22nd April Jelly Bean Day

Oh what fun a day! Who needs an excuse to celebrate jelly beans, one of my favourite lollies? According to the web page that goes with the day, no one knows for sure who invented them or where they came from. Some think they developed from Turkish Delight and that they have existed since the mid 19th century. They think you should celebrate by having a 'how many jelly beans in the jar' competition, doing craft activities using jellybeans or simply eating lots of jelly beans, but here's some other ways and of course they enlist the help of good picture books.

Immediately two Australian books came to mind, The Sad Little Monster and the Jelly Bean Queen by Kym Lardner and Picasso the Green Tree Frog by Amanda Graham and John Siox. I was going to say that unfortunately they are both out of print and you will need to search in a library, but I have just looked at Kym Lardner's website and learned that you can buy this book and the whole story is on his website for you to read! It is the story of a princess who eats 'jelly beans for breakfast, lunch and tea', but she decides she would like to share her jelly beans and goes off in search of someone to share them with.

The other, Picasso the Green Tree Frog is about a frog who falls into a jar of jellybeans and becomes multicoloured, the colours of the jelly beans. It too, is good fun and you can still buy this book and find Picasso on this Era interactive website.

A newer book about jelly beans is How Many Jelly Beans?  by Andrea Menotti and Yancey Labat. This oversized book with lovely thick paper and bright illustrations appeals greatly to small hands. It is about two children Aiden and Emma who are trying to decide how many jelly beans are enough. So it would be perfect  to share while eating jelly beans!