Crafty Story Times ~ by Christy Mihaly

Before my picture book came out last fall, I assumed that a writer's job description consisted more or less entirely of ... writing. 

This is me, not writing.

I was wrong.
In the months leading up to the release of Hey, Hey, Hay!, I embarked on a round of unfamiliar activities: designing bookmarks, arranging blog tours, setting up signings and school visits. Reading my book aloud to the mirror. 

"I'm reading in a frigid hay barn,
and now I need a CRAFT?"

I can do this, I told myself.
But then they said: you need crafts. 
What? 

Yes, friends. Crafts and other book-related activities are a popular element of book readings for kids--whether you're reading your own book or a favorite from the library shelves.  Librarians and educators know this. But many writers find the craft thing a little daunting. 

I have evolved from craft-skeptic to craft fan. I've created different crafts for bookstore readings, story times, classroom events, and a book festival, and learned a lot along the way. So I thought I'd share some tips and photos from my travels and from some picture-book-creator friends. 

Why crafts? 

This energetic class shows off
their drawings, or "readers' responses,"
to my reading

• Engagement: Kids get antsy when you ask them to sit and listen. You already know this. But if you haven't experienced a roomful of kids wiggling as you attempt to read to them, you may not fully appreciate it. I experimented with songs, participatory readings, etc. These are good. But, put a crayon in a kid's hand, and watch what happens.
• Fun: Kids like to create things. And you want them to have fun! One of my HAY audience favorites was a simple craft in which kids cut out tractor wheels and fastened them onto a paper tractor, then colored in the background.

  

  Displaying a completed
  craft after a reading

• Senses: Crafts use multiple senses, and the smells and feels help engage your audience. (One  feature of my HAY readings was a "sniff box" full of hay--kids loved smelling the hay.) 

  

  Jen Betton's Hedgehog Hat to go with
  Hedgehog Needs a Hug

• Skills: Crafting helps teach motor skills, problem-solving skills, and social skills. What's not to like?
• Souvenirs: A craft gives listeners a souvenir to take home and share. 

Tips for Crafts:

Sock Puppet Kipling for Love Mama

• Book Link: Link your craft to your story. Kids loved the tractors in my book, so I went with tractor crafts. Author-Illustrator Jeanette Bradley created an adorable sock puppet craft to go with Love, Mama, her picture book about a little penguin whose mama goes away on a trip. Directions and a description are here. 

  

  A Monster Drawing,
  for Maximillian Villainous

• Keep it Simple. Make it easy to explain. Margaret Greanias provided a blank frame on a coloring sheet for readings of Maximillian Villainous, her picture book about a young monster attempting to fit in. This was brilliant for the preschool set. Kids could invent and draw their own monsters--with googly eyes! Similarly, for Jen Betton's book, Hedgehog Needs a Hug, kids could cut out a hedgehog hat and color it in (photo above). See more hedgehog crafts and activities here.
  
• Allow room for creativity. Assure kids that there's no one right way to do it. Jessie Oliveros created a drawing project to go with her lovely picture book, The Remember Balloons. Children could draw their own memories.
• Make it fun, and maybe educational. Focus first on the fun. But if your craft or activity teaches something related to your book, that's a bonus. Author Hannah Holt's picture book for older readers, The Diamond and the Boy, describes how diamonds are created. She brought a crystal-growing activity to her school visits, and left it in the classroom so the students could watch the crystals grow.

Ingredients for Crystal Growing, an activity to go with
Hannah Holt's The Diamond and the Boy

Hannah Holt grew crystals on eggshells

💥Note that some books, especially those for older children, may be less conducive to crafts. In those cases, consider an art activity, allowing your audience free rein to draw or paint reactions to your reading. Or, try a readers' theater or skit or song or science experiment or other interactive activity. 

Are you a writer, educator, or librarian with craft ideas? Please share them in the comments! Thanks to all.

The Picture Book as "Object?" Yes, THE STEAM of PBs by Kathy Halsey

We picture book writers have probably analyzed our genre in a gazillion ways. But, have you thought of the picture book as an "object?" If we examine a picture book in its totality via the STEAM (Science Technology Engineering Art Math) lens, we notice that the "book as object" is

• engineered
• produced
• designed
• and is a multimodal format.
  

My own educational process in mining the picture book as object began with Megan Dowd Lambert's groundbreaking professional title READING PICTURE BOOKS WITH CHILDREN, 2015, Charlesbridge. Megan, a mom of five, is a multitalented authors/educator with an MA in Children's Literature from Simmons and almost a decade at the Eric Carle Museum. She knows the picture book and created a new approach for storytime that educators, librarian, AND writers can adapt for their own purposes. In librarian parlance, this book is "E," for "everybody" connected to children's literature.

By studying the format via the "engineer-design" process, students of all ages will better see why we librarians have designated the picture book for "everybody," also. The book or "paratext" may become a more significant subject to older students and educators across the curriculum via this point of view. STEM and STEAM are currently educational buzz words that rightly belong to books, especially picture books with their specific format of 32 pages, illustrations, end papers, back/front matter, and typography. 

For Educators/Librarians (Visiting Authors, too)

• Megan created/field-tested "The Whole Book Approach,"   during her Carle Museum tenure. (Peruse the SLJ article here.)  
• Instead of using storytime for "artificial" themes such as zoo animals or holidays, invite children to look at picture books as museum pieces that tell a story. 
• Ask questions such as: "What's going on in this picture?" and "What makes you say that?" Then wait for the response. (based on the Visual Thinking Strategies of Housen and Yenawine)
• Take time to explore/examine a book's paratexts, the material beyond art & main text, before you read aloud. Children will be fascinated by what covers, jackets, endpapers, and front matter lend to the totality of story.
• Expect these strategies may take time. However, interruption of the story proper can be a form of engagement by your audience as well as a great way to approach questions!

For Picture Book Writers

• Dive into this book and use it for the craft of writing especially if you are a writer only, not an illustrator. After studying this for my craft, I realized I need to trust the design layout as well as the illustrator to say what my words may not.
• Use the "Glossary of Book and Storytime Terminology" for design terms that may be unfamiliar. (Do you know the terms "knockout type," "recto," and "intraiconic?")  
• Much of "show don't tell" for which we writers strive can happen with the physical elements of typography, use of the gutter and other physical book constructs.
•  Here are two examples:
• Notice the font size changes in BULLY by Laura Vaccaro Seeger. As a writer, she doesn't need to say the bull yelled or when the character changes his approach to the other animals. Typography does it for her.
  
• Or examine Chris Raschka's YO YES for character change and development. Placement of characters on opposite sides of the gutter and then on the same side of the gutter show us visually the progression of friendship. No words are needed. 

Megan Dowd Lambert @ NESCBWI

I can honestly say that READING PICTURE BOOKS WITH CHILDREN has freed me as a writer to approach my manuscripts differently. I can let my words breathe better on the page knowing the "codex" (look in the glossary...) will also project my plot to readers. And, as an educator and speaker, I can draw readers and audiences into the picture book world in an engaging new way!