3rd January Drinking Straw Day

January 3rd commemorates the date in 1888 that Marvin C. Stone received the patent for the paper drinking straw. Since then, a variety of drinking straws are used.

It is believed the Sumerians used the very first drinking straws for drinking beer. Archeologists speculate they used the straws to avoid the solid byproducts of fermentation that would have sunk to the bottom.  The oldest drinking straw known to be in existence was found in a Sumerian tomb dated 3000 B.C. This found straw was a gold tube inlaid with a precious blue stone.

Today, manufacturers make a variety of reusable straws. From stainless steel and glass to bamboo and silicone, they not only save money and the environment, but they are also fun to use.  They come in a variety of creative shapes and colours. 

If Marvin Stone were alive today, he might be shocked to know of the five large areas of the ocean, called gyres, where plastic garbage collects, including straws. This causes harm to marine life in many ways.

Americans use 500 million drinking straws daily so I'm sure Australians use a lot too. It might be better if we celebrated National Skip the Straw Day which is on the fourth Friday in February. This day is about thinking of alternatives to drinking through a straw or better still not using straws!

When looking for picture books featuring drinking straws then, it won't surprise you to know that most of them feature the plastic pollution problem, rather than highlight what they used to be used for.

• The best 'straw' book is Straw by the talented duo Amy Krause Rosenthal and Scott Magoon.

 

Straw has always had a great thirst for being first, slurping up anything in sight and 

rushing in to finish.

•  There's a science  book by Vicki Cobb

Just how do straws work? Learn all about physics and the effect of air 

pressure on liquids.

• Then there are books that look at straws as causes of water pollution.

Sippy, a plastic straw who was used once and then discarded, 

worries what will happen to him when he realises he can't be 

recycled. As he flies, floats, and flutters around the planet, 

he meets animals who are struggling with the plastic problem.

In the waters off of Costa Rica, scientists spot an endangered sea 

turtle and pull him aboard to study him. But he has something

 stuck in his nose. A barnacle? A stick? No...it's a plastic straw! 

 'This book will plant the seeds of environmental activism in young 

 readers.' (Kirkus)

 You'll hear about the "Be Straw Free" campaign, started by 

 nine-year-old Milo Cress. 

• And coming in February, watch out for this:

​

Learn how and why a useful, 5000-year-old invention has become a 

 threat to our planet and what you can do about it--in this history of 

the simple straw.

This is also a good day to link back to the UN Sustainability Goals as 

this one connects to UN SDG Goal 14. You might also like to watch 

this TED talk where nine-year old Molly Steer talks about how many 

straws we use in Australia.

8th March International Women's Day

We always celebrate this day in our library and I have written about it on this blog several times before, but given the diatribe this week about children's picture books that was on a popular website I follow, I feel the need to recommend some picture books with female main characters that are certainly worth meeting. The posts were going on and on about how all the characters in the picture books for very young children, even if they were animals, were male, 'even the Gruffalo!' While I agree that, that may well be the case, and that 'he' is used more than 'she' in books, there is so much more available to children today than there used to be. The popularity of the series Little People Big Dreams by Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara  proves that books about girls can be popular. They are among the most popular books borrowed from our Prep school library and many of the children have some copies of their own. Kate Pankhurst's Great Women series is also popular.

We keep popular series in boxes because Preschoolers want to be able to find their friends quickly. Most of the series do have male main characters, but there is Maisy and Angelina Ballerina (both mice),  Miffy, Eloise, Fancy Nancy and Pinkalicious and these are more popular than say, Pete the Cat; Splat the Cat; Scaredy Squirrel  and Grug.

For stand alone, any of these picture books have girls as the main character and are well worth searching out in your library. Happy International Women's Day!

• One Word From Sophia by Jim Averback and Yasmeen Ismail (See Nothing! and I'm a Girl! by Yasmeen Ismail)











• Pearl Power  by Mel Elliott (There are now three books about Pearl)













• Izzy Gizmo  by Pip Jones and Sara Ogilvie (There are now two books about Izzy)













• Dear Girl  by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Paris Rosenthal (See Amy's Uni the Unicorn books as well for a strong female main character)

• Where's Jamela? by Niki Daly (the five stories about Jamela who lives with her mother and grandmother give readers a very positive view of what women are capable of)

11th October International Day of the Girl

It is school holidays here, but I wish it was a school day because today is International Day of the Girl and my students and parents who are wealthy and educated still seem to need to be convinced at times that there is a gender gap. I have mothers saying to me, "Please don't let my boy borrow a pink book"; "Please don't let my girl borrow anymore building books"; "Do you have books that are boys' books?"; " My daughter loves Princess in Black,  what pink princess books could I borrow for her?"

This is in a country where women are more highly educated than men at the moment, but fewer of them are in leadership roles. This is at a coeducational school where the students have amazing opportunities and choices.

I am constantly putting together displays to counteract intrenched views. The library has an amazing collection of picture book biographies and picture books that feature girls and science, but today I would have put together a small display of books that encourage girls to be themselves, befitting this year's theme - GirlForce: Unscripted and Unstoppable.

