1st January 2026 The Year of Reading

Happy New Year from Alison Lester in Fish Creek and me in Sydney.

In the Chinese Zodiac, it is The Year of the Horse.

The United Nations The UN has declared 2026 as three International Years: the International Year of the Woman Farmer, focusing on gender equality in agriculture; the International Year of Volunteers for Sustainable Development, celebrating volunteer impact; and the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists, highlighting sustainable land use. These observances aim to raise global awareness, promote action, and empower communities and individuals working in these vital areas for sustainable development. 

Each year in the library, we usually start the displays with something connected to the Year being celebrated, such as the Year of the Horse for 2026 on the Chinese Zodiac, or the Year of Volunteers as proposed by the United Nations for 2026, but the year that I think is the one we should be celebrating, is the one that the U.K. is celebrating, The Year of Reading. The UK campaign brings together a range of partner organisations, from publishers and Government departments to Literacy charities.

Reading for pleasure in the UK is in sharp decline, with only 

50% of adults reading regularly—a 13.8% drop since 2015—and just 1 in 3 children (32.7%) enjoying reading in their free time, the lowest in two decades. Key drivers include social media, lack of time, and reduced engagement among young adults and boys.   Like here in Australia, the UK has changed the way they teach reading in schools. They put more 

emphasis on the strategies espoused by the Science of Reading (SoR) research and their five 

pillars of Early Literacy Skills.

In the process they downplayed Reading for Pleasure, the role of the school library and the importance of reading with other enabling adults such as parents.  Now that they have realised their folly, once again there is a 'big push' in the UK for schools to ensure they have Reading for Pleasure as a clear outcome for students. Teachers are being trained to heed the Reading for Pleasure research. Here in Australia we need to do that too. We need to stop the school systems, and schools who feel they no longer need a school library, a trained teacher librarian or any form of Reading for Pleasure program before it is done and becomes impossible to reinstate.

Reading isn’t just a hobby; it’s a powerful tool linked to stronger writing skills, better well-being, and even higher lifetime earnings. In fact, research shows that children who become proficient readers can earn substantially more over their lifetime.

By making reading a daily habit, we can help lay the foundation for strong literacy skills and ensure every child has the opportunity to thrive. Schools and parents owe this to children and one of the easiest ways to do this is to model reading. They need to make time and value that reading to children time.

Of course this will not be easy to do, but the longer we do not espouse Reading for Pleasure and put school strategies into place to make sure it happens, the harder it will be. The UK plan has lots of ideas to offer Australian teachers and teacher librarians for parent information sessions, ideas for school staff meetings and ideas to use in the classroom.

If reading is to become a lifelong habit then people must see themselves as participants in a community that views reading as a significant and enjoyable activity. Overall, the research highlights:

• Children who know adults who read for pleasure take it for granted that reading is a valuable and worthwhile activity (Csikszentmihalyi, 1991)
• The home environment exerts a significant effect on academic motivation, which is over and above that predicted by socio-economic status (Gottfried, Fleming & Gottfried, 1998). Thus, children whose home environment is more cognitively stimulating have higher academic motivation than children whose home is lacking such stimulation
• Parents who believe that reading is a source of entertainment have children with more positive views about reading than parents who only emphasise the skills aspect of reading (e.g. Sonnenschein et al., 2000)
• Children of parents who believed that reading is a source of pleasure had greater reading motivation scores in primary school (Baker & Scher, 2002) and
• Children are more likely to continue to be readers in homes where books and reading are valued (Baker & Scher, 2002).

Yes, this a 'hotchpotch' of my thinking, but as I plan for the school year ahead, I am as adamant as always that the key to school success lies with a school executive, teacher librarians, and teachers who read, value reading and promote reading to their stakeholders.

Let's do it!

30th December Jeanette Winter (1939 -7th November 2025)

self portrait of Jeanette Winter

While delving into lists that are published at the end of years, I learned that children's author Jeanette Winter had died on the 7th of November, 2025 in New York. I was very sad to read this and know that there may be no more wonderful picture books written or illustrated by her. I love her books, especially those that promote the strength and initiatives of women in this world. Sharing her books with students in the library has lead to so many really inspiring discussions. I am always amazed to see and hear what very young students take from reading biographies and stories based on real-life events.

Many of her books told stories about accomplished real-life women, including Josefina, about artist Josefina Aguilar; My Name Is Georgia, about painter Georgia O’Keeffe; Emily Dickinson’s Letters to the World; Beatrix, about author Beatrix Potter, and Sisters, about tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams. Her 2019 book Our House Is on Fire: Greta Thunberg’s Call to Save the Planet has been translated into 21 languages.

