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So here’s the deal.  In libraries nationwide there are systems where trained children’s librarians are a scarcity.  There are any number of reasons for this.  It could be that the city or system is low on funds and isn’t hiring.  It could be that there isn’t a reliable library school in the state.  Whatever the case, just because a branch or a library doesn’t have a children’s librarian that doesn’t mean there isn’t a need for storytimes.  It’s not like people stop having kids just because there isn’t any programming for them after all.  In a great many rural libraries there’s no statewide ALA accredited library science program in place.  As for urban libraries where clerks and sometimes even pages are roped into doing the children’s programs that may be because there’s a hiring freeze or the library system stopped doing “specialties”.

What then is the solution?  I’ve seen some states like Vermont create certification programs for people working with children in the libraries, giving them the basic training they need for storytimes and knowledge about the books out there.  Yet even if you have a certification program in place, what people working in children’s programming really need are examples of what other librarians are doing out there.  Many already know that if you want to get examples of great library displays you should go to Pinterest and sites like that but what about hand rhymes?  They’re so hard to do without seeing them done somewhere else first.

Enter Jbrary.  It’s not an original idea to film hand rhymes for your library system.  For example, the King County Library System (which, if I may be allowed to trash talk for a moment, is due to be royally thumped by my system’s sorting machine in this week’s big sort off) has a marvelous collection of hand rhyme videos for the viewing here.  I’ve mentioned them in the past and now I’ve another crew to salute.  Acting on their own, two librarians by the name of Dana and Lindsey have systematically been posting hand rhyme after hand rhyme on YouTube under the moniker of Jbrary.  But that is not all, oh no, that is not all.  They also do songs, rhymes, book reviews, app reviews, craft ideas, and felt board ideas.  Everything, in short, that a budding new children’s professional might need to feel a little less out to sea.

So today, I’ll just show a couple of these.  If you’ve someone in your system in need of some guidance in this area, this isn’t a bad place to turn.

Do I pander?  All right then, I pander.  When you find yourself doing a storytime for the kidlets, you may start to become desperate to hold their attention in some way.  With toddlers I always have the option of singing my head off.  Only a few tots have ever resisted the lure of “The Wheels on the Bus” (the “up and down” part is gold, baby, GOLD!).  Preschoolers don’t mind the occasional song but I’ve often found that sometimes they moan when you fail to read them yet another book.  That is a good sign.  It means (A) that they like books and (B) that they don’t mind hearing YOU read said book.  Today’s particular title came out in board book form not that long ago, but I tend to stick with the old reliable hardcover version.  Sometimes I wonder if the future will consist of a children’s librarian, like myself, holding a big iPad up to a group of kids and reading a book that way.  Then my brain starts spluttering like an overheated engine and I have to place some cooling pads beneath my ears until I regain some level of coherence.

Jeremy Tankard, I have found, is a storytime librarian’s best friend.  There’s not a book he’s produced that doesn’t zap inattentive kids to attention.  This one’s the simplest, but as you can see it reads just fine without needing too much in the way of wordplay.

Name: Me Hungry!
Author/Illustrator: Jeremy Tankard
In Print?: Yep. And available in both hardcover and board book formats.  Paperback is out of stock at the moment.
ISBN: 978-0763633608
Best For: Preschool Storytime

Storytime Suggestions:

Warning: You do run the risk of ending up with a roomful of children who upon returning home will turn to their parental units and demand in tones of indisputable authority, “Me hungry!”  On the other hand, it beats whining.

The book allows you to do a variety of different voices, from the gruff dad to the beleaguered mom to the terrified bunny (who I just noticed, for the first time, appears on the cover as well).

The downside?  Well, as you can see it’s an incredibly fast read.  That means you will retain the audience’s attention, sure, but on the downside it’ll be two minutes long (and only if you really stretch it out).

Storytime Suggestions by Readers Have Included:

• After mentioning Hennepin County Library system’s filmed fingerplays for kids birth to six, Jess at Garish & Tweed pointed out that King County’s wiki includes Fingerplays, Rhymes and Songs that you can watch.  I was delighted to find a version of A Ram Sam Sam that doesn’t go as high, vocally, as the versions I’ve heard before.  Finally I can incorporate it into my storytimes!  Fantastic!
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6 Comments on Storytime Suggestions: Me Hungry! by Jeremy Tankard, last added: 10/8/2010
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Linda Urban said, on 10/7/2010 7:47:00 AM


There is a whole lotta singing at the storytime at my library. I just participated in a Mouse-Themed-Storytime last week and was interested to find that the librarians play cds and sing along that way. It seems to work really well for the very young kids who can’t quite follow the words of a new song, but love bopping and weaving along with the music. Was also interested to learn that we don’t sing about “three blind mice” anymore, nor is there a carving knife involved. These were wild mice who got chased by a cat under a hat.
There’s a lot more that goes into storytime than when I was a kid!

