Woof! Dog stories. Cat stories. Dog AND cat stories. Here are my picks for a Dog-tastic and Cat-tacular storytime!
I have a lovely chocolate lab puppy puppet, named Hershey,
who introduces our theme. We talk about why he’s named after chocolate (his color) and if he can eat chocolate (NO WAY! POISON!). We’re going to read stories about dogs, but also some cats, too, because I have the lovely creature to the right living in my house and I’m a bit biased.
- Masurel, Clare. A Cat and A Dog=Un gato y un perro. A very simple story of a cat and a dog that don’t get along, but the preschoolers love it. We try predicting what will happen when the dog’s ball gets stuck in the tree and the cat’s fish goes in the water.
- Alborough, Jez. Some Dogs Do. Magical realism in a picture book! “Do dogs fly? Is it true? Some dogs don’t, and some dogs do.”
- Flannelboard: BINGO. My post on this, and pictures of my flannelboard, here.
- Song: “I Have a Dog and His Name Is Rags” – so much fun to do with the actions, especially the wig-wag!
- Dodd, Emma. I Don’t Want a Cool Cat. After reading this one, I follow it up with I Don’t Want a Posh Dog. This gives us the opportunity to compare the covers and talk about what’s the same (the girl), what’s different (one has a dog, the other a cat), and the author’s name on both books (building print awareness and learning about authors and illustrators!).
Other books I like and will trade out for some of the above:
- Beaumont, Karen.Move Over, Rover! A great repeated line, perfect for little kids who want to help.
- Gravett, Emily. Dogs. The way Gravett depicts the dog that barks is perfect!
- Henkes, Kevin. Kitten’s First Full Moon=La primera luna llena de gatita. Beautiful, expressive black-and-white illustrations.
- Himmelman, Jon. Katie Loves the Kittens. The illustrations/book size are a little small for a large group, but if you’ve got a smaller group, or are sharing with just one young person, this one is lovely. It’s so much fun to express Katie’s excitement: “AROOOOOO!!”
And, don’t forget, when you’re doing dog and cat storytime, you can always include Soft Kitty. Although I’m kinda partial to this version, performed by a colleague of mine in Colorado.
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