WEBVTT 00:00:20.450 --> 00:00:24.210 Hello, I'm Patrick Adams. And I'm Caroline Legere. 00:00:24.570 --> 00:00:27.769 And this is Librarians of Littles, a podcast 00:00:27.769 --> 00:00:31.750 where we discuss books, give makerspace ideas, 00:00:31.989 --> 00:00:34.729 and some tips and tricks for working with our 00:00:34.729 --> 00:00:39.149 students in the library setting. This week we 00:00:39.149 --> 00:00:42.689 have some of our favorite books to read that 00:00:42.689 --> 00:00:45.390 we're going to discuss. We've got some really 00:00:45.390 --> 00:00:49.329 fun books that are just a fun thing to read at 00:00:49.329 --> 00:00:51.570 maybe any time in the year or maybe at specific 00:00:51.570 --> 00:00:55.350 times, but they're just classic books that we 00:00:55.350 --> 00:00:58.170 really enjoy sharing with students. The first 00:00:58.170 --> 00:01:04.269 of which is Please Mr. Panda, published by Scholastic 00:01:04.269 --> 00:01:08.950 in 2016, written and illustrated by Steve Antony. 00:01:09.950 --> 00:01:13.829 This book has ended up on a couple lists. It's 00:01:13.829 --> 00:01:18.750 gotten a couple awards. The first being the Children's 00:01:18.750 --> 00:01:23.079 Favorite Award of 2016. It was on the Colorado 00:01:23.079 --> 00:01:27.719 Children's Book Award for 2018, New York's Three 00:01:27.719 --> 00:01:30.840 Apple Young Readers Book Award for the 24 -25 00:01:30.840 --> 00:01:35.540 year, and the Ohio Buckeyes Children's Book Award 00:01:35.540 --> 00:01:40.900 for 2016. and a little bit about our author illustrator 00:01:40.900 --> 00:01:44.319 Steve Antony. Steve lives in Swindon with his 00:01:44.319 --> 00:01:47.120 husband and two rescue cats, but grew up in New 00:01:47.120 --> 00:01:50.519 Mexico, and he often talks at schools about his 00:01:50.519 --> 00:01:54.519 experiences of living in the desert and regularly 00:01:54.519 --> 00:01:57.980 visiting his public libraries for inspiration. 00:01:58.780 --> 00:02:03.120 After taking redundancy from Swindon Call Center 00:02:03.120 --> 00:02:07.689 in 2010, Steve pursued his long -held dream of 00:02:07.689 --> 00:02:12.270 becoming an author and illustrator. He is red 00:02:12.270 --> 00:02:16.250 -green colorblind and has campaigned alongside 00:02:16.250 --> 00:02:19.930 colorblind awareness to raise awareness of the 00:02:19.930 --> 00:02:28.050 condition in schools. In 2022, his 2022 colorblind 00:02:28.050 --> 00:02:33.129 activity for schools was featured on BBC News. 00:02:33.689 --> 00:02:38.930 which is pretty cool. Some of his other books 00:02:38.930 --> 00:02:44.270 are The Queen's Hat, The Queen's Handbag, Unplugged, 00:02:44.610 --> 00:02:48.569 Amazing, Betty Goes Bananas, Thank You Mr. Panda, 00:02:48.870 --> 00:02:52.389 Good Night Mr. Panda, All Wait Mr. Panda, We 00:02:52.389 --> 00:02:55.930 Love You Mr. Panda, Wash Your Hands Mr. Panda, 00:02:56.289 --> 00:03:03.960 and Rainbow Asaurus. And so our summary for this 00:03:03.960 --> 00:03:07.080 book, please, Mr. Panda, is that Mr. Panda is 00:03:07.080 --> 00:03:11.520 looking to share his donuts. He runs into many 00:03:11.520 --> 00:03:14.819 other animals, but those animals seem to be rude, 00:03:15.099 --> 00:03:19.159 impatient, or just greedy. In the end, Mr. Panda 00:03:19.159 --> 00:03:23.240 is able to find one animal that asks the correct 00:03:23.240 --> 00:03:27.300 way for those donuts and shows that he has good 00:03:27.300 --> 00:03:32.729 manners and is able to be polite. I love this 00:03:32.729 --> 00:03:35.689 book. I love everything about it. The illustrations 00:03:35.689 --> 00:03:39.930 of the animals are awesome. All of the animals 00:03:39.930 --> 00:03:42.689 are different variations of black and white. 