1st November All Saints Day

Year 1 is doing a unit of study on Celebrations and I've had to do a bit of reading this week. Why do teachers think that the librarian knows everything?   T: Why is it called Halloween?  L: Well it comes from the the Eve of All Hallow's.
T: But what is All Hallows? L: Isn't it another name for All Saints Day. 
T: Well what is All Saints Day? L: I think it is the day before All Soul's Day.
So went one conversation I had before I thought I had better do some reading. I found it easy to find books and information about Halloween and its history. The others were harder.

I found this website about All Saints Day helpful and here I read that  it is a day when many Christians remember and honour the saints. Now although I teach at a Christian school it is not a Catholic school and therefore not a lot of emphasis is placed on saints in a religious context. However in a historical context there are many picture books depicting the life of saints. Many of these tell amazing stories and have brilliant illustrations.
Look for these by Demi:
• The Legend of St Nicholas describes the pivotal events in the history and life of the saint who inspired the legend of Santa Claus.
• Mother Teresa  of is a biography of Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, known as Mother Teresa for all her time spent helping the poor in Calcutta, India.
• Joan of Arc
These two by Joyce Denham
• Patrick: Saint of Ireland
• Saint Francis of Assisi
And two by Tomie dePaola
• The Holy Twins: Benedict and Scholastica 
• Patrick: Patron Saint of Ireland

Then I looked up All Soul's Day and learned that this is a day for  Christian communities to remember deceased family members and friends. This is more like the idea behind the Mexican/ Latin American Day of the Dead. There are also picture books about this day. Among them are:
• Felipa and the Day of the Dead by Birte Muller
• Maria Molina and the Days of the Dead by Kathleen Krull
• Day of the Dead by Tony Johnston & Jeanette Winter
• Calavera Abecedario: A Day of the Dead Alphabet  Book by Jeanette Winter
• Ghost Wings by Barbara Joose & Giselle Potter

So this week I have learned quite a bit about Christian celebrations and some of the pagan connections with them.

18th February Barbara Joosse (?)

I don't know what year Barbara was born, but I read somewhere that today was her birthday. I have only read three of her books too, but each of them is well worth seeking out. The most recent, Roawr! is amazing. It celebrates noise and rowdy boy behaviour. There are several boys whom I have taught who remind me of Liam and sometimes I find myself behaving like his mother, right down to requesting children use an inside voice! The comic-like illustrations by Jan Jutte add to the sense of mischief and the whole tone of the book leads me to make connections with Where the Wild Things Are.

The other two books that I know are Mama, Do You Love Me? and Papa, Do You Love Me? These two are ideal for Mothers Day and Fathers Day activities, liturgies and discussions about parent/child relationships. The mother title depicts an Inuit family and the father title is set in Africa and depicts a Masai family, but this does not limit them or decrease their relevance to the families of your students. In fact it adds to their appeal and range of use.