By DAPHNE LEE
From Tots to Teens, StarMag
WHAT should I read to my kids?" is a question commonly asked by parents and teachers. There are lots of lovely books to choose from, and only you will know your children well enough to choose books that suit their tastes and interests. However, here is a list of storytelling staples. All are well-received when I tell stories at home and in public. You can use them to start your collection of books to read aloud.
I WILL NOT EVER NEVER EAT A TOMATO
Written & illustrated by Lauren Child
Publisher: Orchard Books, 32 pages
THIS is a very funny book about a little boy who "tricks" his fussy-eater sister into eating the very foods she claims to detest. Most children will be able to identify with Lola's aversion to various food items and the storyteller can even use this book to launch a discussion on food and nutrition.
Follow-up Activities: 1. Use Charlie's alternate names for food to encourage your listeners to exercise their own creativity and come up with new names for foods they like and dislike.
2. Create a restaurant menu using these "new" foods.
3. Extend the use of new names to other things and activities. For example, an alternative name for a bed could be "the dream machine" and "singing" could be called "playing throat notes"!
WE'RE GOING ON A BEAR HUNT
By Michael Rosen
Illustrated by Helen Oxenbury
Publisher: Walker Books, 40 pages
WE'RE going on a bear hunt, we're going to catch a big one! What a beautiful day! We're not scared!" This opening chant repeats throughout the book making it ideal for an interactive storytelling session. Later on, there's also the repeated "We can't go over it, we can't go under it, we've got to go through it" as the characters come across various obstacles like "long wavy grass" and "a cold snowstorm".
Discard the book and "act" out the story with your listeners!
Follow-up Activities: 1/ What other obstacles might bear-hunters come across? What sorts of sounds would they make when you "go through" them?
2. Think up some new creatures to hunt, and act out how they might react to being hunted and found!
WHY MOSQUITOES BUZZ IN PEOPLE'S EARS
By Verna Aardema
Illustrated by Leo and Diane Dilllon
Publisher: Scholastic Press, 32 pages
THIS West African folktale unfolds at a leisurely pace, and packs in a wealth of detail, in its text and pictures, about the animals it describes. A mosquito so irritates an iguana with her silly story that he blocks her out by stuffing two sticks in his ears. When python calls out to his friend, iguana doesn't respond as he can't hear. This sets off a chain of events that leads to the owl not waking up the sun and leaving the world in darkness.
Follow-up Activities: 1. Aardema's use of onomatopaiea is inventive and it's great fun to make the sounds of the iguana "mek mek"; the snake, going "wasuwusu" through the grass; or the rabbit scurrying off "krik, krik, krik".
2. If you're working with a group, give each child an animal identity and get him to draw his animal or act it out.
3. Older kids can come up with their own stories to explain things. For example, "Why is thunder so loud?" or "Why can you hear the sea in a sea shell?"
THE GRUFFALO
By Julia Donaldson
Illustrated by Axel Scheffler
Publisher; Macmillan, 32 pages
JULIA Donaldson is a genius at rhymes that just trip off your tongue, and The Gruffalo is very popular with children and adults alike for this very reason, plus the fact that the story is funny and clever, the mouse is a very likeable character, and the gruffalo is fearsome yet charismatic.
Follow-up Activities: 1. When working in a group, get each child to come up with one "fearful" feature - for example "blood-red eyes", "jagged fangs", "fiery breath" - then piece them all together to create their own monster which they can draw.
2. Owl ice cream? Scrambled snake? Have the children come up with other kinds of food made from animals, like sloth lollipops or mousedeer meringue!
3. There is a CD comprising The Gruffalo song as well as other songs based on Donaldson's books and rhymes. It's great for sing-alongs.
WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE
Written & illustrated by Maurice Sendak
Publisher: HarperCollins, 48 pages
CHILDREN love monsters and Maurice Sendak's monsters are very special indeed. They embody the wildness that is part of every child, and Max's anger validates the negative feelings that children feel sometimes. It's important that children know it's okay to be cross, and it's okay to want to be alone, and quite normal to feel belligerent and bossy. Max's need to be where he is loved the most shows that independence and dependence can co-exist, and finding the bowl of hot porridge when he returns reinforce the idea that children are loved despite their naughtiness.
