16th December A Donkey's Christmas

This morning when I checked in at my friend's blog: Momo Celebrating Time to Read, I saw that she has written about the donkey's view of Christmas because of this lovely book The Little Donkey. This reminded me of the year at school where one of the Year 1 teacher's favourite Christmas book was that version of the nativity told from the point of view of the donkey. It started the library staff on a mission to find other donkey books and other nativity stories told in first person from an animal's point of view. We were surprised to find that we had quite a lot of both, so the Christmas display that year ended up being about the animals at the birth of Jesus. It looked wonderful with all the books and soft animal toys out to accompany them. As well as the many donkeys  there were cows, sheep,  a dog, (Room for a Little One),  a cat (Cat in the Manger), a camel (The Last Straw), a hare (Hare's Christmas Gift), and even birds (The Birds of Bethlehem) and spiders (Spider's Gift: A Christmas Story).

Today I had a catch up with the donkey-mad teacher and her two small girls and we talked about Christmas books as she is doing the 25 days till Christmas with her girls, unwrapping a book to read each night. She said that she had tried to buy the donkey book but it was out of print and then she wanted to know the name of a book to buy about the origin of tinsel and we had a chat about Cobweb Christmas  and the other versions of this story. There are just so many wonderful picture books about Christmas and it does seem such a shame that they only really get an airing (reading) at Christmas. Our school year finishes so early in December that for some books that means they're only read once.

Here's what the library has about donkeys that were present at Christmas:
• The Little Donkey by Gerda Scheidl and Bernadette Watts
• The Lion, the Unicorn and Me by Jeanette Winterson and Rosalind MacCurrach
• Ruby the Christmas Donkey by Mirabel Cecil and Christina Gascoigne
• Father Christmas and the Donkey by Elizabeth Clark and Jan Ormerod
• The Donkey's First Christmas by Susanne T. Schroder
• The Ox and the Donkey by Gunter Spang and Loek Koopmans
• Little Donkey's Wish by Udo Weigelt and Pirkko Vainio
• The Donkey's Dream by Barbara Helen Berger
and some newer ones still available to purchase
• Father Christmas and the Donkey by Elizabeth Clark and Ari Jokinen
(the same story as above but with new illustrations instead of Jan Ormerod's)
• The Christmas Story as Told by Assellus the Christmas Donkey by Janet Duggan and Catherine Robertson
• Mary's Little Donkey by Gunhild Sehlin and Helene Muller

And stories about the spider and the origins of tinsel
• Cobweb Christmas by Shirley Climo and Jane Manning
• The Christmas Spider's Miracle by Trinka Hakes Noble and Stephen Constanza
• The Spider's Gift: A Ukranian Christmas Story by Eric A. Kimmel and Katya Krenina

22nd October Nut Day

On 22nd October it is Nut Day, a day to celebrate nuts and all they have to offer animals, including us, nutritionally. This is not easy to do in schools as so many students have nut allergies. Some students are allergic to peanuts only, Peanut Day is the 13th September, but there are lots of other nuts. How many can your students list? Read April Pulley Sayre's Let's Go Nuts! and make a list.

Looking through the library catalogue for books about 'nuts' I realised that if I exclude the peanut books and the peanut butter books then what I was left with are mainly about nuts and squirrels and the nuts are acorns.

I love oak trees and acorns. I spent many hours as a child collecting acorns and making acorn people and boats and I would have dearly loved to see a squirrel run down the branches of the oak trees, but I live in Australia so no squirrels. That doesn't mean though that there cannot be a 'nut' book display and a cuddly toy squirrel set amongst the books.



Start with the classic Chicken Licken, Chicken Little or Henny Penny, where an acorn falls on a chicken's head and he runs off to tell the king that the sky is falling. Silly, but good fun with all that poultry following him without questioning the initial premise. Then there is a lovely new book by Lou Peacock and Yasmeen Ismail simply called Nuts! which takes sharing and quarrelling to a new level.


