On Our Way Home...Not Just for Father's Day

Father's day is one of those holidays I always dread selecting story time books for. Not that there's a shortage of books, but I find myself using the same three or four titles each year, hoping something better will catch my eye. Several children's book authors have found their niche with cute rhyming stories for a cadre of holidays. But you can't use these books for every big holiday, and sometimes the plots in these books feel a little forced or a just a bit stale.
On Our Way Home by Sebastien Braun is no such book.The lovely artwork in this story geared for toddlers and its focus on relationships instead of stereotypes makes it a true standout. You may recognize the bear cub and his daddy from Braun's two other successful books, I Love My Mommy and I Love My Daddy. This book is almost a concept book, because the plot is so simple. But the affection between the little cub and his father shines as they take a walk through the forest, slide down the banks of a stream together, catch falling leaves, and gaze up at the stars.

On Our Way Home by Sebastien Braun

The little cub has some childlike qualities that children can relate to. Holding daddy's hand, carrying a stick, cuddling up close. This book is designed for older toddlers and young preschoolers, but may be a guilty pleasure for the four and up crowd. For some groups this book may be just a little bit too dear, even a bit twee for the more world weary youngsters in your story time crowd.
This book does capture the magic of fatherhood at the young hero worship stage. It is also short, well-paced, and full of beautiful brown, blue and bottle-green pictures. I would definitely include in my Father's day story time program this year, with other selections like The Apple Pie that Papa Baked, the The Daddy Mountain, and Mr. Seahorse.

Trains Go by Steve Light

Trains Go by Steve Light is a fast-paced addition to a toddler or preschool story hour about trains. This board book is filled with bold, solid colors and quick, easy to read text full of onomotopaeia. I never realized that trains could make such a wide variety of sounds.  Don't make this the central book to your story time, though; it is just a little bit too short.

The illustrations for this board book are artistically executed, but still easy to a access for a younger toddler-aged crowd. And the letters of text are just as easy to look at as the pictures. Each train picture conveys a sense of motion and movement, and some of the pictures practically fly off the page. Since this book is short, you could read it aloud once, then invite your other children to read along with you. The illustrations are over-sized and easy to see.

Steve Light has also written a book called Trucks Go. I read this one to my son and neither of us felt the love for the truck book like we did reading the train book. Trucks Go follows a similar format with the same stylized illustrations made up of bold, chunky shapes in primary colors. But unlike the train version of the series,which I read during my story hour, the truck sounds were less distinctive, less memorable. Still, if you only have access to the Truck version of this series, I would go with it and use it anyway, though not as the main event.

My mother-in-law taught me a cute song to sing with children you are trying to herd around in a classroom setting. the song helps kids to stay in line, but could be a fun story hour movement exercise if you have room to move around in the library.

"Choo, choo the big train is coming down the track
choo, choo the big train is coming down the track
stop, look, and listen
stop, look, and listen
choo, choo the big train is coming down the track

Read this book with

Chugga Chugga Choo Choo by Kevin Lewis and Daniel Kirk would be a good pairing for a train themed story time. More train sounds with a toddler-themed story. For kindergarten and up, you might consider reading the classic children's story The Little Engine that Could. This children's story about the power of persistence and never giving up, is long for toddlers. All children are different, these guidelines are based on my experience and on the children in the areas where I was a story time presenter. Ultimately you are the best judge of what works for you.

Julius, Baby of the World

My son's 6-year old friend recently confided to me as he was walking out the door, "Hey, Carolyn, I might get a sister! Then, without missing a beat, he added "...or a puppy." I asked which one would be better, and after a long, pregnant pause, he decided on the sibling. He is a 6-year old only with no sibs, and I wondered how he would really fare with this transition.

Julius Baby of the World, by Kevin Henkes

That's what I love about Julius, Baby of the World by Kevin Henkes. If read with dramatic flair, this book is great in a story time setting. The illustrations have a droll, poke-fun-at-yourself-until-it-hurts quality, but they are a little small for large story time crowds.

Still, I love this story about Lilly, one of Henkes most beloved little mouse characters. The fact that Julius upstages Lilly, even in the title, underscores the feelings of this story about sibling rivalry. This book is laugh-out-loud funny, but is told with a poignant realism that explores the feelings of displacement that children often experience when a new baby comes along. This book will make you groan, then laugh, then groan some more and laugh even harder.