00:03:42.729 --> 00:03:46.729 So there's like a skunk, an ostrich, a whale, 00:03:47.110 --> 00:03:49.110 like all these different animals that are all 00:03:49.110 --> 00:03:53.210 just black and white. And the donuts are like 00:03:53.210 --> 00:03:55.509 the most colorful thing within the story, the 00:03:55.509 --> 00:03:58.909 box of donuts that Mr. Panda has. And I love 00:03:58.909 --> 00:04:03.159 the repetition that goes into the story as well. 00:04:03.479 --> 00:04:07.979 Mr. Panda continues to ask, would you like a 00:04:07.979 --> 00:04:11.699 donut? And then the animals answer in different 00:04:11.699 --> 00:04:16.199 ways, showing they're impolite, rude, or just 00:04:16.199 --> 00:04:21.139 playing greedy characters. And Mr. Panda responds 00:04:21.139 --> 00:04:25.060 every time with, never mind, I'll find someone 00:04:25.060 --> 00:04:28.829 else basically. And so like that, that repetition 00:04:28.829 --> 00:04:31.410 for the students is always good. They know what's 00:04:31.410 --> 00:04:34.250 coming next. It's a great story. It's a lot of 00:04:34.250 --> 00:04:37.430 fun. And I love that in the end, Mr. Panda, not 00:04:37.430 --> 00:04:41.230 only is he happy to find someone that can ask 00:04:41.230 --> 00:04:42.889 the right way and show those good manners and 00:04:42.889 --> 00:04:45.930 be polite, but he doesn't even like donuts. So 00:04:45.930 --> 00:04:47.490 he's just trying to find someone to take those 00:04:47.490 --> 00:04:50.750 donuts. He's happy to give them away to that. 00:04:50.750 --> 00:04:54.899 I think it's a lemur that... is able to ask the 00:04:54.899 --> 00:04:58.459 right way for those donuts. And so it's a great 00:04:58.459 --> 00:05:01.399 conversation starter about using good manners. 00:05:01.699 --> 00:05:04.240 I tend to use this book near the beginning of 00:05:04.240 --> 00:05:06.439 the year when the students are in the library 00:05:06.439 --> 00:05:09.399 and we talk about manners and talk about being 00:05:09.399 --> 00:05:12.540 able to ask for things the correct way, being 00:05:12.540 --> 00:05:16.540 able to use those good manners when we're talking 00:05:16.540 --> 00:05:19.279 with our friends. It helps out a lot, like if 00:05:19.279 --> 00:05:21.220 I read this book and then when we talk about 00:05:21.470 --> 00:05:24.189 being at the makerspace tables and sharing and 00:05:24.189 --> 00:05:27.470 being able to ask each other, can I please have 00:05:27.470 --> 00:05:29.589 this and that kind of thing when they're trying 00:05:29.589 --> 00:05:32.529 to share together. It's a nice conversation starter 00:05:32.529 --> 00:05:36.129 that way. I just love this book. It becomes one 00:05:36.129 --> 00:05:38.810 of those things that like, I get asked a lot, 00:05:38.970 --> 00:05:40.569 like, where are the Mr. Panda books? What other 00:05:40.569 --> 00:05:42.810 Mr. Panda books haven't I read that I can read? 00:05:42.930 --> 00:05:46.149 My students really enjoy these stories because 00:05:46.149 --> 00:05:51.620 they're not, they're not super There's usually 00:05:51.620 --> 00:05:55.120 one or two sentences on a two page spread. It's 00:05:55.120 --> 00:05:57.680 not a lot or overwhelming for the kids and so 00:05:57.680 --> 00:06:00.699 it's a great set of books for our beginning readers 00:06:00.699 --> 00:06:04.420 and they really enjoy them. Yeah, I love these 00:06:04.420 --> 00:06:07.600 books too. All the things you just said. I love 00:06:07.600 --> 00:06:11.220 how it is kind of it's simplistic without really 00:06:11.220 --> 00:06:16.660 talking down to the kids and it's very easy for 00:06:16.660 --> 00:06:19.540 them to really see. why it's so important to 00:06:19.540 --> 00:06:23.699 be polite. It's just a great story. And I love 00:06:23.699 --> 00:06:27.120 knowing that Steve Antony is colorblind. I had 00:06:27.120 --> 00:06:30.879 no idea before doing this. That is super cool. 00:06:30.959 --> 00:06:33.639 And it kind of adds a little something for me 00:06:33.639 --> 00:06:38.079 as a reader reading it. I love those black and 00:06:38.079 --> 00:06:40.519 white illustrations with just a little spot of 00:06:40.519 --> 00:06:43.939 color throughout. And the colors still look really 00:06:43.939 --> 00:06:45.379 great together and everything, even though he 00:06:45.379 --> 00:06:49.379 is colorblind. a really fabulous story. And you're 00:06:49.379 --> 00:06:52.000 right, the kids absolutely love them. They're 00:06:52.000 --> 00:06:55.839 just really, really excellent books. I think 00:06:55.839 --> 00:06:57.639 it is a great one to use at the beginning of 00:06:57.639 --> 00:07:02.360 the school year, because it does, with that minimal 00:07:02.360 --> 00:07:05.959 text that's on there, it's really... It hooks 00:07:05.959 --> 00:07:09.240 them in pretty quickly with those great illustrations, 00:07:09.519 --> 00:07:13.360 but then like they can stay engaged like the 00:07:13.360 --> 00:07:16.480 whole time and it's over pretty quickly. So then 00:07:16.480 --> 00:07:18.360 especially at the beginning when their attention 00:07:18.360 --> 00:07:20.160 span is a little bit shorter and we're really 00:07:20.160 --> 00:07:23.949 working on building up our stamina. kind of an 00:07:23.949 --> 00:07:26.389 easy win for them to like finish a whole book 00:07:26.389 --> 00:07:30.110 and stay engaged the whole time and really understand 00:07:30.110 --> 00:07:33.189 the message in the story and all the things. 