3rd February

No one's birthday to celebrate today that I know about, but yesterday was World Wetlands Day and it is held every year so next year it might be a good topic to use as the starter for a display or some teaching sessions. Finding nonfiction books will be easy but two books I would definitely use are Storm Boy by Colin Thiele and Wetlands by Tricia Oktober, both well known Australian authors with many books to their name.

Storm Boy, probably Thiele's best known book is set in the Coorong, a wellknown Australian wetland. The descriptions of the environment are vivid and Robert Ingpen's illustrations add greatly to the atmosphere and your feeling of being there with Storm-Boy and Mr Percival. And if you want to cheat, there is always the movie.

Tricia Oktober's Wetlands is accessible to younger children and her illustrations allow for a very artistic addition to any other books with photographs.