27th February International Polar Bear Day

I haven't written about Polar Bear Day since 2010, so felt the need to update it. So many wonderful children's books that share the plight of polar bears have been written since then. This topic seems to attract  very good illustrators. See any of these beautiful  books:

• If Polar Bears Disappeared by Lily Williams

• Ice Bear  by Nicola Davies and Gary Blythe

• The Polar Bear by Jenni Desmond

• The Ice Bear by Jackie Morris

• Sea Bear by Lindsay Moore

• Mama Dug a Little Den by Jennifer Ward and Steve Jenkins

If you want more see this Pinterest page.

4th Friday in February SKIP THE STRAW DAY

Back on 3rd  January I wrote about Drinking Straw Day and then I said it might be better if we celebrated Skip the Straw Day instead because this day draws attention to the fact that straws form a very large part of the plastic pollution on both land and in the sea in this world. This day originated in the US.

The Coral Keepers, a group of teenage activists, established National Skip the Straw Day on the fourth Friday of every February in 2017. In the midst of frequent and intense discussions about the state of the planet and the potentially fatal effects of plastic waste on marine life in the world’s largest oceans, these high school students from Whitehall, Michigan established the day to educate others about the numerous biodegradable alternatives to these small but potent cylindrical sippers.

Despite straws being one of the first single-use plastic items to get targeted seriously by plastic reduction campaigns in the past decade, they continue to show up on beaches and in waterways around the world. It is getting more common for cafes and restaurants to offer alternatives to plastic straws or to suggest you go without, but there is still more to do.

You could use a poster in a lesson to start a discussion with students. See these:

From Plastic Pollution Coalition

From Wildlife Conservation Society.

From Clean Water Action and Clean Water Fund

From Ocean Conservancy

Then revisit books such as these:

28th February World Tooth Fairy Day

Losing baby teeth is an inevitability of growing up, and for children the Tooth Fairy or the Tooth Mouse are meant to soften the blow of pain or bleeding that may have accompanied the tooth falling out. The children I teach are at the age where loosing a tooth is common place. When I first started teaching I remember being gobsmacked when one of my students told me how much the tooth fairy had left her. When my children were loosing teeth I remember my daughter saying that her tooth fairy was a cheapskate compared to her friends' tooth fairies. I googled to see what the going rate is at the moment...in 2022 it was just over five dollars so no doubt it will soon be higher.

Although most of us are familiar with the traditional “tooth fairy” who has been around for centuries, the Tooth Mouse is an alternative that is much more familiar around the world. In France the Tooth Mouse is known as La Petite Souris, which is translated to “little mouse” in English. This little mouse  leaves behind not money, but a little gift for the child. In parts of Africa children throw their teeth on the roof of their home in the hope that a mouse will take their teeth and by doing so return to them the gift of new teeth as strong as that of a rat or mouse. In Spain and Mexico a rat (Raton Perez) collects the children's teeth and leaves behind coins.

If you want to find out about all three read these:

 • The Tooth Mouse   by Susan Hood and Janice Nadeau

In this charming picture book written by Susan Hood, the Tooth Mouse (who replaces the Tooth Fairy in French-speaking countries) has called a meeting to announce her retirement. "I am not as spry as I used to be ... I have decided it is time to name my successor!" she tells the surprised crowd. Sophie, an energetic and very tiny mouse, desperately wants the job. "C'est moi!" Sophie thinks. "Choose me! Choose me!" But the position of Tooth Mouse --- or La Petite Souris --- isn't just given to anyone; it must be earned by participating in a difficult and dangerous three-part contest to determine which of all the mouse applicants is the most brave, honest and wise.

• The Amazing and True Story of Tooth Mouse Perez by 

Ana Cristina Herreros and Violeta Lopiz  This book will be available here in April!

Long ago, throughout the Spanish-speaking world, the Tooth Mouse brought children their permanent teeth, strong and straight as a mouse's. Tracing the Tooth Mouse's beginnings through to his descendants, this book artfully weaves the Tooth Mouse's changing habits as the world industrialises, with the growing independence of the child, as teeth fall out and the child learns to care for themselves.

• Throw Your Tooth on the Roof by Selby Beeler and G. Brian Karas

When you lose a tooth, do you put it under your pillow and wait for the tooth fairy? In Botswana, children throw their teeth onto the roof. In Afghanistan they drop their teeth down mouse holes. From Egypt to Venezuela, Spain to Korea losing a tooth is an exciting milestone that's honored with unique traditions. Discover the variety of customs from every corner of the globe.

