Toddler Story Time Bookworm Festival: Dan Santat

THE BOOKWORM FESTIVAL IS THIS SATURDAY, January 31st from 9:30am to 11:30am at Spring Oaks Middle School! I am super excited to get to meet these great authors and hear them speak to the children they write and illustrate for!

Here is the Google Slideshow from this week's Toddler Story Time about Dan Santat!

And here are my Kindergarten friends playing "Musical Chairs" to look at all the wonderful books by our talented authors:




I hope you can join us for a Saturday morning that will be time well-spent!
Until then, keep reading!

Toddler Story Time - Bookworm Illustrators

Authors and Illustrators are my ROCK STARS, so I am so excited that BOOKWORM Festival is only 2 weeks away! I have the prestigious job of picking up some of our guests of honor from their hotel and bringing them to the site of the festival. It is quite fun to talk to authors and find out, that like you, they are real people with real lives and real families! So when authors are willing to spend a morning in our community talking and sharing with our emerging readers and their families, I just can't help but get excited!

Please visit the Bookworm website for the day's schedule.

This week our story time will focus on two of the talented illustrators coming: Deborah Freedman and Dan Hanna.

Deborah Freedman wrote and illustrated:

 Blue Chicken

and

 The story of Fish and Snail

Both stories mix whimsy, friendship, and creativity to make for wonderful stories to share with your favorite little reader.

Dan Hanna is the creator of the character Pout-Pout fish, found in the books by Deborah Diesen. Today we read:

 The Pout-Pout Fish

and 

 The Pout-Pout Fish in the Big-Big Dark

Pout-Pout Fish learns many lessons about never giving up, finding the bright side of the situation, and being a good friend.

Our songs today included:

"The Fish Song" by Fun Songs for Children - make your fishy hand move along with the words!

"Chicken Bop" by StoryBots - you can't help but dance along to this beat!

To see all the songs Miss Nina sings, visit her YouTube Channel here or her website.  She has so many of our favorite songs and she just makes me smile!

Until next time, my friends remember to keep swimming and reading and smiling your days away!

Bookworm Festival 2015 - Tad Hills

I am so excited about the wonderful authors and illustrators coming to the Bookworm Festival to visit with our emerging readers! It is on Saturday, January 31 from 9:30-11:30 am (doors open at 9:00) at Spring Oaks Middle School.

TAKE A LOOK AT ALL THESE WONDERFUL AUTHORS AND ILLUSTRATORS!

We will be reading books by many of the authors and illustrators from the festival over the next few weeks. Today we sampled some of the books by TAD HILLS:

          

See what kids have to say about How Rocket learned to Read HERE.

Watch as Tad Hills draws Rocket at the Gaithersburg Book Fest 2014:


We also practiced our ABCs with Miss Nina so we could learn to read with Rocket too!

For more information about the Bookworm Festival 2015, please visit http://bookwormbookfest.com/

Inaugural Bookworm Festival 2014

Guess who I got to drive from the hotel to the Bookworm Festival? That's right!  It's Judith Viorst, the author of Alexander and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day! And that was just the beginning to a very enjoyable morning with some fantastic authors and illustrators!

Over 300 children and adults attended the first ever Bookworm Festival at Pine Shadows Elementary. First Judith Viorst shared many stories about her writing, her ideas, and how children and adults experience many of the same feelings from day to day.

Then three hilarious men shared their adventures in writing:

Bob Shea (Dinosaur vs. series), and team of Adam Rubin and Daniel Salmieri (Dragons love tacos)

 

Adam and Daniel talked about the inspiration for their book Dragons love tacos - a statue of a dragon holding a taco that Adam's dad had on his desk. Adam also gave advice to anyone who gets stuck when trying to think of an idea, "go take a walk!" Bob Shea showed how to draw Dinosaur, and said that to do your best drawing you have to make sound effects too! He also said he is talking to PBS about creating a show for PBS kids! How fun is that!? These guys were a lot of fun, just like their books!

Then three ladies talked to the creative teams of the future, our Bookworm kids!

Judith Viorst, Gwendolyn Zepeda, and Harper Paris

Children were asked to submit questions for the authors, and they asked some good ones! We found out that all these authors have new books coming out soon, all of them like to find quiet time by themselves to write, and that giving themselves an attainable goal for each writing session was important. Gwendolyn is the Poet Laureate of Houston, and is asked to write poems during her two year term for strangers she encounters in Houston. Harper Paris is writing a series of books for young readers about two children to travel to various places around the world and have to solve a mystery connected to that location. It sounds like a perfect series for students who loved the Magic Treehouse series!

Then they were whisked away to the library where boys and girls could have their books autographed by each of the authors and illustrators! I got the copies of the books I purchased for Meadow Wood autographed as well, and had a chance to share our students' enthusiasm and excitement over their books.

 Adam and Daniel signed Secret Pizza Party

 Harper Paris signed Greetings from Somewhere: The Mystery of the Gold Coin

  

Bob Shea signed Unicorn thinks he's pretty great, Dinosaur vs. the Library, and Don't eat your food!

And Judith Viorst signed 2 books from her new Lulu series.

It was a fantastic day for young readers, and I look forward to next year's event!

Toddler Storytime Bookworm Part 3

Bookworm Festival is this Saturday, February 8th... I can hardly wait! Authors of books for young children are so special and create a unique bond with their audience through their quirky, fun storytelling styles. Seeing the interaction between the authors and children will be so much fun.

Today I am highlighting books by author/illustrator duo Adam Rubin and Daniel Salmieri:
 Dragons love tacos - who knew?! But NOT spicy salsa!

 Secret Pizza Party - will raccoon ever get his pizza?

We sang these songs and watched these videos:
Miss Nina: "The Bear Went over the Mountain"
"How do you make a pizza?"
Sesame Street: "Humongous"

I hope to see lots of little friends at the Bookworm Festival at Pine Shadows on Saturday, February 8th from 9:30-11:30 AM. Until then, keep reading!

Toddler Storytime: Bookworm 2

I just love that there are such wonderful authors who write fun books for young readers! We will have the opportunity to hear from several of those authors next weekend! We can see them at the Bookworm Festival on Saturday, February 8th from 9:30am-11:30am at Pine Shadows Elementary.
("I love Reading" image from www.zazzle.com)

Today we read three fantastic books by Bob Shea:

 Unicorn thinks he's pretty great

 Don't play with your food!

 Dinosaur vs. the Library

Today we sang and watched these songs:

Between the Lions: "Read a Book Today"
Between the Lions: "Reason to Read"
New Socks! by Bob Shea:



I love having the opportunity to read aloud such wonderful books! Parents, be sure you take time to build the love of reading in your children everyday too. Find a book and take time everyday to read with your children. Here's a few words from John Lithgow:


Until next time! Keep reading!