Our April 15 edition of Page Presents featured one of my favorite books, Cool Daddy Rat, by Kristyn Crow and illustrated by Mike Lester (Lester received the National Cartoonist Society’s Ruben Award for Book Illustration for his jammin’ and jivin’ illustrations for this book!).
Earlier in the week I had presented three back-to-back story times for a nearby daycare, in support of their Family Literacy Week, and had gotten an enthusiastic response. Those kids were scatting with the best of them! 
My favorite moment came when I was packing up, and I overheard one little girl saying to the boy next to her, “I’ll be Cool Daddy Rat, and you be Ace.”
(Note to self: a story with a puppet who speaks in a low-down gravelly type of voice is probably not the best one to tell three times in a row!)
On Friday, Mr. Matt brought his drum set to add authentic atmosphere, which was really fun!
Stuart had made an excellent cardboard double bass, and also lent a pair of sunglasses .
With a beret from Barbie, a sweater from Zoom, and a coat from Paddington, Cool Daddy Rat was ready for his marathon series of gigs. Ace borrowed a handknit sweater and some shades, and he was ready to stow away in his cool daddy’s bass case.
I cut a skyline from one of my big Stendig calendar pages and draped my puppet theater in dark fabric, and we were transported to the city that never sleeps!
I found myself doing an impromptu mime performance, since I realized that the kids would have no idea what would be happening when Cool Daddy Rat’s music “made a mime stare in Times Square.” This job certainly stretches me in all sorts of unexpected directions!
After the story, the kids made paper bag puppets.
Cool Daddy Rat!