Follow-up Activities: 1. Have your "wild rumpus" - great fun and excellent for blowing off steam!
2. Children can pick their favourite wild thing and/or draw their own monsters
3. Discuss where your listeners imagine "running away" to when they're angry or upset.
WHERE'S THE GREEN SHEEP?
By Mem Fox
Illustrated by Judy Horacek
WHERE'S the green sheep?" Children find the variously coloured and occupied sheep within the pages of this book hilarious. Mem Fox combines colours and opposites in this book, and pairs nouns and adjectives with sheep. What is a "rain sheep" and a "train sheep", what is a "slide sheep" and "dowen sheep"? Judy Horacek's interpretations will raise many laughs!
Follow-up Activities: 1. Get your listeners to come up with their own noun/adjective-sheep combinations which they can then illustrate themselves.
2. The green sheep is found asleep at the end of the book. Now ask your listeners what else they think the green sheep would like to do, or his favourite things. You can come up with themed favourites like "green activities/things".
NOT A BOX
Written * illustrated by Antoinette Portis
Publisher: HarperCollins, 32 pages
A BOX is a box is a box. Right? Wrong! A box is a race-car, a mountain, a robot, a skyscraper, a hotair balloon, a pirate ship ... basically anything and everything you want it to be.
This book is about how imagination can transform an object, and your life! Rabbit and his box are rendered in black ink, while red embellishments show readers just where Rabbit's flights of fancy take him and his "not-a-box".
Antoinette Portis has also written and illustrated Not a Stick, another fun book to share.
Activities: 1. Think up other things for a box to be.
2. Is a stick just a stick? Is a ball just a ball? The possibilities are endless.
NO, DAVID!
Written & illustrated by David Shannon
Publisher: Scholastic, 32 pages
DAVID is a little boy who behaves like a little monster, and David Shannon's vibrantly hued illustrations make him look like one too! Actually, David is just a regular kid. Like all children (most anyway) he gets into a whole lot of mischief.
As a parent I can relate to this book (or, rather, the mother in this book) because goodness knows I'm always crying, "No!" and "Stop it this instant!" and "Be silent! Now!" to my children.
Children will giggle at David's various "sins" include trying to empty the gold fish out of its bowl ("It was an accident! Honest!"), running naked out of the house (this is acceptable in some cultures and countries), picking his nose (this is acceptable in some households) and playing baseball in the living room (is this better or worse than trying to turn the bathroom into a swimming pool?).
But at the end of the day, no matter what he's done, his mum loves David all the same. And that's the way it should be! A great book that reaffirms the unconditional love between parents and their children.
Activities: 1. Everyone together now: "No! David!" Get your listeners to say "No!" along with you.
2. What do we do that make our mums cry "No!"? Children compete to come up with the most outrageous stunt.
3. Give examples of things a child does around the house and get your listeners to shout out "Yes!" or "No!" You might be surprised at the results!
PETE'S A PIZZA
Written & illustrated by William Steig
Publisher: Red Fox, 32 pages
PETE has the sulks when rain prevents him from going out to play. And so, his parents set out to cheer him up ... by turning him into a pizza! They use talcum powder for flour, water for oil, checkerboard pieces for tomatoes, and paper for cheese. Pete is kneaded and pulled and stretched and tossed out of his bad mood, and, finally, after a big hug, he sees that the sun has come out again! Every child should have parents like Pete's!
Follow-up Activities: 1. Turn your listeners into a pizza, a stew, a cake etc. What would they use for flour, raisins, vegetables etc? Get them to write out the recipes!
2. Discuss what your listeners do when they can't go out and play. Talk about different reasons why children around the world may not be able to play outside.
DEAR ZOO
Written & Illustrated by Rob Campbell
Publisher: Campbell Books, 18 pages
A CHILD writes to the zoo requesting a pet. Flaps hide what the zoo sends to the child - lift them to reveal the animal beneath! Children always love flaps and it's also fun to guess what the animal is by the various illustrated hints.
Follow-up Activities: 1. Ask your listeners to draw or describe their ideal pet.
2. Give your listeners pictures of animals and discuss why they would make suitable or unsuitable pets
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