Hello, I'm Patrick Adams. And I'm Caroline Legere.
And this is Librarians of Littles, a podcast
where we share books, give makerspace ideas,
and offer tips and tricks for working in the
library with our youngest readers. This week,
we'll be sharing two books about camping. We
decided since it's the summer, lots of people
like to go on vacations. And one thing that lot
of people do is they go camping. So we selected
two books with a camping theme to enjoy this
week. The first of which is a book called Who
Wet My Pants. It is published by Little Brown
Books for Young Readers in 2019. It's written
by Bob Shay and illustrated by Zachariah O 'Hora.
It appears on one state list, actually two state
lists, and it received an award. It is a Publisher
Weekly's Best Book Picture Book Selection for
2019, and it is on the Michigan Mitten Award
for 2019 and the Virginia Reader's Choice List
for 2019. Our author is Bob Shay. He is an award
-winning author and illustrator of your favorite
children's books. Bob has worked with Comedy
Central. He designed the Green Head PBS Kids
logo, developed an on -air character for Playhouse
Disney. He worked with Nick Jr. and he's appeared
on Noggin and the Sunnyside Up Show. and worked
on a super secret project with really smart people
at Google. And we have shared one other book
by Bob Shay on our podcast, but Bob Shay has
written many books. Some of the books that he's
written himself include Kid Sheriff and the Terrible
Toads, illustrated by Lane Smith. Big Plans,
illustrated by Lane Smith, and Oh, Are You Awake,
illustrated by Jarvis. Some books he did the
writing and illustrating himself on include Stink
Bird Has a Super... Oh, I'm sorry. Some books
that he has illustrated include Stink Bird Has
a Superpower by Jill S. Baum, Parrot Fish Has
a Superpower by Jill S. Baum, Gilbert Goldfish
Wants a Pet by Kelly DiPuccio, Quit Calling Me
a Monster by Jory John, and Love Triangle by
Marcy Colleen. Books that he has written and
illustrated include books like Chez Bob, Ballet
Cat, Totally Secret Secret, Unicorn Thinks He's
Pretty Great, Dinosaur Versus the Library, and
the happiest book ever. All right, and for illustrator
history, Zachariah O 'Hara is the show creator
and executive producer of the PBS Kids show,
Carl the Collector. He is also an award -winning
author and illustrator. O 'Hara's books have
been translated into over a dozen languages worldwide.
Some of his other books, that are illustrated
by him are Wolfie the Bunny by Amy Dyckman, Lips
on a Screen, How Ralph Baer Invented TV Video
Gaming and Launched a Worldwide Obsession by
Kate Hannigan, Horrible Bear by Amy Dyckman,
Pet Project, Cute and Cuddly Vicious Verses by
Lisa Wheeler, and Poe Won't Go by Kelly DiPuccio.
Books that are written and illustrated by Zachariah
O 'Hara include The Not So Quiet Library, Stop
Snorting, Bernard, My Cousin Momo, Niblet and
Ralph, No Fits Nilsson, and Whale Song, The True
Story of a Musician Who Talked to Orcas. And
I let both of these, the author and illustrator,
so many, so many wonderful books between them.
I know. Amazing. Yeah, they're both pretty incredible
people. Really great creators. Love them. Like
you can't go wrong with any of their books as
far as like student engagement. It's just amazing.
It's true. They're all really great for younger
kids. They're all really excellent work. So for
this particular book, Who Wet My Pants, this
is the story of Reuben the Bear as he heads to
a campsite to meet his friends with donuts. As
he arrives, he finds that his pants are wet.
Reuben decides that one of his friends must have
wet his pants, and he wants to know who did it.
He begins to investigate as his friends continue
to explain that it was probably an accident and
no big deal. Ruben explains that after helping
at the lemonade stand, drinking all the lemonade,
hiking near a waterfall, and playing with his
tropical fish, he took a nap with his hand in
that fish tank, and his pants ended up wet. So
it must be that the pants are defective. He explains
to his friends that if his friends did wet his
pants, he would forgive them. This is just such
a fun and goofy, just silly story that, like,
I just, I love it. It's so engaging to read this
with students because they're laughing and giggling
the entire time. Because, you know, we've all,
there's, at that age, accidents happen, you know?
it's gonna happen. They've had it happen. Oh
yeah, all the time. Like everybody's had that
issue. And so everyone can relate to that happening
and the embarrassment that you feel with it.
