Storytime: Library

Books

Dinosaur vs. The Library by Bob Shea

*The Not so Quiet Library by Zachariah Ohora

*Lola at the Library  by Anna McQuinn

Book! Book! Book! by Deborah Bruss

Read It, Don’t Eat It! by Ian Shoenherr

The Midnight Library by Kazuno Kohara

Books marked with * are the ones that I used for the storytime. I chose to use Lola at the Library because of my goal of using diverse books, but I think some of the other options on my list may have been more engaging for my group. In the future, I think I'd lean more towards Book! Book! Book! or Read It, Don't Eat It! for this storytime theme. Not So Quiet Library is a fun read with plenty of opportunities to make monster noises! The librarian in the book appears to be a woman of color as well, so that is a bonus!

Click read more to see the rest of my storytime song and rhyme ideas.

Songs and Rhymes

No matter what the theme, we start every storytime with "Hello Bubbles" and end with "Goodbye Bubbles." Songs and rhymes marked with * are the ones I ended up using for my storytime.

*Song: “Read, Read, Read a Book”

(Tune: Row, Row, Row Your Boat)

Read, read, read a book,

Travel anywhere,

Worldwide, you decide,

A book will take you there.

Read, read, read a book,

Beginning to the end,

What a way to spend the day,

A book’s a special friend!

Song: “Bring Back Our Library Books”

(Tune: My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean)

We'll borrow a book from the library

We'll borrow one book or a bunch.

We'll borrow a book and we'll read it,

Then we'll bring it right back next month.

Bring back, bring back,

We'll bring back our books next month, next month.

Bring back, bring back,

We'll bring back our books next month.

Song: “The More We Read Together”

(Tune: The More We Get Together)

The more we read together, together, together,

The more we read together, the happier we’ll be.

Read big books and small books,

Read short books and tall books.

The more we read together, the happier we’ll be.

Song: “If You’re a Reader and You Know It”

(Tune: If You're Happy and You Know It)

If you’re happy and you know it read a book (read a book)

If you’re happy and you know it read a book (read a book)

If you’re happy and you know and you really want to show it

If you’re happy and you know it read a book (read a book)

Verses: turn the page, renew the book, scan your card, tell a friend

*Song: “Librarian in the Town”

(Tune: Wheels on the Bus)

The librarian in the town says

“Read a book, Read a book, Read a book”

The librarian in the town says “Read a book”

All day long.

Verses: Sing a song, quiet please, can I help?

*Transition Rhyme: “Let’s Take a Look at This Book”

Let’s take a look at this book

(hold up hands like a closed book)

Here is the cover

(flip closed hands over)

We open it wide

(open hands like a book)

Here are the pages hidden inside

(wiggle fingers)

There are words and pictures

(wave hands back and forth)

We look and we look

And when we are finished

We close up the book

(close hands)

Transition Rhyme: “Big Books, Little Books”

Big Books, little books

(hold hands wide, then close)

Short books, tall

(hands down low, then up high)

Thin books, fat books,

(hold up flat hands, then make fists)

I love them all.

(hug self)

Flannelboards

During my last storytime, one girl asked if we were going to play "Mouse in the House." Originally I was just going to make the five books, based on classic Penguin Book covers, but then I realized I could easily do a "Mouse in the House" variation with a bookworm hiding behind the books I was already planning! These felt pieces were much simpler than the superhero ones, but still turned out pretty cute, I think!

*Flannelboard/Song: “Down Around the Corner at the Library”

(Tune: Down Around the Corner at the Bakery Shop)

Down around the corner at the library,

There are five little books as great as can be,

Along comes a patron with his/her library card

He/She checks out one book; it’s not very hard!

Verses: Four, Three, Two, One

*Flannelboard: “Where is Bookworm?”

(Just like Mouse in the House but with colored books and a cute bookworm instead!)

Bookworm, bookworm, where should we look?

Are you in the (color) book?

Craft

I printed out bookmarks with pre-made designs as well as blank bookmarks for the kids to color. I cut all of them out ahead of time so the only thing the kids had to do was color. It would be really simple to make your own bookmark designs as well, if you were so inclined.

How it Went

This storytime wasn't quite as exciting as the superhero one. I tried using egg shakers instead of scarves this week and those just didn't seem to excite the kids quite as much. One of the parents did mention that all the kids seemed a bit off today. There have been some colds going around so a lot of them might have been feeling tired and crummy. I'm not sure whether the lack of enthusiasm for the shakers was because of that or just because they aren't quite as fun as the scarves. I think I will probably include scarves on almost every future storytime. Still, things went reasonably well. Last week one little girl asked if we could play "Mouse in the House" which is what inspired me to make the "Where is Bookworm" game. That was probably the most successful part of the storytime. The kids really enjoyed trying to find Bookworm and we played the game over and over! The bookmark craft wasn't particularly exciting for them, most of the kids chose to just play with some of our toys and puzzles rather than participate in the craft.