3rd May Sun Day

Sun Day, formally known as International Sun Day, is a unique celebration that honours the Sun. This day emphasises the importance of solar energy and appreciates the Sun’s contributions to life on Earth. It is a day that allows you to grasp the Sun’s potential and invest in the planet’s sustainability. 

People have been fascinated with the sun and its effect on the Earth since ancient days. It has been seen as a symbol of energy, light, and life. Without it, Earth would be a lifeless rock floating in space. In modern times, we see it as a source of clean, renewable energy. 

Sun Day is not just a celebration but also a call to action, a reminder to the world of solar power’s potential for a sustainable future. 

Basking in the sun's warmth lifts spirits and infuses joy into everyday routines. In Australia we are lucky to see the sun nearly every day, to be able to find a warm place that is infused with sun rays. At the beginning of May it will still be beautiful sunny Autumn days.

Looking for books to help celebrate?

To honour the lone star that illuminates our world

• Sun! One in a Billion  by Stacy McAnulty

• The Sun by Laura Perdew

• The Festival of the Sun  by Myeong-Sook Gong

• The Sun is My Favourite Star  by Frank Asch

• The Sun Our Amazing Star  by Patricia Brennan DeMuth

How we feel about the sun

• The Sun Shines Everywhere by Mary Ann Hoberman

• I Like the Sun by Sarah Nelson

• How the Sun Got to Coco's House  by Bob Graham

• Usha and the Stolen Sun  by Bree Galbraith

• Sun  by Sam Usher

• I Touched the Sun  by Leah Hayes

• Goodnight Sun  by Eoin McLaughlin and Morag Hood

• Sun and Moon Have a Teaparty  by Yumi Heo

• Collecting Sunshine  by Rachel Flynn and Tamsin Ainslie

We need sun for growth

• Sun in My Tummy  by Laura Alary

• Seed, Soil, Sun Earth's Recipe for Food by Cris Peterson

• I Ate Sunshine for Breakfast by Michael Holland

• This is the Sun  by Elizabeth Everett

Staying safe in the sun

• Sunscreen Before Outdoor Fun  by Christopher J. Yao

• Sunshine  by Helen Cox Cannons

Sun as the creator of energy (solar energy)

• Chandra's Magic Light A Story in Nepal by Theresa Heine

• Solar Story  by Allan Drummond

• Running on Sunshine  by Caroline Cinema DeCrisofano

Folktales that feature the sun

• Sun and Wind by Heather Forest (fable)

• The North Wind and the Sun by Philip Stead

• Arrow to the Sun  by Gerald McDermott (Pueblo Indian)

• The Lizard and the Sun  by Alma Flor Ada (Mexican)

• Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears  by Verna Aardema (West African)

• The Archer and the Sun  by Rob Cleveland (China)

• Why the Sun and the Moon Live in the Sky by Blair Lent (African)

• How Raven Stole the Sun  by Maria Williams 

• When the Snake Bites the Sun by Pamela Lofts

If your school library or local library is well-stocked look for Molly Bang and Penny Chisholm's wonderful Sunlight Series. There are five books, starting with

• My Light How Sunlight Becomes Electricity

• Living Sunlight How Plants Bring the Earth to Life

• Ocean Sunlight How Tiny Plants Feed the Sea

• Buried Sunlight How Fossil Fuels Have Changed the Earth

• Rivers of Sunlight How the Sun Moves Water Around the Earth

So They Build - Bowerbirds

It was NSS, Aura Parker's Bowerbird Blues and thus bowerbirds that started me off on this animals as builders idea, so here are some ideas and books I will use for a bowerbird display.

Bowerbirds are native to New Guinea and Australia. To attract their mates, the males (who have plain plumage), build elaborate, colour-sorted nests from sticks and interesting found objects (often garbage).

Bowerbird Blues  is a great book for a whole school focus. There is so much to explore. Start with this article where Aura talks about her book. See Teaching Ideas. There is also an abundance of worksheet units available to buy for this book. Many of them include busywork such as wordfinds and colouring sheets. I don't think you need to resort to most of them, unless they involve doing something such as building a bower or finding out more about bowerbirds. Melbourne Zoo has bower building instructions too. I plan to share some of these companion reads and ensure that the children do lots of talking.

