2nd October World Farm Animal Day

World Farm Animal Day is devoted to mourning, memorializing and exposing the useless death and sufferings of the pigs, chickens, cows, turkeys and the other sentient and innocent animals slaughtered and raised for food. October 2nd is the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi who was the outspoken supporter of the non- violence towards animals.

Good picture books to use today would be those where the farm animals have the last laugh at the expense of humans! See:

• Farmer Duck by Martin Waddell and Helen Oxenbury

• Click, Clack Moo: Cows That Type; Thump, Quack, Moo; Giggle, Giggle, Quack by Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin

• Punk Farm; Punk Farm on Tour by Jarrett J. Krosoczka

• Serious Farm by Tim Egan

• Funny Farm by Mark Teague

28th March Doreen Cronin

I read today that it is American author Doreen Cronin's birthday. I don't know when she was born, but I will still celebrate her birthday in the future in the library. She is the author of that wonderful book about cows that type, Click Clack Moo and all the subsequent farmyard spin offs illustrated by Betsy Lewin. Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type always creates great discussion when compared with Martin Waddell's Farmer Duck.

Doreen Cronin is also the author of the series of diaries about minibeasts, The Diary of a Spider; The Diary of a Worm and The Diary of a Fly. These are illustrated by Harry Bliss.

I had already planned to use Doreen's books Wiggle; Stretch and Bounce having fun with my preschool class tomorrow, so it will be an added bonus to tell them about her birthday! These three books are illustrated by Scott Menchin. No matter who is chosen to illustrate Doreen's books they seem bound to succeed.

12th May Edward Lear (1812 - 1888) Betsy Lewin (1937)

Every child knows Edward Lear if for no other reason than they know the poem The Owl and the Pussycat and they love limericks, a form of poetry he perfected. His poetry is irreverent and often literary nonsense, but always fun and filled with amazing sounding words, many of which he invented, such as the 'runcible' spoon used by the Owl and the Pussycat. His characters such as the Quangle-Wangle and the Jumblies ooze fun. Yes, his poetry and pictures are dated, but if shared, recited and discussed children will still love it. There are so many

picture book versions of The Owl and the Pussycat that it is fun to see which illustrations the children think fit the characters best when the voting is on.

The second birthday is that of Betsy Lewin, less than a week after her husband, Ted's. I first met Betsy's work when I read Chubbo's Pool to a class. This book about a selfish hippo is perfect for circle time, when you want to discuss sharing, co-operation and/or

exclusion. The illustrations are very reminiscent of Ted Lewin's and very different from the more well-known Betsy Lewin pen and watercolour illustrations that accompany Doreen Cronin's Cows That Type series of books. Whichever style of illustration she

chooses she manages to imbue her animals with plenty of personality! I am sure that Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin have lots of fun with those cows and ducks.

6th May Randall Jarrell (1914 - 1965) Ted Lewin (1935)

Randall Jarrell was an American poet, but for me he is the author of two wonderful books, The Animal Family and The Gingerbread Rabbit. I have never read The Animal Family to a group of children where they haven't been transfixed and then so disappointed that the book finished. It is the very improbable story of a hunter, a mermaid and a bear who become a family, but it exudes warmth, wonder and the power of love. It has the timeless message that love can overcome anything. The Gingerbread Rabbit is for younger readers and it begins similarly to The Gingerbread Man, but it to is about acceptance, family and finding your place.

Randall Jarrell died in the same year that The Animal Family was published which

is such a shame because it could have been that there were many more 'gems' to come. An extra bonus with this book is that it is illustrated by Maurice Sendak, even though the cover quaintly says 'with decorations by Maurice Sendak'. This is such a special book!

I do not know much of Ted Lewin's work. He is an American illustrator who has travelled extensively with his illustrator wife Betsy Lewin. The library has two of his books, Sacred River and The Day of Ahmed's Secret. His illustrations in these two are detailed, very realistic and use strong colour befitting their setting, India in the first and Egypt in the second. I went on a search to see what other books Ted Lewin had illustrated and was surprised to see that he has been to

Australia and has published a book with his wife Betsy called Top to Bottom Down Under which apparently is an action-packed adventure journey set here. Why isn't it popular in Australian libraries?