Talking TURKEY

Hardscrabble Harvest by Dahlov Ipcar is a wonderful book to read this time of year - all the different animals eating the farmers food! I love the style of illustration and I especially love the depiction of the turkey's tail feathers as circular and concentric, because real turkey tail feathers are!

I have the opportunity to hold real WILD TURKEY tail feathers during zoo class, and it feels like holding a delicate oriental fan.

At home, I find it exciting that at any moment while looking out the window, I might just happen to see a jenny and a tom that live in our neighborhood. It is easy to tell them apart because of the tom's beard - a special group of feathers coming off the tom's chest. It is not unusual to see them waddling down the street together or roosting on my neighbors' roofs. While out walking my dog, sometimes we see them and it stops us both in our tracks. These aren't plain white and fat like the domestic turkeys from farms, but rather colorful and physically fit. WILD TURKEYS can fly and they can fly 55 miles per hour. That is fast! To see one take flight is amazing.

As you can tell, I like talking about turkeys, so let's talk some more about the beauty and splendor of WILD TURKEYS this month at storytime. Join us tomorrow, November 6th at 10 am the Litte Red Store.

Turkey books to read. Turkey song to sing. Turkey fingerplay to learn. Turkey treat bag to decorate and fill with a turkey snack! Walk like a turkey. Gobble like a turkey. Roost like a turkey. How many tail feathers does a wild turkey have? Be ready to pin the tail feathers on the turkey. Hope you can make it!

October Thank You's

Before moving on to the details of November storytime, I would like to give a special thanks to the following storytimers from October...

NORA
Thank you for teaching us the song your teacher taught you, "The leaves are falling down..." I like how clearly, and beautifully you sing the words. And how you make your hands look like graceful leaves falling to the ground. Thank you also for singing it more than once so that I had a chance to learn it properly. I have been singing it ever since!

ELLIE
You have been coming to storytime since you were a wee baby, always watching & listening to me but never talking to me; and for the first time last month, I heard your voice! It was exciting to hear what animals you noticed on the page and what color leaves you wanted painted on your arm.

ANDREW
Thank you for showing me that there is more than one way to sit on a carpet square! Who is to say that you can only sit on the fluffy side? You are very creative.

HERITAGE CARPET
Speaking of carpet squares, I would also like to give a great big thanks to Jim & Carolyn Taylor of Heritage Carpet & Interiors in Hartland for donating the squares that make our circle times special. Your generosity is greatly appreciated!

Photo credit, CvH Studios