Storytime Monday

It was Storytime Monday and I had a cold and was worn out from putting three coats of paint (2 primer, one topcoat) on the kitchen in preparation for the floors going in today. Good thing I was reading fun, silly books! They made it easy to be "on" for the little ones.

The three-four year olds heard the story of "Tiny the Snow Dog" by Cari Meister, which was such fun to read. It features Tiny, the dog who plays in the snow with his human friend. Tiny isn't tiny at all, but so big that all the kids could spot Tiny as he hid in the barn, behind the tree, and finally sneaks up on his friend ("Crunch, crunch, crunch!") who hears him and thinks "A snow monster!" before he realizes (well after the children do) that it's just Tiny.

The four-six year olds heard "The Jacket I Wear in the Snow," a funny tale by Shirley Neitzel about a child who has to put on many itchy, hot, stiff, and too big clothes before he (or was it a she? --we couldn't tell) goes out in the snow. The book starts out with the simple statement: "This is the jacket I wore in the snow" and grows longer and more complex as each item of clothes is added. Finally s/he has so many clothes on that s/ he can hardly move and crashes into a snowman and gets stuck in the sled. At which point, we are told that "These are the tears that cried..." Finally Mom comes and takes off each item of clothing, one by one, until the child is back to normal dress and enjoying a cup of cocoa in the kitchen with Mom and the cat. Another simple but wonderfully effective read-aloud story.