Crowdsourcing Storytime: Dream Big, READ!

Last year I had such a blast "crowd-sourcing" my summer reading storytimes (and especially appreciated the help thinking of fun crafts to go with them) that I wanted to try it again this year too. Sadly, I will be on maternity leave during our summer reading program, so I won't be around to enjoy some of the fun stuff I'm planning, but I still want the kids to enjoy their storytimes. 

The majority of our storytimes in the summer are outside and off-site, so that is a consideration as we don't want to have to lug too much stuff out to cars and back. All the same, I couldn't resist sneaking The Game of Light in for the sky storytime (would also work for camping or PJ themes) even though we can only do that one indoors. 

Another consideration is the huge age range and number of attendees vary constantly. Some weeks we will have 10 people at storytime, others 60 or more. The only way to manage is to plan way more than you think you will need and be flexible about your choices once you see who has come for storytime that day. 


Below are the lists I've brainstormed so far. Some of them need more ideas and some have way too many. I've decided to over-plan them and let the staff members who will doing storytime in my present pick the stories they are most comfortable with sharing. This is just to give them an outline of guidance. 

Beachy Keen
Books:
What If by Laura Vaccaro Seeger
Bats at the Beach by Brian Lies
A Beach Tail by Karen Williams
Ladybug Girl at the Beach by David Soman
All You Need for a Beach by Alice Schertle
Craft: ???



CampingBooks: 
Duck Tents by Lynne Berry
Into the Outdoors by Susan Gal
Scare a Bear by Kathy-Jo Wargin
"Mosquito Song" (p. 21) and "Two Voices in a Tent at Night" (p. 24) from Toasting Marshmallows: Camping Poems by Kristine O'Connell George.Craft: ??
Thanks to Mollie for the idea for this storytime! 
Owls

Books:
Good Night, Owl! by Pat Hutchins


Little Owl Lost by Chris HaughtonWho Hoots by Katie Davis"Round-faced Owl" draw and tell story from the summer reading manual (p. 167)
I was also thinking of reading some of Odd Owls and Stout Pigs by Arnold Lobel (maybe a flannelboard?)Craft: Probably either the owl puppet (p. 191) or mask (p. 189) from the SRP manual
Jungle Safari
Books:
Elephants Can Paint, Too! by Katya Arnold
From Head to Toe by Eric CarleIf I Were a Jungle Animal by Amanda ElleryThe Lion's Share by Matthew McElligot
If You're Happy and You Know It: Jungle Edition by James WarholTiny Little Fly by Michael Rosen
Craft: ??
This one was inspired by Katie! 
Pajama-rama!Books: How do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight by Jane Yolen and play "Dinosaur Doesn't" (p. 125 in manual, basically "Simon Says" for actions you shouldn't do!)
Otto Goes to Bed by Todd ParrBedtime Bunnies by Wendy Watson
Ten in the Bed by Jane Cabrera
Creak, Said the Bed by Phyllis Root
Llama, Llama Red Pajama by Anna DewdneyGoodnight, Sweet Pig by Linda BaileyDinosaur Vs. Bedtime by Bob SheaThere's An Alligator Under My Bed by Mercer Mayer
I'm thinking of adapting the "Pretty Pillow" prop story (p. 130 in the SRP manual) into a flannelboard story, if I have time.
"Maybe I'll Sleep in the Bathtub Tonight" poem (p. 13) from Maybe I'll Sleep in the Bathtub Tonight and Other Funny Bedtime Poems by Debbie LevyCraft: ??
Sky, Stars, and MoonBooks: It Looked Like Spilt Milk by Charles G. Shaw (Scroll story or flannel) The Game of Light by Herve Tullet Don't forget the flashlight (and test it first)Craft: Man in the moon painting (pattern on p. 218, instructions on p. 205-206 of the SRP manual)
Have a suggestion for a great book, craft, game, or other activity not listed here? Leave it in the comments, so everyone can see it. 
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Alice the Camel

One of my favorite interactive songs to perform with kids is "Alice the Camel," also known as "Sally the Camel," but, Alice is the correct name. I like to check YouTube to see if songs I am unfamiliar with have a video there, so if you haven't heard this one before, give that a try.  I like to have everyone shake their hips on the last line of the verse.

