Posted by Anne W on Wednesday, May 23, 2018
Children's storytimes over the weekend and early this week were designed to celebrate the wedding of Prince Harry and Miss Meghan Markle on May 19 in Windsor, with books, songs and rhymes focused on princes and princesses, British culture, and fairy tales.
We read the Robert Munsch classic The Paper Bag Princess, in which a princess saves her prince from a dragon, only to be rejected by him for not looking princess-like enough, prompting her to call him a "bum" and happily skip off into the sunset alone. Children also enjoyed hearing The Queen's Handbag by Steve Antony, in which the Queen chases a swan who has made off with her handbag around the United Kingdom, stopping in at such vaunted British landmarks as Stonehenge, Oxford, and Edinburgh Castle.
We sang songs that allowed us to practice bowing and curtsying like princes and princesses; recited Mother Goose rhymes about serving and drinking tea; marched like the Grand Old Duke of York; tapped our boots like knights; made hats out of scarves; and had some color identification and math practice with flannel stories about a rainbow of sparkly crowns and a troupe of multicolored dragons.
The British library recently put two medieval manuscripts on display that feature stunning images - gold and ermine, gifts and feasting - of royal weddings of the past. Take a look and compare royal weddings then and now. Also, in case you missed it, enjoy the best candid photos of the recent royal wedding published by Harper's Bazaar and view the official photographs shared by CNN.
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About the Author
Anne W. works in Children's Services and Collection Services. She loves to read, go on low-budget road trips (especially to camp and hike in national parks), and drink craft beer on a patio. Anne W. enjoys visiting thrift stores, but is also a minimalist. Anne W. has two daughters, a husband, and three cats. Anne W. divides her reading...
This is a slow-burn but powerful coming-of-age novel about a girl who goes to the wilderness to find herself. Ginny is doing all the "right things" - getting straight A's, playing competitive tennis, pleasing her parents, etc. But when she finds out how urgent climate change is and what might be lost if the adults in charge don't act immediately, she can't understand why no one else seems to feel as upset as she does about it. She ends up attending a wilderness camp that is sort of a therapeutic program for "troubled" youth, where she is the only girl among some strange boys and exhaustingly upbeat yet nitpicky counselors. But as she gets to know what motivates her fellow campers and experiences the Montana mountain setting, she begins to find her way and figures some stuff out. This is a sophisticated, nuanced, slow-paced book best for upper-elementary-readers. It has a great message without being preachy or on-the-nose. The dialogue and Ginny's struggles are rendered realistically and empathetically. -Anne W