I Didn’t Expect:
I didn’t expect how often the structure would change. In my mind the children would keep adding to it and would create a tower, instead most of the children not only add their 3 bricks but also reconstruct the whole thing. I have no problem with them fiddling with the structure, the only thing I discourage is if a child is trying to take it off the shelf to play with. Something else I didn’t expect is staff members not giving children their LEGO bags. Items are not checked out in the Children’s Department, everything is done at Circulation, therefore I had to give the bags over to Circ. There have been a couple times where I have seen children check out items and not receive a bag, the worst was the time I told a child when they were done checking out their items they would get LEGOs to add but then never received them. A couple of times I have run out to Circ to try and intercept the kids before they leave.

 

Overall I think this is a great passive program that gets children excited about checking out items and encourages children who don’t typically take books out to do so. I know checking out books is only half the battle, getting them to read them is the other half but this is a step in the right direction.

I’ll post updates on how the challenge is progressing!

 

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Book Review: The Passenger by Lisa Lutz

The Passenger by Lisa Lutz

3 out of 5 stars

Summary: Tanya Dubois finds her husband deceased at the bottom of a staircase in their home. She fears that if she stays she will become a suspect in his death. For the second time in her life Tanya finds herself in the position of needing a new identity. Tanya reaches out to a man who helps her get a new identity, the first of many that Tanya tries on. Along the way Tanya meets Blue, a bartender, and kindred spirit. They quickly realize that they are both running from their pasts. The girls join forces to try to establish new identities and start over. Once the two women find new identities they part ways but it is not long before their paths cross again.  What terrible thing has Tanya done that has made her run for 10 years, will she be able to escape it?

Review: “The Passenger” was a fun quick thrilling read. It’s easy to get caught up in the crazy ride that is Tanya’s life. The main character changes names and identities numerous times but for the sake of this review I will be referring to her as Tanya. There are a lot of plot twists and questions about Tanya’s past. The whole time you are reading you are dying to know what has happened. There is a nice balance of past and future, the snippets into the past (in the form of emails) allows the reader to see that there is a lot more going on than expected. The emails work wonderfully to pull the readers in and to make them want to know more about Tanya. After a while the story got stuck into a pattern – Tanya steals an ID, changes her hair color, finds a hotel, goes to a bar, orders a drink, goes to sleep, wakes up and does it all over again. What made those stagnant moments better are the moments where she finally starts to settle in to an identity and life. I personally enjoyed when Tanya became a teacher and started to form personal relationships with her students, colleagues and the owner of the local bar, these moments humanize her. It’s hard to declare whether Tanya is a likeable character or not because she changes identities so often and along with a new identity comes a new personality. I  never really felt bad for Tanya, she wasn’t a relatable character and her actions while on the run were not always the best. Once I finished the book I realized there were a lot of unanswered questions and plot holes (such as what did happen to the dead husband?!). The ending tried to nicely wrap the story up with a poetic justice bow but a lot of minor plot lines were dropped. This is not a probable tale, to enjoy it you need to be able to suspend disbelief. I would highly recommend this book to someone that is looking for a fast paced thrilling read that doesn’t require too much thinking.

*please note that I received an advanced copy of the book from Netgalley

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Storytime: Bath Time

Opening Song
Hello Friends (with sign language)
Hello friends,
Hello friends,
Hello friends,
It’s time to say hello
Source: jbrary

Book

Bubble Bath Pirates by Jarrett J. Krosoczka

Related Song/Rhyme
Rub-a-Dub-Dub
Rub-a-dub-dub, one child in the tub (hold up 1 finger)
Tell me what you see
One foot with toes (shake or touch foot)
A hand, a nose (shake hand, touch nose)
As clean as they can be

Rub-a-dub-dub, one child in a tub
Tell me what you see
Legs and arms (shake or touch body parts)
So clean and warm
Do they have a hug for me? (hug self)

Body Recognition (repeat weekly)
Roly Poly (Tune: Where is Thumbkin)
Roly poly, roly poly (roll arms)
Up, up, up (raise arms)
Up, up, up
Roly roly poly (roll arms)
Roly roly poly
Down, down, down (lower arms)
Down, down, down

Roly poly, roly poly
Out, out, out (extend arms out to side)
Out, out, out
Roly roly poly
Roly roly poly
In, in, in (bring arms in)
In, in, in

Roly poly, roly poly
Fast, fast, fast (roll arms quickly)
Fast, fast, fast
Roly roly poly
Roly roly poly
Slow, slow, slow
Slow, slow, slow
Source: King County Library System

Book

Bears in the Bath by Shirley Parenteau

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stand Up and Stretch
After My Bath
After my bath I try, try, try
To rub myself until I’m dry, dry, dry (pretend to rub body with a towel)
Just think how much less time it would take
If I were a dog and could shake, shake, shake (shake body)

Rhyme (repeated weekly)
Hickory Dickory Dock
Hickory, dickory, dock (walk fingers up arm)
The mouse ran up the clock
The clock struck one (clap hands)
The mouse did run (walk fingers down arm)
Hickory, dickory, dock

Hickory, dickory, dock
The mouse ran up the clock
The clock struck two (clap twice)
The mouse said “BOO”
Hickory, dickory, dock

Hickory, dickory, dock
The mouse ran up the clock
The clock struck three (clap three times)
The mouse said “Whee”
Hickory, dickory, dock

Hickory, dickory, dock
The mouse ran up the clock
The clock struck four (clap four times)
The mouse said “No more”
Hickory, dickory, dock

Early Literacy Tip
You can make bath time fun and educational! By adding foam letters and bath crayons you are helping your child learn important early literacy skills. Foam letters will help your child learn the alphabet and bath crayons will help them develop the motor skills they need to be able to write.

Book

Animal Baths by Bob Barner

Movement (repeated weekly)
If You’re Happy and You Know It

Nursery Rhyme/Finger Play
This is the Way (with scarves)
Pretend to wash body part with the scarves
This is the way we wash our face, wash our face, wash our face
This is the way we wash our face, when we take a bath
(toes, knees, ,tummy, etc)

Activity CD
Silly Dance Contest by Jim Gill

Stretch (repeat weekly)
Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes

Book

The Pigeon Needs a Bath by Mo Willems

Flannel Board

IMG_6948

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Elephants in the Bathtub
One elephant in the bathtub (hold up 1 finger)
Going for a swim (swimming motion)
Knock, knock (clap twice)
Splash, splash (tap knees twice)
Come on in (wave hand)

(count up to 5)

Five elephants in the bathtub
Going for a swim
Knock, knock
Splash, splash
They all fell in! (raise arms)
Source: Jbrary

Colored Elephants
If you have a (color) elephant,
A (color) elephant, a (color) elephant
If you have a (color) elephant
Put it on the board

Closing Song (repeated weekly)
Goodbye Friends (with sign language
Goodbye friends
Goodbye friends
Goodbye friends
It’s time to say goodbye

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