Tag Archives: love

Love is All You Need :)

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What do you do when your friends need some support? You make room for them of course! We had an awesome visit from author & illustrator Barbara Valenza, who shared her book and brought a VERY special stuffed friend with her! Don’t miss the interview with Barbara after the project in this post!

We read Little Lovedog’s Long Walk Home by Barbara Valenza. It’s time for Little Lovedog’s birthday, but no one wants to come to his party. The dachshund begins to sadly trudge home. But what’s this? Along the way, he meets a number of animals who could really use a lift on his long back. Soon, the entire gang arrives home with Little Lovedog, ready to party and celebrate his big day!

Annnnnd update! Little Lovedog’s Long Walk Home won a 2023 Rubery Book Award, was a finalist for the National Indie Excellence Award, and won Honorable Mention at the Purple Dragonfly Book Awards. Way to go Barbara and Little Lovedog!

You’ll need:

  • 2 boxes (ours were 4.5” X 4.5” x 9” craft boxes, but large tissue boxes work too!)
  • 1 paper cup
  • 1 jumbo pom pom
  • Construction paper
  • String or yarn
  • A variety of small boxes and cups
  • Scissors, tape, and glue for construction
  • Markers for decorating

This project is basically a simple pull strong box dog (very similar to this one). Just add a paper cup muzzle, a pom pom nose, some ears, eyes, and a tail! We used a ribbon to create the collar, and a piece of yarn as the leash. We also couldn’t resist adding some little heart stickers.

However! Since Little Lovedog is a story about a dachshund, we nested one box inside another to create an expanding pup that can carry lots of friends on its back!

Next, we made five friends with various little cups and construction paper. We also added some snippets of self-adhesive foam to the sides of the cups to prevents them from sliding off the dog’s back.

And while the kids were working on those animals, their dogs took a little rest on our windowsill:

Kids then placed their animal cups around the gallery and took a walk with their dogs, picking up friends as they went! The journey ended at the Lovedog family’s mailbox, where Barbara was waiting to hand out heart erasers and special bookmarks!

We also had a drawing for three super cute gift bags with signed copies of the book and a very furry stuffed dachshund. CUTENESS.

I was delighted to catch up with Barbara after story time, and ask her a few questions!

Please tell us a little about yourself!

Storytelling has been one of my favorite things to do since…forever! I remember when I was about seven years old, my best friend and I would sit under a cherry tree, writing and drawing stories about little animals. I carried my love of storytelling to college with me, where I earned a degree in communications and theatre. After college, I moved to New York City where I worked in the art department of Jim Henson Productions (The Muppets—super fun), and then in educational publishing at an editorial and design firm with wonderful clients like Scholastic and the Museum of Natural History. I have worked for many years in professional communications from public relations to branding and messaging to graphic design. No matter what form of storytelling I’m working on, I just love the way images and words complement each other to bring a story to life, and that is definitely at the heart of picture books!

How did Little Lovedog’s Long Walk Home come about?

One of the things that makes me really mad is bullying, especially when someone is made fun of for being seen as different from others. I was working on a completely separate story about cats and dogs not getting along when I drew an unusually long dachshund. The minute I saw him, I knew he was the one getting bullied. I just fell in love with him. He was so full of love with no one to share it with. And so, Little Lovedog’s story began. I thought about being little and those awful feelings of being laughed at or being lonely because no one wants to come to your party. I asked myself questions: Where does he go after being laughed at? What happens on his way home? As he began his long walk home, the one thing that quickly came to light was his spirit of kindness, regardless of being bullied. I really wanted him to wind up surrounded by love with lots of new friends.

There are a lot of characters Little Lovedog carries in the story – do any of them have special significance to you?

Actually, it’s the dog who follows Little Lovedog home who makes me smile the most. He’s at the beginning of the story near the crowd of other dogs who are making fun of Little Lovedog, but he’s not laughing with them. I think maybe he has been bullied too, for being small, for being a Chihauhau (the number one smallest dog breed!). But, he thinks for himself and does the right thing—he’s nice to someone who needs a friend. He even brings a new balloon to cheer Little Lovedog up.

What’s the best part of reading your book aloud to kids?

Oh, my gosh! Their reactions are priceless. One little girl, who couldn’t have been more than two, kept coming up during a reading pointing at Little Lovedog and saying his name. And one little boy, who found out I draw my illustrations using color pencils, asked me to come over and draw with him because he has color pencils too. I just love when they all react happily to Little Lovedog ultimately having the best birthday ever. And I hope it stays with them—celebrating our differences.

What are you working on now?

I’m working on a new picture book about animals trading places and learning to be their true self as well as more stories about kindness triumphing over bullying!

Many thanks for Barbara Valenza (and her adorable homemade stuffed Little Lovedog) for coming to our library and sharing your fabulous story with us!

Seeds of Love

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It’s a simple project bursting with love…a mama tree hugging her baby seed!

