12th May Mother's Day

It's Mother's Day! Of course we've had all the books about mothers out on display for the last two weeks and all but two books have been borrowed! But, something very touching happened on Thursday when I had the four kindergarten classes in the library. A girl came up to me and said 'all the books have only got one child in them'. I soon realised that what she meant was that her mum had two children and she wanted a book where there were two children to take home and preferably two girls like her family. On a quick perusal, I found she was right, most books were about a mother and a child. I needed to think quickly.

Straight away I thought of these... 

• You're All My Favourites by Sam McBratney and Anita Jeram. It was out.

• Mummy's Special Day by  Frances Stickley and Carolina Rabei. It was out.

• Five Minutes' Peace  by Jill Murphy. It was out.

• How to Raise a Mum  by Jean Reagan and Lee Wildish. It was out.

• Tucking Mummy In  by Morag Loh. It was in and she was happy to borrow it. Dilemma averted, but it made me think about what we had and so many of the books are about a single child who is doing something with his or her mother. Food for thought. Obviously, I need to broaden the offerings for mother's day for those students who are deeper thinkers or want to connect it to their family!

And if you are lucky you might find a copy of this old but lovely cumulative tale We're Making Breakfast for Mother  by Shirley Neitzel and Nancy Winslow Parker where two children are making breakfast in bed for their unsuspecting mother. Nothing goes quite as intended, of course.

14th May Mothers' Day

Every year at this time, besides checking in with my own children, I look at what books are new or recommended reading for young children . This year I purchased only one book to be added to our Mothers Day list. It is Mummy's Special Day (2023) by Frances Stickley and Caroline Rabei.

Like most schools we have a Mothers Day Celebration in the form of a breakfast with mum and each class does something special for their mothers. 

In the library we display all the picture books about mothers and the children and teachers borrow them. There are plenty, but when it comes to what I read to children in the library I try to pick a 'meaty', book where there is plenty to discuss. Often the discussion centres on what the children want to buy as presents for their mothers because dad is taking them shopping. As an antidote to this we talk about what they could give their mothers that costs nothing. This is hard for some children. 

Titles that are good for this discussion are: 

• Five Minutes Peace (1986) by Jill Murphy

• The Kinder Hat (1987) by Morag Loh and Donna Rawlins

• Mr Rabbit and the Lovely Present (1962) by Charlotte Zolotow and Maurice Sendak

• A Chair for Mother (1982) by Vera Williams 

• Pink Fluffy Slippers (1992) by Maureen Sherlock and Craig Smith

You will notice these books were published quite a while ago and except for the first one are probably hard to find. This brings up two dilemmas for me. 

1. Many older picture books have a longer, more complicated, satisfying plot and a worthwhile, yet subtle theme, but as they are old copies, irreplaceable because they are out of print they may no longer look enticing. Compare this with some more modern picture books for younger children which concentrate on 'writing in rhyme', have computer generated illustrations, teach a lesson, and thus are quite didactic.

2. If a book is 'old' it may be weeded from the library stock. This happens because weeding is ad hoc, done by an ill-informed helper or because someone has decided the library has too many books and new is better. Teacher librarians should have criteria for weeding a library, know what resources are used and when, and because they have favourites and teachers have favourites know what not to discard until the person is no longer on the staff.

The Trouble With Mum (1985)  by Babette Cole, Are You My Mother? (1960) by P.D. Eastman, Tucking Mummy In (1987) by Morag Loh and Mums Don't Get Sick  (1995) by Marylin Hafner are still favourites with teachers and mothers. They are 'old'. Should all these books be weeded? 

Compare the books above with I Love My Mummy (2010) by Emma Dodd and Giles Andreae, There's Only One Mum Like You (2019) by Jess Rackyleft, The Strongest Mum (2018) by Nicola Kent and Superhero Mum (2018) by Timothy Knapman and Joe Berger. Although short on depth, currently these books are all out of the library on loan, so they do appeal, but will they still be around in twenty to thirty years and remembered as favourites?

Doing special things with Mum is another thing to talk to the children about, using books like these as provocation.

• Saturday by One Mora

• One Day With Mum  by Helen Oxenbury

• Mum, Me and the Mulberry Tree by Tanya Rosie and Chuck Groenik

• The Big Big Sea  by Martin Fadell and Jennifer Eachus

• Any of the Shirley Hughes' books about Alfie and Annie Rose doing things with their mother or the Sarah Garland books Going Swimming, Doing the Garden etc.

16th January New School Year List 2: Separation Anxiety

As the school I work at has seven preschool classes as well as four classes of each of Kindergarten to Year 2, there is always a need at some time for books that address the worries that go with being separated from a parent while at school. Most teachers have their favourite 'go to' book for this purpose, but it is always good to have a few more at hand in case the specific one they want is on loan at the time. If you're a parent you might like to adopt the Willa Perlman idea of kisses in your pocket from the book Pocket Kisses.  