Alice the Camel
Alice the camel has five humps.
Alice the camel has five humps.
Alice the camel has five humps.
So go, Alice, go!
Boom, boom, boom, boom! 

(Remove a hump. Repeat the song as you count 4, 3, 2, and 1 humps) and then:

Alice the camel has no humps.
Alice the camel has no humps.
Alice the camel has no humps.
Cause Alice is a horse!

You can make a felt/flannel board story out of these song by using these body and hump patterns, courtesy of the Texas State Library. Since the pieces don't overlap, a magnet board would work too. Originally I made this out of camel-colored felt, but that version appears to have gone on safari somewhere without telling me, so I remade it quickly by printing the patterns directly on milk filters.

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Milk Filters Source List

Looking for a unique and wonderful gift for the Children's Librarian in your life? Try tracking down some milk filters! Judging from some of the Google search results that bring visitors here, milk filters are harder to find than Sasquatch! Below I've compiled a source list for milk filters. Please note that I have not bought anything from the stores below and cannot vouch for them. I did not receive anything from the stores below for mentioning them. If you know of additional sources, please clue us in with a comment below! 
Wondering what on Earth children's librarians use milk filters for? Try reading Andrea's post and an old one of mine for some background. 
Online Sources: Blain's Farm and Fleet  sells a box of 100 15 inch milk filters (by KenAg) for $13.49 + shipping. You can input your zip code to get a shipping total. My zip code was $4.95 for economy shipping via the post office (within 5-10 business days). 
Shane's Tack also sells a 100 quantity of the same milk filters for $20.97 + $9.08 shipping to the continental U.S. However, they do offer a volume discount (2 or more @ $20.34, 5 or more @ $19.71, 10 or more @ $19.08) that could be useful for those of you who work in a multi-branch library system or know other people who might want to "go in on" a bunch of filters together.  For comparison shoppers, 10 boxes is a case of milk filters, sold for $204 at Giles Dairy Service. I was not able to get a shipping quote without creating an account. 
If you are looking for a smaller sized milk filter, try True Harvest. You can get 100 of the 6.5 inch filters for $11.29 + shipping. A box was quoted to me as shipping for $6.93 via the post office. 
StoresIf you live in Illinois, Wisconsin, or Iowa: there may be a Blain's Farm and Fleet near you. I believe the box I have came from the Woodstock, IL location (we have family in IL and my husband picked some up on a visit. Yes, he gets sent on weird errands sometimes). 
As I live in an area of Michigan with plenty of farmers, you would think there would be a store nearby that sells milk filters. There is not. Apparently the farms around here use some sort of polyester "sock" to filter the milk. You learn something new everyday. 
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This Is a Library, Not a Playground

Do you have a phrase that you overuse in your library? I definitely do and it's "This is a library, not a playground." I've been thinking for a long time that I need to come up with a better way of expressing what behaviors are expected of the kids in our department. I want kids to enjoy their visits, but sometimes what they are doing makes it less enjoyable for other people using their small space. And, yes, sometimes making it less enjoyable for other people is code for "you are driving the librarian crazy." 
So, I was thrilled to discover Sara's post about child management. It is full of really practical ideas for communicating your expectations that she learned through her training and experience in education. Those of you who are former teachers or are school librarians probably already know those, but for those of us who come from other backgrounds, I think it is tremendously helpful to read this whole post. And I am so grateful my library doesn't have a toy boat! 
Thanks Marge for linking to your very wise coworker's blog. I'm glad to have another to add to my Reader! 
I'm curious to know what everyone thinks about this topic. How do you handle mischief in your school or public library? Do you have a phrase that you overuse? My other one is "The elevator is not a toy!" Pin It

"This is Big, Big, Big" Picture Book

Did you know that you are now reading the blog of a picture book illustrator? Inspired by Melissa's post about making her own big book of "Twinkle Twinkle," I decided to try illustrating her fingerplay "This is Big." And, yes, I did get her permission to adapt her rhyme before I started. Today, I am thrilled to unveil This is Big by Melissa Depper and Anne Clark! We hope anyone reading this who may be on the Newbery or Caldecott committees remembers us in January 2013. ;) 


I started by sketching the words and images to see how I could lay it out. Here's what that looked like: 

Next, I hooked up the Cricut machine and got to cutting and gluing! Details are below if anyone is interested in making their own version. 

