Ocean Poetry for Summer Events

If your library uses the Collaborative Summer Library Program's theme and slogan, no doubt you're embroiled in all things oceanic at the moment. Poetry for children is one of my favorite genres to read and I love incorporating poetry into my storytimes and other events. Without further ado, here's a list of poetry books you might find useful for your summer events. Links are to my reviews. 

A First Book of the Sea by Nicola Davies

Sea Star Wishes by Eric Ode

A Spectacular Selection of Sea Critters by Betsy Franco

In the Sea by David Elliott

Slickety Quick: Poems about Sharks by Skila Brown

Water Sings Blue by Kate Coombs 

In the Swim by Douglas Florian 

You will also likely find ocean poems in the following collections although they aren't specifically about the ocean. 

The Beauty of the Beast selected by Jack Prelutsky 

If Not for the Cat by Jack Prelutsky (jellyfish, otter)

National Geographic Book of Animal Poetry edited by J. Patrick Lewis 

National Geographic Book of Nature Poetry edited by J. Patrick Lewis

Hello! Have You Missed Me?

Hi! Sorry for the radio silence for the past few weeks. Work has been busy and so when my scheduled posts ran out, I couldn't seem to find the time to get anymore scheduled. 

In person indoor storytime started back at all my libraries in April. I ran a seven week session from the first week of April until the week before Memorial Day. This was the first time I'd done that long a stretch of storytime since last summer. It was the first time storytime had been indoor since March 2020. If you're interested, my spring themes were frogs, eggs, things that go, poetry (spring), ice cream, gardens, and ninjas. 

I've been hard at work planning my summer events. My state is a member of the Collaborative Summer Library Program and 2022's theme is oceanography and the slogan is "Oceans of Possibilities." Reminds me a little of the 2010 theme ("Make a Splash; Read!" and "Make Waves at Your Library") which was coincidentally my first summer reading program. 

I'll be running a six week session (3 weeks in June and 3 weeks in July) of storytime for ages 0-6 followed by events for ages 7-12. There will be monthly contests and scavenger hunts in June, July, and August as well as bimonthly teen events during those months. I'll also be running mini weekly scavenger hunts during my six week session. 

My themes for storytime and the older events are beach, mermaids, fish (with an emphasis on sharks), boats, pirates, and ocean animals. I'm working on narrowing down my books as you can see from the above photo, creating take home activity packets for each group and selecting a game of craft for the older events. My monthly scavenger hunt themes are mermaids and friends, sharks, and narwhals. The monthly contests are an ocean Lego contest, an ocean animal photo contest (á la a stuffed animal sleepover photo), and an ocean themed coloring contest. The contests are for all ages including adults. The teen events are animated ocean movie night, Japanese culture night (a reboot of an event I hosted in 2011 for the "One World, Many Stories" and "You Are Here" slogans), shark week party, ocean paint and craft night, ocean team trivia night, and live action ocean movie night.

Look for posts next week about ocean poetry to use for summer events and flannel board activities for various ocean themes. 

Let's Tell a Story! Fairy Tale Adventure by Lily Murray

Are you ready to go on an adventure? This book helps you create your own fairy tale story. You choose all the elements. The options are almost unlimited. (I'm including the back cover so you can see a little more information about the book and the creation process.)

Thoughts: This book is great! I can't wait for kids and parents to read this book and start creating their own stories. I'm also looking forward to using this book with kids when I focus on fairy tales. I'm going to take you through the process (simply) of creating a story. I'm just making the choices, not answering all the supplemental questions and describing everything. 

• Which one of these heroes do you want to be? A bear 
• What do you want to get dressed up in? (Choose as many as you like.) A satchel, a stripy scarf, a cloak, and a pair of glasses
• Where do you want to go? To a magic waterfall
• What do you need to take with you? (Choose three.) A map, a picnic basket, an umbrella 
• Who will come with you? (Choose as many as you like.) An invisible friend, Little Red Riding Hood, a wise owl, Thumbelina 
• How do you want to travel? On foot
• Which route do you want to take? Down the otter river 
• Who's there to greet you? (Choose as many as you like.) 12 dancing princesses, a lion, and a golden fish
• What will you eat at the fairy tale feast? (Choose as many as you like.) Pancakes, porridge, hot cocoa 
• Where's your hero hangout? A teapot
• An enemy has appeared! Which one is it? A big bad bunny
• There's a way out of danger! Which one will you choose? You put on a crafty disguise and clip away. 
• Which one of these things will you choose as your reward? The power to become a mermaid
• What happens next? Choose an ending for your tale. You decide to become a detective. 

I like to write stories and poems so I'm looking forward to fleshing out my story at some point. I can't wait to play with the other books in this series. 

Other books in the Let's Tell a Story! Series

• Space Adventure (out now)
• Pirate Adventure (April 12, 2022)
• Jungle Adventure (April 12, 2022)

Themes: Elementary, Writing, Fairy Tales 

(Illustrated by Wesley Robins. Wide Eyed Editions, 2021.)