Some of my favourites:

Nasreen's Secret School: A True Story from Afghanistan

Tells the story of a young girl in Afghanistan who attends a secret school for girls.

The Librarian of Basra: A True Story from Iraq

Alia Muhammad Baker’s library in Basra, Iraq, has been a meeting place for those who love books for the past fourteen years. Now war has come, and Alia fears that the library—along with the thirty thousand books within it—will be destroyed forever.

Biblioburro: A True Story from Colombia

Luis loves to read, but soon his house in Colombia is so full of books there’s barely room for the family. What to do? Then he comes up with the perfect solution—a traveling library! He buys two donkeys—Alfa and Beto—and travels with them throughout the land, bringing books and reading to the children in faraway villages.

The Watcher: Jane Goodall's Life With the Chimps

Jane Goodall, the great observer of chimpanzees. Follow Jane from her childhood in London watching a robin on her windowsill, to her years in the African forests of Gombe, Tanzania

The Tale of Pale Male 

Here is the incredible true story of a Red-tailed Hawk that makes himself at home in the most unlikely of places--atop a high-rise apartment building in New York City.Named Pale Male by his many fans, this majestic bird not only endures in this urban environment, he thrives.

See her other titles here.

Jeanette's son, Jonah Winter is also a children's book creator. They have collaborated on books such as Diego  and Oil. He also has written many biographies about famous people eg. Sonia Sotomayor, Elvis Presley, Hillary Clinton, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, following the tradition of his mother.

29th December Fireworks

 

Here in Sydney, this time of year is all about hot weather, the harbour and fireworks. All year I have been reading reviews of Fireworks by Matthew Burgess and Catia Chien. It is on every list this year as 'a must read' so I  thought I would purchase a copy for the library as we do not have many books about fireworks, but oh no, it is still costing between $40 and $50 to get a copy here. I viewed it here, and it certainly captures the weather and wonder of summer and fireworks whether you are in New York or Sydney. It also allows for plenty of audience involvement when reading as it is full of onomatopoeia. Read this review from The Horn Book and you will see why it is considered to be a very strong contender for the Caldecott Medal. If it wins we might get it cheaper here or it could go the way of many other award winning books eg Watercress  and become even dearer and harder to get. Watch and wait. Meanwhile here is my last blog on fireworks.

12th December Poinsettia Day

Yesterday I went to a Book Fair with two friends in search of children's books that would make good gifts.  We got talking about how well Tomie dePaola books do Christmas and one of his Christmas books is The Legend of the Poinsettia  so i felt the need to commemorate it today. Below is my blog entry for this day from 2010.

Strictly speaking it is Poinsettia Day in America, but as it is close to Christmas and poinsettias are very common here at this time, it is a good time to think about their origin and connection to Christmas. In Mexico the plant is called La Flor de la Nochebuena or, Flower of the Holy Night and is displayed in celebration of the December 12th, Dia de la Virgen. Use of the plant to celebrate Christmas in Mexico dates back to the 17th century. The flower connects to the legend of a young girl, distraught about not having anything with which to honour the Baby Jesus in a Christmas Procession. An angel tells her that any gift given with love is a wonderful gift. Later the weeds she gathers by the roadside to place around the manger miraculously transform into the beautiful red star flower we think of as Poinsettia. But Mexico's relationship to the plant goes back even further. The Aztecs called the plant Cuitlaxochitl meaning "star flower" and used it to produce a red dye. The sap was also used to control fevers. Montezuma, last of the Aztec king had Poinsettias delivered to him by caravan to what is now Mexico City. The legend of the young Mexican girl is the subject for at least two picture books that are ideal for sharing this story with young children. I especially like sharing the Tomie dePaola's The Legend of the Poinsettia, but Joanne Oppenheim and Fabian Negrin's The Miracle of the First Poinsettia: A Mexican Christmas Story also does the task admirably.

It is very easy to 'do' Christmas reading by just collecting together any Tomie de Paola picture books at hand. In the process you will also learn so much about Christmas traditions elsewhere in the world, about being grateful, about enjoying Christmas and about Tomie de Paola's fascination with Italy and Christmas.

21st December Flashlight Day

 

National Flashlight Day is the same day as Winter Solstice, probably because that is when nighttime and dark are the longest.

Around 1899 the invention of the dry cell and miniature incandescent electric light bulbs made the first battery-powered flashlights possible.

Today the flashlights that we use are mostly incandescent lamps or light-emitting diodes and run on disposable or rechargeable batteries. 

