{"id":290,"date":"2008-02-27T11:23:41","date_gmt":"2008-02-27T18:23:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/?p=290"},"modified":"2008-08-01T09:13:04","modified_gmt":"2008-08-01T16:13:04","slug":"these-books-are-for-the-birds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/2008\/02\/these-books-are-for-the-birds\/","title":{"rendered":"These Books Are For the Birds"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>I know, I know.\u00a0 A “cheep” joke.<\/p>\n

(I’ll stop-I promise.)<\/p>\n

As you have probably already guessed, today’s storytime was centered on birds.\u00a0 Quite a few of them had to do with a missing\/lost mother, which wasn’t planned.\u00a0 What is it about lost baby birds? Is it the fact that they look so cute and helpless when they are babies?<\/p>\n

\"choco.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Choco can’t find his mother; nevertheless, he goes off in search of a mother who looks like him.\u00a0 He finds a giraffe; he’s yellow, and the giraffe is yellow, so she could be his mother! Right? Well, no.\u00a0 Neither can Mrs. Penguin, even though she has wings just like Choco.\u00a0 Neither can Mrs. Walrus, even though she has big round cheeks like Choco.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Despondent, Choco meets Mrs. Bear.\u00a0 This brown bear certainly can’t be his mother!\u00a0 Out of frustration and sadness, he begins to cry.\u00a0 Mrs. Bear soothes him by asking him what he thinks a mother would do; he sobs that she would hold him, kiss him, and sing and dance with him to cheer him up.\u00a0 The capable Mrs. Bear knows how to do all these things, and invites him home to join her family.\u00a0\u00a0 Mrs. Bear has quite a unique family; even though they don’t look like each other, they all love each other.<\/p>\n

A Mother for Choco<\/em> is a popular choice for adoptive families (our copy was, in fact, donated to the library by a local adoption group), especially multicultural families.\u00a0 While the market for cross-cultural adoption stories is growing and maturing, many of them focus on a particular\u00a0country of origin, such as China.\u00a0 A Mother for Choco<\/em> is a sweet story that carries a message that is not overly heavy-handed or saccharine.<\/p>\n

\"whose.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Nancy Tafuri’s books are terrific for young toddlers; brief yet appealing text and bigbold pictures are well suited for short attention spans.\u00a0 In Whose Chick Are You?,<\/em> we discover a soon-t0-be-hatched egg.\u00a0 It’s not Goose’s egg, nor is it duck’s egg, nor is it hen’s or bird’s egg.\u00a0 Thankfully, the mystery is revealed when Swan appears; it’s a little swan chick! Mother and baby are happily reunited.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Although not specifically a springtime book, this would fit in perfectly with a springtime themed storytime, with its story of new life and gentle pastels.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"babybird.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Baby Bird<\/em>by Joyce Dunbar is told in a “This is the House That Jack Built” version (the text isn’t cumulative).\u00a0 Poor baby bird is eager to fly; unfortunately, his intitial attempt is not successful.\u00a0 A squirrel sniffs at the shaken bird; a bee buzzes, a frog hops, and a cat and bird prove to be treacherous.\u00a0 Our brave little bird is not a quitter, though, and he gives flying another try.\u00a0 Is he successful? Of course, he is!<\/p>\n

Baby Bird is irresistibly cute; his comic and endearing facial expressions will undoubtedly win you over.\u00a0 This is not a long story, yet there’s plenty of action for the toddler set.<\/p>\n

\"feathers.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I’m sure many of you are already familiar with Lois Ehlert’s Feathers for Lunch<\/em>.\u00a0 Cat is mighty tired of the same old-same old cat food, and would prefer a gamey meal for a change.\u00a0 Cat meanders and stalks a variety of delicious looking bird.\u00a0 Too bad for him, for he wears a bell fastened to his collar.\u00a0 When that bell comes jingling and jangling, the birds know that Cat is on the loose. “But cats can’t fly and they can’t soar,” so no matter how diligently Cat tries to catch a bird, he only gets feathers for lunch.\u00a0 Since it’s natural to cheer for the underbird, this is quite a satisfactory ending (unless you’re on the cat’s side). Further information on the fine-feathered friends featured throughout the book is located at the end of the story. Lois Ehlert’s books are awesome read alouds, and this one is no exception.<\/p>\n

Books Mentioned:<\/p>\n

Dunbar, Joyce.\u00a0 Baby Bird<\/em>. \u00a0Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press, 1998.<\/p>\n

Ehlert, Lois.\u00a0 Feathers for Lunch<\/em>.\u00a0 San Diego: Harcour Brace Jovanovich, 1990.<\/p>\n

Kasza, Keiko.\u00a0 A Mother for Choco<\/em>.\u00a0 New York: Putnam, 1992.<\/p>\n

Tafuri, Nancy.\u00a0 Whose Chick Are You?<\/em>\u00a0 New York: Greenwillow Books, 2007.<\/p>\n

What are your favorite bird books?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I know, I know.\u00a0 A “cheep” joke. (I’ll stop-I promise.) As you have probably already guessed, today’s storytime was centered on birds.\u00a0 Quite a few of them had to do with a missing\/lost mother, which wasn’t planned.\u00a0 What is it about lost baby birds? Is it the fact that they look so cute and helpless when they are babies? Choco can’t find his mother; nevertheless, he goes off in search of a mother who looks like him.\u00a0 He finds a giraffe; he’s yellow, and the giraffe is yellow, so she could be his mother! Right? Well, no.\u00a0 Neither can Mrs. Penguin, even though she has wings just like Choco.\u00a0 Neither can Mrs. Walrus, even though she has big round cheeks like Choco.\u00a0 Despondent, Choco meets Mrs. Bear.\u00a0 This brown bear certainly can’t be his mother!\u00a0 Out of frustration and sadness, he begins to cry.\u00a0 Mrs. Bear soothes him by asking…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[71,22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogger-jennifer-schultz","category-childrens-literature"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=290"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}