If you still want others with squirrels:
• We Need More Nuts! and Please, No More Nuts! by Jonathan Fenske
• Aw, Nuts!  by Rob McClurkan
• The Nut Stayed Shut by Mike Henson
• The Nutty Nut Chase by Kathryn White and Vanessa Cabban
• Scruffle-Nut by Corinne Fenton and Owen Swan
• Nuts to You!  by Lois Ehlert
• Nuts to You  by Lynne Rae Perkins (illustrated novel)

Without squirrels:
• I Want that Nut! by Madeline Valentine ( mouse and a chipmunk)
• Oh, Nuts! by Tammi Sauer and Dan Krall (chipmunks)
• Nuts in Space by Elys Dolan (an elite crew of furry animals)
• a series by Eric Litwin (of Pete the Cat fame)and Scott Magoon
The Nuts: Bedtime at the Nut House (Hazel and Wally Nut and family)
The Nuts:Sing and Dance in Your Polka Dot Pants
The Nuts:Keep Rolling!

11th October International Day of the Girl

It is school holidays here, but I wish it was a school day because today is International Day of the Girl and my students and parents who are wealthy and educated still seem to need to be convinced at times that there is a gender gap. I have mothers saying to me, "Please don't let my boy borrow a pink book"; "Please don't let my girl borrow anymore building books"; "Do you have books that are boys' books?"; " My daughter loves Princess in Black,  what pink princess books could I borrow for her?"

This is in a country where women are more highly educated than men at the moment, but fewer of them are in leadership roles. This is at a coeducational school where the students have amazing opportunities and choices.

I am constantly putting together displays to counteract intrenched views. The library has an amazing collection of picture book biographies and picture books that feature girls and science, but today I would have put together a small display of books that encourage girls to be themselves, befitting this year's theme - GirlForce: Unscripted and Unstoppable.

                      

I give every baby girl born to friends, a copy of Global Baby's Girls  and  a copy of one of Dream Big  by Joyce Wan or Baby Feminists  by Libby Babbott-Klein.













The display in the library would include these books:

      

Go girls!

16th June World Smell Day

World Smell Day is actually celebrated on the 16th June each year and it is not a day I knew existed until last week. While doing the bulk loans for next term I was surprised by how many books had the word 'smelly' in their title and I began to think about pulling them off the shelf and putting together a 'smelly' display. Having done this I then went looking to see if such a day existed and it does.

World Smell Day was first celebrated in 1988 and founded by Dr George Dodds. This year the hope of World Smell Day was 'to introduce you to the world of scents, aromas, odours and miasmas and encourage you to take a special interest in the many pleasurable smell sensations which come our way - and, perhaps, in actually training your nosing ability!'

Most of the books I have found for my display, however do not celebrate pleasurable smells, but rather the more unpleasant ones, that the children love to read about. There's the smelly

• the old favourite  The Smelly Book  by Babette Cole
• any book about Judy Moody's brother Stink, but start with Stink It Up! A Guide to the Gross, the Bad and the Smelly  by Megan McDonald
• the three picture books by Mark Chambers about Brian the Smelly Bear
• Dirty Bertie by Alan MacDonald and David Roberts, but start with the two picture books by David Roberts and then look for Pong.
• then there's the dog stories Smelly Louie by Catherine Rayner; My Dog is as Smelly as Dirty Socks  by Hanoch Piven; Smelly Bill  and Smelly Bill Stinks Again by Daniel Postgate; and  The Great Smelly, Slobbery, Small-Tooth Dog by Margaret Read MacDonald
• Smelly Socks by Robert Munsch and Michael Martchenko
• Smelly Peter the Great Pea Eater by Steve Smallman
• Mo's Smelly Jumper  by David Bedford
• Big Smelly Bear by Britta Teckentrup
• What's That Awful Smell?  by Heather Tekavec
• The Day the Smells Went Wrong by Catherine Sefton
• Mr Tripp Smells a Rat by Sandy McKay and Ruth Paul
• The Children Who Smelled a Rat by Allan Ahlberg
• You Smell and so does everything else by Clive Gifford

