Bringing books to life!

My son has been very into acting out stories lately, particularly with his stuffed Elephant Gerald and Piggie from Mo Willems' ever-fabulous Elephant and Piggie series.  My brother-in-law gave W the plush versions of some of his favorite characters for Christmas -- Gerald, Piggie, and the Pigeon (who even yells, "Let me drive the bus!!" when you squeeze him) -- and my daughter got a little Knuffle Bunny.  We LOVE Mo Willems' stories, and acting them out has been the source of endless entertainment lately.  I hadn't been planning on writing a post about our newest source of story time fun, but after reading about Day 14 of the 30 Days to Hands On Play Challenge (over at hands on: as we grow and The Imagination Tree), I decided I'd share more of what we've been up to.  Here are some of our ideas for helping to bring books to life:

Act it out with stuffed animals, puppets, or costumes.  Usually, when we act out our Elephant and Piggie stories, W assumes the role of Piggie while my husband or I become Gerald.  W emphatically reads all of Piggie's lines and acts out every movement and emotion with his plush Piggie along the way.  At first, I thought most of W's "reading" was simply reciting the words from memory, but more and more I'm beginning to think that he is starting to do a lot of actual reading on his own now, too.  It's so much fun to watch!  But back to our little skits. I will say that reading this way is not the best pre-bedtime ritual, as we can't help but get a bit (okay, very) silly when it comes to reading Elephant and Piggie.  Happy Pig Day! is a favorite act-out and read-aloud at the moment, along with There is a Bird On Your Head.  I'm sure the enactments will spread to the Pigeon and Knuffle Bunny series soon, too, though for now it's all about Gerald and Piggie.  I just love the giggle fest that inevitably ensues!

Read the story as you would a play, with each of you reading different characters' lines.  Stories are more fun when characters have different voices, don't you think?  My husband and I both love reading books aloud this way, and our kids just love it when we do.  There are some books that are more conducive to this than others, of course (including the fabulous Elephant Piggie we talk so much about), but one of our other favorite series for this kind of reading is Frog and Toad by Arnold Lobel. This is another one of our all-time favorite friendships, and I absolutely love these stories.  Frog and Toad's personalities are so different that I just can't imagine them being read in the same voice.  Frog always ends up sounding a bit like Kermit, and Toad always sounds a little more raspy and gruff.  My son just loves being Toad, and has listened to the stories so many times that he has most of them memorized.  I just love hearing his silly little Toad "accent" as we read the stories together.  It's also quite common for him to quote lines from various stories as he is going about his day, and it's always fun to see what lines have stuck in his head.  Children needn't be independent readers to take part in this kind of story reading duet.  Read any favorite book enough times and they'll be bound to learn their lines along the way.

Draw it, build it, act it out!  After reading Jamie's post at hands on: as we grow about acting out Little Blue Truck, I realized that we could be doing even more to bring our favorite stories to life.  This is one of the things I love most about blogging:  becoming connected to so many other people and their brilliant ideas.  Why not tape a huge roll of paper down on to the floor (love that blue painter's tape!) and draw out a landscape or scene?  Bust out the blocks, the trucks, the animals, the Playmobil figures, the Duplos and let those little minds go to work!  I'll sometimes let my son watch Cars just so he can line up all of his cars and act it all out.  We make up Thomas the tank engine stories as we play with our trains on a daily basis.  I don't know why I never thought to do this with more of our books!

Have other ideas that you're willing to share?  I'd love to hear them!  Feel free to post ideas or links to your blog in the comments below.

Day 137: The Goat Lady

One of our local libraries has the cutest, coziest little children's room around.  It also has a nice little section of staff recommended books.  I like to browse through its titles whenever we visit, and try to check out at least one or two each time.  (I'll admit, too -- the more I write this blog and the more great books we find, the more I want to make a recommendations shelf of my own!)  Last time we visited, I brought home The Goat Lady by Jane Bregoli.  I'm so glad I did.  What a surprisingly touching and wonderful story!  

