5th June Gingerbread Day

It is Gingerbread Day! Not Gingerbread House Day. That is on 12th December. Gingerbread is 

often associated with Christmas because it is ideal in cold weather, but really you can cook, 

decorate and eat it any time of the year.

Gingerbread is a sweet and spicy cake-like biscuit that is traditionally made with ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and molasses. It has a rich and warm flavour. Gingerbread has a long history and has been enjoyed for centuries in many different cultures. If you can find First Catch Your Gingerbread by Sam Bilton you will be well informed about all things - gingerbread.

My children loved making gingerbread men or gingerbread shapes. I think they just enjoyed using rolling pins and cookie cutters. If you have a young child raid your Maisy collection for:

So now to celebrate find a recipe for gingerbread and read The Gingerbread Man or any other book with gingerbread. 

From Minds In Bloom

You should have no trouble locating a traditional version of  The Gingerbread Man.

Our library has these:

What ever you choose, make sure it has all the great repetitive refrains and onomatopoeia so the children can join in.

Now you can explore all the 'spinoffs'!

There is a series by Laura Murray and Mike Lowery which includes:

• The Gingerbreadman Loose in the School     

• The Gingerbreadman Loose at Christmas

• The Gingerbreadman Loose on the Firetruck

 • The Gingerbreadman Loose at the Zoo

 • The Gingerbreadman and the Leprechaun Loose in the School

Another gingerbread series by Lisa Campbell Ernst includes:

• The Gingerbread Girl

• The Gingerbread Girl Goes Animal Crackers 

Author illustrator Jan Brett has three books:

•Gingerbread Baby; Gingerbread Friends  and Gingerbread Christmas. 

Online there is a myriad of activities to accompany these books.

And all the extras:

•  Georgie the Gingerbread Fairy by Tim Bugbird

• The Library Gingerbread Man  by Dotti Enderle

• Tough Cookie  by Edward Hemingway

 • How to Catch a Gingerbread Man  by Andy Eckerman

•  The Gingerbread Man 2 : What Happened Later?  by Stephen Dixon

• Hansel and Gretel's Gingerbread House  by Sue Nicholson

• Everyone Wants a Bite of the Gingerbread Man by Anthony Pinto

• Little Robin and the Delicious Gingerbreadman  by Elaina Moon

• The Gingerbread Star by Anne Fine

And if that's not enough, explore the ninjabread man...

• Kick! Jump! Chop! The Adventures of the Ninjabread Man by Heather Ayris Burnell

• Nanny Pastry and the Nimble Ninjabread Man by Gemma Clatworthy

• The Ninjabread Man by C.J.Leigh and Chris Gall

24th May Escargot Day

Escargot Day is observed each year on May 24th. This day is in honour of the famous French dish of cooked land snails. Escargot is French for edible snails, an acquired taste that was popular in French restaurants in the past, but not so much now. I couldn't find when Snail Day was celebrated so decided to put together a display of 'snail' books to honour the 24th. The students at my school learn French and we have an abundance of wonderful books which feature snails, so why not?

If you are doing this too, start with these picture books:
• Escargot by Dashka Slater & Sydney Hansen. This is such fun and can be found here on Youtube if you don't have a copy of the book.
• Snails Legs by Damian Harvey and Korky Paul
• Super Snail by Elys Dolan
• Snails Are Just My Speed by Kevin McCloskey
• Snail Trail by Ruth Brown
• The Snail and the Whale by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler
• The Story of Fish and Snail by Deborah Freedman
• The Biggest House in the World by Leo Lionni
• Snail and Turtle Are Friends and Snail and Turtle Rainy Days  by Stephen Michael King
• Matisse's Magical Trail by Tim Hopgood and Sam Boughton 
• Snippet the Early Riser by Bethanie Deeney Murguia
• Clementine by Sebastian Loth
• Sylvia  by Christine Sharp


Just a few information books:
• Watch Out Snail! by Gail Hay
• Let's Look at Snails by Michelle Levine
• Snail-Snaily-Snails by Bonnie Bader
' Here are some chapter books worth looking for:
• Snail and Worm by Tina Kugler (this is a series)
• Annie's Snails by Dianne Wolfer
• The Adventurous Snail by Dick King Smith
• Sophie's Snail by Dick King Smith (this is one of six Sophie adventures)
• The Worst Child I Ever Had  by Anne Fine
• The Story of a Snail Who Discovered the Importance of Being Slow by Luis Sepulveda



And for fun look for these two art books
• Snail Trail: A Journey through Modern Art by Jo Saxton
• How the Snail Found It's Colours by Jeong-Yi Kee

4th February Too loud!

Always at the beginning of the school year, but even more so this year I have had requests from teachers about 'books that deal with too loud voices' or 'what to do with a child who doesn't like noise'. This is always a challenge, but there are some books in the library that teachers can use to start discussions about noise, inside voices, when outside voices are appropriate etc.

So Loud it Hurts! is a book that helps with students who are sensitive to noise and are not sure what to do about it. At our school the hand dryers in the toilets make too much noise for some sensitive children!

Too Loud Lily by Sophie Laguna, Not So Loud, Oliver by Tony Maddox,  Shouty Arthur by Angie Morgan, Loud Daniel O'Dowd by Julie Fulton and Loud Emily by Alexis O'Neill are books that clearly demonstrate when too loud is appropriate and when it is not. If it is not only that a child is loud but also interrupts and calls out all the time add My Mouth is a Volcano by Julia Cook to your list of helpful books.

