Saturday, March 16, 2024

17th March St Patrick's Day Part 2

 

The Irish have been very lucky! They have so many wonderful children's authors and illustrators, so today is a good excuse to celebrate them.

We all know about Oscar Wilde, C.S. Lewis, John Boyne, Roddy Doyle and Eion Colfer, but there are many more. I'm sure I will have missed some, but wander around a library and look for these and you will have made a good start. Also dip into the website Discover Irish Kids Books.

If you don't use this now, come back in October when it is Irish Book Week.


Oliver Jeffers  is Irish, but he was was born in Australia!






Chris Haughton  





 

Chris Judge 






Martin Waddell 





Malachy Doyle







Mary Murphy 








Niamh Sharkey






Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick





Eion McLaughlin




Yasmeen Ishmail





P.J.Lynch (Patrick James Lynch)





and if you haven't yet read any Bear and Rabbit  books by the Irish musician and poet Julian Gough, or Dave Pigeon  books which are illustrated by Irish-born Sheena Dempsey rush out and do it now!






Friday, March 15, 2024

17th March St Patrick's Day

Celebrating St Patrick's Day in schools is not like it was when I started teaching in a Catholic School that revered saints and celebrated the cultures that made up the school population.  Then, that was a large number of Irish families. The school went 'green' for the day and celebrated everything Irish and St Patrick.

  These two classics are in our library.



This timeless book from bestselling author-illustrator Tomie dePaola recounts the storied life of Ireland’s patron saint. From his noble birth in Britain to his six-year captivity to the legend of how he banished snakes from Ireland.





Of course the library also has other books that could be used to celebrate this day, but instead we have chosen to put together a display that celebrates everything 'green'. Walk around any library and you will see just how many book covers are predominantly green. Start with the ones that have 'green' in their title and keep going.















Friday, March 8, 2024

15th March World Sleep Day


Occasionally when I have a class in the library and I am reading to them, a student will fall asleep. I feel guilty momentarily. Then I begin to wonder about bedtimes of the children I teach. They are often very tired on Mondays. When asked about bedtimes, some children say they don't have a set bedtime... I go when I'm tired. I think about the rigour of bedtime I imposed on my own children. By the time I got home from work and did everything I was hanging out for child-free time, even if it was usually spent on the next day's prep. 

Along with this lack of bedtime structure goes the fact that many of my students do not have a bedtime story ritual as part of bedtime. I looked up what the recommended amount of sleep for a 5 to 8 year old is and learned that it is about ten to twelve hours a night.

Sleep is essential for growth, immunity, learning and memory and is important for helping a child heal and recover. Healthy sleep means a good quantity and quality of sleep, with regular sleep routines.

However when looking for picture books about 'sleep', there are so many that are marketed as aids for sleep. They spruik mindfulness and repetition. See the  Ten Minutes to Bed series by Rhiannon Fielding;  Sleep Stories by Sara Cordingley; and the Carl-Johan Forssén Ehrlin phenomenon that started with The Rabbit Who Wants to Fall Asleep.

If we do decide to do a display of books in the library we have a lot to choose from and I would want it to provide pleasure and fun for readers, not 'teaching'.

There are books about sleep and its importance:

Sleep is for Everyone  by Paul Showers

Why Do I Have to Go to Sleep? by Kay Barnham

Resting and Sleeping  by Katie Woolley





There are books about animals sleeping:

Sleep  by Kate Prendergast

Snooze-O-Rama by Maria Birmingham

How Does an Octopus Sleep?  by Octavio Pintos

Sleep Like a Tiger by Mary Logue

Where Do Creatures Sleep at Night? by Steven Simmons

Time to Sleep  by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page

We All Sleep by Ezekiel Kwaymullina


There are books that combine sleep and sheep (and I'm not sure why): 

Let Me Sleep, Sheep! by Meg McKinlay

Where Will the Sleepy Sheep Sleep?  by David Metzenthen

When Sheep Cannot Sleep by Satoshi Kitamura

Sheep Won't Sleep by Judy Cox

Too Many Sheep by Christina Booth

• Sleepy Sam by Michael Catchpool

One More Sheep  by Mij Kelly

• The Eleventh Sheep  by Kyle Mewburn

Sleep, Sheep!  by Kerry Lyn Sparrow

The Sleep Sheep  by Anna McQuinn

It's Time to Sleep, You Crazy Sheep! by Alison Ritchie

Russell the Sheep by Rob Scotton

I Can't Sleep  by Ximo Abadia 

Time to Sleep Sheep the Sheep by Mo Willems


We have stories:

Dozy Bear and the Secret of Sleep  by Katie Blackburn

A Book of Sleep by Il Sung Na

Time for Bed by Mem Fox

Let's Go to Sleep by Margaret Wild

The Napping House  by Audrey and Don Wood

Snuggle Up Sleepy Ones  by Claire Freedman

The Animals Would Not Sleep by Sara Levine

Can't You Sleep Little Bear? by Martin Waddell

Mr Underbed  by Chris Riddell

Sleepy Places  by Judy Hindley

Go to Sleep, Jessie! by Libby Gleeson

This Book Will Get You to Sleep by Jory John