a bear, a fish, and a fishy wish by Daniel Bernstrom

The bear just wants to eat. The fish just wants to go home. Can two different wishes come true at the same time? 

Thoughts: Such a fun book. I love the minimal text and the detailed illustrations. Pair with Max and Bird by Ed Vere, Chez Bob by Bob Shea, and Chicken Little and the Big Bad Wolf by Sam Wedelich. I look forward to adding this book to my bears storytime in the fall. 

Activity sheets available on the publisher's website here. 

Themes: Fish, Bears, Forest, Predator & Prey 

(Illustrated by Brandon James Scott. Hippo Park, 2024.)

Mouse & Friends Party

I hosted this event at all my libraries last summer as our final event of the season before I took a much needed break. 

The event started with a storytime. Here's that outline: 

• Listening Song: “If You Want to Hear a Story”
• Book: If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff
• Flannel Board Activity: If You Give…
• Book: If You Give a Pig a Party by Laura Numeroff
• Activity: Animal Movement Cards (Juni Printables on Teachers Pay Teachers)
• Book: If You Give a Cat a Cupcake by Laura Numeroff
• Flannel Board: Ice Cream
• Activity: Dinosaur Movement Cards (Cassie @ 3Dinosaurs.com)
• Book: If You Give a Mouse a Brownie by Laura Numeroff

After storytime there were games and a craft.

We made Party Pigs. This idea was inspired by Pinterest, but I couldn't find a resource link.

We played Keep It Up with balloons. 

We went on a Mouse and Friends Scavenger Hunt. 

Finally, I sent the kids home with lots of activities. They are listed below. 

• Sweet Stories (If You Give a Mouse a Cookie)
• What’s a Party without Cake? (If You Give a Pig a Party)
• Color Cat’s Cupcakes (If You Give a Cat a Cupcake)
• Make Your Own Sweet Story (If You Give a Dog a Donut)
• Beyond the Brownie (If You Give a Mouse a Brownie)
• All the above are from https://mousecookiebooks.com/.
• Suggest a Title… (Created by me)
• Why Does Mouse Get to Go Everywhere? (Created by me)

154 people attended my four parties. Of the 154, 94 were children. A very successful event that I will definitely repeat in the future. If you're interested I previously blogged about this event back in 2013. 

Five Bears by Catherine Rayner

One bear out for a walk meets another bear and so the story goes on. 

Thoughts: A lovely story about bears and friendship. I like that five bear species are together in one book. I look forward to adding this to my bears storytime. The illustrations are just what I've come to expect from Catherine Rayner. I like that each bear while drawn in her style has a unique appearance and personality. 

From the Author's Website

• How to Draw Five Bears
• Activity Sheets for Five Bears

Themes: Bears

(Boxer Books, 2022.)

Party Animals by Tara Lazar

It's all party, all the time with the Party Animals. Anything can inspire a party. Even sour milk. 

Thoughts: A fun book about unusual parties. Parents: pair this book with World Rat Day: Poems about Holidays You've Never Heard of by J. Patrick Lewis (What a coincidence! It's also illustrated by Anna Raff), to plan an unusual party. The vocabulary is top notch. The illustrations are bright and colorful. 

You can download activity sheets from the publisher's website here. 

Themes: Parties

(Illustrated by Anna Raff. Disney Hyperion, 2025.)

Mo Willems Party 2022

In honor of the new Pigeon book that came out in September of 2022, I hosted a Mo Willems Party in October that year. 

I read the new book plus one Elephant and Piggie book that I selected at each branch. So I read the following:

• We Are in a Book! 
• Let's Go for a Drive! 
• Pigs Make Me Sneeze! 
• There is a Bird on Your Head! 

Our craft was Elephant and Piggie Paper Bag Puppets. To keep the party timely, I operated this on a Make One and Take One Principle unless I just had a few kids and we had time to do both. 

For our game we did the Bird's Nest Relay as described by Melissa Depper on her blog. 

We went on a Mo Willems Character Scavenger Hunt. For full details on how I created this hunt, see my 2019 Mo Willems Party post.

I sent the kids home with lots of activity sheets from Mo's website. See them here. 

Over four parties, 43 people attended and 24 of those were children. 

I Am Not Your Hat! by Lisa Bentley

Bert and Dot are friends. Everything is perfect until the day Dot is mistaken for a hat and Bert goes along with it. 

Thoughts: A great book about being yourself, being kind to others, and what it means to be a friend. The illustrations are wonderful. So colorful and full of expression and movement. I'm assuming Bert is an emu. I wonder what kind of bid Dot is? Whatever she is, she's fabulous. From her color to her feathers. My favorite illustrations are "I AM NOT YOUR HAT!" and the field of Dots. I look forward to sharing this book in storytime soon. 

Themes: Birds, Friends

(Simon and Schuster, 2025.)

This Is Not a Polar Bear! by Barry Timms

Hello. You might think this animal is a polar bear, but you would be wrong. It's not a polar bear, it's a ...

Thoughts: What a fun book! I read another book in this series back in the spring (This Is Not a Unicorn!) and it was just as delightful. The illustrations are bright and colorful and I love all the imagination that goes into what the polar bear is. Now that I know there's a third book in the series, I might just have a Barry Timms storytime. 

Themes: Polar Bears, Animal Friends

(Illustrated by Ged Adamson. Nosy Crow, 2025.)

All the Books by Hayley Rocco

Piper loves books. She owns all her favorites and keeps them with her everywhere she goes. She doesn't share them. On a rainy day, a catastrophe leads her to the most wondrous place, a library. Maybe, just maybe, sharing books is better than keeping them all to yourself. 

Thoughts: A wonderful homage to books, reading, and libraries. I can understand Piper's unwillingness to share her books. I'm quite like that myself. I will share, but I buy an extra copy. The illustrations are colorful and I love how life like all the animals look. I plan to share this book with slightly older kids than my storytime crowd. All the Books will be perfect to share with first and second graders when I visit their classes and share about the library. 

You'll find a downloadable storytime kit on the publisher's website.

Themes: Libraries, Books, Reading, Elementary

(Illustrated by John Rocco. Little, Brown and Company, 2024)