And this is just such a fun story that shows
Ruben's friends all just being very compassionate
and kind and understanding to how Ruben's feeling.
And they're just like, dude, it's it's cool.
It was an accident. It's not a big deal. We're
not gonna like make a big deal about it. It's
okay. accidents happen kind of thing. And it's
just a really great story that is so funny. The
pictures in it are amazing. I love the the art
style. of Zechariah Ahura, they just bring the
stories to life for me. And it's just such a
sweet and silly story where it just kind of explains,
you know, being kind and compassionate to consider
how someone feels to help them not feel overly
embarrassed is an important thing. And it's just
such a sweet story. I really enjoyed this. I
love reading this with my students, because it
keeps them engaged. But we just have such a fun
time reading it. It's so much fun. Yeah, this
book was really fun. I think this was the first
time that I just hearing you describe it made
me giggle again. And this is after I've already
read it. So like, I know what's gonna happen,
but it's still making me giggle. In like, I just
love that there's It's such a simplicity in the
humor of these books, but it There's subtlety
to it that like adults enjoy just as much as
kids like the fact that Ruben is playing with
his tropical fish and falls asleep with his hand
in that warm water like clearly that's what happened,
but like Kids aren't gonna get that but the adults
in the room do and it's just like that subtlety
of humor is really just amazing to be able to
reach such a wide audience and have everyone
be able to find humor in it. The story is just
so great. You can just clearly see how amazing
the two are as storytellers to be able to present
this story to us and have such a wide range of
people that can find it amusing. It's just great.
So I would definitely give this book a five out
of five. It's so engaging. The illustrations
are amazing. It's just such a fun story. And
it does have kind of that heartfelt, that message
of being kind and compassionate when someone's
feeling embarrassed is an important way to be
a supportive friend. So really great message
to it also. And so as a makerspace connection,
I would give the kids two options. I would probably
have some paper and some like art supplies like
crayons, colored pencils, markers, something
like that. But I'd also have some building materials
like Legos. And I would give the kids an option
if they want to do the art kind of. part I'd
have them design like color a new pair of pants
for Reuben but if they wanted to build more I'd
have them use like the Legos or something to
build Reuben a new pair of pants because if his
are defective they're wet he needs new pants
because in the story he actually does just take
them off and just goes pantless for the rest
of the story so if he needs a new pair of pants
the students can be the ones that help him with
that and they can Draw him or color him a new
pair of pants or they can build him a new pair
of pants to help him in his situation I think
that would just be kind of fun and give the kids
a good way to have a creative outlet to help
solve a problem that character Ruben is having
so I think kids would have a lot of fun with
that one I think they would enjoy it a whole
lot. I think that would be a lot of fun So yeah,
I'd love to see what they came up with because
I'm sure they'd come up with some pretty crazy
ideas, you know, but I know it'd be fun. It'd
be fun to see true story. All right, so our library
of littles management tip this week is for picking
the theme of your lesson. So in the library,
picking a book, picking the theme. for your lesson
that you're going to be teaching, there's lots
of different things to consider when you're trying
to come up with what your lesson is gonna be.
And so taking into consideration some of the
things that are going on around you to kind of
make those connections with students. So lots
of times I think about like different holidays
that are coming up. So like if it's around Christmas
or Halloween or Thanksgiving, it makes it a lot
easier. If the kids are thinking about all those
things anyway, so picking books that relate to
those topics to teach your lessons, clearly that's
an easy way to keep the students engaged. But
there are other kinds of holidays, those random
holidays that pop up that aren't really holidays,
but are days that can be celebrated. So I like
to read a pirate book around the national talk
like a pirate day kind of thing. And then in
September near that time, there's also Dot Day,
and there's also Batman Day. That all happens,
all three of those happen in September. So September
can be a busy month where you're picking different
books for different holidays, air quotes, that
you can connect to the students with. That's
a lot of fun considering the season. So if it's
the fall, you know finding some books about autumn
leaves or if it's winter reading about snow in
the summer reading about beaches and sun and
that kind of stuff definitely helps out also
to connect with the students and then of course
actually communicating with the classroom teachers
finding out what kind of lessons and topics they're
learning about based on the curriculum that they're
teaching. I know you have a lot of experience
with Having a specific curriculum that's being
taught with some random kind of subject matter
and kind of thing books that way like I always
I always thought it was funny, but I also found
a lot of really good books for like the when
the subject unit was boxes or something, you
know, like you get really good at being creative
to find the right kind of things to make those
connections and Yeah, making those connections
helps the kids find ways to to make connections
with the books and You know, it's just a really
great way to help strengthen your lesson and
Give the kids something they can Hold on to and
connect to to make it more meaningful and impactful
And so kind of considering some of those things
is really important Can you think of other things
that you consider when you're making your lessons?
