27th January Chocolate Cake Day

 

Chocolate Cake Day celebrates the cake more people favour. It comes in so many different guises, but even a simple chocolate cake is yummy, easy to make and mood-lifting. So make a chocolate cake and share it while you read one of these:

This is a page from 13 Words   by Lemony Snicker

17th January Benjamin Franklin Day Kid Inventors' Day

17th January is celebrated worldwide as Benjamin Franklin Day. He was born on this day in 1706 in Boston, the fifteenth child to a family with a modest soap and candle business. Franklin was a polymath, someone who had expertise in a variety of subjects, and an active inventor, author, printer, passionate about music and politics. He stopped attending school at the age of ten. 

Look for these biographies to learn more about his inventions and politics.

It is also Kid Inventors' Day because Benjamin Franklin first began inventing things as a child. Last year I wrote about this and gave a list of books to look for in the library. The Aussie Child Network also has lots of tangents to explore.

21st January Squirrel Appreciation Day

The 21st January is Squirrel Appreciation Day and as I live in Australia where the only squirrels in the wild are some northern palm squirrels that stem from those that escaped from Perth Zoo, I get to appreciate them mostly through picture books, where they make amazingly popular and  amazingly cute book characters. I have written about them before. Here you will see all the series of books for young children that feature squirrels.

Today, here's a 'scurry' of picture books that I like.

• Squirrels Leap, Squirrels Sleep  by April Pulley Sayre and Steve Jenkins

• The Squirrel's Busy Year  by Martin Jenkins and Richard Jones

• Nuts to You!  by Lois Ehlert

• The Squirrels Who Squabbled  by Rachel Bright and Jim Field

• The Leaf Thief  by Alice Hemming and Nicola Slater

• Squirrel's Family Tree  by Beth ferry and A.N. Kang

•  Cyril and Pat  by Emily Gravatt

• The Very Special Thing  by Alex Willmore

More squirrel books to look for.

 

19th January International Flower day

 

We must celebrate Flower Day! It started in Australia!

International Flower Day celebrates the vivid coloured efflorescences and uplifting fragrance that nature can produce! It is an occasion to send friends and family some flowers. If you are taken by doubts once at your trusted florist, remember the most popular flowers are roses, followed by gerberas and tulips. 

This day started in Tasmania, back in 2013, when Rohan and Brooke Levy (a father and daughter) were given a bunch of flowers by a stranger. Surprised by this random act of kindness, they then decided to repeat this gesture and give free flowers to almost 300 people on that same day.

So the focus is on spreading happiness and connecting through flowers, either real or ones you read about! Off to the library to collect books that feature flowers?

And if you want to spoil yourself, find this. It is stunning!

• The Water Flower  by Yingting Chen 

19th January Popcorn and Potions

As well as Martin Luther King Day, the 19th of January is also Popcorn Day and Brew a Potion Day.

Fun fact about popcorn:

During the 16th century, popcorn was used in headdresses worn during Aztec ceremonies honoring Tlaloc, their god of maize and fertility. Early Spanish explorers were fascinated by the corn that burst into what looked like a white flower. Now we eat it!

Fun fact about potions:

"Potion" comes from the Latin word "potio" or "potionis," which means drink or beverage. Potions are seen as having magical properties. In mythology they were made by witches, sorcerers, fairies, dragons, and magicians, and were used to poison, heal, or bewitch people, but Brew a Potion Day is a jocular holiday intended for fun, not a day to use potions to harm anyone. The day is meant for people to brew up positive potions for their family and friends, such as love potions.

The good thing about popcorn and potions, is that they are both very easy to celebrate with picture books.

There are popcorn picture books attached to this blog entry.

There are potion picture books attached to this blog entry.

20th January Penguin Awareness Day

 

January 20th is Penguin Awareness Day and it is time to get to know your penguins. There are 18 species of penguin that live primarily in the Southern Hemisphere. 72% of penguins species have a declining population and 5 species are considered endangered. These species are facing extinction if improved protection and conservation measures are not implemented.

In Australia, Penguin Awareness Day is celebrated on 20th January

 to highlight the conservation of native species like the Little Penguin. The Little Penguin is the only species that breeds on the Australian mainland, with significant colonies located at Phillip Island (Millowl). Additionally, April 25th is recognised as World Penguin Day, focusing on global protection efforts.

You can read about Little Penguins on Philip Island here. Little penguins are sometimes called fairy penguins, or little blue penguins. Little penguins are negatively affected by several human-related factors including introduced predators such as dogs and cats, habitat destruction, oil pollution and they are also sensitive to climate change. 

Fun Little Penguin Facts

• • On average Little Penguins only live to about 7 years of age, however this is brought down by a high mortality in their first few years of life. Once a penguin gets to breeding age (2-3yrs) it will likely live into its teens. The oldest penguin we’ve recorded here was 26 years and 4 months old!
• • Little Penguins can spend up to four weeks out at sea at a time, so where do they sleep?! They will quite happily sleep out at sea, floating on the surface of the water, sleeping an average of four minutes at a time.
• • Little Penguins do not mate for life! They are socially monogamous within a breeding season, staying in the same burrow with the same partner. However, they are sexually promiscuous and both the male and female may visit other penguins. About 6.9% of the time males end up raising chicks that aren’t theirs. At the end of each breeding season there is a divorce rate between 18-50%.
• • Penguins have the highest velocity poo of any animal, projecting their poo up to 50cm! This means if they’re stuck in the burrow during the day they can safely project their poo outside, keeping them safe and their home clean.

The Australian little penguin occurs across Southern Australia, including New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, Western Australia, and the Jervis Bay Territory. Colonies primarily exist on offshore islands, where they are protected from feral terrestrial predators and human disturbance. Colonies are found from Port Stephens in northern New South Wales around the southern coast to Fremantle, Western Australia.

These books will give you more knowledge of Little Penguins.

• Little Penguin  by Greg Myers

• The Accidental Hotel  by Andrew Kelly and Dean Jones

• Flipper and Finnegan  by Sophie Cunningham and Anil Tortop

• Chooks in Dinner Suits  by Diane Jackson Hill and Craig Smith

• Pinquo  by Colin Thiele and Mary Milton

• A Home for Little Penguin  by Hannah Coates and Claire Neyland

•  The Little Penguins of Manly Wharf  by Felicity Pulman

•  Little Penguin  by Josie Montana  and Matt Ottley

• The Littlest Penguin  by The Penguin Foundation and Jedda Robaard

• Goodnight, Little Penguins  by The Penguin Foundation and Jedda Robaard

 • Little Penguins  by Rebecca Johnson and Steve Parish

•  The Fairy Penguin  by Tilda Kelly

• Lulu Bell and the Fairy Penguin by Belinda Murrell

• The Penguin Friend  by Lucy Sussex and Margaret Power