Young Adult Lit.

I found this list of 100 Young Adult Books for the Feminist Reader.  Don't let the title scare you off.  I bet you have read a of few of these books which mainly have strong female characters.  Take a look-you won't know which book to read first. I'm going with a fluff read-nice escape-Dreamland by Sarah Dessen (#28).  If you are looking for something amazing-especially since it will soon be a movie- try The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (#23).  This book and series crosses all age lines and can be read and enjoyed by everyone in your family.

100 young adult books
Dreamland
The Hunger Games

Picture books

It's the nature of my job-but I do read a lot of picture books.  I read at least six per day on a story time day and I am always searching for some great new picture books to add to the story time themes.  This week my theme was silly books.  As you can imagine there are lots to choose from and I read some fun books this week.  One book that went really well was Duck! Rabbit! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, illustrated by Tom Lichteheld (Chronicle Books, 2009).  The illustrations are amazing.  Depending on how you look at the illustrations you may see a form of a duck or the form of a rabbit.  The author goes from one voice  claiming the form is a duck and the other voice claiming the form is a rabbit.  The toddlers and preschoolers that I read this book to were mesmerized and I could tell they were trying to discern the forms as I read.  Even the parents were intrigued which always leads me to believe that the book is a winner.  I could hear the oohs, aahs and chuckles of the parents as I read.  I love when a story time book is a hit!

This image was taken from Amazon-follow this link to take a look inside.
http://www.amazon.com/Duck-Rabbit-Amy-Krouse-Rosenthal/dp/0811868656/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1299945360&sr=1-1

Just read a book -will ya'

So it's babytime this morning and we had just finished going through our first set of songs and rhymes-Skinnamarink, 10 little fingers and Ladies Ride-and I stood up to start the flannel counting.  From the back of the room one of my story time regulars, he's about two,  shouted "Read a Book!". He was tired of all the nonsense that we had to go through just to get to the book. I laughed as well as everyone else in the room.  The pressure was on-I hope I didn't disappoint him.

In the toddler story time one of my regulars-a three year old boy-didn't want to stand up for "Jump and Count" because his shoes didn't work. They looked fine to me but I let him know that he could just watch.  Well, we got to three and he was up-he said his shoes were now working.  Certain songs kids can not resist-"Wheels on the Bus" and "Jump and Count".

The story time lady is about to start

Why? You ask.  Why do you have to blog too?  And I say...Why not?  Maybe it will just be fond reminders of my days as the story time lady, and maybe no one will enjoy it as much as I do-but here goes. 

I have performed, and yes that is the term for story times, seven story time per week for three years, and I have to admit it is the best job in the world.  Nothing starts my workday better than a two year old who sees me come around the corner with an armful of books, flannels and some rockin' story time music to see her face light up with happiness.  She shouts  "Brown Bear"  with a big smile then goes on to request "Old MacDonald" and tells me "good job" as I go along.  Ahh, the simple pleasures of childhood and combine that with a rockin' story time it is an awesome day.

"Hey, the story time lady is about to start-go seat down and listen to the books."