Books I’m Enjoying: November

I wasn’t good with keeping up with my reading this month. This is what I’ve (re)read in the world of juvenile literature:

   

So… it’s been a productive month. Clearly.

I did manage to read at least one book that isn’t Harry Potter this month, though!

Hazel: Julie Hearn
I am so glad I forgot my lunch book the other day and had to troll my goodreads for something I wanted to read… and I’m so glad what I really wanted wasn’t in (Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince…) because I loved Hazel. If Hazel weren’t just 13, I’d say this would be better suited to YA than juvenile, but her naivete is so well characterized for her upbringing, age, and the time period. She reads as 13 for me so perfectly, which is so refreshing to see in a historical fiction novel about Big Issues- and there are plenty (women’s rights, racism, slavery, murder, suicide…). I’m glad I actually read it because I’ll be bit more trepidatious about the readers for whom I recommend it, but it is a GREAT read, very fast, and really well done.

Flannel Friday: Thanksgiving Overload

Next week is going to be craaaazy, with about double the number of storytimes I usually have. I’m simplifying and taking the same storytime to my outreaches (and a bonus outreach I’m doing with a coworker) and our regular preschool storytime. It’s Thanksgiving! I’m using stories and rhymes about family, food, and sharing (and turkeys). In the spirit of giving, I have two flannel boards!

One: Stone Soup

What a great Thanksgiving story to tell! I used clip art for all of my veggies and stone. I freehanded the pot (it took me way too long to realize I could fold my sheet of paper in half and have a perfectly symmetrical stencil).

I’ll have too many kids at most of my storytimes to do this, but one of my outreaches is veeeery little, so I’ll let the kids add a vegetables themselves.

Two: Turkey Wore His Red Feather

 

This one is for a rhyme (or it can be sung to the tune of “Mary Wore Her Red Dress…” sort of):
Turkey wore his red feather, red feather, red feather.
Turkey wore his red feather all day long.
Repeat adding a new color feather each time. Finish with “Turkey wore his
rainbow feathers.”

I freehanded Turkey and his feathers. I can’t draw feet so he doesn’t have any.

I can’t wait to share these with my (many, many) kids next week!