There are many picture books about the tooth fairy, but I usually suggest this one because I like the sentiment, even though I don't love the illustrations.

•Tooth Fairy  by Audrey Wood.

When Matthew loses a tooth, Jessica decides to make the Tooth Fairy's visit doubly worthwhile. Fantastic for encouraging children to keep their teeth clean enough to warrant a place in the 'hall of perfect teeth'. 

And for every child who has the dilemma of a lost tooth...

• Dave and the Tooth Fairy  by Verna Wilkins and Carl Pearce

Dave has a wobbly tooth. He wibbles and wobbles it, but it won't come out. But then one day Dave lets out an enormous sneeze and the tooth flies across the room and vanishes. Dave searches high and low, but it's nowhere to be seen. How will he get the tooth fairy to visit him now? 

For more tooth fairy books see here.

15th February Hippopotamus Day

If you look at my Pinterest page for hippos you will see that hippos are quite a phenomenon in the world of children's books. They feature not only in traditional nonfiction books, but they are the main characters in narrative nonfiction which relate the lives of real-life hippos such as Fiona and Mzee. They are the stars of great novels such as Morris Lurie's The Twenty-Seventh Annual Hippopotamus Race, they feature in folktales such as those about a tug of war between and elephant and a hippo, they become the brunt of humour and even best friends when you see the series of books Duck and Hippo by Jonathan London and Andrew Joyner or those by Jeff Mack about  Hippo and Rabbit.

Find out about real hippos first:

• The Truth About Hippos by Maxwell Eaton III

• Hippos are Huge!  by Jonathan London

Learn about famous hippos like Fiona and Mzee:

Fiona is a hippopotamus that was born six years ago at the Cincinnati Zoo in Ohio. She was born prematurely and is famous for surviving. She now has quite a lot of books written about her.

• Saving Fiona  by Thane Maynard

• Fiona the Hippo  by Richard Cowdery

Owen is a baby hippo who was rescued after the  December 2004 tsunami. Villagers in Kenya worked tirelessly to rescue him and he became the best friend of a 130 year old tortoise named Mzee.

•  Owen and Mzee by Isabella Hatkoff

• Mama and Owen  by Marion Dane Bauer

• Mama by Jeanette Winter

Read folktales:

• Hot Hippo  by Mwenye Hadithi

• The Great Tug of War  by Beverley Naidoo

• Clever Tortoise  by Francesca Martin

• Tug of War  by Naomi Howarth

Then have fun reading stories such as these:

• There's a Hippo on the Roof Eating Cake  by Hazel Edwards and deborah Niland

• Happy Hippo  by Charles Santoso

• The First Hippo on the Moon by David Walliams and Tony Ross

• Zippo the Super Hippo  by Kes Gray and Nikki Dyson

• Hilda Must Be Dancing  by Karma Wilson and Suzanne Watts

• The Twenty-Seventh Annual African Hippopotamus race  by Morris Lurie

They even feature in art books. There is a small blue hippo, an ancient Egyptian relic named William  at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. He has a book about him

• The Little Hippo by Geraldine Elschner

14th February Library Lovers Day

Today was fun! We gave each class a book wrapped in red paper with a card wishing the students and teacher a happy day and suggesting they read the book together. Students and teachers came to thank us and say how much they enjoyed their story. What did I give them? Books set in a library or with a very proactive librarian, of course.

There are four of each grade Kindergarten to Year 2 and one 5 day a week preschool class:

Preschool 

•  Reading Makes You Feel Good by Todd Parr and I Like Books by Anthony Browne.

And in library today I read them

• Carlo and the Really Nice Librarian by Jessica Spanyol

Kindergarten 

• The Book Hog  by Greg Pizzoli

• A Book for Benny by Judith Koppens and Maria Meijer

• Little Bo-Peep's Sheep by Cressida Cowell 

• Have You Ever Ever Ever?  by Colin McNaughton and Emma Chichester Clark

And in Library lessons today we read The Book Without a  Story  by Carolina Rabei

Year 1 

• Library Lily by Gillian Shields and Francesca Chessa

• The Children Who Loved Books by Peter Carnavas

• But Excuse Me That is My Book by Lauren Child

• Little Nelly's Big Book  by Pippa Goodhart and Andy Rowland

Year 2 

• Boo Loves Books by Kaye Baillie and Tracie Grimshaw

• Ronan the Librarian by Tara Luebbe, Becky Cattie and Victoria Maderna

• So You Want to Build a Library by Lindsay Leslie

• Wolves  by Emily Gravett

 

Feel free to use this idea with your classes next year!