Bearnard Writes a Book by Deborah Underwood

sequel to Bearnard's Book

Bearnard and his friend Gertie love to read his book, but wouldn't it be nice if Gertie had her own book? Bearnard volunteers to write it. There's only one problem: he doesn't know how to write a book. A visit to Storybook Land should sort that. 

Thoughts: What a fun adventure Bearnard and Gertie go on! It's a fun story that also teaches the basic steps in writing a story. Would love to share this with older kids and then have them write their own stories. Pair with How to Write a Story by Kate Messner, The Story of a Story by Deborah Hopkinson, and Let's Tell a Story! Fairy Tale Adventure by Lily Murray (also available in Jungle Adventure, Space Adventure, and Pirate Adventure). 

Themes: Bears, Books, Writing, Elementary 

(Illustrated by Misa Saburi. Henry Holt, 2022.)

Bearnard's Book by Deborah Underwood

When Bearnard is invited to be in a book, he's thrilled. At least until he tries to imitate bears in other books. Can he be in a book? 

Thoughts: What a fun book! I like the nods to other bear books (Winnie-the-Pooh, Paddington Bear, Baby Bear). I love that Gertie is a great friend and always encouraging Bearnard. The illustrations have bold outlines. If you like books that have Easter eggs, check out Breaking News: Bear Alert by David Biedrzycki. 

Activity kit is available on the publisher's website here. 

Themes: Bears, Books

(Illustrated by Misa Saburi. Goodwin Books, 2019.)

17 Years of Blogging

Seventeen years ago today I started my blog What Is Bridget Reading? for a grad school project. Where has the time gone? I've had my degree for 16 years and I'm coming up on 15 years in my position as youth services librarian. After all this time, I can still definitively say that I love books, libraries, and working with children and teens in libraries. Here's to many more years of loving what I do and blogging about it. 

Shark Week Party

Shark Week is a popular event and it seemed like a good idea to use it for a teen library program. I've hosted this event twice: 2015 and 2022. The parties are similar, but I like to think my planning style has become more streamlined. 

Snack are a big party of a Shark Week Party. They are themed and we had the following: 

• Shark Teeth (Bugles)
• Sour Watermelon Sharks 
• Goldfish 
• Life Preservers (gummy ring candy)
• Shark Fins (tortilla chips)
• Chum (salsa)
• Swedish Fish

We played the following games:

• Hit the Shark  as suggested by Bryce (shark target, pool noodles for spears)
• Shark Bite 
• Sharks vs. Dolphins 
• Shark Scavenger Hunt (I used the Shark Matching Game from Natural Beach Living.)

All in all a simple, but very fun party for teens.

A Mischief of Mice by Christie Matheson

A forest mystery paired with groups of animals. Where did the mice go? 

Thoughts: What a unique way to incorporate collective nouns into a story. Animal group names or collective nouns are one of my favorite things. I even did several events one summer using them as a theme. See those events here. I love the forest setting and the mystery. I can't wait to use this for a fall themed storytime. The extra information in the back of the book will likely spark an interest in collective nouns with a new generation. 

Find an activity kit and educator guide from the publisher here. 

Other Books That Use Collective Nouns

• A Troop of Kangaroos by Lisa Mundorff 
• A Curious Menagerie by Carin Berger
• An Ambush of Tigers by Betsy R. Rosenthal
• A Tower of Giraffes by Anna Wright

Themes: Fall, Collective Nouns 

(Sourcebooks, 2024.)

Not-a-Box City by Antoinette Portis

companion to Not a Box

Building a city all by himself, Bunny doesn't want any help. But height, strength, and artistic ability soon sway him. 

Thoughts: I'm so glad Bunny is back and still using his imagination. I love all the new characters and details of the finished city. Looks like the library is the biggest building in the city. I wholeheartedly approve.

Find activities for Not a Box on the author's website here. (Here's hoping there will be some activities for Not-a-Box City soon!)

Themes: Boxes, Building, Rabbits, Working Together

(Harper, 2024.)

I Survived Event

The I Survived book series by Lauren Tarshis continues to be a very popular series at my library so I decided to host an I Survived Event in April this year. Many librarians have done this before. I took a deep dive into their events and picked what would work best for me logistically. 