Katherine Tillotson said, on 10/7/2010 8:16:00 AM


Yes, please. Film the storytime suggestions at the library. Priceless!

Sarah Corcoran said, on 10/7/2010 11:47:00 AM


We also do a version of the wheels on the bus and a parent came up with a different verse last week – The teenagers on the bus go text,text, text……
It made us laugh -we also do the bees in the trees go buzz, buzz, buzz. We get 20+ babies to our rhyme time so always looking for new ideas. Keep them coming..

Rachel Payne said, on 10/7/2010 5:29:00 PM


We have toyed with the idea of filming storytimes here in Brooklyn, but some of the legal issues got in the way (needing release forms, confidentiality, etc.). Often caregivers bring the kids to storytime and not parents at some of our libraries, so it can be hard to get a release form for every kid with a parent signature. And if non-release form kid wanders into the frame… As Jeremy Tankard might paraphrase, ME NOT LIKE LEGAL HEADACHES. If anyone knows a way around all this, I would love to hear it!

Elizabeth Bird said, on 10/7/2010 6:08:00 PM


(A) I am stealing the “teens on the bus go ‘text text text’ ” for my next storytime. I’ve even figured out a fun hand motion.
(B) There are many songs from my youth that I cannot use in storytime. I really want to do the “Little Rabbit in the Woods” song, as I can remember all the hand motions. The problem? The words are “Little rabbit in the woods / Little man by the window stood / Saw a rabbit hopping there / Knocking on my door. / Help me, help me, help, he said / Or the hunter will shoot me dead / Little rabbit come to me / Safely you shall always be.” The problem is the shooting motion. Each week I try to get the guts up to do it. Each week I have vision of Manhattanite mothers wacking me about the ears with their Gucci purses about making a gun motion with their children. But the temptation remains . . . .

Jeremy Tankard said, on 10/8/2010 6:18:00 PM


Don’t worry, kids, it isn’t the same rabbit from Grumpy Bird. This one died millions of years ago. The one in Grumpy Bird is still very much alive.

I really enjoyed your reading of Me Hungry, Betsy. Priceless. You’ve given me some ideas for my own readings. Thanks so much for blogging about my book. It’s nice to know that something I enjoyed creating so much is being enjoyed by lots of children (and adults!).

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Herein lies the third installment of my Storytime Suggestions series.  We covered Toddlers.  We covered Preschoolers.  Now a little something for the older tykes.  I’m talking the K-2 crowd.  Maybe my favorite age to read books to, truth be told.  These are the kids I feel more comfortable experimenting on with new picture books.

It was difficult to choose where to begin.  There are so many titles out there that I adore!  But my surefire winner, hands down, has to be Fortunately by Remy Charlip.  As you can see, it has a truly magnificent arc.

Name: Fortunately
Author: Remy Charlip
In Print?: Yes! In paperback, but we’ll take what we can get.
ISBN: 978-0-375-85937-3
Best For: The K-2 crowd
Random Fact: Well, the book was originally published in 1964. And according to a commenter on Amazon (clearly I go to only the most reputable sources for my information), in 1969 the title was changed to What Good Luck! What Bad Luck! The reasoning? Who knows. In any case, it was changed back, though you can still find paperback editions of What Good Luck… floating around for sale online. If you’re a dedicated Charlip collector, of course.

Folks may know Charlip for his impressive picture books, popular for decades.  Most recently he was immortalized in Brian Selznick’s Caldecott Award winning The Invention of Hugo Cabret.  A fan of Charlip’s for years, Selznick realized that the man was the spitting image of George Melies, old timey filmmaker.  See?

Later, when Selznick gave his acceptance speech, Charlip was present and received a standing ovation.

Storytime Suggestions:

It’s all in the intonation.  The four syllables of the word “for-tu-nate-ly” resonate so well sometimes.  It helps to look really regretful every time things do not work out for little Ned.  His pain is your pain.  His joys, your joys.  Of course, around the time the motor explodes, they’ll be riveted, no matter how you read it.  The book is just that good.

I’ll admit to you that I enjoy the first half of the this book more than the second half.  The high point, for me anyway, is when he missed the pitchfork.  The story does well with the sharks and the tigers, but by the time Ned (how awesome is it that the main character’s name is Ned, by the way?) starts digging I feel like it’s not quite as strong.  That said, to the book’s credit I’ve never had a kid question the logic behind the fact that Ned somehow manages to dig himself from an island into a ballroom in Florida.