The Goat Lady, based on true people and events, tells the story of Noelie Houle, an elderly woman who lives in a run-down, old farmhouse with her family of goats.  All of the other homes in the neighborhood are newer, freshly painted, with neatly mowed lawns, but not the goat lady's house.  To many neighbors, it stuck out like a sore thumb with its peeling paint, crooked door, and a yard full of goats.  Some people complained about the unkempt nature of the property and considered the goats to be a public nuisance, but our young narrators are intrigued.  They like to watch the frisky goats and can't help but wonder about who takes care of them.  Finally, one day, they see her -- "a slightly bent, but still rather tall woman" with mismatched clothes, a warm smile, and a twinkle in her eye.  She invites them to come meet her goats and kindly introduces herself.  It is the start of a wonderful friendship, and in the weeks and months to come, the children return to Noelie's house often, learning all about how to care for the goats and helping Noelie with her chores.  They learn more and more about her life, too -- how she moved there from Canada to work in a factory but became ill with arthritis.  How goat's milk gradually cured her, and how she set out to raise goats so that other people could be helped by drinking their milk.  How she eventually had so many goats, she gave some away to an organization (Heifer International) that sent them to people in poor countries, "so that those people would have fresh milk to drink, too."  Perhaps the most important thing the children learn from their friendship with Noelie, though, is tolerance.  Unlike their neighbors, they don't judge Noelie by her outward appearance.  In taking the time to get to know her, they see the kind, compassionate woman that she is, and that is a beautiful thing.

The children soon ask their mother, a portrait artist, if she might like to paint a picture of their friend Noelie and her goats.  She happily agrees, and eventually goes on to create enough paintings for an art show at the town hall.  (Some of Jane Bregoli's actual paintings from the real Dartmouth Town Hall art show about Noelie are featured in the book.)  As word gets out about the show and more and more people begin to learn more about Noelie, people's attitudes about her start to change.  "The neighbors became more accepting of Noelie's way of life.  The yard didn't seem quite as messy, the old house didn't look so rundown, and the animals didn't appear to be as unruly as before."  Soon, those neighbors that used to complain about her ways are stopping by to help Noelie, too.

The message of acceptance and tolerance that pervades this book is inspiring and refreshing.  I love the way it shows the incredible difference children can make in the life of an adult, and in some cases, an entire community.  Everyone knows people who are different, eccentric, "strange," and it is easy to judge them or cast them aside without taking the time to get to know them or their circumstances.  The fact that Noelie is elderly and impoverished is subtle but relevant, and although it might not be immediately noticed by children, it can certainly be discussion worthy.

The Goat Lady is beautifully written and a wonderful story in every way.  My son is just as engrossed by this story as he is with much sillier ones, which just goes to show that a book needn't be funny or fictional to be fully appreciated by a child.  The fact that it is a true story makes it all the more wonderful.  The real Noelie and Bregoli lived in Dartmouth, MA, so I hope that this book is easy to find outside of Massachusetts.  With its many important lessons about kindness and compassion, we highly recommend the Goat Lady for children in preschool and beyond.

Day 136: The Snowy Day

Well, it's finally here.  Our first real snow of the season.  I've been quite happy about its absence up until now (in some ways, I think I'm still recovering from last winter), but it sure does look pretty covering all of the trees and branches outside.  Early this morning, long before the sun came up in the sky, I woke to the sound of the snow plow going down our street.  As I looked toward our windows, I could see the faint orange flashing of the plow's lights passing by, then again a few minutes later as it returned to plow the other side of the street.  Although still half asleep, I was reminded about how much I loved hearing that sound as a child, and how upon hearing it, I would immediately turn on the radio to listen for school closings and delays.  I'd stay snuggled up under my covers with the lights off, admiring the snow on the rhododendron bush outside my window and anxiously waiting to hear my town's name on the list. These days, we get a phone call if there is no school, though given that my husband and I are both teachers, we still get excited about the possibility of a snow day every once in a while.  We only got a few inches of snow over the night -- not enough to cancel or delay school -- but the kids and I have been enjoying a cozy morning inside.  When we cuddled up on the couch to read stories, I reached first for Ezra Jack Keats' classic, The Snowy Day.  This wonderful story, perhaps more than any other, perfectly captures the childhood bliss of waking up to a fresh snow fall.  Putting on your snow suit right after breakfast and heading out into the cold.  Crunching through the snow, making all kinds of footprints and tracks along the way.  Snow angels!  Smiling snow men!  Snow balls!  Who hasn't smacked a snow-covered tree, only to have a huge pile of snow plop down on his head?  And I'm pretty sure I tried to sneak snow balls into the house a few times.  I love Keats' descriptions of Peter's adventures that day, for although they are simple, they ring so true to all of my childhood memories of winter, such as the feeling of walking into my warm house and having my mom help me take off my wet socks.  His illustrations are brilliant, too, and earned this book the Caldecott Medal in 1963.  I just love the cutout collage-style, the contrast of the colors, the swirling clouds in the sky as Peter slides down a mountain of snow.  Somehow, when I read this story, I feel warm and happy and cozy all over, even though I'm thinking about how much fun it is to play in the snow.  I'm sure later, we'll be doing much the same thing as Peter, bundling up to go explore and enjoying the excitement of the year's first proper snowfall.  If you've ever experienced snow yourself, you'll immediately appreciate and love this book.  If you haven't, reading it will give you a glimpse of what it is like to wake up to snowy day.  I have a feeling we'll be reading this book even more now that a white winter has officially arrived.  The Snowy Day is one classic that is not to be missed.

