3rd January the International Year of Volunteers for Sustainable Development

The International Year of Volunteers for Sustainable Development is an idea too big and all-encompassing for the young students I teach, but the idea of volunteering or helping others is not. 

Below are some books that I would consider using over the year to talk about community, our role in community and what people do to help their community.

•  I Am We; A Book of Community  by Susan Verde & Peter Reynolds

•  It's Our Business to Make a Better World by Rebecca Hui & Anneli Bray

•  How to Make a Better World  by Kelly Swift & Jamie Margolin

• It Takes a Village  by Hillary Rodham Clinton & Marla Frazee

• Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Pena & Christian Robinson

• We'll Make Things Better  by Ben Gundersheimer & Dow Phumiruk

• Red Knit Cap Girl and the Reading Tree by Naoko Stoop

• Our Little Kitchen  by Jillian Tamaki

• Hey, Wall by Susan Verde & John Parra

•  Follow the Moon  by Philippe Cousteau, Deborah Hopkinson & Meilo So

These biographies introduce real people who definitely did volunteer for sustainable development:

• Maybe Something Beautiful: How Art Transformed a Neighbourhood  by Isabel Campoy & Rafael Lopez

• Food for Hope by Jeff Gottesfeld & Michelle Laurentia Agatha

• The Mangrove Tree  by Susan L. Roth & Cindy Trumbore

• Listen to the Wind  by Greg Mortensen & Susan L. Roth

• 111 Trees  by Rina Singh & Marianne Ferrer

• I Am Farmer  by Baptiste and Miranda Paul & Elizabeth Zunon

• Jose Feeds the World  by David Unger & Marta Alvarez Miguens

•  A Plate of Hope by Erin Frankel & Paola Escobar

While providing links for these books so that you can read the blurbs, I saw how expensive some of these books have become if you are shopping in Australia, but except for the last two these are not new books, we have them in our school library and you may well find them in your library.

2nd January Motivation and Inspiration Day

Motivation and Inspiration Day is celebrated on 2nd January in the United States of America. It is a day to sober up after all the festivities of New Year’s Eve and really get to work on resolutions. At the start of each new year, we all resolve that this is the year we will achieve our set goals and improve ourselves in general. So maybe, 2026 should also be the Year of Emotional Intelligence. After all, just as statistics show that people who read do better and earn more, statistics also show that people with high emotional intelligence do better and earn more after completing their education. Just as we teach reading as a subject at school, emotional intelligence can be taught.

This is the first four lines of a New Year poem by Jackie Kay. It is a perfect way to introduce what you think should be part of this year and your future.

Promise

by Jackie Kay

Remember, the time of year
when the future appears
like a blank sheet of paper
a clean calendar, a new chance.

From A Poem For Every Day Of The Year by Allie Esiri

Given the world extremes that students have been privy to recently, war, intolerance, racism, and the total disregard of others and their views, it is time to up the time spent on emotional intelligence, teaching empathy and about inclusion. The best way to do this is through circle time, class meetings, literature and strategies that enable students to understanding different viewpoints.

The phrase 'a new year of kindness' has evolved from a hopeful sentiment into a structured intention for societal healing and emotional resilience. Unlike fleeting trends, it emphasises sustainable acts of care, inclusion, and active listening. It encourages individuals to reflect on how their words and actions impact others—not just during holidays but throughout the calendar year. What will you resolve to do with a clean calendar and a blank sheet of paper?

Emotional intelligence is not about being nice or kind all the time. It is about being self-aware enough to navigate discomfort and uncertainty, to connect without losing yourself. Vulnerability should not equate with weakness. 

At school we do a good job of ensuring students are in touch with their emotions and to know how to express them, but emotional intelligence is not about controlling emotions. It is about collaborating with them and using them to express empathy, to feel deeply and to make a difference for others.

There are five elements of Emotional Intelligence. One of them is empathy, but it is not enough on its own. There are many images online which provide a graphic for Emotional Intelligence. This is just one, but I like it  because it gives a brief detail about each of the elements.

Emotional Intelligence (EQ) plays an important role in mental health. It can help us build resilience, promote wellbeing, and develop emotional resilience.

Empathy and sympathy are not the same thing.

I am not saying 'empathy' is easy to teach, but I do think too many teachers put it in 'the-too-hard basket'. I find it very easy to read to and share books with my students that take them beyond their life and their comfort zone. of course they may need scaffolding and I always ensure there is time for discussion. Questions I ask my students often is 'What is puzzling you?' and 'What are you wondering about?' as ways to understand what they are thinking about. 

The annual 

"Read for Empathy" booklist is announced in February by the non-profit EmpathyLab. I use these lists as research for my library shopping lists. I like the way it is divided into sections and age groups.

Similarly, Inclusive Books for Children provide wonderful annotated lists which will help teachers and teacher-librarians match their SEL (social-emotional learning) needs to the right books.

Book sites like these are extremely helpful as they mean teachers get to know what is new and appropriate. Otherwise there is a tendency to fall back on books they know from their own education and students miss out on what is new and pertinent.

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.