Then there's the stinky
• My Stinky Dog by Christine Roussey
• Stinky! or how the beautiful smelly warthog found a friend  by Ian Whybrow
• Stinky by Eleanor Davis, a title from the wonderful Toon series.
• all the Sir Charlie Stinky Socks series of books by Kristina Stephenson
• all the Stinky Cecil series by Paige Braddock. Start with Stinky Cecil in Operation Pond Rescue
• one title in  the Sir Scallywag series Sir Scallywag and the Battle of Stinky Bottom by Giles Andreae and Korky Paul
• one title in the Lady Pancake and Sir French Toast series The Case of the Stinky Stench by Josh Funk and Brendan Kearney
• one title from the Pig and Fox series  A Pig, A Fox and Stinky Socks by Jonathan Fenske 

• introduce yourself to the Cosmic Colin by Tim Collins series by reading the first book Stinky Space Race
• introduce yourself to the Hound Hotel series by Shelley Swanson Sateren  by reading Stinky Stanley.
• introduce yourself to the Stinky and Jinks series which features Benjamin Jinks and his grumpy hamster Jasper Stinkybottom by David Lowe by reading book one My Hamster is a Genius
• do some science experiments with Stinky Science: Why the smelliest smells smell so smelly by Edward Kay
• Stinky Skunks and Other Animal Adaptations by Barbara Taylor
• Stinkiest! : 20 Smelly Animals  by Steve Jenkins

and the whiffy!
• A Whiff of Pine, a Hint of Skunk: A Forest of Poems by Joan Rankin
• Hey, What's that Nasty Whiff? by Julia Jarman and Garry Parsons
• and there's the three wonderful stories about Whiffy Wilson by Caryl Hart. Start with Whiffy Wilson the Wolf Who Wouldn't Wash.

I told you there were a lot of books! If you want one that has some less unpleasant smells, read Anna Fienberg's gem, The Magnificent Nose. Think of all the wonderful aromatic words that will be added to a child's vocabulary while exploring these books.

18th September Kindness

World Kindness Day is celebrated on the 13th November and there has always been sufficient picture books to cater for each of the thirteen classrooms in my school, but lately every time I step into a bookshop I see another book on 'kindness' and they are not just picture books with kindness as a theme they are much more overt. The word 'kind' or 'kindness' is in the title of the book. Part of me thinks that it is sad that as teachers we are being asked to explicitly teach kindness when it was something that just 'was' and it was taught at home. Nevertheless it has become part of the social skills curriculum and if students do not understand what being kind means, then true empathy will be even harder to teach. One of the teachers at my school suggested I purchase You, Me and Empathy by  Jayneen Sanders for the library and she has been working on kindness with her students.

Along with the many books we have already, here is what has come onto the market recently (and I'm sure I will have missed some) which will supplement that collection.
• Be Kind  by Pat Zietlow Miller and Jen Hill
• I Walk With Vanessa by Kerascoet
• Kind by Alison Green
• Be Kind: You can make the world a happier place! by Naomi Shulman and Hsingpin Pan
• Be Kind! by Stephanie Clarkson and Katie Abey
• Kindness Makes Us Strong by Sophie Beer
• Kindness Grows by Britta Teckentrup
• The Kindness Book by Todd Parr
• Superbuns! : Kindness is her Superpower by Diane Kredensor
• A World of Kindness illustrated by Suzanne Del Rizzo et al.

PS I think you can read between the lines here and ascertain what I think about 'message' books, but just in case you need some more on this topic read this.

17th August Reading is my secret power

It is Book Week in Australia, a time to celebrate books, especially Australian books, authors, illustrators and reading. As I only teach 4 to 8 year olds I found it harder this year to get enthused about the books on the shortlists. I shared the Early Childhood shortlisted books with my Kindergarten and Year 1 classes, but felt that in the main they were aimed at an even younger audience.   I read my Year 2s The All New Must Have Orange 430  from the Picture Book Shortlist, which they did enjoy and discussed the message at length, but I didn't feel invested in any of the others on the list, too much background needed.

So, instead Year 2 classes and I have shared books where the theme of Book Week, Reading is my secret power  and the theme of the power of reading has opened their eyes and mouths to just what reading or the lack of it means. We have had lots of lively debate, some good personal reflection and connections and lots of questions. All good.

