Not every story or storytime has to feature young children sitting perfectly still with their hands on their laps. In fact, I don’t think most storytimes should. I’m not talking chaotic shouts and kids running around, but I want kids to be excited to come to my programs and know they’re going to have fun and be treated like a person. So this booklist is dedicated to books that naturally build play and joy into the text. Books that ask for participation and engagement.
Kids can spot the differences between animals and people in this pure fun book with a built-in guessing game and underlying educational aspect. Guessing games or I Spy games within books are a great way for kids to get to be part of the story!
Various animals take turns shaking a tree in search of a tasty meal. It starts with Mouse who wants a nut so she shakes the tree a little to the right, and a little to the left. But it isn’t the nut that falls from the tree, it’s Fox who thinks that Mouse looks pretty tasty! Soon a warthog and then a bear come along with similar ideas.
Tiger is fast asleep, but oh dear! She’s lying completely in the way. Just how will the animals get past without waking her up? Luckily, Frog has an excellent idea and, holding his balloon, he floats right over sleeping Tiger, but it will be tricky for them all to get past without Tiger noticing! It’s a good job that the reader is there to help keep Tiger asleep, isn’t it?
Invites the reader to tap, rub, touch, and wiggle illustrations to make an apple tree bloom, produce fruit, and lose its leaves.
In this interactive picture book, the reader must help Bunny stay on course as he skies down the slope.
Gerald and Piggie discover the joy of being read. But what will happen when the book ends?
A girl and her animal friends challenge the reader to a staring contest in this interactive picture book.
A series of riddles that first give descriptions of various flowers and then reveal their names.
Ellie the elephant’s relaxing bath is disrupted by splashing friends, prompting her to suck up all of the water into her trunk until everyone else leaves.
What kind of a face would you make if a tickly green bug were sitting on your nose? Or if it were—eek!—inside your shirt? Could you make a scary face to frighten it away? Or, even better, stand up and do the chicken dance? Yes? Then better get to it!
Press the yellow dot on the cover of this book, follow the instructions within, and embark upon a magical journey! Each page of this surprising book instructs the reader to press the dots, shake the pages, tilt the book, and who knows what will happen next! When I first read this book, it was a brand new concept of breaking that wall between reader and narrator. I fell in love with it!
You might think a book with no pictures seems boring and serious. Except . . . here’s how books work. Everything written on the page has to be said by the person reading it aloud. Even if the words say . . .BLORK. Or BLUURF. Even if the words are a preposterous song about eating ants for breakfast, or just a list of astonishingly goofy sounds like BLAGGITY BLAGGITY and GLIBBITY GLOBBITY.
There are lots of ways little hands can make music. Each page of this interactive book invites readers to strum the guitar, slide the trombone, crash the cymbals, and more–no instruments required!
The pet version in this series invites young readers to guess which domestic animal will be revealed using the given clues and a spy hole. I love this series, because not only does it give visual clues, but it also gives verbal clues that are great for building vocabulary!
There they are, purring under a blanket. But not for long! Three sprightly cats named Tiny, Moonpie, and Andre are eager to involve you in their games, whether it’s tossing a ball of yarn, lifting flaps to find them in boxes, or getting caught in a pillow fight!
A monster tries to chomp any reader who wants to go past the first page of the book in order to keep his cakes safe.
How do you make a garden grow? In this playful picturebook, you will see how tiny seeds bloom into beautiful flowers. And by tapping, clapping, waving, and more, young readers can join in the action! This author has a few other fantastic interactive books, as well!
Librarian Ginny 