Making our own books!

I meant to post about this before Christmas when we were in full-on gift making mode, but never managed to get around to it.  With Valentine's Day coming up, however, I thought I'd share a little project that my son and I did together that is an easy, fun, heartfelt way to tell someone how much you love them.  W and I love reading stories together, and sometimes story time with Daddy is even more special.  W also wanted to make a special gift for Daddy for Christmas, so we came up with the idea of writing our own "Daddy and Me" story.  We set out to make Daddy his very own book, written by W himself, that would document some of the fun things they like to do together.  You could certainly do this for anyone -- mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, a sibling -- and have multiple children take part in writing the story.  Whether you're looking for a personalized gift for Valentine's Day, a birthday, Father's Day, Mother's Day, or any special day in between, making your own book is so much fun!  Here's what we did:

First, we sat down at my computer and went through some of our favorite pictures from the past year.  I confess: I take A LOT of pictures.  I can't help it.  I just love capturing all of the fun, silly, crazy moments that make up our day to day life as a family.  If I didn't take pictures, who knows how many of those moments I would one day forget?  But I digress.  Back to making our book.  As we looked through the photos, W picked out his favorite Daddy pictures like the ones below.  As he chose his favorites, I cut and pasted them into a word document so that they could be easily printed out all at once.

Once we had all of our photos in a Word document, we looked at them again and W came up with something to say about each one.  I typed as he narrated.  Most of his story had to do with the pictures, but there were some random thoughts along the way, too.  Under the picture of them riding the train at the zoo, for example, W (who prefers to go by his nickname, Bugga) wrote:  "Bugga likes riding the train with Daddy and seeing the animals at the zoo.  Bugga also loves running around the track with Daddy and sitting on the couch reading stories.  Playing the Curious George game is fun, too.  Bugga loves Daddy!" I just let him roll with it.  After all, it's his story!

When we had finished writing the text of our story, we printed everything out, cut out the text and pictures, and were ready to get gluing.

I made a quick book by folding three pages of 8 1/2" by 11" card stock in half, snipping three small triangular cuts in the fold, and binding it all together with ribbon.  We did a practice layout of the story and pictures to make sure everything would fit before we glued it all on, but then I let W get to work.

We left enough blank space under the last part of the story for W to sign his name, and he added some foam Christmas stickers for good measure.  

Finally, it was time to put a title on our finished masterpiece.  We used some scrapbooking letter stickers that I had on hand, which worked perfectly.  Add the date and occasion as your copyright on the back, and voila!  You've got a fabulous hand-made book.  W is so proud of his masterpiece and still loves reading it aloud to us.  Needless to say, it was one of Daddy's favorite presents and is something we will keep forever.  Here's to another year of wonderful memories!

World Read Aloud Day is coming!

I was recently excited to learn of a global literacy initiative known as World Read Aloud Day.  I am sharing information from their website below with the hope that you will take a moment to visit their site, read about their mission, and join in the power of story taking place this year on March 7, 2012.  

Reading is a right.  Reading is knowledge.  Reading is power.  Join us to promote global literacy today, March 7th, and everyday.

From LitWorld.org:

Celebrate the Power of Words and Stories and Take Action for Global Literacy with LitWorld.  Worldwide, at least 793 million people remain illiterate. Imagine a world where everyone can read... 

On March 7, 2012, LitWorld, a global literacy organization based in New York City, will be celebrating World Read Aloud Day. World Read Aloud Day is about taking action to show the world that the right to read and write belongs to all people. World Read Aloud Day motivates children, teens, and adults worldwide to celebrate the power of words, especially those words that are shared from one person to another, and creates a community of readers advocating for every child’s right to a safe education and access to books and technology. By raising our voices together on this day we show the world’s children that we support their future: that they have the right to read, to write, and to share their words to change the world.

