Category Archives: Picture Book Projects

Have Burro, Will Travel

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This little library has legs! Packed on the back of this splendid burro you will find tales of bravery, enchantment, and courage…all brought to you courtesy of the Biblioburro Man.

We read Biblioburro: A True Story from Columbia by Jeanette Winter (Beach Lane Books, 2010). Early in the morning, a man named Luis packs books onto his burros and rides far and wide to bring literary joy to small villages. At each stop, he reads stories to children and loans them books to read until his next highly anticipated visit.

This book is based on the true story of Luis Soriano Bohorque, the Biblioburro Man! You can read my 2015 interview with him here.

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Our story time project is basically a box marionette that dangles from a wooden dowel. We used donated burlap to fashion saddle pads, red yarn for reins, and hot glued small boxes to the burros’ back for carrying books. Because this project involved a whole lot of brown, we added pops of color with patterned paper, flower stickers, and self-adhesive foam shapes. Just look at this handsome red burro!

You can’t have a Biblioburro without books, so we reused leftover 2.5″ x 4 journals from our miniature books event, cutting each book in half so they fit more easily in the burro’s small packs…

Then we loaded up and paraded around the galley in an enthusiastic burro train, bringing books to all!

It’s a Proper Pig Palooza

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You’re invited to the party of the century, complete with music, dancing, costumes, aaaaaand cake! There’s just one rule…you absolutely HAVE to be a pig to attend!

We read Pig Town Party by Lian Cho (Harper, 2024). When an exclusive “Pig Town Party” invitation arrives in the wrong mailbox, the little girl doesn’t hesitate. Despite not being a pig, and not being invited, she navigates her way to Pig Town and enthusiastically joins in the festivities. Because it’s a costume party, no one questions her until the REAL pig the invite was intended for shows up. And that pig is very, very, miffed. Chaos ensues, a chase, and a big surprise in the end for the party crasher! This hilarious book was recommended by a story time kid, and we absolutely loved it!

You’ll need:

  • 1 large oatmeal container
  • Pink construction paper
  • 1 jumbo pom pom
  • 1 pair of wiggles eyes
  • Various art supplies for costumes
  • Scissors, tape, and glue for construction
  • Markers for decorating
  • Hot glue

We begin with our standard oatmeal container piggy with wiggle eyes, a jumbo pom pom nose, and self-adhesive foam nostrils:

Then, our story time kids costumed their pigs with art supplies galore! Take a look…

Once the costumes were complete, there was music, dancing, and everyone got to take home a squishy little cake key chain! It was a party to remember!

Strawberry for the Win!

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It’s a grand day for a dash when Dog decides to challenge Strawberry to the greatest race of all time! There’s plenty of action! Drama! Excitement! But…is Strawberry even aware of any of this?

We read Dog vs. Strawberry, written by Nelly Buchet, and illustrated by Andrea Zuill (Random House Studio, 2024). When Dog’s owner innocently offers her a strawberry, Dog takes it as an open challenge for a race. Dog sprints, jumps, leaps, chases her tail, and even takes a power nap. But the stoic (and completely unaware) Strawberry always seems to have the advantage. Narrated in a NASCAR commenter’s voice, this book is hilarious, with escalating laughs as our story time kids realized that the race was very one-sided indeed. Highly recommended!

The project was relatively simple. We crafted a box dog with poster board ears, tail, and a paper cup nose. We paired it with a red plastic ball pit ball made to look like a strawberry. Then we had some races!

The thing that really elevated the project was the dog’s super boop-able black foam nose. It’s a repurposed costume clown nose, securely hot glued to the paper cup. The foam nose made pushing and bumping the strawberry extra fun.

First, we raced down tables with the kids boop-ing the strawberry to the finish line. But then things segued into a form of soccer, where kids tried to boop the strawberry past me into a “goal.” Very appropriate for World Cup time! We had a blast!