Treasure Island!!! Book club, here we come...

Just finished Treasure Island!!! by Sara Levine. Fast, fun, sly, and oddly and unexpectedly sweet. 
I get to lead discussion of it Saturday night at Book Mixer. Here's hoping we get a good crowd!!! 

Music pairings for this book might be songs by The Decembrists, The Pogues, and Regina Spektor. Other suggestions?

Drink pairing: definitely something with rum. Perhaps a custom cocktail called "The Dead Parrot" made with rum, nutmeg, ginger ale, and lime. Serve with a side of mac & cheese.

Speaking of picture books...

I participated in Random Acts of Reading's blogger panel again! They asked, "What children's book would you give out on World Book Night?" Tough question, especially given the fact that children's books cover such a wide age range. I went with a classic. You can check out the full post on Random House's Random Acts of Reading blog.

If you don't know the other book bloggers on the panel already, do visit their sites! Lots of great inspiration! There's Julie of Booking Mama, Heidi of YA Bibliophile, Kathy (aka BermudaOnion), Rene with Notes from the Bedside Table, and Alyson from Kid Lit Frenzy. 

Storytime! Read aloud with kiddos

I just finished up my monthly Queen Anne Books storytime at Twirl Cafe, a neighbor business-- a play cafe for kids and their grown-ups. (First Friday of every month at 10:30 am, if you're in the Seattle area!)

Today we started with Split! Splat! by Amy Gibson, illustrations by Steve Bjorkman. The kids (babies- 5 years) did a great job providing their own sound effects with the "rain shakers" I handed out (plastic Easter eggs partly filled with rice, taped together with packing tape). It was a fun book for the group, even if it is kind of jazzy/ silly and abstract. We talked about how rain doesn't stop our fun (a given for PNW kids), and whether anyone had ever squished through mud with bare feet. We all agreed that a bath is required after mud pies.

Then we followed up with the ever-popular Where Is the Green Sheep? by Mem Fox with illustrations by Judy Horcek. The Seattle Children's Theater did this as a play not too long ago, and some in the audience knew it well. We started off with the kids identifying the animals on the cover (before I told them the title). Because one boy identified them as "baa baas," I asked everyone to help call out for the Green Sheep in sheep language every time I asked, "Where is the green sheep?" I cracked myself up with our sheep bleats-- and others seemed to enjoy our baa baas almost as much.

It was a good springtime selection. Rousing renditions of "If You're Happy and You Know It" and "The Alphabet Song" (by request) rounded out our storytime fun.