Archive for the 'Books' Category

Review: Take a Bow! Lesson Plans for Preschool Drama

Published Date: July 4th, 2008
Category: Books

Presumably written as a resource for absolute beginners, Take a Bow!, by Nina Czitron, is a series of 25 stories proceeded by five basic warm-ups.
If you’re looking for easy stories to turn into plays and for some reason have never heard of such classics as The Three Little Pigs and Goldilocks then this is the […]

Review: The Dramatic Difference

Published Date: May 20th, 2008
Category: Books

Should you wish to use drama as an aid to exploring emotional discovery and empathy for 4-6 year olds, The Dramatic Difference, by Victoria Brown and Sarah Pleydell, is a great book for you. Should you wish to explore simple theatrical or language-based activities that have a big impact, stay far far away. […]

Book of the Month: Stuck in the Mud

Published Date: April 9th, 2008
Category: Books

I stumbled upon this delightfully funny book, Stuck in the Mud, just published in February of this year.
One morning, a mother hen discovers one of her chicks is missing and stuck in the mud. She jumps in to rescue her but gets stuck as well. One by one, the farm animals jump in […]

Review: Sam Pig at the Theatre

Published Date: April 3rd, 2008
Category: Books, Why Theatre

I excitedly ordered the hard-to-find children’s book, Sam Pig at the Theatre, part of a British series. Alas, that’s the last time I trust Amazon’s claim of age range. It is not for children 2-4. In fact, I’d likely read it to a five or six year old. It does, however, […]

Review: Beverly Billingsly Takes a Bow

Published Date: January 29th, 2008
Category: Books

I have begun what seems like a futile quest: quality picture books about acting. There are plenty about dance and music, but very few about the theatre. I will be hunting them all down (out-of-print ones too!) to determine the best ones to use with your students.
We begin with, Beverly Billingsly Takes a […]

Book of the Week: The Happy Egg

Published Date: November 15th, 2007
Category: Books

I stumbled across The Happy Egg a couple of years ago. It was written by Ruth Krauss and  illustrated by my old favorite Crockett Johnson (creator of Harold and the Purple Crayon).
The pictures are deceptively simple. I say deceptively because I, at first, thought it would only be appropriate to use for two […]