Celebrating...A Week Late

Oh how I love children's books. Oh how I used to love celebrating Children's Book Week. I miss those halycyon days when my work week consisted of lathering myself in children's books as I sat in a rocking chair hundreds of kids weekly at my feet as I read story after story. I was good at it, if I do say so myself. And I did it for almost ten years. When I was hired as the K-2 librarian at Antheil Elementary in Ewing, NJ, the library was very very small--about the size of most living rooms. My challenge soon became apparent--keep these kids quiet. But how? So I picked from the ample shelves the best of the best, and then I put my heart and soul into reading them. I did voices and sound effects. I sang and whistled. I learned to place very unexpected items into my pockets to whisk out. I stuck puppets on my hands and went where even few fools dare to go! In the process I learned to love those kids with a firey passion. I had the best time of my life all the while drawing the best salary given to educators of any in the whole U.S. I need to compile a list of my favorite books. Don't let me forget to do that. I'll drag out all my lesson plan books and do that! I'm going to begin reading picture books to my 7th graders. To deprive them of that would be a crime. I think I'll go up to my library now and read a few...just for old time's sake. You too!!
Here's one to start with.
And another.
I loved this so much that I made it into my one and only quilt!
And I mustn't forget The Old Woman Who Lived in a Vinegar Bottle.
I perfected one heck of a cockney accent from doing this over and over and over!
And probably my all-time read-aloud-get-them-hooked-from-the-very-first-word. I've had about 10 grown up kids tell me they still remember me reading this to them.Go get it and read it to someone you love. And then plant some snozzcumbers!