3rd April Easter Holidays

As we shelved the last of the Easter picture books at school yesterday, I thought about which were my favourites and then I wondered why they were all old. There has been some new Easter books published, but they seem so 'lightweight' and frivolous compared to those I read and reread each year.

For most children, Easter is associated with the Easter Bunny, chocolate eggs and egghunts, but I do think when reading to students that I should be enhancing their intercultural understanding and their child development, especially when it comes to emotional intelligence.

Three of my favourite books to share are inspired by the cultural practice of egg painting. Decorated eggs are found all over the world in many different countries. They are a wonderful celebration of family, culture and tradition.

• Beautiful Eggs  by Alice Lindstrom. This is a large-format board book, but it is not for very young children. It includes a stencil so that you can make your own beautiful eggs.

• Rechenka's Eggs  by Patricia Polacco is about Babushka, an old woman in Russia who is known for her beautifully painted eggs. One day, she rescues an injured goose whom she names Rechenka. After Rechenka accidentally breaks all of Babushka’s eggs, she suddenly starts to lay her own beautiful eggs so Babushka has enough eggs for the festival. She knows she must free her goose and sadly says goodbye. But Rechenka leaves a special gift.

• P. Zonka Lays an Egg  by Julie Paschkis is inspired by Ukrainian artwork. P. Zonka is a hen who appreciates nature more than laying eggs. When she does lay an egg, its designs reflect the patterns and colors of the natural world. All the other hens agree that P. Zonka’s egg is marvellous and beautiful.

Australian picture books that enable good Easter discussions are

• The Smallest Bilby and the Easter Games

• TheSmallest Bilby and the Easter Tale

• The Smallest Bilby and the Midnight Star

There are three books about Billy, the Easter bilby by Nette Hilton and Bruce Whatley and I particularly like the first two because they give teachers an opportunity to explain why an Easter Bilby would be better than an Easter Bunny in Australia, given the damage rabbits do. They also are stories where there is a problem to solve and the possibilities allow for lots of predicting and discussion.

•  Muddy Footprints  by Mary Small and Pat Reynolds is old, published first in 1987, but is still available to buy and it depicts a very Australian experience of Easter in Autumn, not Spring. I have never read it to a Kindergarten class where the students haven't been thoroughly engaged in what will happen.

And som others. I am not a huge Jan Brett fan, but I do love the sentiment of The Easter Egg.

• The Easter Egg  by Jan Brett. While I am not a huge Jan Brett fan, I do love the sentiment of The Easter Egg. Hoppi is excited to decorate his first-ever Easter egg. He searches for an amazing idea but isn’t sure what to do. Unexpectedly, a blue robin’s egg falls out of its nest. Hoppi takes care of it until the bird hatches. The Easter Bunny loves Hoppi’s kindness and decides the empty blue shell to be the best Easter egg of the year.

• The Easter Bunny's Assistant  by Jan Thomas is a book I like to read to my preschool classes with the help of their teacher. One of us is the Easter Bunny, the other the assistant who happens to be a skunk and we read the corresponding dialogue while the students do the actions eg holding their nose!

• Max's Chocolate Chicken  by Rosemary Wells is also a favourite preschool read, probably because it was my own children's favourite Easter book. My children were so like Max and Ruby!

See, all old! But very good. If you need newer, or you want a laugh try these:

• Bun  by Hana Kinoshita Thomson is not specifically an Easter book, but  it is fun and very young children will enjoy the hunt.

• I Am Not the Easter Bunny by T.L.McBeth Everyone, look! It's the Easter Bunny! He says he’s just a regular old fluffy white bunny, but he’s got a vest and a bow tie, and a big basket full of painted eggs. He MUST be the Easter Bunny! Right?