• The Bowerbird  by Julia Donaldson and Catherine Rayner

See Teaching Ideas

• You and the Bowerbird  by Maria Gianferrari and Maris Wicks

This book is expensive in Australia, but you may find a library that has it.

• Binky the Bowerbird by Barb Cromie and Nandina Vines

• Birds of a Feather Bowerbirds and Me  by Susan L Roth

You can see the book here.

• Bowerbird Loves Blue  by Catherine Prentice

• Bower Bird's Blue Book by Angela & Patrick Bier

• The Owlet Nightjar and the Bowerbird 

Sharing Stories Foundation

This amazing resource has the story in English and in an Aboriginal language. In 2022, Sharing Stories Foundation partnered with Purnululu Aboriginal Independent Community School in the remote community of Woorreranginy (Frog Hollow), in Western Australia on the creative interpretation of an important Ngarranggarnim (Dreaming) story.

• Bowerbirds! by Donna L. Huntriss

You can read this book on Trove .

 

So They Build - Beavers

So they build...the library display initiated by planning for  NSS and the book Bowerbird Sings the Blues listed Beavers first in the list of animals that the library will highlight. Each of the animals will have their own short-term display.

The library doesn't have an abundance of books about beavers. We don't have beavers in Australia so they are a novelty for my students that they see mainly in story books. It is International Beaver Day on the 5th April and I have written about this day before so, here I propose to only list what is on display.

And for your graphic novel fans, my students enjoy the Flying Beaver Brothers series.

26th April Audubon Day

April 26th each year, National Audubon Day honours the birth of John James Audubon (April 26, 1785 – January 27, 1851).

As a child, John James loved to watch birds. He was a boy who loved the outdoors more than being inside. He believed in studying birds in nature and not just in books. His father took him to walk in the woods near his home in France, but as John grew up his father sent him to America to avoid having to fight in Napolean's army. His fascination for birds did not wane. He became enamoured of the American birds he saw in Pennsylvania. 

All of this is learned in Jacqueline Davies and Melissa Sweet's biography for children, The Boy Who Drew Birds. There is even a board book for babies about Audubon Little Naturalists: John James Audubon Painted Birds by Kate Coombs.

Audubon for Kids is great place to start exploring birds. It has things to see, make, watch and read. While it is American, there is much there for Australian children too.

There are so many wonderful books about birds. These are just a small sample of what is in the library which may help with the study of birds

• The Big Book of Birds  by Yuval Zommer

• Counting Birds by Heidi Stemple and Clover Robin

• Bird Count  by Susan Edwards Richmond and Stephanie Fizer Coleman

and a couple that encourage children to become involved with birds

• A Garden to Save the Birds by Wendy McClure and Beatriz Mayumi

• Love Birds  by Jane Yolen and Anna Wilson

• Bird Boy  by Matthew Burgess and Shahrzad Madani

26th April Bookmobile Day

Bookmobiles, or vehicles that transport free library books, is a service that has been in use since the early 19th century. The American School Library was one of the first travelling libraries. They would travel to rural towns and small communities and give children the chance to read new books. 

I don't know how many bookmobiles there are in Australia, but I know some rural council areas do still have a mobile library service.

When I read about this day I looked in my library catalogue and was absolutely stunned to see that there were ten books:

• Waiting for the Biblioburro by Monica Brown

Ana loves stories. She often makes them up to help her little brother fall asleep. But in her small village there are only a few books and she has read them all. One morning, Ana wakes up to the clip-clop of hooves, and there before her, is the most wonderful sight: a traveling library resting on the backs of two burros-all the books a little girl could dream of, with enough stories to encourage her to create one of her own.
 

• Biblioburro A True Story from Columbia  by Jeanette Winter

Luis loves to read, but soon his house in Colombia is so full of books there's barely room for the family. What to do? Then he comes up with the perfect solution—a traveling library! He buys two donkeys—Alfa and Beto—and travels with them throughout the land, bringing books and reading to the children in faraway villages. 

• My Librarian is a Camel by Margriet Ruurs

Why would librarians go to the trouble of packing books on the backs of camels or driving miles to deliver books by bus? Because, as one librarian in Azerbaijan says, "Books are as important to us as air or water!" 

