Are your thoughts turning to spring weather and activities? If you’re a youth services librarian, your brain is probably already churning ideas and plans for summer reading programs! We’re planning a “birthdays” program to include in our summer activities, so I’ve been searching high and low for great read aloud stories about birthdays. If you’re in need of stories for a birthday program (or a birthday party!), here are some great stories to share:
(image taken from Macmillan)
Anne Rockwell’s books are positive and bright looks at everyday activities in children’s lives; although the sizes of the books might be a bit small to share with large story time groups, most are ideal for medium-sized groups or one-on-one sharing. At the Supermarket follows a young boy and his mother as they gather groceries throughout the store for a very special occasion!
(image taken from Candlewick)
Shirley Parenteau’s bears have joined my top choices for bear story times (or for any other themes in which they fit!). Bears and a Birthday follow the pastel-colored bears as they prepare a birthday celebration for Big Brown Bear. Although the relationship to the bears is never specified, keep this in mind if you need matter-of-fact books about single fathers.
(image taken from Scholastic)
Eve Bunting’s Flower Garden is ideal for a Mother’s Day theme, a gardening theme, and a birthday theme (the girl and her father make a windowsill garden for her mother). This simple but vibrant story gives a much welcome diversity to a flower/garden theme; the family is African-American and live in a city (if you have plans for an urban gardening or small container gardening display, make sure you include this!).
(image taken from Caroline Uff)
Happy Birthday Lulu follows Lulu as she receives phone calls, presents, and many hugs on her big day. Striking illustrations and simple text makes this very appealing to the youngest listeners. Lulu is biracial (Caucasian mother, African-American father), which also adds much needed diversity to birthday stories.
What are your favorite stories about birthdays? Let us know in the comments!
Renee Perron
I like:
A Birthday for Cow! by Jan Thomas
and
Five Little Monkeys Bake a Birthday Cake by Eileen Christelow
They have worked well for my preschool group.
Julie Harrison
I like “Brownie & Pearl Step Out” by Cynthia Rylant because it acknowledges that birthday parties can be a little intimidating, and it’s short and sweet.
Jennifer Schultz
Thank you, Renee and Julie! Those are terrific books.
Chantal Emerson
I love to use ‘The Cake that Mack Ate’ by Rose Robart. It’s a great one to do with props and for recall/ordering skills. You can use some real items, like a box of candles, some kernels of corn, a packet of seeds, a plastic egg, etc. along with some laminated images or felt pieces to use on a magnetic board. At the end, I stuff a cloth cake I found at a craft store into Mack’s mouth ( a large stuffed animal dog).
Jennifer Schultz
Chantal, that is a great idea!
www.abirthdaycake.com
Birthday cakes are my love for the past 4 years and I really love baking them. Thanks for publishing this.