20th August Jeff Brown (1926 - 2003) National Bookshop Day Children's Book Week

Today is the first of what is to be an annual event in Australia, National Bookshop Day. Each bookshop will celebrate in its own way. They will host activities such as author visits, book signings, children's fun and just generally let it be known that they are an important part of each local community and or shopping precinct and that the staff there can help you in a way that a website cannot. It is a great time to have it as it is also the beginning of Children's Book Week, the longest running children's book event in Australia. This week is run by the Children's Book Council of Australia. It celebrates the children's books that were published in Australia last year, in particular the winning titles and the ones that made the shortlists, but it also allows schools, libraries and bookshops to celebrate children's books in general and to organise some memorable events for children. My school is having a classroom expo based on the theme One World Many Stories and as we have just moved into new classrooms this year it will be the ideal time to show the rooms off as it is combined with Grandparents' Day.

It is Jeff Brown's birthday. He is the author of the series of books about Stanley who is flattened when the painting hanging on the wall above his bed falls and flattens him. The concept of One World Many Stories ties in very well with Jeff Brown's well-loved books about Flat Stanley as many teachers all over the world have been involved in sending cutouts of the character, Flat Stanley on to other schools in another country where that class writes about where Stanley is and then sends him on. This project was started by Dale Hubert in Canada. The original book was illustrated by Tomi Ungerer, but the tiles available for purchase now are illustrated by Scott Nash and the original even comes in picture-book format as well as the chapter book. New titles are still arriving in bookshops even though Jeff Brown died in 2003. They are written by other authors and are known as Flat Stanley's Worldwide Adventures.