The event featured three books: 

• I Survived the Destruction of Pompeii, 79 A.D.
• I Survived the San Francisco Earthquake, 1906
• I Survived the Sinking of the Titanic, 1912

At the beginning of the party I had the kids vote on which book they'd like me to read the first chapter of. After 4 parties, I'd read the first chapter in all three books. 

We then moved on to the activities. I had three stations set up.

• Volcano Blast: Build a volcano and watch it erupt. 
• Earthquake Challenge: Build a Lego house and see if it can withstand an earthquake. 
• S.O.S. Titanic: Build a boat that can float with and without passengers. 

For details about the supplies, procedures, and resources, see the post on my Storytime by Bridget site. 

I Am Happy! by Michael Rosen

How do you feel when you're happy? The puppy in this book shows you how he feels and what he does when he's happy. 

Thoughts: Bright, colorful, and full of joy! This will be a great book to use for an emotions themed storytime. The illustrations are full of movement and emotion. 

Don't miss the other books in the I Am series! 

• I Am Wriggly
• I Am Hungry

Themes: Emotions, Dogs 

(Illustrated by Robert Starling. Candlewick Press, 2023.)

Party Rex by Molly Idle

It's Rex's birthday! Here's your guide to celebrating with him at his party. 

Thoughts: Happy Birthday, Rex! Can you believe the first book came out 11 years ago? I've enjoyed sharing the Rex books in storytime and Party Rex will be no different. The illustrations are soft-colored and inviting. I love illustrations that are created with colored pencils. My favorite illustration is on the copyright page...the stuffed animals enjoying a little birthday cake. I'll definitely be using the Rex book heavily next summer when the theme is all about dinosaurs. 

Don't miss the other books in the Rex series! 

• Tea Rex
• Camp Rex
• Sea Rex
• Santa Rex

Download extras on the author's website here.

Themes: Dinosaurs, Birthdays

(Viking, 2024.)

Squishmallow Party

Pop culture parties are almost always a hit at my libraries and this Squishmallow Party was no different. I hosted four parties in March. Total attendance was 151 and of that 92 were children. 

The party started with a Show and Tell Your Squish session. Two of the parties had a large number of children (31 and 37) so I had to pivot a bit. Building on the storytime song "If You're Wearing Red Today," I had a look at the Squishmallows and then had the kids stand up and do some actions based on their Squishmallows. For example, if your Squishmallow is a cat, stand up and toss your Squish in the air. I shared a bit from the book Squishmallows: The Official Collectors Guide. For smaller numbers of children, I had a Squish Toss game planned. Three turns to get your squish into 3 buckets. (Note: these will need some weight added to them if you don't want to be constantly resetting the game)

We then moved onto the craft segment of the party. I considered several options, but knew I needed to keep the craft time at about 15 minutes. The other options I considered were design your own Squishmallow (drawing and coloring) or paint a Squishmallow. I stumbled upon some Make-a-Face Sticker Books from Dollar Tree that reminded me of Squishmallows. These were created by The Clever Factory and I used the Animals and Funny Foods. I ran low at some point and supplemented with Beary Fun and Caticorns. Each sticker book had 6 pages. (Note: I'm saving the leftover stickers for another project...maybe design a creature with my teens.) This was a super simple craft. I provided copy paper and each kid got to pick 1 sticker page to make.

After crafting, there was a photo op in the room. I used cute wrapping paper for the backdrop and banners I got on Teachers Pay Teachers from Hot Mess Homeschool Mama. 

Once every one was done crafting and taking pictures, we went on a Squishmallow Bigfoot hunt in the children's section of the library. I used table numbers from Alt-3 Academics on Teachers Pay Teachers to create a very simple scavenger hunt. 

After the hunt, I sent kids home with an activity packet that included the following: 

• Squishmellow Roll and Draw (Art Workshop on Teachers Pay Teachers)
• Design Your Own Squishmallow Worksheet (Miss Buchko's Art Room Resources on Teachers Pay Teachers)
• Color Scarlet the Strawberry, Sunny the Bee, and Wendy the Frog (Monday Mandala)

Roar-Choo! by Charlotte Cheng

Dragons are supposed to be fierce, but what do you do when your roar ends with a sneeze? 

