Spring Stories

Tomorrow I am reading Spring and Easter stories for Storytime. Here are a few of the books I have picked. First is "The Caterpillar and the Polliwog" by Jack Kent. I just love this story...the little caterpillar walks around the pond bragging about how she is going to turn into something else when she grows up. (We also have a movie version of this book...so whenever I read it...I hear the voices in the movie in my head. haha)
The tadpole is the only one around the pond that is excited for the caterpillar and he's so busy watching her change...he doesn't realize he's changing himself. Very cute!
"Happy Easter" by Kurt Wiese was originally published in 1952....so it's hardly new...but it's another favorite of mine. Mother Rabbit sends her bunnies out to find some eggs to color and hide. None of the hens want to give up their eggs...except the hen at the last place they stop. When they get there, the hen tells them she has been sitting on her eggs for several weeks and they haven't hatched so she doesn't mind giving them up.
The bunnies head home to decorate the eggs...but they hear noises coming from the eggs....
When the hen comes over to see how the eggs look in color...she gets a big surprise! We are going to do a craft that goes along with this story. I made some colored chicks to glue onto a picture of a basket...add some "eggs", stickers and a little Easter grass...and we'll have a nice picture to hang on the refrigerator. I hope! haha
Another old favorite...I read every year, is "The Golden Egg Book" by Margaret Wise Brown. This one is even older than the last one...it first came out in 1947! I love the little bunny who finds the egg...and then the what happens when the little duck hatches. This book is actually the first book I ever read to one of my Storytime groups way back when; maybe that's why I like it. :)
Bunny trying to listen to the egg...
"Hurray For Spring!" by Patricia Hubbell was written and published in 2005. It's illustrations are big and bright and cheerful and it rhymes! I love rhyming books for little ones.
Another cute story is "Ollie's Easter Eggs" by Olivier Dunrea. It is part of the Gossie & Friends series by the author.
It's simple and so cute. I love the pictures of Ollie trying to hide the eggs and Gossie and Gertie trying to find them.
And last, but not least..."I Need an Easter Egg!" by Harriet Ziefert. This one is a lift-the-flap story...which the little ones usually enjoy. Depending on the size of the group...I let them come up one at a time to lift the flaps as I read...anytime they can participate they love it!
I'm not sure if we will get all these stories in tomorrow......but we'll try...and we still have another week before Easter if we don't!

What to do on a day off........

The kitchen is slowly getting put back together...yesterday the new counter tops were installed.
They look nice!..Now that the counter tops are in...I can begin to put things away. I have a few extra drawers...so I have/get to decide what's going to go where. So far I only filled up two drawers...and emptied one old one. This is going to take some time! Fortunately...the electricians still have work to do, so I have some time. I am tempted to just put things back in the same general areas where they were...but then again I am thinking...what's the best place for _____________? So this is going to be a challenge!
Well...part of my day off was spent wiping down the inside of the cabinets and drawers; then filling them up with all my odds and ends...but I did have some fun today too. I did a little yard work, I took a bike ride and I went to read to my friend Amy's 1st graders again.
I now have a nice little corner on the end. My goal is to put as much "stuff" as I can in the cabinets and keep it off the counter.
Today's theme...DOGS. I picked up these four fun books to read. Two by Janet Stevens and Susan Stevens Crummel.... "The Great Fuzz Frenzy" and "My Big Dog". First "The Great Fuzz Frenzy" is about a group of prairie dogs who discover a green ball dropped down into the burrow by Violet the dog. No one knows what the green thing is...but they start pulling off the fuzz...puffing,stretching,tugging,twirling,spiking and swirling it until "the whole prairie was abuzz about fuzz!" After a bit things start to get out of hand and the fun turns into fiasco! I won't spoil it by telling you the end...but it's a fun story about taking care of your friends.Next up...."Charlie's Checklist" by Rory S. Lerman. This sweet story about a boy (Chester) and a dog (Charlie) who are good friends. Charlie was born on a farm in the English countryside...next door to where Chester lives. The last pup left in the litter....Charlie is lonely and dreams of moving to the big city. With Chester's help he puts a personal ad in the London paper and waits for the "perfect" person to adopt him. Charlie has a checklist of strict criteria...or "a list of Must Haves and Must Be's" and he and Chester sort through the stacks of responses to his ad. After two weeks Charlie receives the letter of his dreams...and then he has a big decision to make. You'll have to check it out to see what happens....

"My Big Dog" is a funny story as told by Merl the cat ("I am a cat, a very special cat.") Merl loves his house, owned by cat people and everything is purrrrfect...until one day when a big, panting, slurping, puppy arrives. The puppy turns into a huge dog and Merl decides there is nothing to do but take his mouse toy and leave! He tries to find a better place to live and eventually ends up back in his old purrrrrfect house where everything is his...including "my big dog!". I love this book!
Another favorite is "Murphy Meets the Treadmill" by Harriet Zeifert. It's about Murphy...a simple dog who enjoys simple pleasures...like lying on the front porch, watching people and EATING!
And like my dog Kiena...Murphy likes to eat between meals...and lucky for him (and Kiena!) there are plenty of people who like to feed him! Murphy's owner decides that he needs to go on a diet...even though Murphy thinks he has a good build and is a fine example of his breed. haha His owner "Cheryl" puts him on a diet, takes him for runs...instead of walks....and then one day... a delivery van arrives. In spite of the fact that Murphy barks and growls and tries his best to look ferocious...the men unload the machine anyway...and you guessed it...it's a treadmill. He barks at it "louder than I bark at the vacuum cleaner." but it doesn't do any good...the treadmill stays. Pretty soon Murphy gets back in shape and he's the hit of the neighborhood and when Nikka the neighbor's hound comes by to check him out...he decides that "Exercise is worth it!"The kids had fun laughing along with all the stories...if you have any little friends to share them with they are worth checking out.