What kids really love about this book is that there are several moments there where it seems pretty certain that we&rsqu

That went well!  A week or two ago I announced that I would begin a new series on this blog.  My idea was that children’s librarians always want to see how other children’s librarians tell different stories.  It gives us ideas.  We can steal ways of telling books and incorporate them into our own storytimes.  So I did a post called Storytime Suggestions that consisted of a video of me reading The Noisy Counting Book by Susan Schade along with suggestions on how to present it.

Well I had so much fun that I’m doing it again!  And since we already did a Toddler Storytime book last time, let’s go for a Preschool Storytime book this time!

We begin.

Name: Rhyming Dust Bunnies
Author: Jan Thomas
In Print?: You bet.
ISBN: 978-1-4169-7976-0
Best For: Preschool Storytime

Storytime Suggestions: While there’s nothing saying you couldn’t present this book to a group of toddlers or even second graders, I personally feel that the ideal audience for this book is preschoolers (which is to say, 3-5 year olds).  First off, when each Dust Bunny asks for words that rhyme with “car” or “cat”, sometimes an enterprising preschooler will interject with suggestions of their own.  You can totally use that.  And that makes Bob’s ill-rhymed words all the better.

Some librarians I know have performed a kind of Readers’ Theater with this book.  They’ve taken colored fluff, be it faux fur or colored cotton balls, and stuck ‘em on the ends of pencils or popsicle sticks.  Or, if your office looks anything like my own, you can grab actual dust bunnies and give ‘em a dye job.  And googly eyes.  Be sure you are well stocked in googly eyes.

The advantage of any Jan Thomas book is that it reads well from a distance.  Now in this video I cut off the side of the book once in a while, but it’s rarely a problem because the images are so doggone big.  Thomas participates in what I like to call The Todd Parr/Lucy Cousins Effect.  Which is to say, if you combine thick black lines and bold colors, kids go gaga.  Add in some humor and you’ve come up with the world’s greatest readalouds.

When doing a Jan Thomas books in a preschool storytime you can always begin with this one after the preliminaries.  It doesn’t get the children so riled up they won’t sit for more books (unlike, say, Can You Make a Scary Face?), though they may be baffled by the ending.  I love Ms. Thomas but while her books read aloud beautifully, her en

We’re trying some new today, kids.  Bear with me.

Today marks the official re-release of one of the greatest storytime picture books of all time.  Ladies and gentlemen, I have been a one-woman-band for the power, glory, and overall wonderfulness that is The Noisy Counting Book.  It is my storytime staple.  I might forget the Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr.  I might eschew the Old MacDonald lift-the-flap book by Jessica Souhami.  But never will I ever give up my Noisy Counting Book.

Until today, literally today, The Noisy Counting Book (written by Susan Schade and illustrated by her husband Jon Buller) has been out-of-print.  But as of RIGHT NOW it has appeared back on the market.  At long last, you too can buy a couple copies.  I won’t have to rely on New York Public Library’s single, dilapidated, near-death circulating edition for much longer.

Which got me to thinking about how I could properly celebrate this release.  What would be a proper send-off into the world?  Then it hit me.  For a while I have toyed with the notion of a regular series called Storytime Suggestions.  These would be fairly simple.  Children’s librarians are constantly in need of new ideas for their storytimes.  I know I am.  I have some fun staples on hand, but I always need new books.  Yet even when a fellow librarian tells me how great a book is to read for kids, sometimes I want to see them present it firsthand.  I mean, if you read Bark, George by Jules Feiffer while wearing rubber latex gloves for effect, I wanna see how you pull that off!  How do you modulate your voice for Snip Snap, What’s That? by Mara Bergman?  The solution?  Video.

Here’s the notion.  Starting with this book, I intend to regularly film myself reading some of my favorite picture books for different audiences.  My ultimate hope is that other children’s librarians will start doing the same thing.  Then maybe we could have an exchange of different ideas.  I’m sure people have been doing this on YouTube for years in some capacity, of course.  I’ll just dip my toe in.

Now first, I’ll show the video of me reading the book.  You won’t be able to see the pictures in the book all that clearly thanks to my use of a Flip Camera, but at least you’ll be able to get a sense of how I like to read it.  Then, I’ll offer background on the book and some alternative reading ideas.

We begin.

Name: The Noisy Counting Book
Author: Susan Schade
Illustrator: Jon Buller