At one stage this was very popular in our preschool, but the library copy of the book fell apart and hasn't been replaced. Just looking though, I see that it is still available. 

Separation anxiety is a normal rite of passage for young children. It is common at drop-off time, but can occur anytime and with even the sturdiest of children on a 'bad' day. Picture books enable adults to address the angst of separation with humour and warmth and as many of them feature animals, there is a distance from the child which means they can smile at the animal's quandary. Most children just need reassurance that their parent will return to pick them up.

Below are some books from our library that I have recommended over the years. The beginning titles are usually all that is needed to reassure students that their parent will return. Often I send the book accompanied by a plush toy that accompanies the book so that the child has something to hold while the story is read and discussed. Chester  and Llama Llama Red Pajama,  but we have an owl baby and a duck which stands in for Puddle.

Most teachers know and use The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn, but there are many others:

1. Oh My Baby, Little One by Kathi Appelt and Jane Dyer

2. Puddle's Big Step  by Amber Stewart and Layn Marlow

3. The Kiss Box  by Bonnie Verburg and Henry Cole

4. Llama Llama Misses Mama  by Anna Dewdney

5. Owl Babies by Martin Waddell and Patrick Benson

6. Wemberly Worried by Kevin Henkes

7. Will I Have a Friend?  by Mirriam Cohen and Lillian Hoban

8. First Day Jitters by Julie Danneberg and Judy Love

9. Love Waves  by Rosemary Wells

10. Mama Don't Go by Rosemary Wells

11. The Invisible String and The Invisible Web  by Patrice Karst and Joanne Lew-Vriethoff  (an earlier version of The Invisible String was illustrated by Geoff Stevenson)

12. Mum Goes to Work  by Libby Gleeson and Leila Rudge (earlier edition illustrated by Penny Azar)

If you do not have these or the child is older look for these:

• Tomorrow I'll Be Brave  by Jessica Hische

• My Strong Mind  by  Niels Van Hove

• Parachute  by Danny Parker and Matt Ottley

• That's Me Loving You by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

8th May

As Mother's Day approaches and I watch what is borrowed from the Mothers' Day display in the library I note the difference between what mothers borrow and what their children borrow. I love Sarah Garland's books because I could always relate to the frazzled mother she depicts in her wonderful series of books for preschoolers, but my clientele of mothers don't relate to her in the same way that my generation of mothers did. Kate Kellaway wrote about Sarah Garland in The Guardian in December 2007:

Sarah Garland's books could not find a French publisher because her mothers were judged insufficiently chic. What French madame would be seen in a shapeless green duffel coat, pushing a buggy uphill, with the baby's bottle (lid off) peeping out of her pocket? Garland is one of the best and most sympathetic chroniclers of English family life precisely because her pencil doesn't lie about the slog of bringing up children. She has a loving, unsentimental eye. She can be festive but is never false. I have always been profoundly grateful to her for drawing a mother I can relate to - as have millions of others who adore her work.

All the more reason to love her I say. Interestingly, mothers do borrow books where Dad is in charge or the children are 'pitching in'. These have been borrowed:

• Tucking Mummy In by Morag Loh and Donna Rawlins

• When Dad Did the Washing by Ronda and David Armitage

• Mr Large in Charge by Jill Murphy (but not Mother Know Best also by Jill Murphy)

• Mums Don't Get Sick by Marilyn Hafner

10th May

I know it is too late for Mothers Day this year, but I wanted to mention some books that are good for anything you are doing that is to do with mothers. Giles Andreae and Emma Dodds have just done I Love My Mummy, but if you are looking for books with 'more meat' and thus more to discuss and work with, the following are 'oldies' that are probably already in your library and work well.

With Year 2 I have had fun reading Pink Fluffy Slippers by Maureen Sherlock and The Mum-Minder by Jacqueline Wilson. These are humorous and multi-layered, and require synthesising and evaluative-type questioning where readers need to make considerable connections with the wider world to be truly enjoyed and appreciated.

Mary Ann Cusimano's You Are My I Love You is a beautiful picture book that lends itself to innovating on text so as to allow children to make their own reasons for why their mother is so special.

For very young children Morag Loh's books The Kinder Hat and Tucking Mummy In show very positive mother/child relationships where strong female children display admirable attributes such as confident decision-making and problem-solving skills.

And if you are a Rosemary Well's fan or Charlotte Zolotow fan, as I am, who needs an excuse to dig out Hazel's Amazing Mother or Mr Rabbit and the Lovely Present.