Here it is: 

The last "l" is on the finished version. 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DetailsCricut cartridges used: Doodle CharmsEveryday Paper DollsCreate a CritterFont of your choice (I used Sesame Street's Sunny Day cut at 1.5 inches)
Other supplies: Elmer's spray adhesive for the lettersGlue stick for the images (which somehow didn't dry clear---arrrghh!)Assortment of scrapbook paper (12 inch squares)

Cut details: This is big big big Doodle Charms snowflake (shadow) at 10 inches

This is small small small 

Doodle Charms snowflake (shadow) at 4 inches

This is short short short 

Everyday Paper Dolls body (blackout) at 4 inches

This is tall tall tall

Everyday Paper Dolls body (blackout) at fit to page (11.5 inches)

This is fast fast fast

Create a Critter rabbit (shadow) at 6 inches

This is slow slow slow

Create a Critter turtle (shadow) at fit to page (5.5 inches)

This is yes yes yes 

Doodle Charms baby face (shadow) at fit to page (6.25 inches)

This is no no no 

Doodle Charms baby face (shadow) at fit to page (6.25 inches)
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#flannelfriday: Little Worm Hide and Seek

"Little Worm Hide and Seek" is a game I dreamed up on the reference desk Wednesday night. I am a big fan of felt board games like Little Mouse and Snowball, Snowball. Another game that I came up with is forthcoming on March 30th, which is when we will share ideas for the "Dream Big--READ!" summer reading theme.

Little Worm Hide and Seek

"Little Worm" can be played (at least!) two ways. One is to make a bunch of apples in different colors similar to Little Mouse and Snowball, Snowball. Another way, which I thought up just now while typing this post, would be to use felt food pieces (like in this earlier Flannel Friday), and have the kids guess the type of fruit or veggie the worm is hiding under. I like this idea better.

Little Worm Hide and Seek
Little worm playing hide and seek.
Are you under the __name OR color of fruit___ 
Let's take a peek! 

Drawing is not one of my talents, so what I did instead was adapt clipart from the OpenClipArt library. Since all of their content is licensed through Creative Commons, I can share the PDF I made with you. I already have a set of felt apples that I intend to use for this rhyme so I only made one apple and worm to make sure the pattern worked decently.

I'm hosting Flannel Friday today, yay! Please leave a comment on the roundup post from earlier this morning if you're participating. I'll have the roundup available by Saturday morning at the latest.

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Flannel Friday Roundup for Jan. 27, 2012

Good morning #flannelfriday-ers! Please leave a link to your posts in the comments here and I will edit them in throughout the day.

This week on our Facebook page, Kay has challenged us to leave comments on all the Flannel Friday posts.  It might take me a few days, but as Barney Stinson would say, "CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!" We would love if even non-bloggers left us a little comment love to feed our weary blogger souls in the middle of a dreary winter's day.

In other FF news, we'd like to thank Anna for talking up our little group to her fellow Wisconsinians (Wisconsonites? Wisconsinganders?) on the YSS blog this week.  It is almost enough to make me forgive Wisconsin for trying to pretend it is the Mitten State, when everyone knows that it's Michigan. Stick to the cheese thing, Wisconsin. Everyone likes cheese. Except maybe vegans. Also, happy 175th birthday this week to Michigan! Woohoo. She doesn't look a day over 174.

In other Michigan news, the Michigan Library Association has the schedule for its 2012 Spring Institute online. This is our 2-day conference for youth librarians, which is Ann Arbor this year. Speaking this year are Chris Crutcher, Donna Jo Napoli, and Eric Litwin of Pete the Cat fame. My fellow Michiganders Gary Schmidt and Johnathan Rand are also keynoting. Those are some talented folks! Anyone planning on attending?

