I am a children’s librarian. I love my job, and I love the kids I work with. I mean, yeah, sure, there are times when they make me want to sob. Just yesterday, I did story times for 125 kindergarteners (not all at once, thank goodness). One little girl asked if I was pregnant. (I am emphatically not pregnant, but I was motivated to work out for two hours right after that.) Then, a group of Cool Kindergarteners (I can tell the “popular kids” in one glance) in the back of the room started shouting, “Hey, piggy! Hey, piggy, piggy, piggy!” at me. (It was disconcertingly Lord of the Flies.) I could have dropped some truth bombs about the Tooth Fairy on the whole lot of them, a revenge that would have been particularly potent as just minutes earlier they were proudly showing me their loose teeth, but I chose the high road. (That, my friends, is maturity). Because no matter how much they lay waste to my self-esteem, the children I work with are sweet, smart, and funny, and there is nothing I love more in the world than to see them smile and hear them laugh. So, here are a few modern classics that I have learned will always fill a room with kids’ giggles:
The Cow That Laid an Egg
By: Andy Cutbill
Marjorie the Cow awakes one morning to find that she has laid an egg. She becomes famous as the first cow to lay an egg. But did she really lay that egg? The chickens say yes; Marjorie’s fellow cows (who are jealous of all the attention she is getting…petty cows) say no. The kids love to tell you what they think about this cow egg, and they always have some interesting and creative theories. (Ages 4-8)
Reads well with: “The Chicken Dance” and chocolate milk
The Pigeon Wants a Puppy
By: Mo Willems
THE PIGEON WANTS A PUPPY! I had to put that in all caps because if you’ve ever met Pigeon, you know his demands are loud and insistent! Pigeon whines and Pigeon cries and Pigeon yells for a puppy, but Pigeon just might learn to be careful what he wishes for… (Ages 4-8)
Reads well with: “Silly Dance Contest” and hot dogs
Falling for Rapunzel
By: Leah Wilcox
When I told a group of kindergarteners we were reading a book about Rapunzel, half of them moaned, turned around, and refused to look at the book. They quickly changed their tune when I read an underwear joke on the very first page. In this book, the course of true love may not run smooth, but it does run hilariously. (Ages 5-8)
Reads well with: The soundtrack to Tangled and Cheetos