00:07:33.750 --> 00:07:37.089 It's a big win for everybody. It's a really great 00:07:37.089 --> 00:07:42.550 one. Absolutely. And yeah, but I didn't realize 00:07:42.550 --> 00:07:44.930 that he was colorblind, but now looking back 00:07:44.930 --> 00:07:49.910 at all of his books, so many of his books have 00:07:50.799 --> 00:07:53.699 minimal color and so that makes a lot of sense 00:07:53.699 --> 00:07:56.360 but it's really it's it's impressive that he's 00:07:56.360 --> 00:08:00.040 able to do so much while having to work with 00:08:00.040 --> 00:08:05.680 that that I don't know I don't know if disability 00:08:05.680 --> 00:08:08.720 it is a disability it's just yeah it's not I've 00:08:08.720 --> 00:08:11.100 counted as a disability I think like the fact 00:08:11.100 --> 00:08:15.490 that he's able to overcome it and show like so 00:08:15.490 --> 00:08:19.389 much through his illustrations while using minimal 00:08:19.389 --> 00:08:22.670 colors is just really cool. It's really great 00:08:22.670 --> 00:08:29.189 for sure. So as a makerspace activity, I like 00:08:29.189 --> 00:08:32.889 to have my students use the Legos and their challenge 00:08:32.889 --> 00:08:36.769 is to build a delicious donut. They get to build 00:08:36.769 --> 00:08:40.649 and decorate that donut using Legos. And so it's 00:08:40.649 --> 00:08:42.990 really fun to see how creative the students can 00:08:42.990 --> 00:08:47.309 become. to make a circle out of Legos because 00:08:47.309 --> 00:08:50.549 that's not the easiest thing to be able to do 00:08:50.549 --> 00:08:53.049 and so they come up with different ways where 00:08:53.049 --> 00:08:57.610 they can make that circle or square -ish shape 00:08:57.610 --> 00:09:00.909 and then to decorate it with different Lego pieces 00:09:00.909 --> 00:09:04.750 to make it colorful and it's just a lot of fun 00:09:04.750 --> 00:09:06.450 to see what the kids come up with. They get to 00:09:06.450 --> 00:09:08.750 be pretty creative with it and it ties in with 00:09:08.750 --> 00:09:11.460 the book. with all of the colorful, delicious 00:09:11.460 --> 00:09:15.620 donuts that he gives away. It is. That's a really 00:09:15.620 --> 00:09:17.840 great one. I've done something similar with that 00:09:17.840 --> 00:09:21.019 book with just I just give him a piece of paper 00:09:21.019 --> 00:09:24.580 with just the outline of the donut on it and 00:09:24.580 --> 00:09:27.419 have him just decorate with crayons at the beginning 00:09:27.419 --> 00:09:29.080 of the end because it's at the beginning of the 00:09:29.080 --> 00:09:33.320 year. That's usually an OK. Like later in the 00:09:33.320 --> 00:09:35.159 school year, I think you can just tell them to 00:09:35.159 --> 00:09:37.220 draw a donut and you can you can just model, 00:09:37.220 --> 00:09:40.899 you know, drawing. a big circle and then a smaller 00:09:40.899 --> 00:09:43.559 circle inside so that they can have do the whole 00:09:43.559 --> 00:09:45.179 thing on their own but at the beginning of the 00:09:45.179 --> 00:09:47.840 school year if this is how you're using it that's 00:09:47.840 --> 00:09:50.220 another way you could do it but i love having 00:09:50.220 --> 00:09:53.639 them do it with legos like you said that's that 00:09:53.639 --> 00:09:57.980 is harder to do um because those are obviously 00:09:57.980 --> 00:10:01.100 not round so that is a pretty big challenge for 00:10:01.100 --> 00:10:04.679 him i like it is and there are those conversations 00:10:04.679 --> 00:10:06.519 where we say you know like because a lot of kids 00:10:06.519 --> 00:10:11.259 it's especially at pre -k level, I can't do it. 00:10:11.559 --> 00:10:14.019 And that's when we get to have those