Innehållsförteckning för January 2017 från Storytime

Let’s see the Aardvark with its strange sticky tongue, Just perfect for scooping up ants all day long. With rabbity ears and a cute piggy snout, It tunnels by day and at night it comes out. Aardvark means earth pig, but we never knew, It too has a tail like a kangaroo! A hog, a ’roo, a burrowing bunny – No wonder an Aardvark looks so funny! Next door lives its friend, the Armadillo, A curious armour-plated fellow. It curls itself up like a leathery ball, Protecting itself from a predator’s maul. Don’t sneak up or you’ll get a surprise, An Armadillo can jump six feet high! But normally it’s quite a laid-back chap, Insects for brek and a sixteen-hour nap. Deep in the reptile house… the Alligator, One of…

Once upon a time, an old man was given some turnip seeds to plant in his garden, so he planted them, and he watered them, and he hoped for the best. Every few days, he tended the little vegetable patch at the bottom of his garden. He weeded it and he watered it and he hoped for the best. After a month or so, everything was growing nicely. His carrots had sprouted feathery tops, his potato plants were tall and strong, and his turnips seemed to be growing nicely too. All except for one turnip, which was a little bigger and a little rounder than the rest and not quite like a normal turnip. Still, the old man hoped for the best. When everything was ready to harvest, the old…

This is a story of High and Far-Off Times. In the very middle of those times was a Stickly-Prickly Hedgehog, and he lived on the banks of the Amazon, eating shelly snails and things. And he had a friend, a Slow-Solid Tortoise, who lived on the banks of the Amazon, eating green lettuces and things. At the same time, there was a Painted Jaguar, and he lived on the banks of the Amazon too; and he ate everything he could catch. When he could not catch deer or monkeys, he would eat frogs and beetles; and when he could not catch frogs and beetles, he went to his Mother Jaguar, and she told him how to eat hedgehogs and tortoises. She said to him, graciously waving her tail, “My son,…

When the giant Finn MacCool was just a wee lad, his family sent him away to be educated by old Finnegas, the wisest man in all of Ireland. Now, Finnegas lived by the banks of a pool with cool crystal waters, which lay right next to the River Boyne. For seven long years, Finnegas had been trying to hook one particularly special fish there. This fish was the magical Salmon of Knowledge, and local legend said that just one bite of the fish would give the person who caught it all the wisdom in the world. However, no matter how many hours Finnegas fished, day or night, he could not catch the slippery character. When Finn MacCool arrived at Finnegas’s little house, the old man was pleased to have some…

Top 3 Zoo Books! We all love Rod Campbell’s Dear Zoo, but for more noisy, educational or hilarious zoo fun, take a look at these fantastic reads too. Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? by Eric Carle and Bill Martin, Jr A fun introduction to identifying zoo animals and the sounds they make, with wonderful illustrations by Carle, who is best known for The Hungry Caterpillar. (Puffin) Poo in the Zoo by Steve Smallman and Ada Grey Covering two favourite topics of children in one fun title! Follow Bob the zookeeper, as he deals with droppings from many different zoo animals, including a mysteriously glowing pile of poop. Great rhyming fun! (Little Tiger Press) Zooology by Joelle Jolivet With gorgeous illustrations throughout, this non-fiction title serves as an…

There was once a duck who was very smart – so smart that he had amassed a fortune from his business dealings. You could say that he was a small duck with big brains. Alas, the king of the land was quite the opposite. He was greedy and foolish, and he emptied the royal purse on extravagant treats, while his people worked hard and lived humble lives. When the king had used up all the money in the treasury, he visited Duck and asked for a loan. Duck was happy to help the king at first, but after two years of giving him money and, with no sign of ever being repaid, Duck decided to pay the king a visit. Early one morning he set off for the palace wearing…

At the edge of a birch wood, deep in the Czech Republic, there lived a poor widow with her daughter Betushka and their two nanny goats. Though they didn’t have much, Betushka always had a smile on her face and a kind word to say. Every morning, Betushka left their tumbledown cottage to take the nanny goats into the woods to graze. Her mother would give her a basket with some bread inside, and a spindle and some flax to spin. Betushka would skip into the woods with her goats and, when they’d found a nice spot, she would sit down and spin until all the flax was used up. When the spinning was done, Betushka would fill her basket with wild berries and herbs and nuts and then, with…