13th July Sheep Day

This week there is a Cow Appreciation Day (the second Friday in July) and I got to thinking why isn't there a Sheep Appreciation Day, so I went searching and apparently there is on the 27th April, not that I have celebrated it here or at school before. Then I read Anita Silvey's blog and saw that it was Sheep Day in Ohio today. So I sat and made a list of sheep books that the children and I enjoy and there are quite a few. My preschool classes always start with Baa Baa Black Sheep, probably the nursery rhyme they know best, and then we branch out from there.

In some they are connected to counting and sleeping.
• One More Sheep  by Mij Kelly
• When Sheep Cannot Sleep by Satoshi Kitamura
• The 108th Sheep by Ayamo Imai
• The Sleep Sheep by Anna McQuinn

In others they just make the reader laugh!
• Baa Baa Smart Sheep by Mark Sommerset
• Pete the Sheep by Jackie French and Bruce Whatley
• The Great Sheep Shenanigans by Peter Bently
• Elfrida by Klara Fell
• Bea Rocks the Flock by Victoria Jamieson  
• Baa For Beginners by Deborah Fajerman  

There are those that reflect parables, fables, fairytales or have an important message.
• The Black Sheep by Elizabeth Heck (need to explain the saying?)
• The Lost Lamb by Melody Carlson (the parable)
• Prince Charming and Baabarella by Angela Glitz  (Cinderella story with sheep)
• Sheep in Wolves' Clothing by Satoshi Kitamura
• The Lamb Who Came to Dinner  by Steve Smallman
• Rocky and the Lamb by Greg Gormley
• The Lamb-a-roo  by Diana Kimpton (adoption theme)

There are stories where sheep behave like real sheep as all farm animals do in Kim Lewis' books.
• Little Baa by Kim Lewis
• Emma's Lamb by Kim Lewis

And of course there is the classic Australian book for toddlers Where is the Green Sheep? and Rob Scotton's series about Russell the Sheep, the sheep who is always different from the rest of the flock.