We read The Little Tree, written by Muon Van, and illustrated by JoAnn Adinolfi.The smallest tree in the forest watches time pass, the land change, and wonders what will happen to her little seed. Finally, with the help of a world-traveling brown bird, she releases her little seed to the skies. Then she waits and worries about her little seed. Then one day, a gift arrives…a leaf that belongs to the tallest, strongest, and brightest tree the brown bird has ever seen. Yes, it’s the Little Tree’s precious seed, grown up strong and beautiful!

You’ll need:

  • 1 small box
  • 1 paper towel tube
  • Brown poster board
  • Green poster board
  • Tree decorating supplies (more on this below!)
  • Scissors and glue for construction
  • Markers for decorating
  • Hot glue

First, cut 2″ off a paper towel tube, then hot glue it to the top of a small box. Glue 2 circles of green poster board to 2 sets of brown poster board branches (our branch template is here), then hot glue everything to the top of the paper towel tube. Add a pair of brown construction paper arms to your tree, and tuck a green poster board “seed” into them. Finally, decorate your tree with markers, or use green construction paper, embossed foil paper, fabric flowers, gold mirror board, and shimmer ribbon like we did. Done!

The Little Tree is a very touching book. In fact, Katie and I had a bet that I wouldn’t be able  read it aloud without crying (it was a draw – I did choke up at one point!). Even more touching, however, is the author’s note at the end…

The book is a tribute to Muon Van’s mother, who fled the post Vietnamese-American war regime with her two children. In America, she gave birth to five more children. Even though she only had a third grade education, she put them all through college, and in some cases, grad school. Van lovingly praises her mother who, like the Little Tree, was brave enough to override her fears, doubts, and limitations and provide her children with a life she could not imagine for herself.

Shelter Story

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Puppies and kitties in our Storytime Shelter eagerly await adoption…bring your custom pet set (complete with carrier, treats, blanket, ball, collar, and food dishes) and find your forever friend!

We read Who Wants Broccoli? by Val Jones (Harper, 2015). Breezly’s Animal Shelter has many pets, but none quite as big, energetic, loud, and messy as Broccoli the dog. The problem is, most people want a slightly less…ah…enthusiastic pet in their homes. So Broccoli gets passed over time and time again. But when little Oscar moves across the street, a big energetic dog is EXACTLY what he wants. Yes! Broccoli and Oscar, together in love and loudness.

You’ll need:

  • 1 large tissue box
  • A box cutter
  • 1 strip of poster board
  • 1 toilet paper tube
  • 1 dog adoption papers template, printed on 8.5″ x 11″ paper
  • Various pet accessories (more on this below!)
  • Scissors, tape, and stapler for construction
  • Markers for decorating

Accessories vary according to what you have on hand, but here’s our pet set…a carrier, treat canister, plastic ball, blanket, collar with bell, and a water and food dish.

We used a 4.5” X 4.5” x 9” craft box, but a large tissue box works too! Use a box cutter to make a little door in one side of the box. We added a foam bead knob to the door, and used a hole punch to create “air holes” as well. The pet carrier’s handle is a strip of poster board stapled to the lid. You can decorate the carrier with markers, or used color masking tape and patterned tape like we did.

We wanted the top of the carrier to open so kids could stash their supplies, but we didn’t want the lid flying open while they were carrying the box. So we rigged up a latch using foam beads and a small rubber band. It worked great!

In terms of accessories, our treat jars were old film canisters, the balls were leftover from our Willy Wonka escape room, and the food and water dishes were snippets of a toilet paper tube. A little bit of ribbon, a bell, and a square of fleece fabric completed the set.

But the REAL surprise? You actually got to take a dog home, courtesy of a major Beanie Baby donation to our library!

Yes! When kids were finished their pet carrier set, they walked over to our Storytime Shelter (which was a cardboard facade propped up by two small tissue boxes).

Kids waited outside the shelter while Katie asked them the following questions…

Do you like dogs that bark, or dogs that are more quiet?
Do you like dogs that do tricks?
Do you like to play ball?
Do you want an adult dog? Or a puppy?
Will you take good care of your dog?

When all the questions were answered, Katie would select a Beanie Baby dog and “run” it out the shelter door to the kids, and the official adoption papers would be signed!

After everyone had a dog, we made another special announcement. You would get to select ANOTHER Beanie Baby companion for it! And out came a massive box of Beanie Babies to choose from. Were the kids excited? Oh, they were WAY excited! So were the grown ups! Hah!

We had enough Beanie Babies to allow younger siblings to adopt pets as well. So no one left the Storytime Shelter empty handed.

And now, an incredibly sweet coincidence…one little girl selected a cat from the big box of Beanies. She selected the VERY same version of the Beanie Baby kitty that had been her mom’s lovie so many years before. As the lovie was in storage, the little girl couldn’t have possibly known it was the twin to her mom’s. But she picked the very one.

Tears in my eyes!