Baby and Toddler Story Time Featuring the Moon!

The first book that I read was Rabbit Moon by Jean Kim. This is a delightful story that is actually based on Korean folklore. The author's note states that when Koreans look at the full moon they see the outline of a rabbit standing next to a mortar pounding rice into rice cakes. When you look up at the sky and see the rabbit in the moon, you make a wish. 

Jean Kim wondered what the rabbit would wish for and that is the basis of this story. The rabbit turns wishes into stars. However, the rabbit wishes for adventure and friends. He uses a star to parachute down to earth and meets animals who become his friends. Together, they bicycle, read, drift on their boat, and swim. They also gaze at the stars in the sky until one day - there are no more stars! Rabbit knows what needs to be done. He repairs his star, flies to the moon, and continues to turn wishes into stars. One day, his friends wish to see him and Rabbit and his friends smile at each other through a telescope.   .

I put together a flannel board which features five different colored moons and had the children guess which one the rabbit was behind. The rabbit was behind the blue moon! 

The second and last story that I read was Kitten's First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes. This story tells the tale of an adorable kitten trying to catch the moon because she thinks it's a bowl of milk in the sky! She tumbles down the stairs, climbs up a tree, and jumps into the pond, but she can't get the bowl of milk in the sky! Fortunately, when she gets home, a bowl of milk out on the porch is just waiting for her and she laps it up quickly. 

Here's a list of other books about the moon:

A Big Mooncake for Little Star by Grace Lin: Little Star's Mama bakes a mooncake for her to celebrate the Mid Autumn Moon Festival which is Grace Lin's favorite Asian holiday. Her Mama tells Little Star to wait until the holiday to eat it. Little Star nibbles at the mooncake night after night and during this process her mooncake shows the different phases of the moon. 

The Moon Was the Best by Charlotte Zolotow and illustrated through Tana Hoban's photographs tells the story of a mother's trip to Paris as she describes the sights of Paris to her little girl. The girl asks her mother "What was the best?" Her mother replies, "Oh, the moon was the best because it was the same moon shining on you, so I knew we weren't far apart at all". 

In City Moon by Rachael Cole and Blanca Gomez, a little boy and his mother walk through the city to see the moon in different places. This book has bright big beautiful illustrations and would be good for a story time. 

Max and the Tag-Along Moon by Floyd Cooper: After Max has to say goodbye to Grandpa, Grandpa reminds him that the moon at Grandpa's house is the same moon that will follow Max on Max's ride back to his home. Max watches the moon on his journey to home. 

The Mouse Who Ate the Moon: A Peek-Through Story Book by Petr Horacek: In this story, a mouse mistakes a banana for the moon and eats it. Heartbroken, the mouse tells his friends that he has eaten the moon! His friends reassure him that he hasn't and the mouse is relieved and happy to see the moon in the sky that night! 

Any of the books in Frank Asch's Moon Bear series! 

Let's Explore the Moon by Walt K. Moon: This book is a nonfiction book about the moon for toddlers and preschoolers. 

Night and Space Story Time

My original ideas was to have a story time on eclipses to complement the event of the eclipse on August 21st. However, I couldn't find any books on eclipses so I picked books on night time and space instead.
The first book that I read was Touch the Brightest Star by Christie Matheson. The children and I loved this book! This is a fun interactive book where, "Magic happens every night. First wave good-bye to the sun's bright light." Throughout the book, we wave, press, blow, pat, tap, make a wish, and count to three. Our actions produce fireflies, stars, a shooting star, and constellations. This is also a good counting book. The children and I counted fireflies, stars, and owls.
The second book that I read was Night Animals by Gianna Marino. This was a big hit as well! This book is a charming story about the following night animals: a skunk, a possum, a wolf, and a bear. A bat asks them "What are you so scared of?" and they reply, "We're scared of night animals!". Then the bat replies, "But you ARE night animals." At the end of the story, a camper shines a flashlight on them and they quickly run away! The children and I had fun guessing and identifying the night animals.
My last book, Sheep Blast Off! by Nancy Shaw was not as big of a hit as I had hoped it would be. Perhaps the children had not completely "waggled their wiggles" out, but they seemed to be losing interest. This is a delightful and entertaining story about sheep who happen to stumble upon a spaceship. The sheep take a wacky and wild ride into space and as "They tinker with the main controls. The rocket lurches, swoops, and rolls". Green alien sheep take over control of the spaceship and cause the other sheep to instantly go into a deep slumber. After the aliens put the sleeping sheep safely beneath a tree on Earth, the spaceship takes off again!
The following books are books that I found on the topics of space and/or night, but decided not to use them in my story time. However, these books are very good books on the topics.

Our Stars by Anne Rockwell is a good and entertaining nonfiction introduction to the following concepts: the stars, the sun, constellations, the solar system, the moon, and meteors.

Moonbear's Sunrise by Frank Asch is the delightful story of a bear who loves to watch the moonrise, but is so sleepy he keeps missing the sunrise. Alarm clocks don't wake him up and neither does his friend, Little Bird, even though he pecks Bear on the nose. Finally, Little Bird convinces Bear to go to bed early and he wakes up in time to see the sunrise.

The Sun Is My Favorite Star, also by Frank Asch, is the story of a little boy who tells us how much he loves the sun. He loves the sunrise, how high in the sky the sun is at noon, a rainbow when the sun shines after the rain, and the sunset.

Life on Mars by Jon Agee tells the story of a young astronaut who has come to Mars to find life. He even brings a box of chocolate cupcakes to give to whomever he finds on Mars! He finds a flower on Mars, but no other signs of life. Then why is the box of chocolate cupcakes empty?

Kitten's First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes is a classic story about a kitten who mistakes the full moon for a bowl of milk! Kitten tries to get the bowl of milk by leaping in the air, running after it, climbing a tree, and diving into a pond to get the big bowl of milk! Poor kitten! Will she ever get her milk?

Good Night! Good Night! by Carin Berger tells the story of three little bunnies who refuse to go to sleep! Will good night dances, and monkey kisses help them go to bed?