One of the things that I love about storytime is that is it dynamic and interactive. Often I go into a storytime with a plan, and an idea of the way things will go, but children are a wily audience, and today was no exception.

I was doing a classroom storytime with the theme of Friendship. In my packet was Chris Raschka's Yo! Yes? about two boys striking up a friendship with very few words but a lot of meaning. As I told the kids, sometimes its not just what you say, but how you say it. Also, a fantastic lesson in punctuation. 

Anyway, we had gorgeous sunny weather today, and as a result, the teacher gave the kid extra recess time before my storytime, so these 3-4 year olds were super rambunctious and wiggly. To try to grab their attention I asked them to say the title along with me, and so I got a big YO! and a huge YES? and then I started the story.

To my surprise, the kids repeated every word I said, as I read it! It turned out to be so much fun! All of our voices in a call and response of  "Yo! Yes? You! Me?" put a whole new spin on the book and actually had the kids using the different intonations that the changing punctuation require. Supercool. Supercool!

Just goes to show, storytime is never quite what you expect. 

 

Want to read to your baby, but not sure where to start? Here is a breakdown of some of the best board books around! I've presented an age range of roughly birth to one year, with a few exceptions. While some of these titles are available in picture book format, I recommend the board book edition in order to best withstand a baby's love - especially when they get to the throwing and banging stage. This list is a jumping off point - feel free to add your own favorites in the comments section.

Enjoy!

High-contrast, black and white books. Books by Tana Hoban and Peter Linenthal are the go-to for this category. Designed for the earliest babies, the high contrast provides baby with much needed visual stimulation, and are a great starting point for introducing your baby to board books. Check out Look Look! by Peter Linenthal and Black & White by Tana Hoban. For more information about the role black and white images play in stimulating visual stimulation and brain development, click here.

Lift the Flap Books Particularly good as an interactive component, as your child tries to grab and experience everything she sees. Good additions to your library include Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell, Where is Baby's Bellybutton? by Karen Katz, Where's Spot by Eric Hill, and Who's at Home? by Nancy Davis.

Texture/Interactive/Mirror Books As your baby begins to explore their world with all five senses, books like Pat the Bunny by Dorothy Kunhardt, or various Touch and Feel books are a must. Babies love looking at themselves, so Nina Laden's Peek-A-Who?, which ends with baby looking at a mirror, is a big hit.

Books with Baby Faces Babies love looking at other babies! As their brains are hardwired to learn from other faces, babies love books with photographs of babies experiencing differing emotions or actions. Great books to try are Baby Faces by Margaret Miller, Baby! Talk! by Penny Gentieu, and vaious books by Roberta Grobel Intrater. For fun, here is a database created by a librarian whose baby loved books with baby faces.

Babies of Every Color It is sometimes to find board books with racially diverse offerings. Look for books by Margaret Miller, Roberta Grobel Intrater, Karen Katz, Jabari Asim and Rachel Isadora.

Books by Eric Carle There is something about the bright colorful illustration of an Eric Carle book that really appeals to babies. Carle's collage art is simple, yet bold and expressive. For babies, try Brown Bear Brown Bear, What Do You See? and the Very Hungry Caterpillar; little fingers especially love "eating" from pears to pickles in this intricate little caterpillar adventure. If these are successful, and as your babies moves past their first birthday, try Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See? as well as The Very Lonely Firefly, and The Very Busy Spider.

Books by Sandra Boynton Another artist who is a big hit with the baby and toddler crowd, try Moo Baa La La as a jumping off point. Boynton's animals are full of joie de vivre and handle a range of topics from bellybuttons to pajama time.

Song Board Books by Annie Kubler Classic songs and nursery rhymes like Head Shoulders Knees and Toes and Itsy Bitsy Spider are broken down to their actions in these large-scale board books. For example, in Head Shoulders Knees and Toes, Kulber's watercolored babies first touch their head, then the next page, their toes, and so on, along to the lyrics of the song. The full song and musical score are printed on the back of each book. Your baby will soon want you to sing the song and do the actions with her, making these books a great introduction to music and movement.  Kubler also has a great board book of baby's first signs.

And in no particular category, these books are just plain fun:

The Baby Goes Beep by Rebecca O'Connell is a day in the life of a baby, from pretending to beep beep beep beep a car horn in the morning to falling asleep to shh shh shh shh at night, this large-sized board book with colorful illustrations is a lot of fun for baby and parent alike.

Steve Light's two board books, Trucks Go, and Train Go, are a delight for any baby interested in the onomatopoeia of trucks and trains. Don't be surprised if your baby signs for "more" as you turn the pages. The watercolor is lush and bold, and you'll love hearing your baby giggle when you give a Chugga Chugga or a Whee-OO, Whee-OO.

Hello, Animals!  and Hello, Bugs! by Smriti Prasadam are fun for the younger baby. Bold black and white illustrated combined splashes of shiny foil insets makes these fun and exciting for your developing baby.

Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown is a classic board book, which, may be repetitive to the adult reader, becomes more and more complex as baby learns to identify different objects in the great green room. Brown's rhyme is soothing as the little bunny slowly falls asleep by saying good-night to everything he sees. Also check-out The Runaway Bunny as a nighttime favorite.

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. is a great first alphabet book. Read it with baby on your knee and make sure to bounce for every Chicka Chicka Boom Boom!

Why I'm here...

When I was in graduate school, I interned at a small public library system. I did reference work at the main branch, and then traveled to the smaller branches to observe storytimes and other youth activities.

One morning I was signed up to observe a toddler storytime. As the librarian began the opening song, I noticed a mother of two, sitting off to the side, completely asleep. While her toddler sat front row center, laughing and participating, this exhausted woman gently swayed in her own private dreamland for the whole storytime, her baby nestled against her chest in a sling. As the librarian did the closing song, the children's clapping jolted her awake, and she looked around to see if anyone had noticed.

Whenever I'm planning a storytime, or thinking about children's services, this mother, and other parents like her, pop into my head. This blog is inspired by the parents who drive to the library on little sleep, who coordinate their work schedules around family storytime, and to those who bring their textbooks and study in the back. To those parents, and the fantastic youth librarians who serve them, this is me, giving a little back.