January seemed to zoom by. This past month in library, the first years and middles have been reading a few of my personal favorite stories by Shirley Hughes. She was an author and illustrator from the UK who wrote several series and stand-alone picture books, as well as poetry. The children loved hearing about Alfie and his sister Annie Rose. In one story, Alfie runs ahead of his mom and sister to get into the house first. Then he slams the door and gets locked inside the house. Many people living and working in the neighborhood come to help, but it is Alfie who finally manages to stand on a chair and reach the latch to open the door. Another favorite is An Evening at Alfie's. Alfie and his sister are at home with a babysitter when a pipe bursts and Alfie exclaims that it is raining inside the house. I believe that the draw of these books are Hughes' masterful storytelling of topics that children can relate to, as well as her beautiful illustrations.
We also read Down the Road by Alice Schertle. Schertle also has a knack for telling stories that resonate with kids and have mild suspense. In this case, Hetty is allowed to go to the store to get eggs all by herself for the first time. She is doing a great job and walking carefully but she gets distracted by some delicious looking apples on the apple tree and as she tips up to pick them, the eggs fall. I could visible see that the children were worried for Hetty - some of them had wide eyes and covered their faces when it was clear the eggs were going to fall. However, there was nothing to worry about because in the end, Hetty's parents taught her about the importance of learning from mistakes and they had apple pie instead of scrambled eggs for breakfast.
The kindergarteners completed their first chapter book during library time. It took us three consecutive weeks to complete the short chapter book Catwings. This book is about a litter of cats that were born with wings. They were born in a city and their mom thought it was unsafe so she told them to fly off and find a safer place to live. The children loved to hear about the cats' adventures and mild peril.
#LMSCH #LMSSpecials
