Story Time Monday

Yesterday was Story Time Monday, when I read a story to eight classes of Preschoolers (ages three-five) and Kindergartners (ages five-six), and then help them find and select books to take to their classrooms or homes for the coming week. For the littlest children I choose Kitten's First Full Moon, written and illustrated by Kevin Henkes. This is a simple, gentle story of a kitten who sees her first full moon and thinks it is a bowl of milk. She tries in various ways to reach it and drink from it, but with no success. Finally she goes home, where she finds a real bowl of milk waiting for her. Drawing on ideas from a recent Mailbox Yearbook, an idea publication for teachers, I introduced the story by showing the three-year-olds a photograph of a full moon. I then shone a flashlight on a white paper plate taped to the wall and asked the children if that was a real moon. The idea was to show how the kitten could get confused. The three's were a bit young for my question, but no matter; the flashlight got their attention and the story held it.

The older children heard Harry and the Dirty Dog, written by Gene Zion and illustrated by Margaret Bloy Graham. Although written in 1956, this story of how Harry fled when his family wanted to give him a bath, going out to play and getting so dirty that he turned from a "white dog with black spots" to a "black dog with white spots," a change which made his family not know him when he returned home, this classic was a big hit with my students.

As I read this fun story throughout the day, I remembered Margaret (Peggy) Couglan, a Children's Literature Specialist at the Library of Congress where I worked. Although I did not know her well, she was a delightful person to have as an acquaintance. Whenever I'd run into her in the halls or on the street walking to the Metro, she always stopped and visited for a few minutes. Although she must have been as busy as everyone else, she always acted as if she had all the time in the world and that you were the most important person in her life at that moment. One day when we were waiting to adopt Paul, I asked her for her recommendations for children's books. This was bit presumptuous since knowing and writing about children's book was Peggy's life work, but she thought seriously for a minute or so and then said, "Well, don't forget about the wonderful story of Harry the Dirty Dog. " I went out and got a copy and loved it, just as the children did yesterday.