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March 19, 2009
When Girl Scouts Attack
A lot of libraries have a sort of standard thing they do with scout visits, but we aren’t one of those libraries. What we do depends on a lot of things—what the troop leader is looking for, the age of the troop members, how many members there are, who is working when they want to come in. Today, I had a group of twelve Girl Scouts, third-graders, in an after-school timeslot. This is what we did:
Prep
This morning, I figured out what books I was going to use and created a display of multiple copies/series/related titles in the Story Room.
Intro
When they got there, I brought them into the Story Room, sat them down (since it was a small group, I sat on the floor today, too), introduced myself, and talked a little bit about the library. (Who has been here before? Who has a library card? What kinds of things can we borrow? Etc.)
Knock, Knock! (2007)
I use this book a LOT in school visits. If you’re going to do jokes with a group, knock-knocks are the way to go, since there’s a predefined script. It avoids that whole open-ended question/series of random answers thing that happens when you try riddles with a larger group.
Once I Ate a Pie by Patricia MacLachlan, Emily MacLachlan, and Katy Schneider
I have never tried this book of poems with a group before, but the girls LOVED it and kept asking me to read more. Each spread includes one poem about a particular dog and then Schneider’s loving depiction of the dog in question. There’s one about a puppy, one about a shelter rescue, one about a herder. It’s lovely and sweet, and I figured that a lot of kids that age are in love with dogs—and I was SO RIGHT about that. Five points for me!
Babymouse by Jennifer and Matthew Holm
I decided to booktalk this one. It is basically the easiest book in the world to booktalk to a group of third grade girls. I was like, “It’s a comic, see?” Then I told them that Babymouse likes glamour and she likes pink and she likes cupcakes. (The one girl in the group who had read Babymouse joined in on the “cupcakes.”) That did it. We had about ten Babymouse books on the display table, and they were all gone when the girls left. (Of course, I also told them that I have an AWESOME Babymouse poster signed by the illustrator on the wall in my playroom, and they were all like, “YOU HAVE A PLAYROOM?” And I was all like, “Why? Don’t you?”)
Take Me Out of the Bathtub and Other Silly Dilly Songs by Alan Katz illustrated by David Catrow
I like to sing the song “Food Fight” with the kids out of this collection, because it’s easy to teach them to join in on the chorus. The girls begged me to sing another song (a testament to the quality of Katz’s humor and NOT my singing, BELIEVE ME), but I said, “If you want to hear more, you’re going to have to take one of his books on the display table over there.” Which they all did.
“The Fat Cat” by Margaret Read MacDonald
I told this story. I tell it a lot, but I never get tired of it. The kids liked it, too.
Wolves by Emily Gravett
I had never read this to a group of kids before, but I was all inspired by the interview with Gravett over at 7-Imp yesterday and figured I’d give it a try. It was such a good idea. The kids’ reactions were de-light-ful. They gasped, they moaned, they laughed. NONE of them believed the alternate ending. (One girl very astutely and somewhat indignantly pointed out, “They made that alternate ending out of torn paper!”)
Planting the Trees of Kenya: The Story of Wangari Maathai by Claire A. Nivola
I figured these were Girl Scouts and third-graders, so I should try reading them a biography about a totally kick-ass woman, and Maathai fit the bill. This was not a thrill-a-minute read-aloud, but all of the girls listened—and some listened quite intently. I’d like to try reading more biographies to groups of kids. I think kids aren’t reading more biographies simply because they don’t know what’s there.
Give them Stuff
When all else fails, you will impress them with a pencil, a bookmark, and a program flier. Well, the pencil and the bookmark will impress them—the program flier is more for informational purposes. We have these shiny, shiny metallic rainbow pencils with our website URL on them; I loved these pencils so much when we got them that it was about a month before I could stand to give any away. Now I give them to everyone who will take one. The bookmarks I gave away are these Garfield comic strip bookmarks from Demco that I totally love. They advertise the Garfield books in our collection; they are, in themselves, something to read; and they are completely reasonably priced.
After all that, you could probably use a nice drink.
Books mentioned:
Gravett, Emily. Wolves. NY: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2006. (HC: 9781416914914)
Holm, Jennifer and Matthew. Babymouse. New York: Random House, 2005. (LIB: 9780375932298, PB: 9780375832291)
Katz, Alan, illustrated by David Catrow. Take Me Out of the Bathtub and Other Silly Dilly Songs. NY: Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2001. (HC: 9780689829031)
Knock, Knock! NY: Dial Books for Young Readers, 2007. (HC: 9780803731523)
MacLachlan, Patricia, Emily MacLachlan, and Katy Schneider. Once I Ate a Pie. NY: Joanna Cotler Books, 2006. (HC: 9780060735319, LIB: 9780060735326)
Nivola, Claire A. Planting the Trees of Kenya: The Story of Wangari Maathai. NY: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2008. (HC: 9780374399184)
Posted by adrienne at March 19, 2009 09:28 PM
Comments
One of my interviews inspired you? Woot! Well, really Emily Gravett did, which I totally get. She's brilliant, I say.
I love what that girl said. Snap, snap. She knows an alternate ending when she sees one, huh? I'm so glad they loved it. I've never tried that tale on a group of kids -- just my own two. I really would love to. In fact, now I want to read it to my girls again today and see if they respond differently to it. (It *has* been two years since it was published, right? I don't think we've read it since then.)
My five-year-old thinks that Garfield is huh-freakin'-sterical. She saw one short DVD one day -- or maybe it was even just a commercial for one -- and she was hee-haw laughing. (Sorta related but sorta not: I got her this collection of OLD 'Peanuts' comic strips from the library from, like, the '50s, I think it is, and she sits with that book and just laughs and laughs.)
Posted by: Jules at March 20, 2009 09:21 AM
I'm going to look for "Once I Ate a Pie" this weekend. Thanks for the tip, Adrienne.
Posted by: Susan at March 20, 2009 09:35 AM
What is that thing you are holding in your hand in your childhood picture, Ms.A?
Posted by: Heidi at March 20, 2009 10:35 AM
Jules, Peanuts is awesome. I want to get myself a copy of the set with all the strips from forever, but it's, like, super-expensive. Sigh.
Susan, You're welcome! You always point out good books to me, so one good turn deserves another and all that.
Heidi, It's a flashlight.
Posted by: adrienne at March 20, 2009 03:15 PM
Hurrah for engaging them, giving them a variety of books (big WOO HOO! for Babymouse) and free stuff!
Have you ever seen . . .
http://www.series-books.com/edithlavell/coverart.html
??? I've never seen them in person, much less read them, but I totally want to - Hello, books from the 20s, COME TO ME.
Posted by: Little Willow at March 22, 2009 10:49 PM
Oh my gosh--those kind of look like Nancy Drew with Girl Scouts instead of Nancy, which means I'd totally read them.
Sigh.
Posted by: adrienne at March 23, 2009 04:16 AM
Rainbow pencils are the best! But nothing beats those crazy-haired, googly-eyed pencil toppers we used to get in school. Remember you could spin the pencil between your hands and the hair would go all nuts? (Pretty similar to what I look like in the morning.) Do they still have those things?
Posted by: JJ at March 26, 2009 06:17 PM
Yes, they do still have those pencil-toppers with hair. We've given them away during the summers before, largely due to the fact that I also have very fond memories of spinning them around to make their hair stand up all crazy.
Posted by: adrienne at March 26, 2009 09:52 PM