Yeah, I’m a few months behind in posting these. But here’s what we did for Stories and More in December – and BOY was it fun. Can you say MUSICAL INSTRUMENT PETTING ZOO??

FOCUS: SINGING!

Singing and music help build many early literacy skills. Singing helps a child better hear the smaller sounds that make up words – which helps with sounding out words. They also learn about rhyming and vocabulary. Plus, singing leads to dancing and moving, which, as we know, is a great way for young kids to learn. They need to use their whole bodies!

Storytime plan:

Opening song: Hello and How Are You?

Hello, hello, hello and how are you?

I’m fine, I’m fine, I hope that you are too!

Introductions and Early Literacy Reminder: Singing is a great way for children to develop lots of pre-reading skills! It breaks words up so that they can hear the smaller sounds in them. It also helps with memory and grows vocabulary! So let’s sing!

Rhyme: Wake Up Toes

Wake Up Toes, wake up toes, wake up toes and wiggle, wiggle wiggle.

Wake up toes, wake up toes, wake up and wiggle in the morning!

Ask for suggestions for more body parts to wake up!

Book: Jazz Baby by Lisa Wheeler – this is a great story with a beat! The kids and caregivers can help out!

Shaker Egg Song: Can you shake your egg with me?

[Tune: London Bridges]

Can you shake your egg with me? It’s as easy as can be

Shake your egg along with me. Now put it on your…TUMMY!

Continue with other body parts!

Shaker Egg Song: “I Know a Chicken” by Laurie Berkner

Settling Rhyme: 1 Little Fish

One little fish is swimming in the water (put palms together and zig zag like a fish swimming)

Swimming in the water,

Swimming in the water,

One little fish is swimming in the water,

Bubble, bubble, bubble, bubble, POP! (raise hands and clap together on POP!)

Book: Seals on the Bus by Lenny Hort

Early Literacy Reminder: This book is sung to a familiar tune – but with a twist! You can take a familiar song and change the words to be about anything you want – like a daily routine! Sing while you brush teeth, put on clothes – anytime!

Flannelboard: Brown Bear, Brown Bear (sung to the tune of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”)

Song: “If You’re Happy and You Know It”

Goodbye Rhyme: Our Hands Say Thank You

Our hands say thank you with a clap, clap, clap

And our feet say thank you with a tap, tap, tap.

Clap clap clap,

Tap, tap, tap,

Turn around and take a bow.

Early Literacy Play Activities:

As promised: MUSICAL INSTRUMENT PETTING ZOO! The kids tried out a bunch of different instruments (including my ukulele – I took a gamble and it paid off ; they were great with it!). My boyfriend had recently given me a set of bongos and we loved that. Otherwise, we used rhythm instruments (sticks, bells, sand blocks), this set of Melissa and Doug instruments, a mini accordion, a mini glockenspiel (I LOVE SAYING GLOCKENSPIEL), and a set of toddler/baby instruments so the littlest ones could join in too. We made a TON of noise which was great but in case any of the children attending had sensory challenges I had a couple pair of noise-reducing headphones on hand in case of need.

Also, we had a dance party. While the music got a bit drowned out by the instruments, if anyone was interested in dancing while playing I had this soundtrack going.

Take-homes:

Books: We took home books that had to do with music or could be sung. Babies got Toot! Toot! Guess the Instrument. Toddlers took home If You’re Happy and You Know It  (the Jane Cabrera version, which is my favorite). Preschoolers got Seals on the Bus.

Activities: Babies took home one of these Feely Fish (they don’t seem to be available anymore), which I suggested caregivers use while singing “1 Little Fish” at home. Toddlers and preschoolers got wrist ribbons to use while dancing.

Here is the handout that went in the bags and includes more information on the books and activities and how to use them, plus additional ideas for home.

I hope this is useful! Let me know if you have any questions or comments.

I’m a million years behind (slight exaggeration) in posting but here’s what we did for Stories and More in November!

