Let's Eat! Family Storytime

1. Vintage dollhouse food from Juliet Pain
   
   
   Let's Eat!
   
   
   
   As always, I like to have a big pile of titles to choose from, but I usually only get in 3 or 4 at my evening storytime.
   
   
   
   I will definitely highlight Monster's Don't Eat Broccoli, which contains this charming refrain: "Fum, foe. fie, fee, monsters don't eat broccoli!". I think that the kids will love it!
   
   
   
   
   The Runaway Dinner by Allan Ahlberg & Bruce Ingham
   Mean Soup by Betsy Everitt
   Monsters Don't Eat Broccoli by Barbara Jean Hicks, Illus. by Sue Hendra
   Badger's Fancy Meal by Keiko Kasza
   All For Pie, Pie for All by David Martin, Illus. by Valeri Gorbachev
   Stone Soup told by Tony Ross
   Sheep Out to Eat by Nancy Shaw, Illus. by Margot Apple
   Fast Food! Gulp! Gulp! by Bernard Waber
   Two Eggs, Please by Sarah Weeks and Betsy Lewin
   
   "Vegetable Soup Song", courtesy of Preschool Education
   
   Sung to: "Farmer in the Dell"
   
   The soup is boiling up
   The soup is boiling up
   Stir slow-around we go
   The soup is boiling up.
   
   First we add the broth
   
   First we add the broth
   
   Stir slow-around we go
   
   The soup is boiling up.
   
   
   Now we add some carrots
   
   Now we add some carrots
   
   Stir slow-around we go
   
   The soup is boiling up.
   
   
   Continue with whichever vegetables you children want. Have the children stand around a large imaginary pot pretending to stir the soup.
   

National Book Award Finalists: Young People's Literature

Deborah Heiligman, Charles and Emma: The Darwins’ Leap of Faith

Phillip Hoose, Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice

David Small, Stitches

Laini Taylor, Lips Touch: Three Times

Rita Williams-Garcia, Jumped

Young People's Literature Judges: Kathi Appelt, Coe Booth, Carolyn Coman, Nancy Werlin, Gene Luen Yang

Click the names above for book descriptions.

I have only read Stitches so far, and I think that it is very interesting. I have mentioned before that I'm not generally a graphic novel fan, but this one bowled me over. I am familiar with David Small through his children's book illustrations, and even met him and his lovely and sweet wife Sarah Stewart back in the early 1990s. So, I might be slightly biased, but I think that his story of childhood trauma and recovery is tops.

I also have (have had prior to this finalist announcement) a request in for Laini Taylor's new book. I read her fantasy novel Blackbringer from the Faeries of Dreamdark series and I thought it was original and memorable, so I want to see what else she's cooked up.


I plan to read the other finalists. Have you read any?

Unshelved's Pimp My Bookcart Contest Entries

Click to enlarge strip

Are you familiar with Unshelved, the comic strip about libraries? It is done by Bill Barnes and Gene Ambaum and for the last four years running, they have sponsored a Pimp My Bookcart contest. Contestants find a crummy old cart, pick a theme and pretty it up.

Here are a few of my favorites, but don't forget to go to Unshelved and find your own!








Where are the Wild Things? by Beaumont Branch of the Lexington Public Library


Horton Hears a Who by Monroe County Public Library (Bloomington, IN): Collection Services



Wild About Reading by Mount Laurel Library