Speaking of mittens, if you have a huge stack of felt ones then you will love Teach Preschool's ideas for felt board mitten math. If only math was always this adorable, right?

On to today's roundup... 

First things first---let's give a warm Flannel Friday welcome to our first time posters Lissa at tickle the clouds, who is counting 5 Little Snowmen and Danielle at A Bad Case of Books who has Two Little Elephants for you. Can't wait to see more from them in the future (no pressure!).

In other wintery treats, Katie at Storytime Secrets has a colorful mitten rhyme for you, while Alison's Three Little Kittens have lost theirs. Oh no! Linda at Notes from the Story Room is promoting poetry with a charmingly illustrated (reminds me of Lauren Child) version of Shel Silverstein's "Snowball". Cate at Storytiming is thinking along the same lines with her "Hey, Mr. Snowman," inspired by a previous Flannel Friday post. Even more snow flakes come courtesy of Katie (from storytime Katie) who has actually stitched together "Five Little Snowflakes". And all this snow wouldn't be anything without a few penguins, would it? So good news! Kay at Storytime ABCs has you covered with There Was a Little Penguin.

Sarah at Read it Again is looking forward to Groundhog Day with her "Groundhog's Shadow". Just after that will be another February holiday and Meghan has you covered with "Six Little Valentines" over at Busy Crafting Mommy. In the mood for more celebrating? Kari at My Storytime Life is serving up a big piece of Birthday Cake. Yummy!

The weather is always a popular topic this time of year, as it's probably either already snowing or going to be shortly, so I have an appreciation for Library Quine's beautiful pieces of all kinds of weather. She promised to share the patterns next week, so stay tuned for those.

Erin at Falling Flannelboards shares the folder story "Cinderella's Rat". In other rodent posts, In the Children's Room has an adorable version of "Little Mouse," which is the one flannel I think every children's librarian needs in his or her collection. Another storytime classic is "10 in the Bed" and Tracey has adapted it to be "5 Bears in the Bed," a very cute idea for anyone planning a stuffed animal sleepover. Speaking of stuffed animal sleepovers, Mary from Miss Mary Lieberry has a flannel version of the older picture book Lisa Can't Sleep.

Katie at Recipe for Reading is calling "ALL ABOARD!" for her "Riding in My Trains" song. Meanwhile, see what happened when Mollie called it quits on her attempt to make a squirrel flannelboard. Find out what happened by reading Definitely Not a Flannel Friday Post.

And I've got a little game I made up--"Little Worm's Hide and Seek"

If I have missed you, please accept my most sincere apologies!  Just leave a comment and I will include you as soon as possible. Thanks! 

Flannel Friday can also be found on Pinterest. Archives and future schedule are right here. 

Yummy Watermelons

 

While it's hardly watermelon season here, it's always nice in the middle of winter to think summery thoughts! Since I will be on maternity leave for most of the summer, I thought I'd share this simple flannel rhyme now, Yummy Watermelons by Shelley Lovett (of childcareland.com). 

Yummy, yummy watermelon...I love watermelon!

I had a piece of watermelon at breakfast. 

I had another piece of watermelon when I was playing outside.

Read the rest of the poem and find the patterns here. 

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The Rabbit Who Wanted Red Wings

Today's Flannel Friday comes to us courtesy of Multicultural Folktales for the Feltboard and Readers' Theater, by Judy Sierra. Ms. Sierra, though I have never met or seen her perform/speak, is a treasure trove of storytelling gems. The one I want to share for the Flannel Friday Mushy Gushy Valentine's Day Extravaganza today for is "The Rabbit Who Wanted Red Wings." This story is a cute one about a parent's love for her child just the way he is. I think it's appropriate for Valentine's Day because parents are a kid's first Valentine, right? Right.

Here is an extremely simplified version:

Once there was a little rabbit  who always wanted to be like the other animals he would see.