In Australia, 21st December will be the Summer Solstice, so not a night for flashlights or 'torches' as we call them.The Christmas lights here can't really be seen before 8 o'clock at night!

The perfect book for this celebration is Lizi Boyd's Flashlight.

See a review of this wordless book and some interior illustrations here.

This book by Angela Royston will give you lots of ideas for fun with a torch.

• Night Walk by Marie Dorleans

This beautiful and evocative book movingly recalls family trips and the excitement of unknown adventure, while celebrating the awe-inspiring power of the natural world.

• Dark on Light  by Dianne White and Felicita Sala

As the sun sets, three siblings discover nature’s nighttime beauty.

• Finding Monkey Moon  by Elizabeth Pulford

Michael and Monkey Moon are inseparable but one night Monkey Moon is nowhere to be found and Michael’s search for him goes way beyond the toy box. 

• Blackout  by John Rocco 

Highlights how essential flashlights or torches become when there is a blackout.

For more books featuring flashlights or torches see this Pinterest page which came about in 2015 when our Book Week Slogan was Books Light Up Our World. While looking for books to display, I couldn't believe how many picture books had a 'torch' on the cover and even more with one inside!   Add to that all the First Discoveries Torchlight books and the new series of Shine-a-Light books by Carron Brown and I was really excited about how many books we had for this theme. These two series are very popular with the children who use the school library.

18th December Flake Appreciation Day

Flake Appreciation Day is celebrated on 18th December every year in the United States. The holiday is used to show appreciation for snowflakes which are loved by many. Snowflakes are beautiful, unique, and naturally occurring. They come in complex shapes and sizes and are divided into 35 categories. As with human fingerprints, no two snowflakes are exactly alike. Snowflakes are created when water vapor in clouds freezes around dust particles due to humidity. Typically hexagonal, snowflakes can sometimes take the form of flat, needle-shaped particles.

Snowflakes can be classified into one of 35 different shape groups based on their size and shape. When water vapor in the clouds condenses into ice crystals, snowflakes spontaneously appear in nature. Snowflakes’ shapes are impacted by elements like dust, temperature, humidity, and currents.

The history of snowflakes was greatly influenced by Wilson Bentley. He was born in 1865 in Jericho, Vermont. His work is significant as he helped discover that no two snowflakes are exactly alike. He used a type of photography that uses microscopes called photomicrography to take pictures of 5,000 snowflakes. Read this biography

• Snowflake Bentley  by Jacqueline Briggs Martin & Mary Azarian

From the time he was a small boy, Wilson Bentley saw snowflakes as small miracles. And he determined that one day his camera would capture for others the wonder of the tiny crystal. Bentley's enthusiasm for photographing snowflakes was often misunderstood in his time, but his patience and determination revealed two important truths: no two snowflakes are alike; and each one is startlingly beautiful.

And then, read about some more snowflakes in:

• The Story of Snowflake and Inkdrop by Pierdomenico BaccalarioTwo worlds, two stories, two books in one, to be flipped and read from whichever direction you like! A big town in winter. A snowflake is about to fall from the sky. A big town in winter. An ink drop flies out of its bottle into the sky when a big gust of wind blows its bottle over. The wind carries Snowflake and Inkdrop through the sky. Where will each land?

Two worlds, two intersecting stories told in vivid colour illustrations, as well as through ingenious laser cuts and foldouts that are full of surprise.

• The Snowflake  by Neil Waldman

With a double-page spread for each month, this book describes the journey of a single drop of water throughout the year.

• The Story of Snow  by Jon Nelson

How do snow crystals form? What shapes can they take? Why do star-shaped snow crystals usually have six arms? Are no two snow crystals alike?

These questions and more are answered inside this exploration of the science of snow, featuring photos of real snow crystals in all their beautiful diversity.

• The Snowflake  by Benji Davies

High, high up in the clouds a tiny snowflake is made. Perfectly small, fluffy, crystal and white, it tumbles and bounces inside the cloud. But then she begins to fall…

• Snowflake in My Pocket by Rachel Bright & Yu Rong      The snow is coming – Bear can smell it! Squirrel is so excited – he's never seen snow before! But when the snow arrives, Bear suddenly falls sick. Can Squirrel still bring some silvery, sparkly, magical whiteness to his best friend? 

• Fletcher and the Christmas Snowflake  by Julia Rawlinson & Tiphanie Beeke     It's Christmas Eve, and the rabbits have moved to a new burrow. Fletcher is excited about celebrating the holiday with them, until he realises...Santa Claus won't know where to deliver their presents!

