6th January Bean Day (Part 1)

The 6th January is Bean Day.  I was surprised to find that such a day existed. Websites say it is a day to celebrate beans of every sort in any way you want or can think of. So obviously I thought about books and then realised that I could think of four different 'bean' ways to do this:
1. Look at books, fiction and non fiction books that are about the vegetable, beans.
2. Look at all the books where a character has 'Bean' as a name.
3. Look at stories such as Jack and the Beanstalk where beans or beanstalks appear. There are so many versions of and spoofs of this story, and
4. Look at the books by author/illustrator Jonathan Bean.

See I told you. I could have fun with 'beans' for  a whole week and I haven't even looked at jellybeans. I would also want to grow some beans because they are so easy to grow and children love watching the changes. You might have Amanda Graham's Five Beans big book in your school and be able to put the procedural text into reality. This book, part of the Wings series of books for young readers is ideal for 5-6 year olds. Otherwise there are quite a few very good expository texts about the lifecycle of a bean that you could follow. My school also has a big book of Nick Butterworth and Mick Inkpen's  Jasper's Beanstalk and the children love laughing at Jasper's antics as he waits for his beanseed to grow.

Other than growing beans, there is always cooking with beans, say Mexican-inspired wonders or soup, craft with beans or just reading good stories such as the very funny Bean Thirteen by Matthew McElligott or Mice and Beans by Joe Cepeda and Pam Munoz Ryan. Skippyjon Jones has quite a cult following in my library too so this title could be fun too.

Tomorrow Part Two will cover all the book characters who have Bean as a name.