24th June International Fairy Day

Fairies are magical beings known for their playful and mischievous nature. Generally considered to be female,  and having different origin stories from different parts of the world, they nevertheless feature in the world of children and children's literature.

Fairies have existed in just about every culture over the world, though they may have been called by different names. What they have in common, no matter where you go, is that they are spirits that inhabit the world around us.

While I appreciate that this is not a day everyone would want to celebrate, given the age group I teach, fairies are very popular and constantly asked for in the library. At preschool they dress up, make flower crowns and wings constantly. Fairies are a big part of childhood play. I have even had teachers who have had a 'fairy door' in their classroom so that the fairies could visit.

Children meet fairies in books while they are young. They meet the fairies in Sleeping Beauty, the tooth fairies, Tinkerbelle  from Peter Pan and then the multitude of fairies in Rainbow Magic books. And there is a myriad of others. I am not a fan of the fantasy genre, yet as a child I had a second hand set of Cicely Mary Barker's Flower Fairies and I tried to draw and write my own versions. I guess you could say I was besotted for a time, but now I am much more interested in the flowers than the fairies.

In the library there are some 'fairy series' that are very popular:

1. Twinkle  by Katherine Holabird and Sarah Warburton

2. Any fairy book by Tim Bugbird. Not my favourites, but they're always on loan.

3. Little Fairy  by Daniela Drescher

4. Fairy Hill  by Fran Evans

5. Princess and Fairy   by Anna Pignataro

6. The Fairy Dancers  by Natalie Jane Prior and Cheryl Orsini

7. Pearlie by Wendy Harmer and Mike Zarb

8. Fairy Science  by Ashley Spires

9. Mummy Fairy and Me  by Sophie Kinsella and Marta Kissi

Now for some much better stand-alone titles:

23rd June Pink Flamingo Day

The first Pink Flamingo Day was declared in 2007 to honour the plastic lawn flamingo and its creator, Don Featherstone. 

Australian author Andy Geppert even included this lawn flamingo in his book Backyard Birdies.

While today, none of the species of flamingos are endangered, large populations that call the Rift Valley of Africa home, are rapidly shrinking and facing growing challenges. All species are facing shrinking habitats due to human encroachment and climate change. Read about these boards in a nonfiction book such as these:

And this one is coming and if it is like Abi Cushman's Wombats are Pretty Weird it will be lots of fun.

I haven't seen this book, and it is not really about flamingos but it fits in to any science unit on materials so I need to look for it.

I have written about flamingos before on this blog, but many new books featuring flamingos have arrived in the library since then.

There's also two beginning chapter book series that are popular:

Hotel Flamingo  by Alex Milway   and

Fabio the World's Greatest Flamingo Detective  by Laura James

And this title is one of the books from the Armadillo and Hare  series by Jeremy Strong.

21st June Go Skateboarding Day

Get out there and grab your favourite board and Go Skateboarding on Go Skateboarding Day!

Skateboarding seems to be growing in popularity with very young children. I was rarely asked for a book about skateboarding, but now I am and quite often. Maybe because the children I teach have been on a scooter since they were two or three, they think they are ready for a skateboard by five or six years old.

Luckily books are getting easier to find. These two are very new.

Some others to look for: