This week in story time we had a “Monster Theme.” I like to base my 3 & up story times around a particular book. Though my “planning-ahead” skills are not the best, to the constant aggravation of my staff, I do try to plan out the books & themes of each week per season ahead of time. Right now we are in Winter & Spring Story Times – which takes us from January to May. Some programs themes are based on holidays or the season change, but I like to highlight particular books that I think the kids and parents will enjoy and that also may not be something they’ve seen before.
So, this week’s book was Jeremy Draws a Monster by Peter McCarty. This book was one of my pics for the 2010 Caldecott. It’s the story of a lonely boy who never leaves his house but loves to draw. He draws a monster, which comes alive and proceeds to demand things like sandwiches and arm chairs. Eventually Jeremy draws the monster a suitcase and a one-way bus ticket. Jeremy walks the monster to the bus, and after the monster is out of sight, Jeremy realizes he is outside. The neighborhood kids ask him to play. “And they did.”
Very cute. Great illustrations. The kids really liked it, especially when I do the demanding monster voice. “Draw me a sandwich!”
The other book we read was When a Monster is Born by Sean Taylor and illustrated by Nick Sharratt. Great book. A little longer, but it keeps their attention. The repetitive “2 possibilities” keeps them involved and eager for what will happen next. The illustrations are bold and easy to see. And it’s funny. Always a plus.
We made tube sock monsters that came out so cute! Definitely needed parents help for this one, but the end result was totally worth it and the kids had a blast creating their monsters. One little girl was deathly afraid of monsters, but she laughed at all the books and I made sure to add after each books that monsters weren’t real. Her mother informed me that she wakes up at least 3 times a night because of monsters in her room. This gave me an idea.
I asked the girl if she knew about the “Monster Rule”. She didn’t, but looked intrigued. Well, I explained, the rule is that you can’t have more than one monster in a room at the same time. So, if you make a monster here and take it home and put it in your room, it will make all the other monsters go away. She looked at me with wide eyes. Her mother silently thanked me. The girl asked me if she gave her sock monster crazy arms and lots of eyes, if it would really scare the other monsters away. I said definitely. She got so excited and worked on that sock monster for over 30 minutes. I have yet to hear if the “Monster Rule” worked, but for her parent’s sake, I hope it did!
So, this week’s book was Jeremy Draws a Monster by Peter McCarty. This book was one of my pics for the 2010 Caldecott. It’s the story of a lonely boy who never leaves his house but loves to draw. He draws a monster, which comes alive and proceeds to demand things like sandwiches and arm chairs. Eventually Jeremy draws the monster a suitcase and a one-way bus ticket. Jeremy walks the monster to the bus, and after the monster is out of sight, Jeremy realizes he is outside. The neighborhood kids ask him to play. “And they did.”
Very cute. Great illustrations. The kids really liked it, especially when I do the demanding monster voice. “Draw me a sandwich!”
The other book we read was When a Monster is Born by Sean Taylor and illustrated by Nick Sharratt. Great book. A little longer, but it keeps their attention. The repetitive “2 possibilities” keeps them involved and eager for what will happen next. The illustrations are bold and easy to see. And it’s funny. Always a plus. We made tube sock monsters that came out so cute! Definitely needed parents help for this one, but the end result was totally worth it and the kids had a blast creating their monsters. One little girl was deathly afraid of monsters, but she laughed at all the books and I made sure to add after each books that monsters weren’t real. Her mother informed me that she wakes up at least 3 times a night because of monsters in her room. This gave me an idea.
I asked the girl if she knew about the “Monster Rule”. She didn’t, but looked intrigued. Well, I explained, the rule is that you can’t have more than one monster in a room at the same time. So, if you make a monster here and take it home and put it in your room, it will make all the other monsters go away. She looked at me with wide eyes. Her mother silently thanked me. The girl asked me if she gave her sock monster crazy arms and lots of eyes, if it would really scare the other monsters away. I said definitely. She got so excited and worked on that sock monster for over 30 minutes. I have yet to hear if the “Monster Rule” worked, but for her parent’s sake, I hope it did!
