Storytime Collections

I recently participated in a Tech Challenge given by the Children's Services Section of the New Jersey Library Association.  This Tech Challenge inspired me to start blogging again and to organize the material I have accumulated over the years (which is quite a bit since I have been doing this since 1990).  I was also lucky enough to win a Barnes & Noble gift card for completing the challenge.   This went toward the purchase of some books for my storytime collection.  I have learned over the years that personal favorites can disappear unexpectedly so it's always good to have a back-up.  I also learned the hard way that when this happens, the book cannot be replaced because it is out of print.  I like to use pop-ups with large groups so I have been purchasing those over the years as well.  If you have the space and budget, start a storytelling collection at your library.  If not, start a personal collection.  It does not have to be large.  Many of the titles in my personal collection are out of print and it's great to be able to bring them in when needed for storytimes.

There was not a large selection of pop-ups at the book store but I did find some titles to add to my collection.

Even though I have other dinosaur titles by Paul Strickland, I decided to add A Number of Dinosaurs because of the way the pop-up numbers get larger, counting from 1 to 10.  Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell is already in my library's storytelling collection so this is a back-up of a back-up.  I added Beautiful Oops! by Barney Saltzberg because it would be a good book to use with older children.  I found The Little Green Turtle (illustrated by Adam Rolf, editorial by A.J. Wood and Rachel Williams) in the bargain book section.  I'm seriously thinking of using this title to end my family story time tomorrow. It is not an African folktale but it does feature African animals.

Thank you CSS!