What other kind of? I think those are the main
ones. For me, there's like three or four like
literacy specific things throughout the year
that I know. I usually when I'm planning my I
at the beginning of the school year, I do plan
out like my whole year kind of my themes first.
And I initially go through and like there's certain
literacy themed Weeks that I know I'm gonna have
where I'm like, okay book fairs here we're gonna
have to just that's just gonna be book fair week
and then there's read across America week where
this is what we're doing over here and I'm gonna
talk about Geisel winners and such and Dot day.
I'm trying to think if there's anything else
I'm moving to a new campus next year. So I'm
sure there will be different things then yeah
But then like I'll plug in those and then I look
at what the school is doing as a whole and like
you said like we usually do actually like our
whole campus used to dress up as pirates on talk
like a pirate day so we would do like pirates
that week and um like there was holidays was
really, really big at one of my schools. So we
would go all out and just do holiday books around
like in all of December. And then there's our
code, of course. And then aside from that, I
would. communicate with the teachers and just
kind of align as best as I could with whatever
the teachers were doing in the classroom just
to kind of make integrate what we were doing
in the library with what the students were learning
in the classroom just to make everything a little
bit more seamless so that the kids could connect
with the content a little bit better. Yeah. Yeah,
they would do like six weeks of boxes or six
weeks of water like for a really long time in
each of my I know in each of my in each of the
classes, but Those are also things that you can
kind of embed into the makerspace lessons a little
bit easier so the book doesn't necessarily all
have to be about that and the teachers I would
find would also get kind of burnt out on doing
six whole weeks of talking about a box. So they
would, they would want to embed other things
into their lessons as well and just be like,
okay, we're, we are learning about boxes, but
we're also going to talk about fall and maybe
we can have the sensory bin in a box. So that's
our box theme. I don't know. So that made it
a little bit easier too. like talking with the
teachers and finding out what, like their, I
knew their overarching theme, but then when I
talked to them a little bit more, I could find
more detailed things that were maybe a little
bit easier to integrate into the library. Very
much. And then there's also, we can also consider
things like Hispanic Heritage Month and Black
History Month and Asian Pacific Islander Month,
all of those. things can be included into your
lesson planning themes also so that you can expose
students to different authors and illustrators
from each of those backgrounds and different
things like that, which is always interesting
and fun to be able to do, to share those different
cultures and those different authors and illustrators
and to be able to give. some exposure to some
of those people also so amazing ways that we
can come up with some really great ideas to kind
of have a theme and then of course from there
you take that theme and you can connect it to
your lesson with the skill that you're trying
to teach at the same time so you know just have
like having a theme doesn't have to be the whole
lesson like the theme can be something that you
use to help shape your lesson that your lesson
is teaching a skill, it doesn't have to just
be the theme itself. So keep that in mind also.
