Nursery Rhyme Time Basics

A good morning song (sung vaguely to This Old Man)

Peek-a-boo, I see you! I can clap and you can too.
Clapping hands is what we do, clapping hands just me and you.

Peek-a-boo, I see you! I can tap my feet and so can you.
Tapping feet is what we do, tapping feet just me and you.

Peek-a-boo, I see you! I can roll my arms and so can you.
Rolling arms is what we do, rolling arms just me and you.

Peek-a-boo, I see you! I can reach up high and so can you.
Reaching up high is fun to do, reaching up high just me and you.

Peek-a-boo, I see you! I can say hi and so can you.
Saying hi is what we do, saying hi just me and you.


Fee Fi Fo Fum, Here's my fingers and here's my thumb.
Goodbye fingers, goodbye thumb!

a good segueway to:

Where is Thumbkin? Where is Thumbkin?
here I am, here I am.
How are you today, sir?
very well, I thank you.
Run away, run away.

Another fun thumb song is:

Tommy Thumbs up and Tommy Thumbs down
Tommy Thumbs dancing all around the town
dance 'em on your shoulders, dance 'em on your head,
dance 'em on your knees, and tuck him into bed.

Also for the wee ones:

two little eyes to look around
two little ears to hear each sound
one little nose to smell what's sweet
and one little mouth that likes to eat!

and the classic (count your fingers at the end!)

Open, shut them, open, shut them,
give a little clap clap clap
open shut them, open shut them,
put them in your lap, lap, lap

creep them, crawl them, creep them, crawl them,
right up to your chin chin chin
open wide your little mouth -
- but do not let them in!

in the middle of the program, I like to do a book, a flannel board, a puppet, all with a theme, but with similar beginnings and endings.

A good ending song is this one sung (vaguely) to London Bridge:

Baby hands are rolling round, rolling round, rolling round,
baby hands are rolling round, my sweet baby.

Baby hands can clap a sound, clap a sound, clap a sound,
baby hands can clap a sound, my sweet baby.

Baby hands can pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake,
baby hands can pat-a-cake, my sweet baby.

Baby hands can wave bye bye, wave bye bye, wave bye bye,
baby hands can wave bye, bye, my sweet baby.

more to come...

Story Poems good for Readers' Theatre

The Oxford Book of Story Poems by Michael Harrison

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A thoughtfully compiled book of story poems, many of which will not be immediately familiar but are worth knowing. The illustrations add just the right note, a blend of black and white sketches and colorful spreads. Opening with the brief Fairy Story by Stevie Smith proving that a story poem need not be long to be effective. I think a good deal of these would be very effectively transformed into readers' theatre for performance.



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Library Window Painting

The Summer Reading Program was on "the Lions and Tigers and Bears, oh my!" theme - a forest scene, jungle, ocean, and pastorial. Then they were covered with paper cut-outs of animals, one per each book read. It is a testament to the great reading of the kids that by mid-August, the windows and these painted images were entirely hidden under little paper squares. Good Reading, everyone!

I heart Daniel Handler

Catching up on a stack of New York Times book reviews, I open DH's review of a batch of new kid at school books under the heading of Settling In. (August 21).
His opening lines make me remember why I think he is just the hoot of all time - "Will you be my friend? With the possible exception of "Does this look infected?," there is no more off-putting question."
Plus he uses the word "alas" all the time, a word I am quite fond of...I think it would be lovely if he dedicated himself to rewriting all the tedious manuals in the world so learning how to operate my new camera or how to assemble an Ikea bookshelf that seems to be missing screws had a certain lightness of wit to the work. Alas, I fear he will not be doing this any time soon.

Books that should be movies

Why The True Meaning of Smekday isn't a movie by now is beyond me. Great adventure and characters and imagination and wit. The main character is the kind of girl that girls need to see more of in movies - brave and strong (even when terrified) smart and true. A novel by Adam Rex I have been recommending to kids ever since it came out.
And Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle - years ago the then young Winona Ryder would have been perfect for it. Everyone who reads this becomes another fan of this underground cult classic. Made into a play, it still deserves major Hollywood or Indie treatment.
And then of course, Fledgling by Octavia Butler. You want action? We got action? You want kick ass? We got kick ass. And pathos, drama, humanity.
Moviemakers - where are you?

Brief round-up and a monkey and friends

The library summer windows have been up since mid-June and I still haven't gotten around to uploading them; summer does come in swinging. Well, here is at least one of our animal themed windows (now merrily covered with paper animals, one per each book read, from our eager summer readers. Here's an oldish but nice interview with a librarian and writer, Barbara Ann Porte (yes, I know, I am just fileboxing here for my own selfish pleasures),
a good blog to know for rockin' music for the young set...argh, dog chewing his biscuit on the bed, OFF! and Off to sleep as well. (terrible round-up and have scads more to share...another time when it is not past the midnight hour).

a whiff of old books, a hush, a pensive air...

Sometimes it seems that the aim of modernity is to flush the romance out of life. the library, with its Daedalian labyrinth, mysteroius hush, and faintly ominous aroma of knowledge, has been replaced by the computer's cheap glow, pesky chirp, and data spillage.

- P.J. O'Rourke