• The Easter Bunny Hunt  by Stacy Gregg and Sarah Jennings. Easter is here! But where are the eggs? Join Cat and Dog as they search for a much-awaited Easter visitor!  When Dog’s descriptions of the Easter Bunny leave a few imaginative gaps for Cat to fill in, they soon find their home full of many other long-eared, fluffy-tailed creatures who are more than ready to enjoy the celebrations…

The Easter Bunny's Assistant

Max and Ruby's Chocolate Chicken

1st April Library Snapshot Day

Library Snapshot Day takes place on 1st April. It is an engaging way to help capture the daily ongoings of libraries and the amount of support and appreciation they receive from communities. It involves sharing pictures, testimonials, and data on libraries to showcase their immeasurable impact on communities and society. 

For a school library here in Australia it is in the last week of school before the Easter holidays, so there will be a large number of books returned from classrooms, teachers and students. The parents can borrow over the school holidays. As well, I am busy collating bulk loans of books for units of inquiry for next term. These will be borrowed by the classroom teachers.

Library Snapshot Day began in New Jersey in 2007 to answer the question “What would happen if libraries went away, even for a day?” Libraries are vibrant and vital centres of community where people go to connect to the world, technology, information, stories, and each other. They’re also often the most fun place to be when at school!

The day aims to showcase how important and valuable libraries are to communities and the roles that they play in providing a proper environment to read, learn, and generally get some peace from the outside world. When we mention libraries we also should think about the staff who work in them.

I was really interested to read about this day now, as I spent a day last week, visiting other school libraries and I certainly took a lot of photos. The other teacher librarian and I are researching school libraries because our principal has asked us to see how they plan for and manage their libraries. The school is contemplating amalgamating our resources into one 'new' space. The schools we visited had purpose-built libraries with flexible spaces, small-group meeting places and nooks that provided third spaces and a well-being focus.

My Preschool to Year 2 school library does this well in a small area,  but the schools we visited had substantially less students than we do, less book resources, and the library numbers were limited at lunchtime.  I worry about my regulars and where they will 'fit' at lunchtime.

Some days I do feel that all the children who come to the library at lunchtime are 'special'; they don't like the playground, they don't like noise, they think it's too hot outside, they would prefer to talk to adults than their peers, they want to read to Dr Booklove or give Clifford a hug, they think they have no friends, but then spend all their library time talking and playing with someone. Yes, my school library plays a very big role in the wellbeing of some K-2 students. In a school library that has more than 100 students in it at lunch time ensuring each child's needs are met will be a hard task.

The parents that use the P-2 library can also use the 3-6 library  and they do if they feel their child 'needs' more, but the thing that makes both of us teacher librarians smile is that often what they borrow, they could have borrowed in the P-2 library anyway or they are totally unrealistic about what they think their able reader should be reading. Parents often overlook the fact that while advanced readers can read technically complex books they still have the emotional needs, coping skills, and life experiences of their actual age and reading teenage fiction may 'scare' young readers.

As the last week of term approaches it is time to look at borrowing statistics and analyse what they tell us, but as we will be too busy shelving this week it will have to wait till we can sit and contemplate. Just as well the library operating system gives us the ability to set date parameters.

29th March World Piano Day

The Music of Life, a picture book biography by Elizabeth Rusch and Marjorie Priceman tells of the invention of the piano by Bartolomeo Cristofori. He coaxes just the right sounds from the musical instruments he makes. Some of his keyboards can play piano, light and soft; others make forte notes ring out, strong and loud, but Cristofori longs to create an instrument that can be played both soft and loud. At last Cristofori gets his creation just right. It is called the pianoforte, for what it can do. All around the world, people young and old can play the most intricate music of their lives, thanks to Bartolomeo Cristofori’s marvellous creation: the piano.

World Piano Day is an annual event aiming to create a platform for piano-related projects, promote the development of musical dimensions and encourage everyone to enjoy playing (or listening to!) piano.

I wrote about this day in 2022, but new picture books have arrived in the library since then, there is now a show on our national television station called The Piano  that features piano playing in public places and this year our Children's Book Week theme is Symphony of Stories  so I have been putting aside 'music' books so as to saturate the library displays during Term 3. 