• Miss Dorothy and her Bookmobile by Gloria Houston

The true story of Miss Dorothy, an enterprising and dedicated librarian who drove a bookmobile to bring books to her neighbours in Appalachia.

• The Library Bus by Bahram Rahman and Gabrielle Grimard

Inspired by Afghanistan's first library bus. It is still dark in Kabul, Afghanistan when the library bus rumbles out of the city. There are no bus seats--instead there are chairs and tables and shelves of books. And
there are no passengers--instead there is Pari, Mama's library helper. The girls they visit are learning to write English from Mama.

• Ready to Fly  by Lea Leon and Jessica Gibson

The true story of Sylvia Townsend, an African American girl who falls in love with ballet after seeing Swan Lake on TV. Although there aren’t many ballet schools that will accept a girl like Sylvia in the 1950s, her local bookmobile provides another possibility. A librarian helps Sylvia find a book about ballet and the determined seven-year-old, with the help of her new books, starts teaching herself the basics of classical ballet. 

• That Book Woman by Heather Henson and David Small

A moving tale that honours a special part of American history—the Pack Horse Librarians, who helped untold numbers of children see the stories amid the chicken scratch, and thus made them into lifetime readers.

• Moose's Library Bus by Inga Moore

Moose recycles an abandoned bus from the junkyard and makes a mobile library – a book bus! Now the whole neighbourhood can experience the magic of stories together. 

• Library Lil by Suzanne Williams and Steven Kellog

The town's residents are too busy watching TV, which to her ""was an evil that ranked right up there with poison ivy and mosquitoes."" When a storm knocks out the electricity for two weeks, the resourceful bibliophile hooks the population on reading as she pushes a bookmobile (whose battery is ""deader than a pickled herring"") through town, using muscle power.

• The Book Boat's In  by Cynthia Cotten and Frank Lessac 

This nostalgic picture book is based on the 1800s book boat that traveled along the Erie Canal.   

And one to look for that I haven't seen Colourful Mondays A Bookmobile Spreads Hope in Honduras  by Nelson Rodriguez

An empowering story about the impact of literacy in underprivileged communities, based on a real bookmobile program in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Luis's favourite day of the week is Monday, the day the bookmobile comes to his neighbourhood. 

25th April Penguin day

World Penguin Day is a celebratory and educative initiative that encourages people to learn more about penguins and their environment, how important they are to our ecosystems and the threats they face. 

Found all over the Southern Hemisphere, from Antarctica to the Galápagos Islands, penguins are famous for their endearing waddles, their dedicated chick hatching efforts and, for those based in icy climates, their trick of huddling to stay warm. 

While the day originated from the Adélie penguin’s migration habits, it celebrates all species of penguin and highlights the plight of these water-loving creatures. Of the 17 or so species around today sadly 10 of them have been deemed endangered or vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and 3 are considered near threatened.

I have written about penguins before here, but as they are a favourite animal of mine and it was along time ago I do want to celebrate it again. In the last week of last term at school I happened to share two penguin books with Year 2 who had been looking at Australian animals and animal classification. I read to them about Little Penguins because they are a penguin that they may see on mainland Australia. We used to have quite a group of them in Sydney, but dogs and foxes have meant this small colony is no longer easy to see. Some of the children had been to Phillip Island in Victoria.

One of the  two books I read,  Flipper and Finnegan  by Sophie Cunningham is about two Little Penguins from Phillip Island who are caught in an oil spill. They were saved from the effects of the oil by knitted jumpers. You can see and hear the book read by ABC Education.

The other  Chooks in Dinner Suits  by Diane Jackson-Hill is also about a Little Penguin colony on a Middle Island off the coast of Warrnambool in Victoria. They too were in danger, this time from foxes and dogs who could get to the island at low tide and attack the penguins. A farmer suggested using dogs such as he had to guard his free-range chickens on the island to guard the penguins. These Mareema dogs do an amazing job during the penguin breeding season. You can see the island and dogs in this film clip or this one.

Another book I could have read is The Accidental Penguin Hotel  by Andrew Kelly which is about the story of a Little Penguin colony who have made their home on a man-made breakwater in St Kilda in Melbourne. It shows children that penguin colonies can adapt and thrive in city areas.

For more penguin books especially ones about the other 16 types of penguins see here.