He finds a magic pond  and wishes for red wings like the red bird he sees in the woods.

He gets them! But he can't fly. So he goes home to Mama Rabbit, but she doesn't recognize him. So he has to go back to the pond and wishes for the wings to be gone.

After they disappear, he goes home and Mama gives him a hug, and tells him he's perfect just the way he is.

While we're talking about this book, I think it would be great for a school library's collection because it presents each folktale with patterns for a felt board story told be the teacher AND also gives a script for the kids to do a readers' theater performance with. It looks like the book is still in print also. Please don't be put off by the plain cover or 1996 copyright date. Others who might enjoy this book are camp counselors and Scout leaders.

Other Flannel Fridays I have posted that are appropriate for Valentine's Day storytimes are The Big-Hearted Elephant, Moose in Love, and A Blanket for the Princess.

Don't forget that Anna is hosting our Extravaganza today!

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Imagination Storytime

Image Courtesy of Openclipart.org

For the winter storytime session, I have been challenging myself to use as many new picture books as possible. I sometimes feel that I rely too heavily on my old favorites and while there is always room for them, I've enjoyed trying some of the great 2011 and 2012 books showing up from processing. Two of them inspired last week's Imagination-themed storytime.

The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse by Eric Carle
That's How by Christoph Niemann
The Game of Light by Herve Tullet This is a really fun board book designed to be used with a flashlight to make shadows in different shapes on the wall. Check it out! The kids got a kick out of being in the library in the dark. I had them lie on their backs and look up at the ceiling. I asked a parent to hold the flashlight for me so I could focus on reading the words and manipulating the book so the images would be seen. I had to try a few different flashlights (FOUR) before I found one bright enough. 


I didn't quite realize until after I was done reading that all three of these books are pretty short. So if anyone has any suggestions of  titles that would go well with these, please leave them in the comments!


For the art activity afterwards, I gave the kids each a sheet of chart paper and let them draw their little hearts out. I am really trying to focus more on the process of making art than trying to recreate a product made by an adult.

I always start my storytimes with the same rhymes: "Open, Shut Them" and "Let's Hear You Roar Like a Lion" but for the winter session I'm using "Snowball, Snowball" instead of "Little Mouse" for our felt board game.

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Try this Book: Kindergarten Magic

If you've been reading So Tomorrow for any length of time, you'll most likely have noticed that I am a huge fan of the book Storytime Magic by Kathy MacMillan and Christine Kirker. Many of my Flannel Friday posts originiated in that incredible resource. I am excited to let you know that I have finally been able to borrow a copy of Kindergarten Magic, also by MacMillan and Kirker.What follows is a review of sorts.

For public librarians, I would suggest browsing a copy from ILL as there is some good material but I find Storytime Magic to be more applicable to the public library setting. It would be useful to presenters who perform storytimes for school-age kids. I did really like the third chapter, "Welcome to the Library," as it lays out a great program for those orientation visits that are so popular with Scout troops and classroom teachers. Likewise, chapter 4 "Welcome to Kindergarten" would be a great starting point for a "Back to School" storytime in the late summer.

I know many libraries do an annual gingerbread house making program. If you want to add a storytime to that tradition, with all apologies to the Apple Store, there's a "chap" for that. It's 17. I've also heard of libraries who throw a New Year's Eve Countdown for kids at 11:30 a.m., which I think is adorable. Chapter 19 is all about The New Year. Another holiday it can be hard to find ideas for gets its due in chapter 30: St. Patrick's Day.

The rest of the topics are pretty standard for storytime planning books. There are chapters on: nutrition and food, nocturnal animals, the five senses (sidebar: someone needs to do a storytime on the 6th sense!), different seasons, transportation (which includes My Dump Truck Fred), fairy tales and folklore, dinosaurs, weather, zoo animals, farm animals, etc.

All chapters also include options for incorporating American Sign Language (ASL) and Spanish. In addition, there are also skill-building games to help kids learn to use the library as well as "takeaway activities," some of which would make good crafts to follow storytime.

