6th January Bean Day (Part 1)

The 6th January is Bean Day.  I was surprised to find that such a day existed. Websites say it is a day to celebrate beans of every sort in any way you want or can think of. So obviously I thought about books and then realised that I could think of four different 'bean' ways to do this:
1. Look at books, fiction and non fiction books that are about the vegetable, beans.
2. Look at all the books where a character has 'Bean' as a name.
3. Look at stories such as Jack and the Beanstalk where beans or beanstalks appear. There are so many versions of and spoofs of this story, and
4. Look at the books by author/illustrator Jonathan Bean.

See I told you. I could have fun with 'beans' for  a whole week and I haven't even looked at jellybeans. I would also want to grow some beans because they are so easy to grow and children love watching the changes. You might have Amanda Graham's Five Beans big book in your school and be able to put the procedural text into reality. This book, part of the Wings series of books for young readers is ideal for 5-6 year olds. Otherwise there are quite a few very good expository texts about the lifecycle of a bean that you could follow. My school also has a big book of Nick Butterworth and Mick Inkpen's  Jasper's Beanstalk and the children love laughing at Jasper's antics as he waits for his beanseed to grow.

Other than growing beans, there is always cooking with beans, say Mexican-inspired wonders or soup, craft with beans or just reading good stories such as the very funny Bean Thirteen by Matthew McElligott or Mice and Beans by Joe Cepeda and Pam Munoz Ryan. Skippyjon Jones has quite a cult following in my library too so this title could be fun too.

Tomorrow Part Two will cover all the book characters who have Bean as a name.

22nd April Jelly Bean Day

Oh what fun a day! Who needs an excuse to celebrate jelly beans, one of my favourite lollies? According to the web page that goes with the day, no one knows for sure who invented them or where they came from. Some think they developed from Turkish Delight and that they have existed since the mid 19th century. They think you should celebrate by having a 'how many jelly beans in the jar' competition, doing craft activities using jellybeans or simply eating lots of jelly beans, but here's some other ways and of course they enlist the help of good picture books.

Immediately two Australian books came to mind, The Sad Little Monster and the Jelly Bean Queen by Kym Lardner and Picasso the Green Tree Frog by Amanda Graham and John Siox. I was going to say that unfortunately they are both out of print and you will need to search in a library, but I have just looked at Kym Lardner's website and learned that you can buy this book and the whole story is on his website for you to read! It is the story of a princess who eats 'jelly beans for breakfast, lunch and tea', but she decides she would like to share her jelly beans and goes off in search of someone to share them with.

The other, Picasso the Green Tree Frog is about a frog who falls into a jar of jellybeans and becomes multicoloured, the colours of the jelly beans. It too, is good fun and you can still buy this book and find Picasso on this Era interactive website.

A newer book about jelly beans is How Many Jelly Beans?  by Andrea Menotti and Yancey Labat. This oversized book with lovely thick paper and bright illustrations appeals greatly to small hands. It is about two children Aiden and Emma who are trying to decide how many jelly beans are enough. So it would be perfect  to share while eating jelly beans!