Storytime Monday

It was storytime Monday today, the most fun and busiest day of the week. For the 4-5-and 6-year olds, I read "Abe Lincoln Crosses a Creek: A Tall, Thin Tale (Introducing His Forgotten Frontier Friend)" by Deborah Hopkinson and illustrated by John Hendrix. This tall tale of Lincoln as a young boy was fun to read as it lent itself to interacting with the kids. Abe and his friend Austin try to cross the raging Knob Creek by walking across a log. Austin makes it, but Abe falls into the creek, and Austin saves him. But wait a minute, the author says ...these tall tales frequently aren't quite true. Could Austin and Abe really been so foolish as to walk across the creek on a log? I bet not....I bet they crawled across that log. What do you think happened? And just how did Austin save Abe? By extending a Sycamore branch? Or by fishing him out with his fishing rod? The kids and I both enjoyed thinking about just how things might have worked out for Abe and Austin.

For the 3-year olds, I read "Jessie Bear, What Will you Wear?," by Nancy White Carlstrom, illustrated by Bruce Degen. It's an old favorite of mine from reading it to Paul when he was little. The rhyming story follows Jessie Bear throughout the course of the day, focusing on what he wears in the morning, at noon, and at night. It's sweet, but also frequently funny, with lines like

"Jessie Bear, what will you wear, what will you wear at noon? I'll wear my chair. You'll wear your chair? I'll wear my chair cause I'm stuck there; stuck in my chair at noon."

And the illustration show him (or is he a her?; my kids couldn't tell) in a high chair. My kids thought that was very funny.