Hornswoggled: A Wacky Words Whodunit by Josh Crute

Deer wakes up one morning to find that someone has stolen his antler! He's been hornswoggled. As he goes to see his friends, each one of them is missing something. Who is the thief? 

Thoughts: Too funny! I love how the story builds around each animal, what was stolen, and how they feel about it. I think slightly older children (say first and second grade) will love learning these new words. I love the mixture of fonts used and that all the wacky words are defined as you read. The illustrations are bright, colorful, full of expression and motion. The animals' facial expressions are top notch. Pair with 13 Words by Lemony Snicket, Hat Tricks by Satoshi Kitamura, Warning! Do Not Touch! by Tim Warnes, and The Donkey Egg by Janet Stevens and Susan Stevens Crummel. 

Download an activity guide from the author's website here. 

Themes: Animals, Wordplay, Elementary

(Illustrated by Jenn Harney. Page Street Kids, 2021.)

Redlocks and the Three Bears by Claudia Rueda

Wait a minute! I thought this was supposed to be a story about Goldilocks. Who is Redlocks? 

Thoughts: What a fabulous book! I love the mixture of three different fairy tales (Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Little Red Riding Hood, and The Three Little Pigs). I wonder if Claudia selected these specific fairy tales because she thought children would be most familiar with them. The text is simple and easy to follow. The illustrations are soft colored and engaging. I like the mixture of illustration styles, the use of white space, and the pages where you feel like you're inside the book with the characters. Fairy tales are one of my favorite types of books and I can't wait to add this one to my next fairy tale themed storytime. 

Pair Redlocks and the Three Bears with any of the following for a great storytime! 

Red Riding Hood Books 

• Little Red and the Very Hungry Lion by Alex T. Smith 
• Little Red Hot by Eric A. Kimmel 
• Federico and the Wolf by Rebecca J. Gomez

Three Little Pigs Books

• The Great Gran Plan by Elli Woollard 
• The Three Ninja Pigs by Corey Rosen Schwartz

Goldilocks Books

• Goldilocks and Just One Bear by Leigh Hodgkinson
• Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs by Mo Willems 
• Goldilocks and the Wee Bear by Troy Wilson

Fractured Fairy Tales 

• Fairly Fairy Tales by Esme Raji Codell
• Once Upon a Slime by Andy Maxwell

Download an activity kit from the publisher's website here. 

Themes: Fairy Tales

(Chronicle Books, 2021.)

Bear Is a Bear by Jonathan Stutzman

A bear can be all kinds of things to a child. A snack, a tissue, a bookworm, or a pillow just to name a few. 

Thoughts: Such a sweet book. I love how it goes through two generations. Bear Is a Bear would make a great baby shower gift or a gift for anyone who has ever loved a stuffed animal. I love that Bear is a child's toy, but he's shown as so much more through the illustrations. The illustrations are colorful and detailed. I like the mixture of styles (one page with text facing and two page spreads). The bear is especially well illustrated. I just want to cuddle him. My favorite illustrations are the cover (love that Bear is reading Little Women!) and the girl reading Little Women. Pair with Found by Salina Yoon, Hooray for Amanda and Her Alligator by Mo Willems, Louis by Tom Lichtenheld, and Tea Party Rules by Ame Dyckman. 

Download a teacher's guide from the publisher's website here. The teacher's guide has discussion questions and extension activities. 

Themes: Stuffed Animals, Bears, Imagination 

(Illustrated by Dan Santat. Balzer + Bray, 2021.)

Away with Words! Wise and Witty Poems for Language Lovers by Mary Ann Hoberman

This collection of clever poems that play with words covers everything from A to Z.

Thoughts: What a fun poetry collection! I can't wait to share some of these poems with elementary school students. I think Away with Words! will really make them think about how and why we use words the way we do. Some of the poems were tongue twisters so I'll need to practice or read them slowly when I share them with children. My favorite poems are Introduction, ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ, Com-Pear-ing, Dear Deers, Etymology, Horse, Just Think, Me, Note, and Parting. The illustrations are colorful and engaging. I especially like the faces Perry gives to letters and punctuation. My favorite illustrations are Contents,  ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ, Etymology, Me, Note, Punctuation, and the copyright page. 

You could use the poem ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ for a writing and art project. Name all the letters in the alphabet and then make them in the same style as the illustration for that poem. Them write a poem for each letter/person in your alphabet. 

Other Poetry Collections about wordplay, grammar, books, reading, and writing: 

• Write! Write! Write! by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater
• Read! Read! Read! by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater
• Lemonade & Other Poems Squeezed from One Word by Bob Raczka
• Bookspeak!: Poems about Books by Laura Purdie Salas
• A Bunch of Punctuation selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins

Themes: Elementary, Word Play

(Illustrated by Perry Hoberman. Little, Brown and Company, 2022.)