Category Archives: Picture Book Projects

New Year, New Mole Rat

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Happy New Year! It’s 2025, and resolutions abound! If one of those resolutions involves a new fashion direction, well, today’s post is very relevant. ESPECIALLY if you are a naked mole rat seeking a plethora of new looks!

We read Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed by Mo Willems (Hyperion, 2009). Wilbur is a naked mole rat who likes clothes. Unfortunately his passion for fashion is ceaselessly mocked and questioned by the other naked mole rats. Especially when Wilbur opens a clothing store. Outraged, the naked mole rats march Wilbur to Grand-pah mole rat for a supreme talking to. But wise Grand-pah has nothing but words of encouragement for Wilbur (and all the other naked mole rats) to lean into their individualism and follow their fancies.

You’ll need:

The simplest form of this project is to print the mole rat and clothing templates, then color and cut them out. Attach two button magnets to the mole rat, then tape paper clips on the backs of the clothing. Connect the paperclips to the magnets to change outfits!

At our story time, however, we went with a sturdier mole rat that could stand on its own. First, we traced our mole rat templates onto pink construction paper, then backed them with corrugated cardboard. We added a toilet paper tube support to the back, and then finished by attaching the clothing magnets. Here’s a look at the back and the front of our finished mole rats:

We also decided we needed to be extra fancy and make our mole rat a closet. As you can see, the closet rack is a snippet of balloon stick secures with two foam beads. Dangling from the rack are paper clips that act as “hangers” for the shirts, skirts, and pants. There’s a shortened paper cup glued to the floor to house all the fashion accessories, and mini clothespins hot glued to the door to secure the mole rat’s various hats.

Kids loved customizing the various outfits and hats!

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Sometimes, kids really connect with a project, and one mom reported that her son’s naked mole rat was his constant companion for WEEKS. He went with her son to the gym, on trips, to restaurants, in the stroller, was cuddled at night, and basically lived the life of a most beloved friend. Mom reports that this lead to some very interesting questions from onlookers about naked mole rats, which her son was happy to answer.

But that’s not all! Another one of our naked mole rats caught the eye of Brian George, Preparator in Special Collections. It still stands in his office to this day!

It’s a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

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Transform a basic brown box into a community full of color, patterns, and fun! This simple project was inspired by the true story of a neighborhood in San Diego’s East Village!

We read Maybe Something Beautiful, written by F. Isabel Campoy and Theresa Howell, and illustrated by Rafael López (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016). Mira lives in a gray city, but her heart and mind are full of color and joy. When she meets a muralist with a pocketful of paintbrushes, they launch a mission to bring bright, bold, and inspiring colors to walls, benches, and sidewalks. A true story, this book describes how the Urban Art Trail initiative transformed a community. It’s an amazing, heartfelt read, and the illustrations are next level gorgeous. Don’t miss the note from the authors in the back of the book, or the fact that the original community muralist, Rafael López, is also the book’s illustrator!

All you need for this project is a box and some markers and/or art supplies! We used leftover craft box houses from our Gingerbread Architecture event…

And then we brought out markers, paper, stickers, feathers, foam beads, pipe cleaners and our good ‘ol Bling Bin. When everyone was finished, we put the houses together for a little neighborhood walk!

Say it with Sunflowers

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What could be better then a big brilliant sunflower? Why, a sunflower that also shares good thoughts and positive messages with everyone! It’s a colorful craft project with a lot of heart, much like the author of this very special story time book.

We read Hubie by Barbara Valenza (Potato Publishing, 2021). Hubie is an unhappy horse who seems to attract bad feelings and problems. Overwhelmed, he shouts for help…and help arrives! A brilliant creature kindly explains that Hubie is a magnet, attracting both positives and negatives. She encourages him to learn from the negatives, and focus on the positives. Taking her lessons to heart, Hubie transforms his life from misery to joy.

Barbara Valenza has been featured on our blog before! Take a look at the wonderful story time and interview for her picture book, Little Lovedog’s Long Walk Home.

You’ll need:

  • 1 paper towel tube
  • 1 small box, bucket, cup, or flower pot
  • Construction paper
  • A butterfly template, printed on 8.5″ x 11″ card stock
  • Scissors, tape, and glue for construction
  • Markers for decorating

Our sunflower construction was very basic…a paper towel tube served as the stalk, and then we attached construction paper petals and leaves. If you’d like to add a little texture, use cardboard to create the sunflower’s face, then glue brown tissue paper fringes on it:

In the story, Hubie the Horse uses a dented bucket for his sunflower, so we snagged these cute mini buckets on Amazon. But a box, paper cup, or flower pot works just as well. We also added green crinkle paper around the sunflower’s base to steady the stalk. Now for the message butterflies!

Color and cut the butterflies from the template, then add a tag with a positive message on it. You can attach the message butterflies directly to the sunflower, or you can do what we did and turn them into magnets! Our magnetic butterflies attached to the metal buckets, but we also slipped paperclips on the petals for the butterflies to rest on. Gift a message butterfly to friends and family, and they can proudly display them on their fridges!

We also had a special surprise for our story time kids. Barbara Valenza famously sewed stuffed animals of her book characters (check out her Little Lovedog dachshund). Well, here’s Hubie, her awesome horseshoe magnet horse:

As a nod to her marvelous sewing skills, we had a drawing for a GIANT stuffed horse at story time. Here’s our happy winner…she was quite enamored, and her Dad emailed me later and shared that she insisted it sleep next to her that night.

This story time was full of love, laughter, positivity, joy, and delight. This was very intentional, as it was also a celebration of Barbara herself, who passed in February 2024. Hubie has a special place in my heart, and I was extraordinarily honored to share her final book with our community.

One last magical thing. Barbara’s husband Mark came to the event and brought copies of Hubie for every family! It was incredibly generous, and I very much want to thank him for coming and celebrating with us. Kids weren’t even waiting until they left the library to enjoy the story of sweet Hubie the Horse.