Lilly thinks her brother Julius is disgusting and dreadful, and even shouts to a stranger on the street, “You will live to regret that bump under your dress!” But her attitude turns around when her cousin decides that Julius is horrible too. And true to Lilly's flamboyant, princess style, she rises to the occasion by forcing her cousin to admit that Julius is the baby of the world.

Tone it Down

You may want to pair this book with other titles that are a little more cuddly on the baby spectrum during story hour. Check out any of Karen Katz's loving looks at babies, for cuddling and kissing. Then toss in a little Gyo Fujikawa with the vintage title Babies. This precious book is whimsical and very cute.

The Dirty Little Boy by Margaret Wise Brown

The Very Dirty Boy by Margaret Wise Brown (Goodnight Moon) is a newly illustrated version of a vintage story. The whimsical illustrations by Steve Salerno are hilarious, but they do stretch the limits of believability. Everyone knows that sometimes good fiction requires us to suspend our disbelief, and children are good at this. So if you are one of those poor, tormented souls who are hung up on the need for stories to follow good logic, then just stop here.

In this story, a very dirty boy comes in from an afternoon of play begging for a bath. Every mother's dream, right! Wrong. The busy mother (this part I can easily believe), becomes a little bit agitated and sends her child off to watch animals take a bath.

Animals? Really?

So where does the boy go? Straight to the farmyard, where he rolls in the mud with the pigs. And when the little boy comes home dirtier than ever, his mother just can't understand why he didn't come back clean as a whistle.

Maybe it was Margaret Wise Brown's intention to wag a finger at parents who don't give their children regular baths. Maybe this is just a superlatively silly plot device, but the book itself is a lot of fun to read. I for one found it quite amusing.

Brown's books tend to be verbose, like a lot of vintage kid lit, but this book doesn't wash out. My kids squealed with laughter at this very silly story, which is well-paced for reading in a group setting. The graphics have a stylized, vintage appeal, complementing the story by enhancing, certain, erm, details.

Creep Through the House with Little Bitty Mousie

Little Bittie Mousie by Jim Aylesworth and Michael Hague

An unconventional alphabet book with a tiny-sized view of the world is Little Bitty Mousie, by Jim Aylesworth and Michael Hague. For story time presenters and lap reading alike, this book has much to hold a child's interest.

A white mouse with over-sized pink ears and a blue and white polka-dot pinafore dress wanders through an unkempt kitchen that looks as if it stepped right out of the 1950s. From a mouse-sized viewpoint, a mountain of unwashed dishes becomes a towering feast of leftovers, and a chocolate cake missing a wedge is a bigger-than life morsel. Little Bitty Mousie appears to be the queen of the castle, until she encounters an unwelcome presence at the end of the story.

Like many alphabet books, this one has rhyming text, which make this book fun and easy to read aloud. But unlike most other books in this genre, this book also offers a surprise ending and a reason for the little mouse to run, run, run away. I liked the unusual 1950s color choices used in the illustrations, and the humorous and sometimes unsettling jab at poor housekeeping practices. Jim Aylesworth clearly wasn't visiting Martha when he dreamed up this delightful  little wonder.

Giraffes Can't Dance, Or Can They?

Giraffes Can't Dance

 

Who wouldn't be amused by a whirling, twirling giraffe, waltzing warthogs, and chimps doing the cha-cha? This story by Giles Andreae and Guy Parker-Rees sports electrifying colors and a plot that many children can relate to. At the heart of silly illustrations is a more serious topic, bullying.

The other animals laugh at Gerald during the jungle dance in the middle of a forest clearing. Gerald wanders off sadly, but on his way, makes a new friend who helps him to find the special music that inspires Gerald to move. In the end, Gerald finds his own path, and he transforms into the Billy Elliott of the animal kingdom.

I like this medium-length children's book with rhyming text. In some places the rhyme scheme is a little stilted, but overall the text of the story lends itself to reading aloud. The illustrations are bright but not too cutesy. And the authors' light-handed approach keeps the book from weighing down too heavily on an otherwise serious topic. I would recommend for preschool ages four and up.

More read-aloud book picks

Moo, Baa, La, La, La by Sandra Boynton and Hilda Must be Dancing by Karma Wilson are two more fun and lighthearted books that feature dancing animals. For elementary-aged children, pair this book with the longer story, Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes, which is about bullying in kindergarten.