Firstly, we read that wonderful book by Nadia Wheatley, The Greatest Gift of Charlemagne the King. Why is it out of print? The debate at the end of this story about what the greatest gift is always amazes me. The students fall into three camps, those who think it is the book, those who think it is the library and those who think it is the ability to read. Remember these animated students are 7 or 8 and they are loudly and vehemently stating their case.

Secondly, we read Nasreen's Secret School  by Jeanette Winter. I stopped at the part where it says the girls were not allowed to go to school and separated the students into boys and girls. The boys were asked to discuss what they thought it would be like to have no girls in the class. The girls were asked to discuss what they thought it would be like to stay home from school every day. Four different Year 2 classes all had very different views on this. We then kept reading and discussed at the end what would happen long term without schools.

Thirdly, we read Ruby's Wish by Shirin Yim Bridges which continued this theme of education only for boys. The girls in particular had very little difficulty putting themselves in Ruby's shoes and had lots to say about being excluded from a university education. I paired this with The Girl Who Buried her Dreams in a Can an autobiographical picture book by Tererai Trent so that the students realised that this is not a phenomena applicable only in Ancient China or Afghanistan, but also happened in parts of Africa.

We haven't read these two books yet, but I plan to also share with the students what happens when learning to read is not easy or doesn't happen when you're young, by sharing Patricia Polacco's Thank You, Mr Falker and Amy Hest's Mr George Baker.

16th July World Snake day

It's World Snake Day! I'm certainly not enamoured of snakes, but the students I teach are. In fact the snake books in the library are nearly as popular as the shark books. Usually they want to borrow expository texts and marvel at the photos. We have many books that satisfy this need, the most popular probably being Damian Goodall's The Snake Book: Slip Sliding Away, but if you are looking for some picture books, these are some of the newer and more popular ones in the library:

• I (Don't) Like Snakes by Nicola Davies and Luciano Lozana
• Python by Christopher Cheng and Mark Jackson
• There's a Snake in My School!  by David Walliams and Tony Ross
• Boa's Bad Birthday by Jeanne Willis and Tony Ross
• Anna and Otis  by Maisie Paradise Shearring
• I Saw Anaconda by Emma Dodd and Jane Clarke

If you want to share a short novel, try:
• Akimbo and the Snakes  by Alexander McCall Smith
• The Snake Who Came to Stay by Julia Donaldson
• Snake and Lizard  by Joy Cowley

I have written about snakes before here.

20th July 50th Anniversary of the Moon Landing (Part 2)

In the book Team Moon: How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 on the Moon author Catherine  Thimmesh gives  a rare perspective on a story we only thought we knew. 'For Apollo 11, the first moon landing, is a story that belongs to many, not just the few and famous. It belongs to the seamstress who put together twenty-two layers of fabric for each space suit. To the engineers who created a special heat shield to protect the capsule during its fiery reentry. It belongs to the flight directors, camera designers, software experts, suit testers, telescope crew, aerospace technicians, photo developers, engineers, and navigators.' 

I love picture book biographies and the subject of the moon landing has been well written about for children. There are biographies about Armstrong and Aldrin, but perhaps you haven't seen some of the other amazing biographies that tell the stories of other people who have been involved in the quest to get to the moon either before Apollo 11 or after. Many of them were woman and continue to be women. They help to show what Thimmesh contends, that there are so many other people involved.




• Reaching For the Moon by Buzz Aldrin and Wendell Minor
• Look to the Stars by Buzz Aldrin and Wendell Minor 
• One Giant Leap: the Story of Neil Armstrong  by Don Brown



• Margaret and the Moon: How Margaret Hamilton Saved the First Lunar Landing  by Dean Robbins and Lucy Knisley






• Hidden Figures: The True Story of  Four Women and the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly and Laura Freeman



• Counting on Katherine: How Katherine Johnson Saved Apollo 13  by Helaine Becker and Dow Phumiruk

• A Computer Called Katherine: How Katherine Johnson Helped Put America on the Moon by Suzanne Spade and Veronica Miller Jamison

• Mae Among the Stars by Roda Ahmed and Stasia Burrington