22nd July Mango Day

This day was first celebrated in the late 1990s to honour one of the world's most beloved fruits. Mangoes are tropical fruits, sweet and flavoursome, full of fibre and vitamins. They're also incredibly versatile - you can add them to salads, smoothies or even make your own homemade mango ice cream! They are readily available in Summer so that is why it is being celebrated in the Northern Hemisphere now.

People either seem to love mangos or hate them. My mother loved them so for Christmas each of her four children bought her a mango. They were quite expensive when I was a child. A good friend hates them and can't even stand to be where she can smell them let alone eat them.

I eat them, but I do find them messy and needing extra care. Best way to celebrate? Eat one. not easy here as it's winter. You can get frozen mango. Second best read a book about mangos. There's not a lot to choose from. Here's two to look for:

Just published, Farah Loves Mangos tells the story of Farah who loves mangos. She could eat them all day long. Every summer she visits her grandfather and helps him pick the fruit from his tree. This year the tree is empty and Farah learns that there is more to a mango tree than the fruit it bares.

A Mango in the Hand: A Story Told in Proverbs tells a tale about Francisco who is finally old enough to go to the mango grove by himself to get the mangos for a special dinner. He is scared off by bees and goes home empty handed. Each time his father shares a different proverb to encourage him to keep trying such as 'where there's a will there's a way'. Finally he successfully picks the mangoes, but on his way home he visits his uncle, grandmother, aunt and shares his mangos so by the time he gets home he hasn't any!

And I haven't seen this but it looks interesting and this review says it is a beginning novel for the age group I teach.