Fairy Tale, Medieval, and Rhyme Story Time

So, this was originally intended to be a preschool fairy tale story time, but my audience was mostly toddlers under two, so I modified the format. I've included the other books that I pulled and a brief blurb about each.

The first book that I read was The Three Bears by Byron Barton. This retelling of The Three Bears features bright vivid pictures. I particularly enjoyed looking at the expressions on Goldilocks' face. The text is short, succinct, and easy for young children to understand. 

The next book that I read was Hickory Dickory Dog by Allison Murray. I read this book after saying the Hickory Dickory Dock rhyme and using a flannel board to illustrate it. I absolutely love this book and it was the book that was just right for my audience's attention span! Zack and his dog, Rufus, are best friends. When Zack goes to school, Rufus does not want to be left behind! A clever rhyme tells the events of Zack and Rufus's day. Rufus sneaks into the school yard, "helps" the children during art class, eats the leftovers at lunch, and jumps into a pile of leaves when the children are working in their garden. At the end of the day, Zack and Rufus go home and Zack gives Rufus a bath. The book closes with a picture of Zack and Rufus sleeping in bed together. 

Alternate books that I did not read: 

Anansi The Spider by Gerald McDermott is a tale of the Ashanti of West Africa in the country of Ghana. Anansi is a folk-hero to the Ashanti. In this tale, Ashanti gets swallowed by a fish and a falcon swoops down from the sky and grabs him. Thanks to the joint efforts of his six sons, Anansi comes home safely. Anansi finds a great globe of light in the forest, but is not sure which of his sons to give it to. He asks Nyame, the god of all things, to hold the beautiful globe while he decides. Anansi and his sons argue about his decision all night, so Nyame takes the beautiful white light up into the sky. 
You can see the beautiful white light every evening; it is the moon! 

Over at the Castle by Boni Ashburn is a delightful book that can be sung to the tune of "Over in the Meadow". In this story, everybody in the castle, such as the lords, the servants, the cooks, the knights, the jesters and the prisoner have jobs to do. But what job do the dragons have? At first, it seems that all the do is laze about. However, at the end of the story, they breathe out flames to go along with the fireworks over the castle. 

How can you not love a little roly poly pony with big eyes who farts? You can't help yourself; you end up loving this pony! In The Princess and The Pony by Kate Beaton, the warrior princess wants a big and strong warhorse. Instead she gets ...... the pony. When the day of the great battle comes, the princess tells the pony, "Just ..... do your best". When Otto the Awful heads toward the princess, he stops in this tracks and pets the pony. Warrior after warrior pauses to admire the pony. Everyone votes the princess and the pony the most valuable warriors of the day. 

Falling for Rapunzel by Lydia Monks puts a twist on the familiar Rapunzel story. When the prince comes to rescue Rapunzel, Rapunzel keeps mishearing what the prince is asking for. For example, when he asks for her to throw down her hair, she throws down her underwear. Rapunzel throws down her dirty socks, not her curly locks. She throws down a cantaloupe instead of a rope. Instead of the prince getting twine, she throws down her swine. Finally, the prince asks for her braid and she throws down her maid! The prince and the maid fall in love and ride off together on his horse. 

Waking Beauty which is also by Leah Wilcox provides quite the twist on the story of Sleeping Beauty! The prince does everything but kiss her. He jumps on her bed, throws water at her, and even shoots her out of a cannon! When he finally does listen to the fairies and kiss her, he's very surprised by what happens next! 

In The Foggy Foggy Forest by Nick Sharatt, children can guess who the shadows are. Some interesting characters in the forest are a unicorn playing a horn, an ogre doing yoga, Cinderella and Snow White in a water-pistol fight, and Little Red Riding Hood in her ice cream truck. 

In this fun farmhouse version of The House That Jack Built, The House That Zack Built by Alison Murray, tells how a buzzing fly stalked by a kitten wrecks havoc all throughout the farm. Zack cleans the dog, collects more cream from Daisy, herds the lambs back into their pen, and rescues the cat from the tree. Then he shoos the fly away and together, the cat, the dog, and Zack sit down and admire the house he built from blocks.