FOCUS: PRINT MOTIVATION – LOVING BOOKS AND READING!

Children who have positive experiences with books – like being read to by someone who loves and cares for them – are motivated to become readers. So this month I tried to focus on loving books and reading! We shared stories and rhymes I love, and we made our own books!

Storytime plan:

Opening song: Hello and How Are You?

Hello, hello, hello and how are you?

I’m fine, I’m fine, I hope that you are too!

Introductions and Early Literacy Reminder: Children who love books and reading want to become readers! The best way to do that is to make reading FUN.  Today we’re going to share some of my FAVORITE stories. They don’t have to be your favorites, too, but I hope that you like them!

Rhyme: Wake Up Toes

Wake Up Toes, wake up toes, wake up toes and wiggle, wiggle wiggle.

Wake up toes, wake up toes, wake up and wiggle in the morning!

Ask for suggestions for more body parts to wake up!

Early Literacy Reminder: This is one of my favorite books and it demonstrates so well the power books can have to grow a child’s imagination. Listen to the story and consider what you and your child might play after reading a story.

Book: Lola Loves Stories by Anna McQuinn

Active song: Hurry, Hurry Drive the Firetruck

Hurry, hurry, drive the firetruck (pretend to steer)

Hurry, hurry, drive the firetruck

Hurry, hurry, drive the firetruck

Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! (pretend to ring bell)

Continue with: Hurry, hurry turn the corner (lean to the side), climb the ladder (pretend to climb), squirt the water (pretend to hold hose and spray water), back to the station (pretend to steer)

Fingerplay: Here Are My Glasses

Here are my glasses (hold up hands with index fingers and thumbs in a circle like glasses),

Here is my book (hold hands together like a book),

I put on my glasses (hold finger circles up to eyes)

And I open up my book (open hands)

I read, read, read (move hands)

And I look, look, look (move head with finger circles over eyes)

I take off my glasses (move finger circles)

And I [clap] close up my book!

Flannelboard: Hooray for Hat!

Settling Rhyme: One Little Fish

One little fish is swimming in the water (put palms together and zig zag like a fish swimming)

Swimming in the water,

Swimming in the water,

One little fish is swimming in the water,

Bubble, bubble, bubble, bubble, POP! (raise hands and clap together on POP!)

Book: Moo! by David LaRochelle

Song: Skinnamarink

Here’s the Sharon, Lois and Bram original. I found the ukulele chords here – although there are other versions; this one worked best for my voice. I also taught everyone the ASL signs for “I love you” before we sang.

Goodbye Rhyme: Our Hands Say Thank You

Our hands say thank you with a clap, clap, clap

And our feet say thank you with a tap, tap, tap.

Clap clap clap,

Tap, tap, tap,

Turn around and take a bow.

Early Literacy Play Activities:

One of our activities was to make our own books! What better way to love books than to make one of your own that you’re sure to love because YOU made it? I found blank board books at Bare Books for the babies and we got these paper books from Office Depot. Kids had markers, stickers, and stamps of various kinds to use to create their own stories. I encouraged parents to ask their kids about what they were creating and to write words for them if desired.

Our second activity was pretend play – and making up stories – using plastic dinosasurs, animals, and bugs. The kids loved talking about the animals and what they were doing.

Take-homes:

Books: Everyone took home a book I love. I hope they love them too – but it’s alright if they don’t. Babies took home a copy of Sandra Boynton’s Going to Bed Book (who DOESN’T love Sandra Boynton?). Toddlers got Lola Loves Stories and Preschoolers got a copy of Grumpy Bird, a book I love so much I have a Grumpy Bird tattoo.

Activities: Everyone took home their own handmade book. Several parents asked about where I got the blank books as they wanted to make more at home. I told them they could also simply staple several pages of paper together if they wanted.

Here is the handout that went in the bags and includes more information on the books and activities and how to use them, plus additional ideas for home.

I hope this is useful! Let me know if you have any questions or comments.