conversations 00:10:14.019 --> 00:10:18.519 where it is possible. We have to try. It's not 00:10:18.519 --> 00:10:22.159 the easiest thing. If it was really easy, it 00:10:22.159 --> 00:10:25.700 wouldn't be a challenge. I wouldn't spend the 00:10:25.700 --> 00:10:27.919 time asking you to do it. I want you to have 00:10:27.919 --> 00:10:29.659 to use that brain of yours. And a lot of the 00:10:29.659 --> 00:10:32.820 kids, when they realize that it's not supposed 00:10:32.820 --> 00:10:34.659 to be easy, it's supposed to be something that 00:10:34.659 --> 00:10:38.009 you have to... Like try and maybe not get the 00:10:38.009 --> 00:10:40.529 first time they put in a lot more effort and 00:10:40.529 --> 00:10:44.690 I find that after those Conversations early in 00:10:44.690 --> 00:10:47.370 the year when I give them challenges that are 00:10:47.370 --> 00:10:49.789 hard later in the year They're like they're supposed 00:10:49.789 --> 00:10:52.429 to be like this and go from there. You know, 00:10:52.529 --> 00:10:57.789 it's a good way to introduce that That struggle 00:10:57.789 --> 00:11:05.419 that is beneficial to them, you know And so that 00:11:05.419 --> 00:11:09.600 brings us to our Library of Littles management 00:11:09.600 --> 00:11:14.200 tip for this week. And we were discussing the 00:11:14.200 --> 00:11:17.000 importance of building that relationship with 00:11:17.000 --> 00:11:20.779 your PTA or PTO. If your campus is fortunate 00:11:20.779 --> 00:11:22.960 enough to have them, there are campuses that 00:11:22.960 --> 00:11:25.399 don't get those and it makes it a little bit 00:11:25.399 --> 00:11:27.840 more challenging. But if you are fortunate to 00:11:27.840 --> 00:11:30.740 have a campus where there is a PTA available, 00:11:31.120 --> 00:11:34.720 making those relationships is super important 00:11:34.720 --> 00:11:39.340 as a librarian for so many reasons. Personally, 00:11:39.919 --> 00:11:44.019 my campus, we have an excellent PTA that is always 00:11:44.019 --> 00:11:47.799 willing to help out. And so my PTA this year, 00:11:48.080 --> 00:11:52.279 I have a book fair coming up and I have a bunch 00:11:52.279 --> 00:11:55.100 of PTA members that are going to be helping in 00:11:55.100 --> 00:11:57.639 the book fair helping me run the registers because 00:11:57.639 --> 00:12:00.620 I also have classes coming into the library all 00:12:00.620 --> 00:12:02.659 day long so I'm supposed to be teaching classes 00:12:02.659 --> 00:12:04.360 and running the book fair at the same time so 00:12:04.360 --> 00:12:08.139 those PTA members are going to help me out. our 00:12:08.139 --> 00:12:13.059 PTA was able to help pay for a part of our author 00:12:13.059 --> 00:12:15.279 visit with Tammy Sauer on my campus. So they 00:12:15.279 --> 00:12:17.440 took care of some of that so that the camp like 00:12:17.440 --> 00:12:19.899 our campus budget spent part of it. The PTA paid 00:12:19.899 --> 00:12:21.840 for the rest of it. So we were able to offer 00:12:21.840 --> 00:12:26.179 that awesome opportunity for our students. And 00:12:26.179 --> 00:12:29.840 we have like so many wonderful opportunities 00:12:29.840 --> 00:12:34.879 with our PTA where we can get them to assist 00:12:34.879 --> 00:12:38.960 in different ways. I know I work with the PTA 00:12:38.960 --> 00:12:44.639 around Christmas and around the holidays. And 00:12:44.639 --> 00:12:49.120 I use some of my scholastic dollars to purchase 00:12:49.120 --> 00:12:52.759 some books that I can give to PTA because they 00:12:52.759 --> 00:12:55.600 work with our counselor to set up like some of 00:12:55.600 --> 00:12:58.019 the angel tree gifts and stuff like that. So 00:12:58.019 --> 00:13:01.039 I work with them to spend some of my scholastic 00:13:01.039 --> 00:13:02.879 dollars that I make from the book fair to get 00:13:02.879 --> 00:13:06.820 some books to... to donate to those kids as part 00:13:06.820 --> 00:13:09.759 of the angel tree and things like that. So like 00:13:09.759 --> 00:13:11.980 we have a pretty close relationship and I'm very 00:13:11.980 --> 00:13:16.600 fortunate that the PTA is always willing to help 00:13:16.600 --> 00:13:19.019 support me and so I try anyway I can to support 00:13:19.019 --> 00:13:21.440 them because that relationship really is a two 00:13:21.440 --> 00:13:23.740 -way street that ends up benefiting everybody. 