Caterpillars & Butterflies

Have you seen butterflies this month? Today we read a few stories about them and looked for symmetry in the drawings. In Don't Worry Bear by Greg Foley, Bear is concerned about his friend Caterpillar, who disappears into a cocoon one fall day. Clara Caterpillar by Pamela Duncan Edwards, is a favorite among some of the library staff, and sends a good message to children about special gifts we each have.  Waiting for Wings by Lois Ehlert is my favorite, because it shows the entire life cycle of butterflies and has beautiful drawings of many different kinds.

At craft time, we decorated butterflies using stickers, yarn, wiki sticks, markers and and other materials. Many of us remembered symmetry and tried hard to include it!

Lions & Tigers & Bears - Oh My!

Storytime today featured some wild and not so wild animals! We read A Beginner's Guide to Bear Spotting by Michelle Robinson, a funny how-to book about a child and his teddy who head out to bear country. The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney is a wordless picture book, so the audience helped in telling the story of a grateful lion and a brave mouse. Mr. Tiger Goes Wild by Peter Brown was another funny story of Mr. Tiger and his very proper friends, and what happens when Mr. Tiger decides to be a little less like a gentleman and a little more like a normal tiger!

At craft time we made our choice of animal: a lion, a tiger, or a bear! All were made with cut paper plate bodies, a paper head, and cardboard tube legs. And they were all different! Oh my!

Summer Reading Program: The Wizard of Oz!

It was an exciting night at the Gordon Nash as The Hampstead Stage Company came to help us celebrate the end of this year's Summer Reading Program. We watched as just two actors presented the play The Wizard of Oz.* They were great! Some of us got to help by being Munchkins and Flying Monkeys. 

Here's one of the Munchkins…

and here are more of the Munchkins!

Dorothy and the Scarecrow, who wanted a brain.

Dorothy meets the Tin Man, who needs a heart.

The Cowardly Lion, who is afraid of everything - even mice!

The Cowardly Lion, trying to be brave enough to meet the Wizard.

Dorothy, getting instructions from the Wizard of Oz!

The Witch, who really wants Dorothy's shoes!

The Flying Monkeys!

Dorothy finally meets the Wizard of Oz - and you know the rest of the story!

After the show, the actors answered all our questions. Then we each made our own sundaes, with ice cream courtesy of The New Hampton School.

What a fun way to conclude our Summer Reading Program!  Thanks to all who attended!

* Funding for this Kids, Books and the Arts event is provided by the Jack and Dorothy Byrne Foundation, CHILIS, Cogswell Benevolent Trust, and is supported in part by a grant from the NH State Council on the Arts & the National Endowment for the Arts as well as funds administered by the NH State Library and provided by the Institute of Museum and Library Services.