• The Smallest Snowflake  by Bernadette Watts   Every snowflake has a dream. While the other snowflakes boast about their plans to travel on to glamorous and far off destinations— the most beautiful mountain in the world or atop the golden pinnacle of the jeweled dome of the castle, St. Basil—the smallest snowflake simply longs for someplace special . . . someplace warm. 

10th December Noble Prize day

The 10th December is Nobel Prize Day. Today is about paying tribute to the accomplishments of Swedish Alfred Bernhard Nobel. In addition to inventing dynamite and gelignite, he created military weaponry. When a French newspaper criticised him for his role in warfare, he questioned his life’s goals and decided to use his money to fund a prize that celebrates the best in humanity. The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death originally there was five categories. The sixth, for Economic Sciences was added in 1968, so at present, a total of six Nobel Prizes are awarded annually to praise intellectual achievement in the world. They are given for Chemistry, Literature, Peace, Physics, Physiology or Medicine and Economic Sciences.

The library has two picture book biographies about Alfred Nobel.

• Alfred Nobel: The Man Behind the Peace Prize 

by Kathy-jo Wargin

Alfred Nobel was the man who founded what became known as The Nobel Prizes. Nobel also invented dynamite, becoming very wealthy from his invention. Saddened by its use for harmful destruction, Nobel left his fortune to create yearly prizes for those who have rendered the greatest services to mankind.

• Alfred Nobel  by Nicole Damon

From his early days in Sweden to his groundbreaking invention of dynamite, this book takes young readers on an exciting journey through Nobel's life. Learn about his challenges, his triumphs, and how he became one of the most influential figures in history. But Alfred Nobel's story doesn't end with dynamite. Explore how his vision led to the creation of the Nobel Prizes, awards that celebrate the best of humanity in science, literature, and peace.

6th December Saint Nicholas Day

The feast of St. Nicholas is celebrated on 6th December, at the beginning of Advent. This day brings much celebrating, especially in Eastern Europe and Germanic countries such as Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the Netherlands. Italy also celebrates this saint's day.

The legendary figure of St. Nicholas is derived from Nicholas of Myra who officiated as a bishop in 4th century Greece. During his lifetime he developed a reputation for gift-giving by putting coins in other people's shoes, which accounts for many of today's Christmas traditions that involve leaving gifts in shoes or boots. The gift giver, Santa Claus originated with Saint Nicholas, but Santa Claus brings presents on Christmas Day. As word of St Nicholas carried into northern Europe, he inspired the Dutch legend of "Sinterklaas" and the German "Christkindle", which would then spread as far as the Americas through migrants. 

The library has several stories about St Nicholas.

• The Legend of Saint Nicholas  by Demi

Through his good works, Nicholas becomes the youngest man to ever become a bishop and the patron saint of seafarers, children, and prisoners. He performs more than twenty miracles. Demi describes pivotal events in the history and life of the saint, weaving a rich tapestry of luminous imagery into the story of his connection with Christmas and our modern-day Santa Claus. 

•  Saint Nicholas: The story of the real Santa Claus by Mary Joslin

Nicholas was a Christian who lived in the town of Myra in the fourth century AD. He was much loved for his charity and generosity. On one occasion, he wanted to give money to three daughters who were facing destitution because their father had no money for a dowry in order that they might marry. Nicholas thought of a clever way to give his gift in secret, showering gold coins into their house at night through the chimney. Some of the coins landed in the stockings that had been hung up to dry there.

• The Legend of St Nicholas: A Story of Christmas Giving  by Dani Daley Mackall

Read about the origin of St. Nicholas, the story of a man who spent his life secretly helping the poor all over the world, giving gifts on Christmas Eve to remind people of the greatest gift of all, Jesus Christ.

• Saint Nicholas the Giftgiver  by Ned Bustard

Around Christmas we spend a lot of time thinking about presents, but have you ever wondered why we give gifts? Learn about the life of Saint Nicholas and discover why he became known as one of the greatest giftgivers of all time. Told as a delightful poem, this colourfully illustrated book will be enjoyed by children and the adults who read with them.

• The Night Before Christmas  by Clement C. Moore

Clement C. Moore first read this timeless poem to his young children on Christmas Eve in 1822. It was initially published anonymously as A Visit from Saint Nicholas in a New York newspaper the following year and quickly spread around the world, becoming a cherished Christmas tradition for many families. 

This famous poem has been illustrated by many well-known children's book illustrators. Look for one of these fabulous versions. Then there are adaptions. See the one by Kes Gray.

Robert Ingpen

Christian Birmingham

Charles Santore

Eric Puybaret

Tomie DePaola 

Lisbeth Zwerger 

Jan Brett

P.J.Lynch

Gennardy Spirin