00:13:24.120 --> 00:13:28.340 So it's if it's available it's so important to 00:13:28.340 --> 00:13:31.809 be able to have that relationship. It's true 00:13:31.809 --> 00:13:36.409 on my last campus. We did not have a PTA and 00:13:36.409 --> 00:13:42.830 there was just a lot at my campus that I ended 00:13:42.830 --> 00:13:46.809 up Organizing like all by myself with and I did 00:13:46.809 --> 00:13:49.570 have a little bit of help from my teacher I shouldn't 00:13:49.570 --> 00:13:51.649 say a little bit I did have help from my teachers 00:13:51.649 --> 00:13:53.649 But my teachers are all are just as overwhelmed 00:13:53.649 --> 00:13:56.350 as I am and just as overworked and we're all 00:13:56.350 --> 00:14:02.039 exhausted and so asking them to do Extra I know 00:14:02.039 --> 00:14:03.720 I know there's members of the team everybody 00:14:03.720 --> 00:14:05.519 has things going on their lives And I know there's 00:14:05.519 --> 00:14:07.580 members of the PPTA who have a lot going on too, 00:14:07.919 --> 00:14:10.639 but it's just a different kind of relationship 00:14:10.639 --> 00:14:13.580 because they're not Working at the school all 00:14:13.580 --> 00:14:17.000 the live long day like we as teachers and librarians 00:14:17.000 --> 00:14:20.940 are so like asking them For help is just a little 00:14:20.940 --> 00:14:24.100 bit different than asking like my fellow teammates 00:14:24.100 --> 00:14:28.259 and teachers that I work with, you know, so like 00:14:28.259 --> 00:14:31.000 I feel like having that PTA, you can get a lot 00:14:31.000 --> 00:14:33.120 more support and a lot different kinds of support 00:14:33.120 --> 00:14:36.639 than you can from your other staff members. But 00:14:36.639 --> 00:14:40.740 it's been like kind of everything about having 00:14:40.740 --> 00:14:43.340 a PTA this year has been kind of incredible. 00:14:43.340 --> 00:14:49.919 And I feel like the teachers around me just have 00:14:49.919 --> 00:14:53.490 gotten grown accustomed to it and. kind of take 00:14:53.490 --> 00:14:56.230 it for granted a little bit. I know they appreciate 00:14:56.230 --> 00:15:00.710 them. I do. I can see that they do, but I also 00:15:00.710 --> 00:15:04.690 can tell that they've had a PTA for a hot minute. 00:15:05.970 --> 00:15:09.610 It's kind of incredible having that PTA. They 00:15:09.610 --> 00:15:12.190 organized a fabulous trunk retreat at our campus 00:15:12.190 --> 00:15:15.009 this week for our kids. I haven't, I'm still 00:15:15.009 --> 00:15:17.909 working on building that relationship with the 00:15:17.909 --> 00:15:21.110 current PTA just because I... am new to my campus 00:15:21.110 --> 00:15:23.090 and have only been there a couple of months as 00:15:23.090 --> 00:15:28.289 of right now. But they have already offered to 00:15:28.289 --> 00:15:31.909 come and help with book fair and I'm really looking 00:15:31.909 --> 00:15:37.389 forward to finding out what else we can do together 00:15:37.389 --> 00:15:40.090 and I know next year I'm sure that will once 00:15:40.090 --> 00:15:45.409 I really know the traditions and um what's kind 00:15:45.409 --> 00:15:48.610 of expected at my campus and the culture a little 00:15:48.610 --> 00:15:51.629 bit better i'm sure i'll be able to figure out 00:15:51.629 --> 00:15:55.009 how else they can help me um and what i can do 00:15:55.009 --> 00:15:59.230 for them as well um but it is kind of incredible 00:15:59.230 --> 00:16:06.320 having them yeah yes um yeah it's just It's so 00:16:06.320 --> 00:16:08.820 nice to have people that you know are there helping 00:16:08.820 --> 00:16:12.019 to support you in the background and even It's 00:16:12.019 --> 00:16:14.700 nice that they can just come in and do the thing 00:16:14.700 --> 00:16:16.840 and then go back and do whatever they need to 00:16:16.840 --> 00:16:18.940 do in their own lives They just have that opportunity 00:16:18.940 --> 00:16:21.720 to come in and help out. It becomes really helpful 00:16:21.720 --> 00:16:25.019 I know my campus is really utilizing our PTA 00:16:25.019 --> 00:16:28.500 this year since we live in the state of Texas 00:16:28.500 --> 00:16:31.240 and the Senate bills are passing where we have 00:16:31.240 --> 00:16:35.429 