With very young students it can be fun to plan activities to accompany Deborah Underwood's The Quiet Book and The Loud Book.

If it is a short chapter book you are after so that the discussion and idea lingers longer, look at reading Loudmouth Louis by Anne Fine or Super Loud Sam by Jo Simmons.

If the noise is occurring in the library and you need help with the concept of using an inside voice or a whisper there are books to begin discussions too. I start with Library Lion by Michelle Knudsen with my Kindergarten classes and we discuss why quiet voices are best in the library. Then for fun there's The Not So Quiet Library  by Zachariah O'Hora. And this book You Can Control Your Voice...Loud or Quiet? allows you and the class to choose different endings and discuss the ramifications.

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8th August International Cat Day

I haven't written about any form of Cat Day before because where do I start and finish when talking about children's books about cats, but today I had a thought. This week one of my Year 2 students was reading the picture book biography about Wanda Gag and that gave me reason to pull Millions of Cats  off the shelf to show her. What a good place to start a post about cat books!  This book was first published in 1928 and although illustrated in black and white, young students do still enjoy the repeating refrain and imagining that number of cats. Compare this with a very new 2016 cat' picture book, Brendan Wenzel's They All Saw a Cat which also has a repeating refrain, a clear, crisp cat, but looks very closely at perspective, point of view and subjectivity.

"The cat walked through the world, with its whiskers, ears and paws ...and the child saw A CAT, and the dog saw A CAT, and the fox saw A CAT. Yes, they all saw the cat.' In simple, rhythmic prose and ingeniously stylised pictures, Brendan Wenzel takes young readers on a walk alongside a cat."

And in between these two there has been a myriad of cat books and series of books with a cat as the main character.

Some favourites:
• The Cat in the Hat by Dr Seuss
• Mog the Forgetful Cat by Judith Kerr
• Diary of a Killer Cat by Anne Fine
• Splat the Cat by Rob Scotton
• Binky the Space Cat by Ashley Spires
• Pete the Cat by Eric Litwin and James Dean
• Squishy McFluff the Invisible Cat by Pip Jones
• Ballet Cat by Bob Shea

And don't forget poetry!
• The Owl and the Pussycat by Edward Lear
• Cats Sleep Anywhere  by Eleanor Farjeon
• Macavity; Mr Mistoffelees; Skimbleshanks by T.S Eliot and Arthur Robins

16th April World Voice Day

World Voice Day celebrates the importance of the human voice. Imagine having no voice. The only time I wish for that is on some wet days at school  when the class is stuck inside at lunchtime and are using outside voices. Getting the right voice for the right occasion can be so important. Every teacher has some management gimmick to ensure that her students know what is appropriate. Reading stories which promote discussion of the 'right' voice may also help. Here are some suggestions:

• Willow's Whispers by Lana Button and Tania Howells tells the story of a a shy and softly spoken girl called Willow and
how she resourcefully overcomes her school troubles.
• Too Loud Lily by Sofie Laguna and Kerry Argent tells the story of Lily who is too loud at home and school, but she finally discovers she needs to be loud in the school play.
• Loudmouth Louis by Anne Fine. This is a short novel suitable for serialising to young children. It is about Louis, a boy who never stops talking. He announces that he is going to be silent if people sponsor him in order to raise money for a new school library. Louis surprises himself, discovering that he actually likes listening to others.
• My Mouth is a Volcano by Julia Cook. This too is about a boy named Louis who never stops talking. He interrupts all the time and says exactly what he is thinking.
• Giraffe's Big Night by Carrie and David Grant. Giraffe is an opera singer about to embark on a performance. When she wakes that morning she finds that she is hoarse. How will she sing? This story shows children how precious and precarious a voice can be.

At school we often use the word 'voice' also in the context of writing. I love to use Voices in the Park by Anthony Browne to show students how the same events can appear to be very different when described by different witnesses. Here four characters all have the same experience in the park but you certainly get different points of view.

7th December Anne Fine (1947)

Anne Fine is a British author who writes for a large age range, producing picture books, bridging novels, adolescent novels and even books for adults. Her stories engage readers quickly and I am always reluctant to stop reading her books. On her website she explains why this is ...

"A lot of my work, even for fairly young readers, raises quite serious social issues. I believe that many personal decisions have a social or political resonance, and the way people try to pick their way through tricky family situations interests me. But people won't (and shouldn't) read books that don't hold their interest, and I still adore funny books. So since I write for the reader inside myself, I always end up with the kind of book I would have loved to read (if only someone else had bothered to write for me)."

I love Bill's New Frock (Bill's mother makes him wear a dress to school and experience a girl's perspective on life!) and her Diary of a Killer Cat books. Tuffy the killer cat, who narrates this series makes the reader laugh out loud as he describes everything from a cat's point of view. Recently I purchased the latest (No 5) in this series, The Killer Cat's Christmas, but unfortunately ran out of time to read it before school finished. I'll be better organised next year!

Anne Fine was the second Children's Laureate, has won many awards and seen many of her books become movies (Mrs Doubtfire) or television series (Google Eyes), but no matter what you pick up that she has written you know it will be a success and a wonderful read.