7th April International Beaver Day

I would really like to see a beaver. While I was in Seattle visiting a friend, I saw a dam they had built and I was amazed at the amount of trees they had cut down, but despite sitting there for a long time I never did spy a beaver. I have written about beavers before and suggested some books here,  and again here, but we have added a few other beaver books to the library since then, such as:

• The Grizzly Itch  by Victoria Cassanell

• The Busy Beaver by Amelia Cobb and Sophy Williams

• Coming this year By the Beaver Pool  by Catherine Ward

Two series that are popular in the library are Life in the Wild  which features a beaver, a moose and a bear  by Canadian author, Nicholas Oldland. There are six stories

Big Bear Hug ; Making the Moose Out of Life; The Busy Beaver ; Up the Creek ; Walk on the Wild Side; Hockey in the Wild

And the The Flying Beaver Brothers, a graphic novel series for young readers by Maxwell Eaton III. Meet  Ace and Bub, the flying beaver brothers who  live on Beaver Island and get involved in adventures, usually fighting eco-villains and saving the environment.

6th April Tomato Day

This day celebrates tomatoes and the making of passata, the tomato sauce that many Italian families make as a pantry staple. I first wrote about this in 2014, so I think it's time to add some books to the tomato reading pile.

There's the old:

and some newer ones

and a very new one

Ottily has decided that today will be magical. She pulls on her fairy dress, waves her wand and wishes for a fairy cake!
But instead, Dad gives her tomato sandwich.

4th April World Rat Day

World Rat Day is a holiday to recognise the rat as a great companion because pet rat fans desire recognition for this little creature. Did you know that humans share 99% of their DNA with rats? The day was founded to challenge the stigma surrounding rats' poor reputation. However, it wasn't always the case! The Chinese zodiac honours the rat as the first animal in the twelve-year cycle, associating those born in the year of the rat with positive personality traits, such as optimism, intelligence and diligence.

I have written about this day before and added a list of books, so I am only going to refer here to books that have been published since that post.

These four are worth a read for very different purposes!

• The Cat and the Rat and the Hat  by Em Lynas and Matt Hunt

Cat is sitting on his favourite mat, when who should come along but Rat with a very nice hat? Cat wants Rat's hat and will stop at NOTHING to get it. But when Bat arrives wearing a fancy cravat, well, what could be better than that? Chaos ensues as both Cat and Rat decide they MUST have Bat's fancy cravat for themselves!

• Bear and Rat by Christopher Cheng and Stephen Michael King

Bear and Rat are the best of friends who do everything together, 
but Rat wonders if Bear will always be there to hold her hand, 
no matter what happens ...

• The Many Hats of Louie the Rat  by Sakshi Mangal

An inventive rat saves the day with perseverance, creativity, kindness, and some helpful hats. Louie the rat loves turning not-so-useful things into ingenious inventions, but none of the other rats in town seem to appreciate his odd, often ineffective gadgets.

 • The Little Rat and the Golden Seed  by Li Jian

This Chinese-English bilingual children's book tells the story of the Little Rat and the Grandpa - unlikely allies who embark on an adventure to find a golden seed. They encounter rough seas, fierce guards and tall mountains, but - in the end - bring home a golden rice seed and save the village from going hungry.

There's even a new graphic novel series for young readers that features a rat, Gnome and Rat  by Lauren Stohler.

• Gnome and Rat are best friends who live together in a charming forest. Rat enjoys drinking tea and finishing crossword puzzles. And Gnome... well, Gnome likes to polish his pointy red hat and eat delicious sausages.

These funny friends share various adventures, whether it's celebrating Hat Day, perfecting magic tricks, or tracking down a new signature hat for Gnome.

2nd April International Children's Day

 

In 2025, International Children's Book Day (ICBD) is sponsored by IBBY-Netherlands and the poster is made by two Dutch creators of children’s books. The theme of the 2025 International Children's Book Day is The freedom of imagination, and the motto is the last sentence of the poem ‘The Language of Pictures’:

‘Make pictures for my poem, and please feel free: these words belong to you even though they came from me.’

