it's not the end, except that it sort of is

Well, I probably ought to throw this up here because I haven't been posting for a few weeks. First there was spring break. Then... I got sickish for a week. At that point lots of signs had been pointing to me needing to wrap up my Head Starts, but I guess I finally started listening.  I am prepping for two storytimes a week in a work week that feels like it's over, like, 30 minutes after it starts, so keeping up a volunteer storytime that takes me across the Bay on one of my days off and requires prep time just can't work anymore.

This has been a really tough decision. I am very grateful to have found someone to take over most of the remaining storytimes, which I had been worrying about a lot. And so. Here we are. I had plans to use this blog as a review platform (and may revisit that) but right now I am reviewing for two brick and mortar publications (which is tasteful internet bragging, right?) and there are only so many hours in the day. So let's just go out on a high note, with a mash-up of two of my favorite things***:

***NSFW if Beavis and Butthead language would be a problem.

week 10: louder than bombs

This week's storytime began with an extended waiting period as half of the kids (along with me) arrived at the library early. We spent ten minutes or so saying hi to one another, doing fingerplays, and singing songs: Where Is Thumbkin? (which I hadn't done in a looooong time, for whatever reason) and Wheels on the Bus. I drew WOTB out as long as I could, Old MacDonald-izing it and having cows, ducks, sheep, lions, etc., all ride the bus. Lions, always lions; they rooooooooaaaaaar!, right? Right. So basically Seals on the Bus without the book. Hooray!

here comes the big bad wolf

Bianca's back! Story Man got his act together, unlike two of three titular little pigs in this week's first book (spoiler alert). So Bianca's back (again) and Head Start preschool storytime is a go.

week 9: return of the alligator

Another week, another grievous instance of this author forgetting his bag of storytime tricks at work and therefore not having Bianca along for the ride. Thankfully Ms. Amy had an old friend on hand who stepped up to help us sing "We Wave Hello Like This" and "We Wave Goodbye Like This." (Spoiler alert: it was Al the Alligator, who is a very popular storytime guest star).

So I know I said I was going to read The Three Little Pigs this week... well, maybe next week. I had some last minute second thoughts: mainly that, relatively speaking, it is so small. But the immediate future holds Three Little Pigs, I swear. Instead I chose The Three Billy Goats Gruff, a storytime favorite.

book review: remember dippy

Vernick, Shirley Reva. Remember Dippy. Cinco Puntos. May 2013. Grades 5-8. 156p. ISBN 978-1-935955-48-1

Fourteen year old Johnny worries his entire summer will be wrecked when his mom takes a seasonal job out of state, leaving him taking care of his autistic cousin Remember, Mem for short, while his eccentric Aunt Collette is at work. His summer, however, is far from ruined. Though Johnny has to deal with bully Dirk the Jerk and struggle with his longtime crush on his best friend’s sister, the opportunity to develop a real friendship with his sixteen year old cousin Mem provides a depth and resonance to his summer. This good-hearted coming-of-age novel may hold appeal for fifth through eighth grade readers; its portrayal of the narrator’s adolescent difficulties never veers into particularly gritty or uncomfortable territory. For Johnny, his coming-of-age adventures add up to "a regular kid summer. That was something Mem would never ever get—because he wasn’t a regular kid." Remember Dippy provides a nuanced portrayal of Mem, both as an autistic protagonist with, for example, personal space issues and distinctive speech patterns, and as teenager making new friends and exploring his world.