2-3 and 3-5 storytime: Pig Out

My system doesn't require us to use themes. Indeed, we're (rightly) encouraged to lean toward books we and the kids love over books that fit any particular pattern. But the parents still ask what today's stories are about (and I still get excited about finding another cool dog book!)

Last week, upon discovering Angela Johnson's Julius, I went with pigs. Animal themes are easy. The book has bright, exciting funny illustrations. Books about Alaskan pigs are rare. Furthermore I'm always on the lookout for really good storytime books starring African-American kids. Unfortunately, I don't think this one counts, at least not for the 3-5 crowd. Julius teaches Maya and her parents a lot about life that might be a little over the head of your average 3 or 4 year old. The funny details in the pictures, too, are lost beyond the first few rows. Maybe I'll try it with a (smaller) group of older kids.

If anyone out there in publishing is reading: Please publish more 2-5 age story time books with African American main characters! By story time books, I mean books:

- with pictures identifiable from about ten feet away
- with no more than a few sentences on each page,
- that make kids and librarians fall in love with them.

If they are really big, or rhyme, or have lines that repeat, or invite fun sounds, or are actually written and/or illustrated by African American people, then so much the better.

There are quite a few out there that almost seem to fit (The adventures of Sparrowboy by Brian Pinkney and the Jamela books by Niki Daly come to mind for older kids), but they have too many words, or plots that are too complicated, or they just don't quite lend themselves to reading in story time (too many little "aside" words that don't flow when you're reading them aloud.)

I'm looking forward to doing Whistle for Willie by Ezra Jack Keats and "Please, puppy, please" by Spike Lee (!) for an upcoming doggy story time. We did I can do it too! by Karen Baicker a few months ago. If anyone has any other currently existing suggestions, let me know!

end rant/plea.

McPhail's Pigs Aplenty, Pigs Galore! Rings of Poe's "The Raven" and Dr. Seuss ("Get out, you pigs/ You pigs, get out!") If the rhyme and rhythm and ridiculousness doesn't interest them, "Pigs from England/ Pigs from France,/ Pigs in just/ Their underpants" is sure to get a reaction. I wanted to push the kids to take it home so they had time to examine the hoards of piggies and their misdeeds. I think it would have gone over better with the 3-5 year olds if I'd read it first. Too old for the 2-3s, after all, I think.
A Birthday for Cow was not too old. The little ones loved me shouting gleefully about turnips, and the adults laughed through the whole thing (which of course spurred the kids to laugh louder without really knowing why.) Didn't get as good a reaction from the 3-5 I think, but by that point all the baby siblings were fussing and everyone was a little distracted. (While the book is not about a pig, it does feature one. And hey, I've bee looking for an excuse to use it for awhile.)

I included Antoinette Portis' Not a Stick for the younger ones in lieu of Julius. The grown ups were shouting out what the stick was now each page, the kids were entranced. Sure they'd just heard Not a Box when my esteemed colleague did Bunny story time a few weeks ago, but no one seemed to mind.

Probably the most successful in both groups was "No Butterball" from Phyllis Noe Pflomm's Chalk in Hand: The Draw and Tell Book. Summary: A little girl named Charlotte looks everywhere for her pet pig and can't find her until she returns home and- surprise!- the pig appears on the chalk board on which you've been tracing Charlotte's journey. I re-dubbed Butterball "Snowball," because 1) Snowball is not a turkey and 2) the story indicates a pet pig, and "butterball" makes me think of groceries. If you'd rather, little Charlotte could be searching for Butterball in order to serve her at a luau, and the little mud puddle surrounding her at the end could be rendered as leaping flames. But I prefer to wait until they're ready for Charlotte's Web. The smaller kids didn't shout out "There's a pig!" until the very end; the older ones only let me get halfway through, but both had fun.