Bedtime and Blankets: Storytime Book Club Party (Ages four-ish and up)

July 2, 2011

Bedtime and Blankets was the appropriate theme for our Lala's very first book club party. Lala loves to wear nightgowns (getting dressed in the morning means putting on a different nightgown than the one she slept in the previous night) and she loves to read bedtime stories.

We read favorite bedtime stories and poems, decorated night-lights for our craft and enjoyed a bedtime snack of milk and cookies.

Celebrated Books
Time for Bed by Mem Fox
I have read this book literally thousands of times. Every night for nearly 13 years, I believe. With every baby I read this as the final book before kissing my babies on the hair (a kiss on the hair is a sign that you truly love someone in our family) and turning out the light. Now that my baby is five years old, I don't read it anymore. But, we typically quote from it nearly every night at bedtime.  (It's time for bed little calf, little calf. What happened today that made you laugh?)


Llama Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney
Another favorite! Although one of the little girls thought I got a little too loud at the "weeping, wailing" part!








Russell the Sheep by Rob Scotton.
Russell can't sleep. He tries counting lots of different things. Nothing works, not even counting the every star (twice!). But when he counts sheep, and remembers to include himself, he goes right to sleep. Hilarious pictures make this book a delightful read!

Once Upon A Time, The End (Asleep In 60 Seconds) 

by Geoffrey Kloske

Another family favorite, but I think the humor was a bit above this crowd. Interrupting Chickenby David Ezra Stein would have been a better choice. 

We also enjoyed bedtime poems from several poems books, including (my favorite!) Here's A Little Poem, For Laughing Out Loud, and Dinosaur Dinner.
  


Then we had time for the mothers to read individual stories to their daughters. Bedtime stories included:
       


















And these books would have been a perfect addition (but I couldn't find my copies!)
   








Before we started our craft we read this delightful poem from

Then we used stickers and markers to decorate night lights.

After all was finished, we enjoyed our bedtime snack of milk and cookies Aerie made quick and delicious cookies from a cake mix. Yum! (Luckily she put chocolate in some of them, so I didn't eat them all.)

Then we announced our next book club party selection:
Poppy by Avi



I think Sallie likes this book because she can identify with the main character, a mouse named Poppy. Poppy doesn't consider herself a particularly brave mouse, but she does what she needs to do to help her family and protect them from Mr. Ocax, the owl of the forest.

We will celebrate this book sometime in September.

The Two Princesses of Bamarre by Gail Carson Levine Book Club Party

This turned out to be a very fun book club party. (Or B.C. P. as Lala .... who wants to be called "Cobra" now calls them.) The two princesses of Bamarre are sisters, but they couldn't be more different. Meryl longs for adventure, but timid Addie wants nothing but peace and safety.  Meryl promises not to begin her adventures until Addie is married and settled with a family. Then, one day, Meryl contracts a dreaded disease, The Gray Death, and Addie must face her fears and set out on an adventure in order to save her sister. She will face deadly gryphons, formidable dragons, frightful spectors, and other fearsome creatures, but courageously fights on in order to save her beloved sister. It's not my very favorite of Gail Carson Levine's books (I like Ella Enchanted and her Princess Tales collection), but it is a fun read, and it made for a great discussion!

Discussion questions:
1. Share a time when you showed courage.
2. What is bravery? Is it fighting dragons and giants or is it something else?
3. What makes a person a hero?
4. At the beginning of the book, who did you think you were most like, Addie or Meryl? What about at the end of the story?
5. What did you think of the ending?
(This sparked a lot of discussion . . . most of the girls didn't like the ending and had pretty strong opinions about a "better" ending.)

page 17: "Fairies had known our best selves better than anyone else and they'd encouraged us and given us a boost when we were in trouble."
Do you have someone like that in your life?

page 219: "The chance to be a hero--  which is all I ever wanted"
What do you want out of life?

One surprisingly fun activity was to make up sayings for our very own Book of Homely Truths. I printed up several pages of idioms, cut them into word strips and then encouraged the girls to use them as a base to create funny sayings.

Here are some examples:
"Be sure to pick up your ears when you go out on a limb."
"Keep your chin up when it's raining cats and dogs."
"Go the extra mile when you get off on the wrong foot."
"Mum's the word when you get up on the wrong side of the bed like a chicken with its head cut off."
"Make no bones about a cock and bull story."
"You can't judge a book by its cover because if it's not one thing, it's another."
"Head over heels, he lost his head."

The girls kept reading the strips and calling out "homely truths" throughout the much of the book club.

Poems

"The Fairies" by Rose Fyleman and "I'd Love to Be a Fairy's Child"by Robert Graves


Dragon poems

The poems were easy to find. I also had some poems about clouds, spiders, and swords ready to go.

Connection Picture Books

The Three Pigs by David Weisner is a family favorite. Although it is hard to read aloud in a large group, (the pictures are an integral part of the story, so you have to make sure that everyone can see and takes the time to notice the humorous details.) The first of the three pigs is literally blown out of his story book and  the adventures begin. The connection: taking charge of your own story.

Big Chickens by Leslie Helakosi is a fabulous read aloud. So many fun strings of words ("the chickens pwoked, squawked and _____) , and a subtle rhythm that pervades the entire story. The connection: being brave is sometimes just a matter of perspective.





Usually, I read at least one "serious" picture book in our discussion, but because our discussion went so well, I just read the "fun" books I had collected as potential books for our circle time. This one was a huge success. One quick preface, "This is based on a true story" had the girls rolling on the floor. Stay Awake, Sally by Mitra Moderessi was purchased in honor of a certain "Cobra"in our family, and we have enjoyed reading it aloud often. (And laughing whenever our Lala puts herself to bed (at whatever odd time) despite her parents' pleadings to stay awake for a bit longer.)
The connection: Addie encourages Meryl to fight the sleepiness of the Gray Death.