Thoughts: Such a treat to see such a fierce animal come down with a cold. Sneezing books are always a hit in storytime. I also love the backstory information about the dragon and the phoenix. The illustrations are colorful and filled with emotion and movement. It's hard to pick a favorite, but he phoenix pouring tea is great. Pair with The Sniffles for Bear by Bonny Becker, Out Cold by Ryan T. Higgins, and Pigs Make Me Sneeze! by Mo Willems.

Download activities on the author's website here. 

Themes: Dragons, Illness

(Illustrated by Dan Santat. Rocky Pond Books, 2024.)

A Unicorn, a Dinosaur, and a Shark Were Riding a Bicycle by Jonathan Fenske

sequel to A Unicorn, a Dinosaur, and A Shark Walk into a Book

Have you ever tried to make anyone do something that they didn't want to do? Well, the characters in this book do not want to ride a bicycle. 

Thoughts: Just as funny as the first. I love how the unicorn, dinosaur, and shark all talk back to the narrator and refuse to ride the bicycle. The illustrations are colorful and expressive. I love the use of speech bubbles for everyone including the narrator. 

Themes: Intrusive Narrators, Unicorns, Dinosaurs, Sharks, Humorous Books

(Penguin Workshop, 2024.)

Princess in Black Party

The Princess in Black series (PIB) is quite popular at my libraries so I decided to host a party in February. I took a deep dive into the books and a couple of parties other libraries had hosted to plan mine. 

Upon arrival guests were invited to find their Princess or Prince name by drawing a flower name out of a basket and then writing it on a name tag. I used the calling cards from Flower Power Bingo from Drag Drop Learning Games on Teachers Pay Teachers for the names. (I had previously purchased the game for another event.)

Then we immediately started crafting so the guests would be ready for all the games and activities. I had three different crafts: 

• Make Your Own Tiara: this idea was from the PIB Event Kit. The crown template was from First Palette. I provided jewel stickers from Dollar Tree to decorate the tiaras. 
• Make Your Own Wand: this idea as from Katherine's party post of the YSS Blog. I provided dowels, stickers, laser cut wooden shapes, and jewel stickers. I also had hot glue for assembling. 
• Make Your Own Glitter-Stone Ring: this idea was from the PIB Event Kit. I used leftover kits from my past Fancy Nancy Parties. The kits contain two buttons and a piece of pipe cleaner. Once that was assembled, the guests could add a jewel sticker to their rings. 

For the games we had the following:

• Monster Battle and Goat Rescuing: this idea was also from Katherine's party post of the YSS Blog. Six monsters and six goats were hidden around the room for the guests to battle and rescue. 
• Crepe Paper Races: This was my own idea. We used a theme of Princesses vs. Heroes and used pink crepe paper for the Princess team and black crepe paper for the Heroes team. The first team to wrap their designated person from head to toe in crepe paper was the winner. 
• Princess in Black Heroes Scavenger Hunt: Another idea that was my own. I used illustrations from the books and created a scavenger hunt that included all the characters as heroes. This was fifteen so many a few too many for a party that was about an hour. 

I had the following activities for the guests to take home:

• Coloring Page (My First Book Club)
• Make Your Own Monster (PIB Event Kit)
• Superhero Identity (PIB Event Kit)

For more ideas you can also download a party kit from the PIB website or a teacher's guide from the publisher's website. 

Alice in a Winter Wonderland by Jan Brett

What if Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was set in Alaska? What would that story look like? 

Thoughts: So much fun! I love the setting and addition of all the native Alaskan animals to the story of Alice. The illustrations are so detailed that you just want to keep looking. I think Jan did a tremendous job of retelling Alice's story in a mere 40 pages. This would be a fun addition to a Mad Hatter Tea Party. Read Alice in a Winter Wonderland and then compare it to the original story. 

Themes: Alice, Alaska, Winter

(G. P. Putnam's Sons, 2024.)