To learn more about LitWorld and to register to participate in World Read Aloud Day, please visit: http://litworld.org/wrad

Day 135: I Can't Talk Yet, but When I Do...

We brought this adorable book home from the library last week and it is so sweet that I just had to write about it.  Told from the perspective of a baby brother to his older sister, it tells of all the things he would say to her if he could.  "I can't talk yet, but when I do, I'll say thank you for helping to take care of me... for sharing your toys and making me laugh, and for helping me when I was learning to walk."  The little brother can't wait to be able to tell his big sister how much he loves it when she sings him songs, or that he is sorry about the time he tore the painting she brought home from school.  He'll let her know that when he grows up, he wants to be just like her, and he'll finally be able to say the one thing he wants to tell her most of all: "I love you."  The illustrations are darling, and I just love the different scenes and interactions between the two siblings throughout the book.  My favorite is the one of the brother and sister snuggling together in her bed while she reads him a story by flashlight.  The whole book seems to capture the relationship between my two little ones perfectly, which is why I think I love it so much.  My daughter is starting to be able to say some words, and my son loves asking her to repeat them as often as possible:  "Can you say Ma Ma?  Can you say Da Da?  Can you say Ba Ba?" (which is what he tries to get her to call him.)  I always feel so incredibly fortunate that my children absolutely adore each other, and I know that my daughter idolizes my son in every way.  There is no doubt in my mind that she wants to be just like him, but I know it can still sometimes be hard for my son to understand why my daughter does some of the things she does.  If you have or know a child who has recently become a big brother or sister,  read him or her this book, especially if they are having trouble adjusting to their new role as an older sibling.  It is a charming, sweet, and funny story about the love siblings have for one another, and is a wonderful reminder to all of the big brothers and sisters out there just how much they are looked-up-to, appreciated and loved.

Day 134: The Story Tree

Books on cd are my newest obsession.  I keep a collection of some of our favorites in the console of my car, and listening to them makes any road trip infinitely more fun and enjoyable for all of us.  Books on cd have also proven to be a lifesaver for me at bedtime, as I now have a fun, easy way to help my son wind down and relax while I put my daughter to bed.  He'll lie on his bed with a favorite book and just snuggle up and listen to the story on cd while I put little E down in the next room.  Then, I'll come in and we'll read a few stories together before I shut off the light and let him listen to another story.  Up until recently, my husband or I would lie next to W while he fell asleep, telling him stories that we made up along the way. (We've come up with many new tales of Curious George and Thomas the Tank Engine over the years!)  Now, we have happily added books on cd to our nighttime routine.  I vividly remember listening to the Velveteen Rabbit as I fell asleep each night when I was a little girl.  There is something so soothing about falling asleep to a story, isn't there?  We were lucky to get a few of his favorite stories on cd this past Christmas, but his favorite at the moment (which he has listened to every night for two weeks now) is The Story Tree, a gorgeous anthology collection of traditional folk tales from around the world.  There are seven stories in all, some of which we were happy to discover we already knew from other stories we have read.  Monkey See, Monkey Do, a classic tale from India, is the storyline for the beloved Caps for Sale.  The Blue Coat, a Jewish story, must be the basis for Simms Taback's Caldecott winning Joseph Had a Little Overcoat.  Other stories with which you are probably already familiar include The Little Red Hen (English) and the Three Billy Goats Gruff (Norwegian).  The three remaining tales that make up the Story Tree are The Magic Porridge Pot (German), The Sweetest Song (African-American), and my son's favorite, Little Lord Feather-Frock, a Russian story about a cunning fox, a not-so cunning rooster, and an out-witting duo of a cat and blackbird.  I just love that this book calls attention to the culture or country of origin of each story along the way, and my son loves finding them all on a map. Fortunately, W loves snuggling up and having me read the stories to him just as much as he loves listening them on the cd, though I have to say, I quite enjoy listening to the fabulous narrator Hugh Lipton's lovely British accent.  Sophie Fatus' colorful illustrations are playful and fun, as well, making this story as much fun to see as it is to hear.  I have no doubt that The Story Tree will be read, listened to, and enjoyed many times over in our family in the months and years to come.