to have books scanned and Lists made and all 00:16:35.429 --> 00:16:37.970 that said I have we have PTA parents coming in 00:16:37.970 --> 00:16:41.110 to the library frequently to get computers and 00:16:41.110 --> 00:16:43.509 scanners so they can go into classrooms and help 00:16:43.509 --> 00:16:46.370 those classroom teachers and so like I've been 00:16:46.370 --> 00:16:48.470 working with our front office staff to organize 00:16:48.470 --> 00:16:50.830 that and everything and it's that it's all those 00:16:50.830 --> 00:16:52.809 PTA parents and even if they're not like board 00:16:52.809 --> 00:16:54.370 members and stuff They're part of the PTA and 00:16:54.370 --> 00:16:57.129 they want to come in and help and so that's the 00:16:57.129 --> 00:17:00.509 power of the PTA is they can get those helping 00:17:00.509 --> 00:17:04.240 hands and it's just Yeah, it becomes an amazing 00:17:04.240 --> 00:17:07.359 workforce that can help you accomplish so many 00:17:07.359 --> 00:17:10.019 things. It's awesome. It's worth it for sure. 00:17:10.720 --> 00:17:15.039 Absolutely. Well, the next book that we're going 00:17:15.039 --> 00:17:19.319 to talk about today is Mother Bruce. It was published 00:17:19.319 --> 00:17:23.740 by Disney Hyperion in 2015 and the author and 00:17:23.740 --> 00:17:28.960 illustrator is Ryan T. Higgins. This book has 00:17:28.960 --> 00:17:32.200 won several awards. It's gotten the Anna Dudney 00:17:32.200 --> 00:17:35.240 Read Together Award, the Teacher Favorites Award, 00:17:35.839 --> 00:17:38.940 Ezra Jack Keats Award. It's a junior library 00:17:38.940 --> 00:17:42.160 guild selection, and it got the E .B. White Read 00:17:42.160 --> 00:17:45.579 Aloud Award. It's on a total of 30 state lists. 00:17:45.940 --> 00:17:47.740 I will not read all of them to you, but a few 00:17:47.740 --> 00:17:51.900 of them are the Texas 2x2 for 2016, California 00:17:51.900 --> 00:17:56.039 Young Reader Medal for 2018, Iowa Goldfinch Award 00:17:56.039 --> 00:18:01.380 2018, Illinois Monarch Award in 2018, and the 00:18:01.380 --> 00:18:04.220 Minnesota Star of the North Picture Book Award 00:18:04.220 --> 00:18:11.339 in 2017. And Ryan T. Higgins was greatly influenced 00:18:11.339 --> 00:18:14.559 by Calvin and Hobbes comics as a child. Initially, 00:18:14.720 --> 00:18:16.910 he wanted to become a comic writer. However, 00:18:17.029 --> 00:18:19.190 after reading Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the 00:18:19.190 --> 00:18:22.309 Bus, he became intrigued by early readers and 00:18:22.309 --> 00:18:25.130 decided to try his hand at the genre. He currently 00:18:25.130 --> 00:18:27.630 lives in Maine with his wife and three children. 00:18:28.970 --> 00:18:33.450 And some of his other books. He has the entire 00:18:33.450 --> 00:18:37.210 Mother Bruce book series, which is 19 books in 00:18:37.210 --> 00:18:39.710 total. I'm now gonna have to go back and see 00:18:39.710 --> 00:18:43.950 if I have all 19 of them in my library collection. 00:18:44.009 --> 00:18:47.630 Yeah, I think I've only got like eight. Yeah, 00:18:47.890 --> 00:18:50.289 I think I might be into double digits, but I 00:18:50.289 --> 00:18:51.910 don't think I have all 19. I'm gonna have to 00:18:51.910 --> 00:18:56.029 go back and make sure I get those. Yeah. The 00:18:56.029 --> 00:18:59.509 Penelope Rex book series, which is four books 00:18:59.509 --> 00:19:02.630 in total, including the We Don't Eat Our Classmates. 00:19:03.289 --> 00:19:06.150 The Norman book series, which is two books including 00:19:06.150 --> 00:19:10.589 Norman Didn't Do It, Yes He Did, and Norman and 00:19:10.589 --> 00:19:16.549 the Smell of Adventure. And the summary for this 00:19:16.549 --> 00:19:20.730 book is Bruce is a grumpy bear who only likes 00:19:20.730 --> 00:19:24.549 one thing, eggs. His favorite thing in the world 00:19:24.549 --> 00:19:27.829 is to go into the forest, collect his eggs, cook 00:19:27.829 --> 00:19:30.289 them into fancy recipes he finds on the internet. 