One thing I did like as someone who has invested a lot of time and felt into making patterns from the previous book is this book uses many of the same pieces with different stories. You may have to make 1-2 additional pieces, depending on the story. This is so helpful. I know I struggle to think of how to recycle pieces in this way and there are some wonderful stories.

Judge a professional reference book by # of pages marked!

In my opinion, this is a great resource for our friends working in elementary school libraries. One of the reviews on Amazon criticized it for promoting flannel stories when smart boards and document cameras are all the rage, which was so sad to me. In my experience, even elementary aged kids are just as fascinated by good old-fashioned storytelling done by a gifted performer as they are by all the fanciest technologies in the world. If you don't have time to make flannel pieces, MacMillan and Kirker suggest the option of converting their felt stories into prop stories. This is pretty genius, if you ask me.

As with Storytime Magic, Kindergarten Magic has associated activities that you can print off the Internet.I wish more publishers would do this as my copy machine can be so fussy when I am trying to copy off flannelboard patterns from professional reference books.  I was a little disappointed that some of these were repeats from the previous book, although I understand how much work must go into putting a resource like this together. One of these that jumped out at me was the texture book craft, which is one of my favorites from Storytime Magic.

Has anyone seen this book? Or planning to check it out now? Let me know what you think!

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Flannel Friday: Snowball, Snowball

"Snowball, Snowball" is my Flannel Friday for the day. I spotted this idea on Pinterest & I know this will be a hit with my storytime kids because they LOVE "Little Mouse, Little Mouse" and this is exactly the same thing but winter-themed. Perfect for mixing it up during our long Michigan winter storytime session. 

Snowball, Snowball

Snowball, snowball 

Cold and round!

Behind which mitten

Can you be found?

I ran out of different colors of felt, so I only had time to make three different mittens. But I plan to make at least two more and will most likely add some puffy paint details, although I don't have Mary's steady hand.  I used a coloring page image of a mitten and used Microsoft Publisher's auto shapes's oval for the snowball. This was a quick and fun flannel to make. I think it would be perfect for a new librarian to tackle. 

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Pinterest for Librarians

One of the things that has surprised me lately is the number of emails I get with questions about Pinterest. I thought it might be handy to put some tips together. I know I am not the first librarian to write about Pinterest, by any means! I hope this helps someone out there though.

How do I use Pinterest? 
There is a pretty good help page. Pinterest is still in beta mode, but you can request an invite from Pinterest.com. It sounds like most people are getting them within a few days. If you can't wait, you can email me for an invite, and I'll try to send one on. Not sure how many Pinterest will let me send though. If you have any questions, I will try to answer them, but I am a librarian, not a Pinterest staffer. It is also important to remember that Pinterest is still a start-up and is somewhat prone to crashing. A victim of its own popularity, if you will.

One thing I would like to point out is that it is extremely important if you are adding a pin (by which I mean being the first person to pin something) to make sure that the source is correct. For example, if you are pinning a Flannel Friday post, you want to make sure that it will take you back to the right post in the future and not just the main blog page.


How can I use Pinterest "on the clock" for library purposes? 
There are so many great ways to use Pinterest at work. You can find ideas for programs you are planning, decorating ideas, craft ideas, and printables to give to parents/teachers/etc.. To give you an idea, here are some of my work-related pinboards:
Library Bulletin Boards and Displays
Kids Sewing Projects (for our Sewing School program)
Superhero Camp
Spy Camp
Lego Programming Ideas
Camping Storytime
Library Carnival Ideas
Circus Storytime
Western Theme Storytime
Outer Space and Robots Storytime
Pirate Party
Star Wars Program
Art Attack Program
Instant Awesome Storytime Ideas
Printables for Parents (I like to give out ideas for road trip games, indoor activities, etc. as seasonally appropriate)
Gaming Programs
Library Puppet Show Ideas

There are also a collaborative board for teen programs, and of course Flannel Friday's page. If I am missing some good boards, leave a comment and let me know, please.

