guest post by Sue Fliess
Not that you needed a good reason to talk about the
importance of libraries, but just in case you were looking for one…Books for Me! is the rhyming story of a
young Hippo girl and her Dad going on an outing to their local library to find
great books. This book is the third adventure with our young Hippo, illustrated
once again by Mike Laughead. In Shoes for Me!, she makes a trip to the shoe
store with Mom to pick out a pair of new shoes. In A Dress for Me!, she gets to
choose a new dress. When I do school visits, I always get a plethora of
wonderful suggestions for more “for me” adventures for Hippo. See what your
class comes up with…I’d love to hear them!
Books for Me! is about the joy of discovering all kinds of
books—adventure, science fiction, mystery, history, folktales, non-fiction—and how
a library is the perfect place to do it. It’s an opportunity to talk to kids about fiction versus non-fiction, the different sections of the library, and
what a librarian does. Get them thinking about what kinds of books they are
drawn to—help them discover their favorite genre.
Another fun activity you can do with your students as you
read this book to them is to talk about rhyme. Ask them to help you finish the
sentence and talk about the rhyme they hear at the end of the stanzas. For
example: “Lots of choices I can see.
Will I find some books for me?”
Have your students help you write a rhyming poem. I usually have kids
fill in the last word of the alternating line or lines. Here’s an example:
Winter is cold, but snow is fun.
Summer is hot from the yellow _____.
In addition, you could have your students try their hand at
their own poem, rhyming or otherwise. The idea is to get them thinking of their
own stories and writing them down.
See if your class can identify some of the books that have
been worked into the illustrations and the text, such as “Books on mittens (The
Mitten by Jan Brett), broken chairs, mice and moons (Goodnight Moon by Margaret
Wise Brown) and puzzled bears (The Three Bears).” They will likely recognize
many. If possible, have these books on-hand also, so they can see how the
covers were included in Books for Me!
Questions you can ask:
What is rhyme?
Can you give an example of some rhyming word
pairs?
What’s your favorite book/story? Is it fiction or
non-fiction?
Name one thing you learned from a book this year.
What’s your favorite part about the library?
Why do we go to the library? (no wrong answer here J)
If we can help kids see now that libraries are windows to
the big world they’re in, they’ll develop a lifelong love of reading.
Bio: Sue Fliess ("fleece") is the author of eighteen
children's books (published or forthcoming) including Tons of Trucks, Robots,
Robots Everywhere!, How to Be a Superhero, and most recently, The Hug Book and
Books for Me! Her background is in copywriting, public relations, marketing,
and event planning, and her articles and essays have appeared in O,the Oprah Magazine, Huffington Post, Writer's Digest, Education.com, Daily Candy Kids, Travelmuse.com, and more.
Fliess's picture books have received honors from the Society of Children's Books
Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) and have been used as curriculum teaching tools in
elementary school classrooms as well as children's educational programs in
museums. She's an active member of SCBWI, the Children’s Book Guild of D.C. and The
Author’s Guild. Sue lives in Northern Virginia with her husband, two boys, and
a Labrador puppy named Charlie. Visit her online at www.suefliess.com
