>> From the Library of
Congress in Washington, D.C.
>> Good morning, I'm Carla
Hayden, the Librarian
of Congress, and I
want to welcome you
to this very special
story time at the library.
I love reading.
Don't you?
It's so much fun to let
our imaginations run wild.
We're excited to be teaming
up with Miss Dolly
Parton's Imagination Library
to introduce you to
some wonderful authors
who will share their
stories with us.
Miss Parton's work through
her Imagination Library
is awe-inspiring.
She and her team have given
away over 100 million books
to help encourage young readers
like you across the world.
Here at the Library of
Congress, we share that passion
for developing young leaders,
and we know that the best way
to encourage people like you
to read is to make reading fun,
so that's what we're here to do.
I hope you enjoy
today's story time.
Even more, I hope you keep
reading at home and having fun.
Today you will warm up
by singing some songs,
touching your toes, and
then get comfortable
and get ready to hear stories.
Now let's get started.
>> Welcome, welcome, everyone,
to the great Whittall Pavilion
at the Library of Congress.
We're so happy to have
you joining us today.
My name is Miss Caroline for
the Young Readers Center,
and today we have a very
special reader, Mr. Steve,
Mr. Wizard from American
Folklife.
All right, so today we are
featuring the songs and stories
of the great U.K.,
British author
and song composer
Julia Donaldson.
So she is absolutely prolific
and the whole story time
will b her material.
She is a former Children's
Laureate of the United Kingdom.
And we're going to start
with our usual hello song,
so remember, we are going
to do "hello, friends."
We salute "hello,"
and "friends,"
you link your index fingers,
then "hello" three times,
and then "it's time
to say hello."
Hello, friends.
Hello, friends.
Hello, friends, it's
time to say hello.
Great. All right, so
let's do open-shut them
to wake up our brain cells.
Open, shut them,
open, shut them.
Give a little clap, clap, clap.
Open, shut them,
open, shut them.
Put them in your lap, lap, lap.
Creep them, crawl them,
creep them, crawl them right
up to your chin, chin, chin.
Open up your little mouth,
but do not let them in.
One more time.
Open, shut them,
open, shut them.
Give a little clap, clap, clap.
Open, shut them,
open, shut them.
Put them in your lap, lap, lap.
Creep them, crawl them,
creep them, crawl them right
up to your chin, chin, chin.
Open up your little mouth,
but do not let them in.
Oh, good job.
All right, well, Mr. Wizard,
will you read us a poem?
>> I will.
I will. I'm going to read
a poem by Julia Donaldson,
and this poem is about reading,
and that's why it's so great,
and it's called "I
Opened a Book."
I opened a book and in I strode.
Now nobody can find me.
I've left my chair, my
house, my road, my town
and my world behind me.
I'm wearing the cloak,
I've slipped on the ring,
I've swallowed the magic potion,
I've fought with a dragon,
I've dined with a king and
dived in a bottomless ocean.
I opened a book and
made some friends.
I shared their tears and
laughter and followed their road
with its bumps and bends
to the happily ever after.
I finished my book
and out I came.
The cloak no longer can hide me.
My chair and my house
are just the same,
but I have a book inside me.
>> Beautiful.
All right.
Well, we have a very
special book today
about a spooky monster
named "The Gruffalo,"
and Mr. Steve, will
you have a seat?
>> I will, I will.
>> Okay.
>> Well, this book is
also by Julia Donaldson
and it's called "The Gruffalo."
A mouse took a stroll
through the deep dark wood.
A fox saw the mouse and
the mouse looked good.
"Where are you going
to, little brown mouse?
Come and have lunch in
my underground house."
"It's terribly kind
of you, Fox, but no.
I'm going to have
lunch with a Gruffalo."
"A Gruffalo?
What's a Gruffalo?"
"A Gruffalo, why,
didn't you know?
He has terrible tusks
and terrible claws
and terrible teeth in
his terrible jaws."
"Where are you meeting him?"
"Here by these rocks, and his
favorite food is roasted fox."
"Roasted fox?
I'm off," Fox said.
"Goodbye, little
mouse," and away he sped.
"Silly old Fox.
Doesn't he know there's no
such thing as a Gruffalo?"
On went the mouse through
the deep dark wood.
An owl saw the mouse and
the mouse looked good.
"Where are you going
to, little brown mouse?
Come and have tea in
my treetop house."
"It's frightfully nice
of you, Owl, but no.
I'm going to have
tea with a Gruffalo."
"A Gruffalo?
What's a Gruffalo?"
"A Gruffalo, why,
didn't you know?
He has knobbly knees
and turned-out toes
and a poisonous wart on
the end of his nose."
"Where are you meeting him?"
"Here by this stream, and his
favorite food is owl ice cream."
"Owl ice cream?
Too-whit, too-whoo, goodbye,
little mouse," and
away Owl flew.
"Ha-ha, silly old Owl.
Doesn't he know there's no
such thing as a Gruffalo?"
On went the mouse through
the deep dark wood.
A snake saw the mouse and
the mouse looked good.
"Where are you going
to, little brown mouse?
Come for a feast in
my log-pile house."
"It's wonderfully good
of you, Snake, but no.