How can I encourage people to pin content from my blog? 
I've been experimenting with this a little bit, and I have a few suggestions. First is that Pinterest will not accept a pin if there is no image on that page, so always include an image. It can be an image from Openclipart.org or a banner you made just for that post (like my Pinterest for Librarians banner at the top of this page) in MS Paint. It does not have to be anything fancy.

Another way is to give people a freebie. Whether it is a printable list of 100 books to read in kindergarten, signs to use for library displays, or something else entirely, I see lots of freebies pinned in my feed. This category could also include innovative ideas for marketing a collection, storytime crafts, or really any topic applicable to librarians.

Pins from sotomorrowblog.com

Can I see what has been "pinned" from my blog? 
Yes, or for any other site as well. But be careful because it can be addicting to see! And, as always, not everyone will like your content.

There are two ways to do this.
1. Put the URL in after this address: http://pinterest.com/source/. So to see what has been pinned from So Tomorrow, you'd visit this URL: http://pinterest.com/source/sotomorrowblog.com/ (Make sure you drop the HTTP and WWW portions or you will get an error message.)
Other examples from some of my favorite sites (not all work-related):
http://pinterest.com/source/schoollibraryjournal.com/
http://pinterest.com/source/marthastewart.com/
http://pinterest.com/source/younghouselove.com/

Items that were pinned from my blog before I purchased my own URL are pinned here: http://pinterest.com/source/sotomorrow.blogspot.com/.

How to find other pins from the same site

2. You can also open any pin and see what else has been pinned from the same site. Down on the left side of the Pinterest site is a box that says Also From (it's highlighted in orange in the image). Click the link and you'll be able to see what others have pinned from that site.

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Flannel Friday Returns (Plus an Announcement!)

Reminder

Flannel Friday will makes its scheduled return this week, on Friday January 6th! Our first host of 2012 is the lovely Mollie.


Announcement

We are planning on having a few other Flannel Friday extravaganzas so mark your calendars for these dates:

• January 13th--Mushy Gushy Valentine's Day stories (hosted by Anna) Sorry about the short notice on this one! It is entirely my fault. 
• March 30th--"Dream Big, Read" Summer Reading Program Edition (host TBD, contact me if you're interested in hosting this or any other Flannel Friday date)

As always, you don't have to post something fitting the extravaganza theme, if you don't celebrate Valentine's Day or your library doesn't participate in the collaborative summer reading theme. We encourage you to extend the ideas out (love stories? hearts? bedtime stories?) and see if you have something related floating around in your files that might work for our readers. And, if not, we'd love to hear you from you that week anyway.


Have an idea for a Flannel Friday Extravaganza? Leave a comment with a theme suggestion and about what time of year we should do it. 

Challenge Accepted!: The British Books Challenge 2012

I've been really getting into challenging myself to read more widely and really focus on improving my readers' advisory "database" in my brain. For 2011, I challenged myself to read and log 200 books on my GoodReads account (please add me as a friend, if you'd like). I'm very proud to announce that I am currently at 246 completed, including picture books. Yay!

I wanted to do something a little different for the next year, so I was really excited when Library Quine blogged earlier today about some 2012 Reading Challenges. I've decided to try the British Books Challenge and am really excited about it. My goal is to read 12 British books, new or old, and from any genre. I'm hoping to mix in some classics that I never got to, as well as some contemporary kids' books. I'd love recommendations from any Brits and non-Brits in the comments! I will most likely start with one or two books from this list.

 I I plan to write short reviews* of the books I read for this challenge and post them to this blog approximately once a month. Full rules for this challenge, including a reminder that Ireland is not part of the U.K., are here. Oh, and of course, this is a challenge open to non-Brits, because I live on the other side of the Atlantic and then some.

I'm going for quality and variety in 2012, instead of quantity. Part of the reason is because my husband and I are expecting our first child in June, and my reading for pleasure time will not be as plentiful. I still plan to challenge myself to log another 200 books on GoodReads in 2012, but probably a larger percentage will be picture books.

Anyone else out there doing a reading challenge in 2012?

*reviews will be tagged BBC12 as this post is for anyone who comes looking for those specific posts.