Yes. Yeah, the themes are more to increase student
engagement just because I know that the kids
are already learning about a certain concept
in the classroom. They're already kind of getting
interested in it. the teachers have already kind
of if the teachers are already doing that in
the classroom then they've kind of hooked their
attention for me already so that when I continue
it in the library it's more of a continuation
that kids are already somewhat engaged because
they are familiar with whatever we're about to
talk about you're right and it's it kind of yeah
it's it's more for that hook there it's not just
that Anyway, yeah. Alright, well the next camping
book we're going to talk about today is called
Camping Land. It is published by Two Lions in
2024. The author is Amy Dykman and the illustrator
is James Birx. This book is a Children's Book
Council Teacher's Favorite for 2025. It's not
on any... um state lists and Amy Dykman does
not have much information online um her bio on
her website states that she is an award -winning
author and she's good at what she does so she's
gonna go write more books now thank you very
much and that's all you really need to know about
her I guess um she has uh 28 other books that
she has written though listed on her website
some of which are misunderstood shark illustrated
by scott mcgoon you don't want a unicorn illustrated
by liz clemo and the geisel award -winning vacation
illustrated by mark teague And the illustrator
is James Burks. He is a children's author and
illustrator, as well as an accomplished film
and TV animator. Some of his projects include
Space Jam, The Iron Giant, and The Emperor's
New Groove, which is amazing. Like those three,
like damn, hitting hard. I know, right? That's
pretty impressive. His other books he has written
and illustrated several graphic novels for upper
elementary students including the box tales series
currently only two titles published in being
published in 2025 and 2026 the agent 9 series
the bird and squirrel series which my students
Love the bird and squirrel series. They really
enjoy that Gabby and Gator He's also written
and illustrated three picture books, Pigs and
a Blanket, When Pigs Fly, and Beep and Bah. His
website lists 13 other children's books that
he has illustrated for other authors, including
Campingland by Amy Dyckman. Alright, and in this
book, a family of four goes camping for the very
first time, but mayhem ensues when they are unprepared
for everything that comes their way, like a bear
eating all their food and getting sprayed by
skunks. Facing difficulty in the wild, they pack
up the remnants of their campsite early and head
to camping land, which is a theme park that specializes
in indoor camping, complete with robotic wildlife
and perfectly replicated digital experiences
for the whole family. However, while they're
there, they realize that although the experiences
they had in the great outdoors weren't perfect
ones, they made for lasting family memories.
They then go back and prepare a little bit better
and have a little bit better experiencing experiences
camping in the wild. This book was a lot of fun.
I really enjoyed it. The illustrations are all
digital and I love how they did the all the robotic
animals at camping land. They were all kind of
they were really you could tell that they were
meant to be animatronics and they were just really
just slightly creepy which was perfect for what
this was meant to be. Like it was kind of mocking
you know theme parks in a way and like it was
kind of letting every the kids know who were
reading the book that you know it's better to
go out and live your life have real experiences
than be stuck trying to replicate things digitally.
I thought it was a great message intended to
kind of bring families together it was still
it was pretty funny. um most of Amy Dyckman's
books are kind of like this where I think that's
what makes her such a great author is there's
um usually a focus on um families in general
with most of her books like families and friends
and things like that there's a lot of really
good social and emotional um lessons that happen
in her books but they're pretty simple and told
in a really kind of a funny way to kind of hit
the message home. It just kind of hooks the kids
in and then with some nice humor and then you
get the really sweet ending usually with hers.
And this kind of went along with that that vibe
that she's got going on. So I really enjoyed
it. I think I would give this one a five out
of five as well. I really enjoy both of these
books actually as far as camping goes for a theme.
They were just really really entertaining books,
really funny. And then this one I love that it
had the added component of, you know, being a
family together, making memories together. That's
what camping and being together is really about.
Yeah, absolutely. I had not read this book before
you suggested it and it's just such a cute and
sweet and really really funny story. I really
enjoyed it a lot and I look forward to sharing
it with my students because it's a great one.
I loved it. Yeah really everything Amy Dyckman
does too. There's a lot of like really impressive
authors and illustrators on this episode. Yeah
incredible. I know. All right well for a Magerspace
activity for this one since the family does,
you know, give up on camping pretty quickly and
they go to camping land and it's clearly a replicated
campsite. I thought they could make their own
campsites as well. They could, I mean, and you
could use pretty much any makerspace materials
that you have around just to create your own
camping land and try and make that replication
where, I mean, obviously the ideal scenario would
be going camping for real, like reading this
at home would be fun and then taking your kids
camping if you were read it at home. But as far
as in the library where we can't have experiences
like that, I think creating your own camping
land with Legos or whatever you've got in your
library would be a whole lot of fun and just
try and create a space for the kids to be creative
like that. Yeah, that would be great. I think.
they could come up with a lot of really fun and
kind of unique things when they're making their
own camping land like that. That'd be a lot of
fun. I'm sure they will. All right, well thank
you all for joining us today on this episode
of Librarians of Littles. We hope you found some
fresh ideas for inspiring young readers. Please
be sure to subscribe and connect with us on social
media. Happy reading! Thank you for listening
to this episode of Librarians of Littles. We
hope that you've enjoyed it. Check back each
Wednesday for a new episode. Librarians of Littles
is a podcast produced and hosted by Patrick Adams
and Caroline Legere. Editor, Patrick Adams. Our
theme song is performed by JD Adams. You can
follow us on Instagram at Librarians of Littles.
You can follow us on bluesky at littleslibrarian
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