Picnic Lunch @ the Library, including two book lists

This summer, I've been offering a picnic lunch-and-reading program again--this year I opted to call it "Picnic Lunch @ the Library." (See last year's post for full how-to details.) This program tends to draw a smaller crowd; I usually get somewhere between 10 and 20 attendees, including caregivers. The small party of picnickers, however, makes for a relaxing, particularly child-directed program. The kids don't really like one of the stories? Well then, we move along to another.

When I was planning the summer program calendar, I decided to name a theme for the books to be shared at each Picnic Lunch @ the Library. As a result, I got two totally different crowds of kids: children were excited for folk and fairy tales when they came to the Fairy Tales Edition, and the animal lovers chose to attend the Animal Tales Edition. Both groups said they enjoyed the quiet time to listen to a bunch of books read aloud. Oh, and they also like that listening to me read for an hour counts toward their summer reading goals.

Without further ado, my 2013 Picnic Lunch @ the Library book lists:

Fairy Tales

• Princess Furball by Charlotte Huck
• Seven Chinese Brothers by Margaret Mahy
• Snow White and Rose Red Jacob Grimm
• Toads and Diamonds by Charlotte Huck
• The Princess and the Pea by Hans Christian Andersen

After each story, the children tried to decide what the moral of each tale was; after all, as one child pointed out, fairy tales always teach some sort of lesson.

Animal Tales

• Tarra & Bella by Carol Buckley
• One Cool Friend by Toni Buzzeo
• Unicorn Thinks He's Pretty Great by Bob Shea (the kiddos wanted to include a mythological animal in the mix)
• Two Bobbies by Kirby Larson and Mary Nethery
• Me...Jane by Patrick McDonnell
• Itsy Bitsy & Teeny Weeny by Robbyn Smith van Frankenhuyzen
• Flora and the Flamingo by Molly Idle

We ended with Flora and the Flamingo, at which point the children wanted to discuss what sorts of music they sometimes hear in their heads when they read different books. I confess I always hear Clair de Lune as I flip through Idle's wordless picture book.

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Do you offer any reading and/or read-aloud programs in conjunction with your summer reading program?