00:19:30.509 --> 00:19:34.589 And one day he returns home from his foraging 00:19:34.589 --> 00:19:38.289 to find four goose eggs, or with four goose eggs, 00:19:38.529 --> 00:19:41.730 when the fire goes out in his stove. The goslings 00:19:41.730 --> 00:19:44.529 hatch from the eggs as Bruce is attempting to 00:19:44.529 --> 00:19:47.410 restart the fire, and the goslings mistakenly 00:19:47.410 --> 00:19:49.950 believe that he is their mother. Desperate to 00:19:49.950 --> 00:19:53.190 get rid of them, Bruce tries to return them to 00:19:53.190 --> 00:19:56.009 Mother Goose, but she has already flown south 00:19:56.009 --> 00:19:59.349 for the winter when he fails to rid himself of 00:19:59.349 --> 00:20:02.440 them. Bruce half -heartedly attempts to raise 00:20:02.440 --> 00:20:05.559 the geese on his own. Eventually, the geese grow 00:20:05.559 --> 00:20:08.460 up, but they won't leave their beloved mother, 00:20:08.759 --> 00:20:11.160 Bruce, so they all migrate south for the winter 00:20:11.160 --> 00:20:17.880 together. I love this one. I like Brian T. Higgins 00:20:17.880 --> 00:20:21.740 a lot. He's kind of great. I love that there's, 00:20:21.740 --> 00:20:23.839 I didn't know there were a whole 19 books in 00:20:23.839 --> 00:20:27.039 it, or maybe I did and I forgot. I don't know, 00:20:27.039 --> 00:20:31.480 but it's a very popular, series. Usually when 00:20:31.480 --> 00:20:35.400 I read this book, like, kids will start noticing 00:20:35.400 --> 00:20:38.599 that I have more of them and they start going 00:20:38.599 --> 00:20:43.640 pretty darn fast. I love that it's kind of a 00:20:45.009 --> 00:20:47.970 I love his illustration style where he does have 00:20:47.970 --> 00:20:50.369 the text on the page but then he's got those 00:20:50.369 --> 00:20:52.829 word bubbles in there that like really if you 00:20:52.829 --> 00:20:55.289 want to read the word bubbles you can and you 00:20:55.289 --> 00:20:58.490 can add to it but you really don't have to and 00:20:58.490 --> 00:21:02.230 the story carries itself if you just read the 00:21:02.230 --> 00:21:07.390 text. So with your younger audiences usually 00:21:07.390 --> 00:21:10.150 I find personally that it's better to just read 00:21:10.150 --> 00:21:13.210 the text and then the word bubbles kind of add 00:21:13.349 --> 00:21:16.210 oh some jokes here and there for the older kids 00:21:16.210 --> 00:21:19.710 and the adults really. So I like that it's kind 00:21:19.710 --> 00:21:23.509 of naturally leveled more or less I guess when 00:21:23.509 --> 00:21:27.430 you're reading them. I love the illustrations. 00:21:28.549 --> 00:21:31.410 They're somewhat realistic but not too much. 00:21:31.410 --> 00:21:34.490 It's not too overwhelming and kind of calming 00:21:34.490 --> 00:21:38.710 -ish colors and they're just they're so funny. 00:21:38.890 --> 00:21:42.170 I love these books. They're just great. I love 00:21:42.170 --> 00:21:45.279 them. a whole lot and the kids do too they really 00:21:45.279 --> 00:21:47.980 gravitate toward them in a big way they're really 00:21:47.980 --> 00:21:52.019 excellent books 100 % agree i love these books 00:21:52.019 --> 00:21:55.779 so much they're so much fun i love that bruce 00:21:55.779 --> 00:22:01.400 is just that cynical like a bear that just doesn't 00:22:01.400 --> 00:22:04.960 want to deal with it. There are too many days 00:22:04.960 --> 00:22:08.859 where I identify that same way. I can see that! 00:22:13.099 --> 00:22:16.319 that sense of humor, where it's a great story, 00:22:16.359 --> 00:22:18.539 but it's and it's the kids love it, but it's 00:22:18.539 --> 00:22:20.900 also a great story for the adults, because there's 00:22:20.900 --> 00:22:23.920 that kind of like adult attitude and humor that 00:22:23.920 --> 00:22:26.960 goes into it as well. And yeah, my students, 00:22:27.140 --> 00:22:29.240 I don't, it's hard to keep these books on the 00:22:29.240 --> 00:22:31.079 shelves, because my students once I read the 00:22:31.079 --> 00:22:33.720 first one, they want to read all the other books 00:22:33.720 --> 00:22:36.440 that we have on the shelves. And so they're checked 00:22:36.440 --> 00:22:40.440 out quite frequently, and which is awesome. And 00:22:40.440 --> 00:22:43.759 yeah, I like all of Ryan T. Higgins books are 00:22:43.759 --> 00:22:47.380 so amazing. I enjoy every one of them. And I 00:22:47.380 --> 00:22:49.180 try to share as many of them with my students 00:22:49.180 --> 00:22:53.480 as I can. So love all of them. Yeah, they're 00:22:53.480 --> 00:22:56.980 so good. I love that he's like, so cranky, but 00:22:56.980 --> 00:22:59.039 then he always ends up doing the right thing. 