Other great books I had ready to read .  .  .  (Connections include: Adventure, Girl Power, Dragons, and Sisters)

A quest in a "dangerous" forest leads to a happy ending. 

"Chick Power"  . . . and "sisters" working together to accomplish their goals

The younger, "less-likely"sibling ends up with adventure and honors at the end of his quest. And  an enchanted acorn opens up to allow yards and yards of cloth to be pulled from its depths. 

A brave princess outsmarts a dragon and rescues herself from becoming his fiery dinner. 

For our craft we made "seven league flip flops" (okay, so a bit of a stretch, but a fun summer thing to do, nonetheless!) I just got flip flops in various sizes and water balloons at the dollar store and let the girls tie on the water balloons in various designs and colors. For our treat, Cupcake made some spider cake bites inspired by :  but they didn't really look how she hoped (the legs kept falling off, and she didn't bother with eyes. We joked about her lame blind spiders), but I heard they were yummy. (I was strong, and despite them being made out of Ghirardelli brownie mix I kept to my no chocolate conviction. Why am I doing that? I can't remember.  . . . ) 

Ramona the Pest Book Club Party: June 2, 2012

Lala (age six) celebrated Ramona the Pest by Beverly Cleary at her book club party. We didn't have a huge turnout for the party,  but we had a great time!


Ramona the Pest is a middle grade classic. I have enjoyed reading the Ramona books with each of my girls.  But, we have read so much "Ramona" that I couldn't keep straight which adventures happened in this book and which happened in other books. (My girls kept me on the right track, though.)

We talked about Beverly Cleary. Did you know, Ramona, was initially just an "extra" character? While Beverly was writing Henry Huggins, she decided that Beatrice needed a little sister. Just as she was thinking about this little sister, she heard someone in her neighborhood call out "Ramona" and she thought that would make a great name for a little sister. Little did she know that Ramona would become one of the best loved characters in middle grade fiction.

I like reading Ramona with my children (although I think Ramona gets away with a lot more than I would ever let my children get away with . . . ) partly because each chapter reads almost like a stand alone story. The chapters build on each other somewhat, but you can easily "pick up" where you left off. So, we often use Ramona books as back up books if we can't find the book we are currently reading, we have a Ramona book we can read. (Not finding the book seems to be a regular theme at our house . . . with some of my children . . . I don't know if it is the clutter, or the little bookworms who like to re-read or study the pictures and then fail to put the book back on the shelf . . . )

For our craft, we made containers to put any lost teeth in . . . I just used some trial size travel jars from Wal-mart and foam stickers. We also made a little purse from felt (purchased years ago from Oriental Trading) . . . for a fun place to put our tooth jars!

After reading time and craft time, we enjoyed doughnuts and apple juice for our treat.

Connection Books:
Mike Mulligan by Virginia Lee Burton

Of course we read Mike Mulligan (Lala requested that we NOT read it, but I convinced her it would be fun. She ended up liking it.) We did discuss for a bit whether or not Mike Mulligan ever stopped to use the restroom . . .

Note: I like Mike Mulligan, but my favorite Virginia Burton book is The Little House, a Caldecott winner in 1943.

Not Norman by Kelly Bennett

A boy complains about his pet . . . a goldfish he didn't want. He wants almost any other kind of pet . . .but Not Norman. So, he plans to take Norman to show and tell (see the connection?) in hopes of enticing someone else to take Norman home.

Miss Nelson is Missing by Harry Allard

Although homeschooled and not really familiar with the idea of a "substitute" teacher . . . my children LOVE Harry Allard's books about Miss Nelson, and her alter-ego Miss Viola Swamp.
Miss Nelson is a sweet teacher who has a naughty class. One day she doesn't come to school and a warty, frumpy, nearly tyrannical substitute in an ugly black dress takes her place. She give the children lots of homework and makes them be polite . . . and even listen during story hour! They are so relieved when Miss Nelson returns that they behave nicely for her, too.
(Connection: Ramona was concerned about the substitute in her Kindergarten class.)

Lily's Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes


We adore the mouse world of Kevin Henkes (Sheila Rae the Brave and Chrysanthemum are family classics! We also love Owen, Wemberly Worried, Julius (The Baby of the World), and A Weekend With Wendell, to name a few). Lily loves her teacher, Mr. Slinger, and wants to be a teacher when she grows up. One day, Lily brings a purple plastic purse to school, and is so excited about it, she allows it to become a distraction to the class. Mr. Slinger confiscates the purse until the end of the school day. Lily is mortified, and writes a mean note about Mr. Slinger. She has a change of heart after a nice note from Mr. Slinger and some family time at home.
(Connection: Ramona has some trouble with her teacher, but a note solves the dilemma in the end.)

The Night Before Halloween
(Sallie's choice)

A Halloween version of The Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore. I picked this up for fifty cents at our local "Goodwill" . . . Lala is in LOVE with this book and insisted we read it at her book club party as a connection to Ramona as the "Baddest Witch in the World."

Poems

Wanted-A Witch's Cat by Shelagh McGee

(Connection: Ramona tells Howie he can be her cat on Halloween.)

Sometimes by Jack Prelutsky

Someone's Face by John Ciardi

 (Connection: Ramona has temper tantrums and just has to have a good cry, but eventually she rejoins her family.)

A Circle of Sun by Rebecca Kai Dotlich

The No No Bird by Andrew Fusek Peters

Rain by Spike Mulligan

April Rain Song by Langston Hughes

 (Connection: A Circle of Sun is one of my favorite poems of all time. I think Ramona sees herself as a Circle of Sun. The No No Bird connects to Ramona's temper.  The rain poems connect to the red galoshes chapter.)