Tolo

The Cotsen Children’s Library is delighted to announce Tolo, an original choose your own path virtual adventure written by Dana Sheridan, and illustrated by David Deen!

You are Tolo, a mouse and apothecary’s apprentice. When sickness strikes the distant village of Mossden, you must make a treacherous mountain crossing with the cure. The decisions are entirely yours as you navigate multiple dangers and treacherous obstacles. You must succeed…an entire village depends on you.

Follow this link to begin your journey


Stay tuned…awesome interviews and a blog contest coming soon!

Pop’s Top 10: Literary Laughs

Katie and I are jump-starting this joyous time of year with some laughs. So today, we are delighted to present a Top 10 sampling of literary jokes that really got us rolling! And not to choose favorites…but…the last one still has us chuckling!


Cartoon by Maria Scrivan



Cartoon by John Atkinson


Cartoon by Jim Benton


Cartoon from Sardonic Salad


Cartoon by Dave Whamond


Cartoon by Maria Scrivan


Cartoon by John Atkinson


Image from Scary Mommy


Barnyard Pinball

It’s a merry chase! Use your motor skills to navigate a yellow pom-pom hen around the barnyard. But beware the red pom-pom fox, who’s also on a roll!

We read Rosie’s Walk by Pat Hutchins (Aladdin, 1971 read here by Miss Gray Educates). Rosie the Hen decided to take a little stroll around the farm, not realizing that she’s being followed by a hungry fox. Fortunately for Rosie, the Fox’s luck is horrible. He runs into misfortune after misfortune in pursuit of his chicken lunch. Happily, Rosie makes it back to her coop, none the wiser. The wordless sight gags on each page had our kids chuckling!

This book also gets a gold star rating from Katie. It was her son’s FAVORITE as a kid!

You’ll need:

  • 1 large box top (like a copy paper box lid)
  • 1 paper towel tube
  • 1 small box
  • 1 paper cup
  • Construction paper
  • 2 large pom-poms
  • Scissors, glue, and tape for construction
  • Markers for decorating

As you can see in the above photo, we used a copy paper box lid as the base of our barnyard. Then we glued a number of elements in place. The bee hive was a paper cup with an arched door. The haystack was a construction paper tunnel. The ramp was a paper towel tube, cut in half length-wise and elevated with a snippet of the remaining tube. The hen house was a small box with the lid positioned as a ramp, also elevated with a snippet of paper towel tube. We added a pond, fabric flowers, and tissue paper shrubs as well.

With all the obstacles complete, drop two jumbo pom-poms into the box lid. We thought about decorating these like a fox and hen, but they rolled much easier as simple poms.

With your poms in place, commence the chase! Tip and jiggle the box lid to make the fox and hen race around the barnyard, ducking into buildings and rolling up ramps.