The poem comes from the illustrated poetry collection Alle wensen van de wereld (2021) by Rian Visser and illustrator Janneke Ipenburg. This book was awarded a Zilveren Griffel in the Netherlands and the Gouden Poëziemedaille (Gold Poetry Medal) in Belgium.

I know very little about Dutch Children's Literature and this poem and illustration made me feel guilty that I didn't know more. Of course I know about Dick Bruna and Miffy is still popular in my Early Childhood Library. Miffy books are on display in the library at the moment along with other famous 'rabbits' in children's books eg Max and Ruby (Rosemary Wells), Simon (Stephanie Blake), Davy (Brigitte Weninger), Hopper (Marcus Pfister) and Betty Bunny (Michael Kaplan).

The other author Dutch author illustrator I know and admire is Max Velthuijs. His series of books about Frog will make you smile.

Other than those two, the library has very few other Dutch children's book makers... at least one book by each of these:

• Jan Jutte

• Wouter van Reek has a series of books about Coppernickel

• Annemarie van Haeringen

• Sarah van Dongen

• Mies van Hout

• The Tjong-Khing is an Indonesian-born children’s book illustrator based in the Netherlands who has won Dutch picture book prizes several times. 

Time to do some more research and find some more!

Meanwhile I have written more comprehensively about Children's Book Day here and Momotimetoread has here.

28th March Weed Appreciation Day

 Who would have thought...there's a day to celebrate weeds!

This day is designed to remind us that some weeds are beneficial to us and our ecosystem. Humans have used weeds for food and as herbs for much of recorded history. Some are edible and nutritious, while other weeds have medicinal value.

A weed is basically any plant that grows where it's not wanted, but remember what fun you had as a child collecting dandelions or clover flowers to make things.  

Dandelions are a food source for insects and some birds. Humans eat young dandelion leaves and enjoy tea and wine made from the leaves and flowers. The Native Americans used dandelions to treat specific ailments. Nutritionally, dandelions contain a source of vitamin A and C, calcium, iron, and fibre.

Not a lot of picture books explore weeds, but these two do.

And this is a good time to read Quentin Blake's The Weed!

An inspiring fable about the power of nature, encouraging children and adults alike to care for the environment and each other. The Meadowsweet family suddenly and expectedly find themselves at the bottom of a giant crack in the earth. With the help of their pet bird, Octavia and a magical seed, the family go on a journey to the surface. A charming, fantastical story about discovery, the potential for growth, the power of an idea and the importance of having faith in the unknown.

It is dandelion Day on the 5th April and there are many more books to celebrate this day. See Pinterest.

30th March Pencil Day

National Pencil Day commemorates the day Hymen Lipman received his patent for a pencil with an eraser attached. Before that time, pencils and erasers existed separately. Lipman combined the two making two tools much more convenient to use. 

In the United States, most pencils are painted yellow. Did you know that Roald Dahl used only pencils with yellow casings to write his books? He began each day with six sharpened pencils and only when all six became unusable did he resharpen them.

I first wrote about this day in 2011, but so many more books about pencils have been published since then, that there is enough now for a very good display and fun lunchtime activities.

I have students who have read Linus the Little Yellow Pencil  by Scott Magoon and then drawn faces on their own pencils, but there are other books to explore:

• Pencil by Ann Ingalls and Dean Griffiths

• Pencils on Strike  by Jennifer Jones 

• Little Red Writing by Joan Holub and Melissa Sweet

• When Pencil Met Eraser by Karen Kilpatrick

• Perfect  by Max Amato

• Pencil & Eraser  by Jenny Alvarado (book 1 in a new graphic series)

• Dreams of a Pencil  by Xiaonan Zhang

• Arabella and the Magic Pencil  by Stephanie Ward

• My Pencil and Me  by Sara Varon

Look here for more titles.

And keep an eye out for these two that are coming soon:

• The Pencil  by  Susan Avingaq   

• The Pencil  by Hye-Yun Kim
a wordless picture book, follows a pencil's life cycle from tree to factory to store shelf and back to tree, drawn on the pages of a book.

And if you can't celebrate Pencil Day, then you can use them for a display on Rubber Eraser Day on 15th April.

Eraser  by Anna Kang