Recently I have purchased these:

• The Elephant and the Piano by Collette Hiller and Nabila Adani 

In a sanctuary in Thailand lived an elephant called Bonti. Short-tempered and destructive, Bonti was alone - the other elephants (and humans) knew to keep their distance. But when a musician came to play the piano for Bonti, something incredible happened... the spectacular true story of Paul Barton and the elephants who loved to hear him play.

• The Paper Piano  by Rachel Ip and Natalie Quek

When Noah hears beautiful piano music sweeping through the station, he longs to play. Without a pianoof his own, he carefully crafts one out of paper, and the notes fill his head night and day. Until finally, with the help of a neighbour, his musical dream comes true . . .

• Piano Wants to Play  by Colleen Kong-Savage

Piano and Amy share a special bond. Piano loves to play music with Amy. And Amy loves Piano, too.  "Play me, Amy! Play me!" Piano calls. And they do. Every day they play and practise, testing notes and strengthening fingers. From notes to scales to warm, rippling melodies, together they make a joyful noise. 

• That's My Piano, Sir!  by Ana Gerhard and  Marie Lafrance

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is no ordinary boy, sporting a white wig and elegantly dressed in red velvet, on his way to playing several concerts in the city. To the surprise of all, he proudly begins to play with his sister for the tired customs officer and gloomy dockworkers. The evening air begins to glisten and soon, everyone's faces are beaming, their ears ringing with music! (There are other famous musicians in this series)

It would be good to own this biography as well, but it is too expensive.

• The Green Piano by Roberta Flack and Hayden Goodman

Roberta Flack recounts her childhood in a home surrounded by music and love. It all started with a beat-up piano that her father found in a junkyard, repaired, and painted green.

28th March Support Women Artists Now Day

Support Women Artists Now Day (SWAN) occurs on the last Saturday in March, highlighting the power and diversity of women's creativity. One of the five goals for the day is:To shine a spotlight on women artists – especially artists who are often marginalised by mainstream arts and media organisations because of their race, class, sexual preference, gender identity, disability or other issues.

In a school context I think it is just a good excuse to look at some famous female painters because they are often overlooked in favour of well-known male artists such as Monet, Matisse, Picasso, da Vinci, VanGogh etc. There are some wonderful picture book biographies about female artists in our library.

Frida Kahlo (1907 -1954) Mexican

Georgia O'Keeffe (1887 - 1986) American

Ruth Asawa (1926 - 2013) American

Louise Bourgeois (1911-2010) French American

Mary Cassatt (1844 - 1926) American

Yayoi Kusama (1929- ) Japanese

 

Then also look for these:

Gwen Frostic

Sister Corita Kent

Mary Nohl

Anna Atkins

Alma Thomas

Helen Frankenthaler

Mary Blair

Of course there could be more depending upon your definition of 'artists'. I haven't included architects, photographers, potters...

30th March Pencil Day 31st March Crayon Day

I love putting together a display for Pencil Day and Crayon Day because there are so many books in the library to choose from. I have written about both days before, so put pencil and or crayon in the search part of my blog.

We recently purchased a new book about a pencil.

This story by Carly Gledhill is not about drawing with a pencil, but rather about writing. Pencil has written THE BEST STORY EVER and he can’t wait to share it with you. But when Pencil’s characters refuse to keep to the story, chaos unfolds. Can Pencil pull his story back on track so that everyone can play a part and everyone can enjoy it? A celebration of creativity, story writing and resilience.

Similarly, this masterpiece by Zeno Sworder  focuses initially on a pencil where when a picture-book maker runs out of stories, his pencil decides it's time to tell her own... about how 

trees make all of our lives possible but they are often absent from stories because we tend to only care and feel for characters that are like us.

What is a pencil? A forest transformed. In this beautifully illustrated wordless picture book, young readers can follow a pencil's life cycle

from tree to factory to store shelf and back to tree. Even the 

simplest tool contains multitudes. Once a living tree, then a 

manufactured commodity, a pencil in the hands of a young artist 

becomes the key to a rich imaginative world. In this expansive, 

gorgeously illustrated story, creator Hye-Yun Kim asks us to see 

and appreciate the full value and infinite possibilities—of the pencil.

See Pinterest pages too:

pencils

crayons