Hopefully I’ve set you up with a nice Marvin Gaye earworm.

What’s going on with me? It’s been a while since I’ve posted much other than a ukulele update. Which is useful to a small few, I’m sure, but there’s a lot more going on in the Miss Mary Liberry world than ukulele storytime concerts.

I still work in a public library. I still plan and present the Stories and More program. I still love it: kids, books, caregivers, fun and learning.

I still read and love and share picture books, early readers, middle grade fiction, and young adult fiction. I do a lot of sharing on my twitter feed – I should share more here.

But my biggest news relating to children’s books, I suppose, is that about a year ago I finished the first draft of my first-ever picture book manuscript. Idea by me. Written by me. Wait, what? How did that happen?

The truth is, I’d had ideas in the past. But this one, strangely, emerged from my sleep-addled brain one morning almost fully formed. Premise, dialogue, everything except the resolution and conclusion. I had the presence of mind to actually open my computer and write it down and for that I am extremely grateful to past me. Go, past me!

It took me probably a couple of years to figure out how to end the story. I talked to lots of people, and they gave me lots of good ideas. Finally, after a month or so of work, I figured it out. The ending. Whoo hoo!

I sent the thing off to some friends for their opinions – my boyfriend, my family, but also a group of children’s librarians I respect and love, my fellow Storytime Underground joint-chiefs. Each provided great feedback and ideas, and from there the revising began.

Last August I decided I was ready to start the submission process. I’ve been a member of SCBWI for a couple years but this was when I really took advantage of the resources they offer (that membership money is well-spent, y’all): their “Essential Guide to Publishing for Children” offered me a crash-course in how to get my book published that I needed to get started. I read up on next steps: would I submit my manuscript directly to a publisher? Or did I need an agent?

I decided I needed an agent. After more research into the agent querying process, and many query letter drafts, I submitted my first queries on August 5, 2017.

Now, almost a year later, I’m up to 20 queries. I’ve had 4 outright rejections, and many more “no responses.”

In the grand scheme of things, this is just a drop in the bucket. I know writers who’ve sent hundreds of queries before they got signed by an agent. So I keep researching agents, and trying again.

I’ve also written a second manuscript and just today sent it out for the first time.

[ETA: And now I’m learning that I really should have at least THREE manuscripts polished and ready to go. The books don’t tell you that; and this is why personal connections are valuable. I have so much to learn. And, fortunately, a couple more ideas in the works that I will kickstart so that I have at least three viable options to share with agents.]

It’s a hard process, and I get frustrated and depressed. I read picture books at work all the time, and while many are excellent, occasionally I think “THIS got published and nobody likes mine?” I know that’s an extreme take, and I’ve only been working at this for a short time, but it’s easy to let the irrational thoughts in some time.

We just have to keep plugging along. If I believe it will happen, and I keep working to make it happen, it will happen, right? RIGHT?

At times I feel unworthy because, as I said, I’ve not been writing actively for more than a few years. But then I think it might mean something that I’ve devoted most of my professional life to sharing picture books with young children and their caregivers? So, like, I’ve been researching the hell out of picture books for almost 20 years? That counts, right?

I don’t know.

I’m grateful for many twitter friends and (unbeknownst to them) mentors like Julie Falatko, Tara Lazar and other writers who have unwittingly provided me with guidance and motivation. I have read about others’ processes and learned, in the end, there is no one way to be a writer. There is no one “path” to publishing. All are valid. Mine is valid.

So I suppose I will “keep on keepin’ on,” as they (whoever they are) say. The process will continue it’s ups and downs and I can only hope that one day in the not-to-distant future I will open my email inbox to a message from an agent saying they’re interested in my work. And on that day I will text my family, treat myself to a donut, smile internally and externally, and go to work at the library with an extra bit of oomph.

Whew. Thanks for reading my stream-of-consciousness update.

TL;DR: I’m still a librarian. I wrote a couple of picture book manuscripts. They’re not published – YET.