                      

I give every baby girl born to friends, a copy of Global Baby's Girls  and  a copy of one of Dream Big  by Joyce Wan or Baby Feminists  by Libby Babbott-Klein.













The display in the library would include these books:

      

Go girls!

29th April World Wish Day

World Wish Day occurs on the 29th April each year and originated because of a seven year old child who was sick with leukaemia wishing for something to happen in 1980. His wish was granted and when people heard about it the Make-A-Wish Foundation was founded. It has become a well-known world-wide children's charity but I am writing about this day because of a request I had from a preschool teacher at the end of last term for books about 'wishing'. She had been talking to her class about wishes and realised that the children didn't really know what a wish was when she asked them what they would wish for during an activity.

There are so many books I could have given her. Narrowing it down to a small number was hard. Most of the picture books with 'wish' in the title have a Christmas setting so I avoided them except for Jane Godwin and Anna Walker's beauty, What Do You Wish For? , and gave her that and these:

• Wish by Roseanne Thong and Elisa Kleven
• I Wish... by Nick Ward
• I Wish For More by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld
• The Wish Giver by Roseanne Hawke and Lenore Penner
• The Wish Factory by Chris Riddell
• The Fish Who Could Wish by Korky Paul
• The Wish Tree  by Kyo Maclear and Chris Turnham
• The Wishing Boat by Amanda Tarlau and Chris Saunders



We all make wishes and these wishes differ greatly in magnitude but it was interesting to see that a concept we as adults take for granted was something the three and four year olds at an affluent school needed to be introduced to through planned intervention. The classroom now has a wish tree and they talk about wishes and wishing in their regular discourse. If you have none of the books above buy The Wish Tree  or watch it here. Danielle Davis from the blog This Picture Book Life outlines an accompany activity she has planned for the book here and there are other ideas on the web.

9th April Unicorn Day

What mythological creature has been more beloved over the centuries than the unicorn? Symbols of purity and enchantment, unicorns are loved by both children and adults alike and are integral parts of many fairy tales and legends.

Unicorns certainly do appear to be popular in children's books and just as well because I am constantly asked for a 'unicorn book'. Luckily I have quite a few in the library to choose from. The most popular are probably Amy Krouse Rosenthal's two books about Uni the Unicorn and Amy Young's books about Sparkle, but if you look on this Pinterest page you will see there are many others to choose from and to use for a quick display to celebrate this day.

A group of able Year 2 students  have taken to reading the series of graphic novels about Phoebe and her unicorn too, so come tomorrow unicorn books will be walking out the door of the library.

24th September Punctuation Day

National Punctuation Day started in America but reading about it on the web, it seems that Australia and New Zealand share its zeal for identifying examples of incorrect punctuation. It is always easy to find examples of incorrect apostrophe use. Have fun planning 'punctuation police' activities with a class. There are books that can add to the fun. Among them, but not part of a specially written punctuation series are:

• Punctuation Mark by Belinda Ellis
Fun, light-hearted and for a young audience.

• Exclamation Mark by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
What happens with a misplaced exclamation mark?

• Punctuation Takes a Vacation by Robin Pulver
What would happen if there was no punctuation. Mr Wright's class find out.

• Eats, Shoots and Leaves  by Lynne Truss
This is a more sophisticated look at punctuation, but even young children laugh when you explain examples in this book and how a comma can really change the meaning.

23rd July Hot Dog Day; Vanilla Ice Cream Day

Hot dogs and ice cream are not necessarily topics we associate with children's books, but even national days such as these can in fact be celebrated by reading wonderful children's books.

Mo Willems has both topics covered by his popular pigeon in The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog  and by Elephant and Piggie in Should I Share My Ice Cream?

Tom Watson has both topics covered in his series about Stick Dog, Stick Dog Wants a Hot Dog and Stick Dog Dreams of Ice Cream. These quick-read novels are extremely popular with my able readers in Year 2. They will be very excited to see Book 4 has just arrived.

Then these three ice-cream books just should not be missed by anyone!
• Vanilla Ice Cream  by Bob Graham
• Ice Cream Summer by Peter Sis
• I Scream Ice Cream by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Serge Bloch (just amazing word play to revisit and ponder over often)

29th April Amy Krouse Rosenthal

Thanks to Eric at Happy Birthday Author I now know that today is author, Amy Krouse Rosenthal's birthday. Every time she publishes a new book I am amazed all over again. She is so clever. Where does she get her ideas? Each book is so unique! The children in the my library love Spoon and Chopsticks. What eating implement will be next? Amy obviously likes wordplay. Even her website has interactive features based on words for readers to play with. Do you want it to be windy or rainy? Choose the ambience you would prefer. It is not always easy to find her books in Australia. Her newest I Scream for Icecream is here already, but I still haven't seen Exclamation Mark. This trailer really whet my appetite and I want to see the whole thing. Just as each of her books are unique often the message in her books, whatever the main character may be, is that each of us is special and has much to offer. We shouldn't be discouraged by others or feel that they are better than us. Now that I know I also have to acquaint myself with her books for adults and organise something special display-wise for next year.