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April 16, 2008
Picture Books for Two Voices, or Doing Preschool Storytime for the Masses
I work in a community where a fair number of parents are able to stay at home, hire a nanny, or have family members watch their preschoolers during the day. Preschool storytime has been popular at WPL since I started there six years ago, but over the last couple years, it’s gotten even more so. I think there are a lot of reasons for this: our community is growing, the children’s department staff is excellent and hasn’t had a lot of turnover, we work toward policies and programs that welcome all families, our age-specific storytimes lead one into the next very nicely, and we have The Guitar Guy. (I haven’t been able to figure out which name Jason dislikes more—“The Guitar Guy” or “Mr. Jason.” When I figure it out, though, you can bet I’ll start using it consistently.)
Anyway, our storytime schedule features the typical weekly age-leveled storytimes you’d expect, but we also intersperse periodic all-ages drop-in storytimes, which typically draw about 80 kids and 40 adults, a not-insubstantial crowd. Mr. Jason and I have developed a number of strategies for dealing with these crowds. One of my favorites is when we read books together, each of us taking parts. Some books are particularly well-suited to this presentation, and I thought some of the rest of you who are lucky enough to get crowds and occasionally work with more than one storyteller might be interested in them:
Froggy Gets Dressed by Jonathan London
I suppose this would work just as well with any books in the Froggy series, but this one is my favorite and the only one I use in storytimes. Basically, the trick is to divide up the narration and then have one person do the voice of Froggy and one do the voice of his mother. Those long bits where Froggy is zipping and zutting fly by with alternating voices, and it’s fun to make the most of the exchanges between Froggy and his mother.
A Cat and a Dog by Claire Masurel, illustrated by Bob Kolar
This is one of those books people don’t usually know, but I find it to be a big hit in storytime. It’s a simple story about cooperation that’s just about perfect for a three year old—simple text, growling and hissing, and bold illustrations. Dividing the text page by page so that one person (ALWAYS ME!) is talking about the cat and the other person is talking about the dog works out pretty well.
Cowboy and Octopus by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith
I am not sure how much the preschoolers understood of what was going on in this book, but I think they’ve enjoyed it the couple times we’ve done it because Jason and I love reading the book aloud. Jason does a great cowboy voice, and I am endlessly amused by the whole thing. Since the book is almost entirely dialog, having two people read it is very natural.
Elephant and Piggie series by Mo Willems
Jason is the elephant, and I am the pig. Neither one of us comes off well when I put it that way, but no matter. These books are way fun to read aloud. First of all, they are entirely dialog. Second, they are really funny. We did I Am Invited to a Party in storytime yesterday, and I think it might be my favorite of the bunch (so much so that it inspired me to write this), but we’ve done Today I Will Fly and My Friend is Sad as well. The other books I’ve mentioned in this entry are standard picture book size, so it’s okay to have both readers reading one copy. The Elephant and Piggie books, however, are beginning readers and, thus, pretty small. We forgot this yesterday and read off the same copy, but it was a good reminder to me that it’s a little easier for people to see when we’ve had two copies and each read off our own.
Do any of my gentle readers have suggestions of other books that might work out well read this way? We’re doing quite a few drop-in family storytimes over the next few months and are always on the lookout for new material.
Posted by adrienne at April 16, 2008 11:19 AM
Comments
What about Raschka's Yo! Yes? Also, I think Burningham's Would You Rather? might work well, too (as you and Guitar Guy dare each other to do various things like sleep in a haunted house or get sat upon by a hippo).
Posted by: Alkelda the Gleeful at April 16, 2008 11:59 AM
I was going to suggest Yo! Yes? for this type of reading as well. Good fun! I'm the only children's person at my library, so I usually ask a parent to read the other half of the book, or ask one of the kids' older siblings (usually an 8 or 9 year old) to help out.
Posted by: Anne at April 16, 2008 01:07 PM
Chester, by Melanie Watt, is a fun one! One reader can take the straight-man role of the author, and the other can take the role of her cat, Chester, who wants to tell the story his OWN way. It's hilarious, especially if the two readers pretend to tug the book away from each other between their lines.
Posted by: Allison at April 16, 2008 03:25 PM
Actually, what I hate the most is when you just call me plain "Jason." It pretty much just makes me want to throw up, I hate it so much.
Also, "Mr. Wonderful", which I get called with surprising frequency.
Posted by: jp at April 16, 2008 10:28 PM
Alkelda, Anne, and Allison (all A's!), There are all ones I think I'd like to try. I particularly like the ones with a hint of antagonism, since in real life, Jason and I are given to bickering.
Mr. Poole, You knew that wouldn't work on me, but I do so appreciate your effort.
Posted by: adrienne at April 16, 2008 10:43 PM
I just read with my girls -- for the bajillionth time -- A Visitor for Bear (I also reviewed it today and mentioned how you're psychic). Anyway, I read this post of yours last night, and then as we read it this morning, I realized it'd be good for a two-part read-aloud. Such drama, esp. with Bear's way of speaking (BEGONE! VAMOOSE! I AM UNDONE!), and then someone can be the squealy, determined mouse. Good times.
Posted by: jules at April 17, 2008 09:01 AM
Excellent thinking, Jules! I wonder if it might be long for our preschoolers (they skew young--we tend to have a lot of 2 and 3 year olds), but it would be a great one to do with some of the elementary school field trips we'll have coming up with the end of the school year....
Posted by: adrienne at April 17, 2008 07:42 PM
Um, Goodnight, Pillow Fight ?
And also MockingBirdies??
Posted by: Liz Garton Scanlon at April 20, 2008 10:26 PM
Oh, Liz, yes--Goodnight, Pillow Fight would work, and that's already on our story shelf! I should have thought of that one.
I don't know MockingBirdies. I shall find a copy and read it.
Posted by: adrienne at April 20, 2008 10:56 PM
Man, we got all kids of good ideas here, AF!
Posted by: jp at April 21, 2008 11:29 PM
Yes, I've put holds on them and started a pile in my office so we can give them a try during our drop-in storytimes next month.
This is why I love blogging, incidentally. This community is The Best.
Posted by: adrienne at April 22, 2008 09:08 AM