I'm having a feast
with a Gruffalo."
"A Gruffalo?
What's a Gruffalo?"
"A Gruffalo, why,
didn't you know?
His eyes are orange,
his tongue is black,
he has purple prickles
all over his back."
Where are you meeting him?"
"Here by this lake, and
his favorite food is
scrambled snake."
"Scrambled snake?
It's time I hid.
Goodbye, little mouse,"
and away Snake slid.
"Silly old Snake.
Doesn't he know there's no
such thing as a gruffa -- oh.
But who is this creature
with terrible claws
and terrible teeth
in his terrible jaws?
He has knobbly knees
and turned-out toes
and a poisonous wart
on the end of his nose.
His eyes are orange,
his tongue is black,
he has purple prickles
all over his back.
Oh, help. Oh, no,
it's a Gruffalo."
>> Okay, so we're going to
sing the Gruffalo song now.
All right.
So you get to --
>> This is the cliffhanger
part, so we're going
to find out what happens.
>> Miss Julia.
We'll be singing.
Okay.
[ Music ]
>> He has terrible
tusks and terrible claws
and terrible teeth
in his terrible jaws.
He's the Gruffalo,
Gruffalo, Gruffalo.
He's a Gruffalo.
Make some claws.
[ Music ]
>> He has knobbly knees
and turned-out toes
and a poisonous wart
on the end of his nose.
He's a Gruffalo,
Gruffalo, Gruffalo.
He's a Gruffalo.
[ Music ]
His eyes are orange,
his tongue is black,
he has purple prickles
all over his back.
He's the Gruffalo,
Gruffalo, Gruffalo.
He's the Gruffalo.
Gruffalo, he's the Gruffalo.
He's the Gruffalo.
>> The Gruffalo.
[ Applause ]
So now we wonder what's going
on, and as you may remember,
the mouse has just encountered
the real Gruffalo in the wood.
"My favorite food,"
the Gruffalo said.
"You'll taste good
on a slice of bread."
"Good?" said the mouse.
"Don't call me good.
I'm the scariest
creature in this wood.
Just walk behind me and soon
you'll see everyone is afraid
of me."
"All right," said the Gruffalo,
bursting with laughter.
"You go ahead and
I'll follow after."
They walked and walked
till the Gruffalo said,
"I hear a hiss in
the leaves ahead."
"It's Snake," said the mouse.
"Why, Snake, hello."
Snake took one look
at the Gruffalo.
"Oh, crumbs," he said.
"Goodbye, little mouse," and off
he fled to his log-pile house.
"You see," said the
mouse, "I told you so."
"Amazing," said the Gruffalo.
They walked some more
till the Gruffalo said,
"I hear a hoot in
the trees ahead."
"It's Owl," said the mouse.
"Why, Owl, hello."
Owl took one look
at the Gruffalo.
"Oh, dear," he said.
"Goodbye, little mouse," and off
he flew to his treetop house.
"You see," said the
mouse, "I told you so."
"Astounding," said the Gruffalo.
They walked some more
till the Gruffalo said,
"I can hear feet
on the path ahead."
"It's Fox," said the mouse.
"Why, Fox, hello."
Fox took one look
at the Gruffalo.
"Oh, help," he said.
"Goodbye, little mouse," and off
he ran to his underground house.
"Well, Gruffalo," said
the mouse, "you see,
everyone is afraid of me,
but now my tummy is beginning
to rumble and my favorite
food is Gruffalo crumble."
"Gruffalo crumble,"
the Gruffalo said,
and quick as the wind
he turned and fled.
All was quiet in
the deep dark wood.
The mouse found a nut
and the nut was good.
[applause].
>> All right.
Fantastic.
Okay, here we go.
Oops. Oh, dear.
We are going to sing a
song now based on one
of Julia Donaldson's
little lift-the-flap books,
which is called "It's
a Little Baby."
So we're going to do some
-- it's an action song,
so we're going to peep through
our fingers, first verse,
then we're going to point,
then we're going to wave, wave,
and then clap, and
finally dance.
So let's have everybody do
those actions when we sing them.
Somebody's hiding, I wonder who.
It's a little baby and
she's peeping at you.
Can you peep, can you
peep, can you peep too?
Somebody's hiding, I wonder who.
It's a little baby and
she's pointing at you.
Can you point, can you
point, can you point too?
Somebody's hiding, I wonder who.
It's a little baby and
he's waving at you.
Can you wave, can you
wave, can you wave too?
Somebody's hiding, I wonder who.
It's a little baby and
he's clapping for you.
Can you clap, can you
clap, can you clap too?
Somebody's hiding, I wonder who.
It's a little baby and
she's dancing for you.
Can you dance, can you
dance, can you dance too?
Wonderful.
Thank you.
All right, so --
>> You all did that so well.
>> Yeah. We've come to
the end of our livestream,
so let's do our goodbye song,
which is the opposite
of the hello.
We're going to wave
and then friends,
wave, friends three times.
Look at your watch.
Say goodbye.
All right.
Goodbye, friends.
Goodbye, friends.
Goodbye, friends, it's
time to say goodbye.
Come again.
>> This has been a presentation
of the Library of Congress.
Visit us at loc.gov.