00:22:59.079 --> 00:23:01.519 Like it can be, that's another good conversation 00:23:01.519 --> 00:23:03.299 to have. Like it can be hard to do the right 00:23:03.299 --> 00:23:06.319 thing, but you can do hard things. Come on now. 00:23:06.619 --> 00:23:09.940 You can do it kids. Like it's just great. It's 00:23:09.940 --> 00:23:13.900 wonderful. For this book, for the makerspace 00:23:13.900 --> 00:23:17.119 activity, I like tying it in with families a 00:23:17.119 --> 00:23:19.900 little bit because he does, Bruce does end up 00:23:19.900 --> 00:23:22.819 kind of forming a very non -traditional family 00:23:22.819 --> 00:23:27.160 with his little goslings over there. So I like, 00:23:27.660 --> 00:23:30.140 for the makerspace activity, I like doing just 00:23:30.140 --> 00:23:34.180 a... having the kids draw a picture of their 00:23:34.180 --> 00:23:36.660 family and who's in their family. I think this 00:23:36.660 --> 00:23:41.259 is a nice way to kind of talk about families 00:23:41.259 --> 00:23:45.720 a little bit. And because it's all animals in 00:23:45.720 --> 00:23:48.480 the book, I feel like you can still talk about 00:23:48.480 --> 00:23:51.619 like non -traditional families. And a lot of 00:23:51.619 --> 00:23:54.799 people get up, we're living in Texas, a lot of 00:23:54.799 --> 00:23:58.210 people. are more conservative and don't really 00:23:58.210 --> 00:24:00.730 want us to talk about families like at all in 00:24:00.730 --> 00:24:03.890 general. And this is kind of a nice safe way 00:24:03.890 --> 00:24:06.289 to talk about like, you know, what Bruce has 00:24:06.289 --> 00:24:08.190 a very different kind of a family. They're not 00:24:08.190 --> 00:24:10.089 even the same kind of animal, but they're still, 00:24:10.089 --> 00:24:14.930 you know, he's still mother Bruce. And you can 00:24:14.930 --> 00:24:17.730 kind of get away with talking about different 00:24:17.730 --> 00:24:20.950 kinds of families in a way that really no one 00:24:20.950 --> 00:24:24.059 can get upset at because it's just. children's 00:24:24.059 --> 00:24:30.240 story about animals there. So yeah, that's the 00:24:30.240 --> 00:24:32.599 way I like to do it in Makerspace. Anyway, is 00:24:32.599 --> 00:24:34.839 have the kids talk about their families too. 00:24:35.279 --> 00:24:40.200 Draw the picture. That's awesome. And then the 00:24:40.200 --> 00:24:42.559 kids can see a little bit, get to learn a little 00:24:42.559 --> 00:24:44.420 bit more about each other too, which is always 00:24:44.420 --> 00:24:48.740 cool to be able to share some of that. It's a 00:24:48.740 --> 00:24:51.410 little bit of a less judgmental way. I guess 00:24:51.410 --> 00:24:54.950 not judgmental, safer way to share for the kids 00:24:54.950 --> 00:24:57.829 to share about their own families. Just in case. 00:24:58.109 --> 00:25:01.650 I don't know. I don't know. Here in Texas, there's 00:25:01.650 --> 00:25:03.670 a lot of people that don't like us to talk about 00:25:03.670 --> 00:25:09.430 families in any way. But, mm -hmm. So, anyway. 00:25:10.809 --> 00:25:14.549 Well, thank you all for joining us on this episode 00:25:14.549 --> 00:25:18.289 of Librarians of Littles. We hope you found some 00:25:18.289 --> 00:25:20.569 fresh ideas for inspiring our youngest readers. 00:25:20.910 --> 00:25:22.910 Please be sure to subscribe and connect with 00:25:22.910 --> 00:25:25.789 us on social media. Happy reading! Thank you 00:25:25.789 --> 00:25:28.589 for listening to this episode of Librarians of 00:25:28.589 --> 00:25:31.130 Littles. We hope that you've enjoyed it. Check 00:25:31.130 --> 00:25:35.529 back each Wednesday for a new episode. Librarians 00:25:35.529 --> 00:25:38.289 of Littles is a podcast produced and hosted by 00:25:38.289 --> 00:25:41.950 Patrick Adams and Caroline Legere. Editor, Patrick 00:25:41.950 --> 00:25:45.750 Adams. Our theme song is performed by JD Adams. 00:25:46.170 --> 00:25:48.829 You can follow us on Instagram at Librarians 00:25:48.829 --> 00:25:53.950 of Littles. You can follow us on BlueSky at littleslibrarian 00:25:53.950 --> 00:25:58.569 .bsky .social. And you can send us your emails 00:25:58.569 --> 00:26:02.970 at librarianoflittlespodatgmail .com.