28th July World Nature Conservation Day

World Nature Conservation Day acknowledges that a healthy environment is the foundation for a stable and healthy society and therefore we are tasked with the need to leave a healthy planet for those coming after us to enjoy.

Mahatma Gandhi famously said, “The world has enough for everyone’s needs, but not everyone’s greed.” We should take an inspiration from this saying and start using natural resources judiciously without being greedy and selfish. What else could we do?

1. Plant trees where they are needed

2. Reduce Reuse Recycle

3. Grow our own food

4. Volunteer in the community for projects that advocate for the environment

5. Educate ourselves about what is happening and what we can do

Whatever you decide to do on this day, your celebrations need to emphasise keeping the various components of nature such as flora, fauna, energy resources, soil, water, and air intact and preserving the environment for future generations. In addition, World Nature Conservation Day underlines the need for preserving the environment for future generations. 

All of these things are being practised by the school community I work in. The library displays often focus on something to do with the environment. Because of the Book Week theme this year Read Grow Inspire, the library is saturated at the moment with books about growing, in particular...trees, seeds, flowers, gardens, fruit, vegetables, the list goes on.

This new title, The Story of Conservation which is part six of a series The Story of ... by Catherine Barr and Steve Williams is an ideal place to start. It will educate teachers and their students.

The authors explain that Earth’s natural resources include air, minerals, plants, soil, water, and wildlife. Conservation is the care and protection of these resources so that they can persist for future generations. 

As well as discovering the effects conservation could have across the world, this book also helps us discover practical ways we can work together to help protect our resources for our future generations.

A book, that I hadn't seen till very recently is E is For Environment  by Lucy Curran and Francesca Rosa. It appears deceptively simple, but it does give you all the terminology.

A is for Atmosphere, B is for Biodiversity, C is for Conservation, and so on in this delightful concept book that teaches young readers the ABCs of the natural world around us and how to protect it.

And lastly, Caring Conservationists Who are Changing Our Planet by Kate Peridot and Sarah Long. This book is about 20 conservationists from around the world and the endangered animals and ecosystems they work so hard to protect. These incredible people who through their amazing conservation efforts have changed the world for the better, show children that no one is too small to make a difference.

13th August International Wolf Day

Wolves once ranged the majority of the world’s northern hemisphere and were adapted to a wide variety of ecosystems. Over time, that has changed.  Wolf numbers are now vastly reduced in these areas.

Originally, the Grey Wolf was the world's most widely distributed mammal. It has become extinct in much of Western Europe, in Mexico and much of the USA, and their present distribution is more restricted; wolves occur primarily but not exclusively in wilderness and remote areas.

Currently, wild wolf populations representing two distinct species of wolf are found in North America, Europe, Asia and Africa – the gray wolf (Canis lupus), and the red wolf (Canis rufus). Worldwide, the gray wolf, is not under threat.  The red wolf,  found in North America, is considered critically endangered. The biggest threat to wolves is humans whose tolerance of them is a problem.

Given that Australian children would never see a wolf in the wild, it always fascinates me to see how many students at school are so interested in them, not in storybook wolves which there are plenty of, but rather in real wolves and not all of them think they are ferocious and should not exist. They are very sympathetic to wolves and so because of this the library has quite a large collection of nonfiction books about wolves such as these:

         

                        

14th July World Chimpanzee Day

Happy World Chimpanzee Day!    

July 14 marks the very day when renowned primatologist Dr. Jane Goodall first stepped foot in what is now Gombe Stream National Park in 1960 to study wild chimpanzees.

Her groundbreaking research called attention to this remarkable species and our responsibility to protect them. This special day raises awareness for this vulnerable species and the threats they face in the wild.

The Common Chimpanzee lives in Central Africa, preferring the dense rainforest areas. It, along with the Bonobo are our closest extant relatives, sharing 95-98% of our DNA. Sadly, like most great apes, other than us, they are listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Their rainforest home is being cut down at an alarming rate, further isolating the populations. Threats also include commercial development, hunting and disease.

Whenever we do a display of ape, monkey, gorilla  or just primate books , they are not always well borrowed. (There are lots to choose from: International Macaque Day 16th March;  International Orangutan Day 19th August; International Primate Day 1st September; World Gorilla Day 24th September; International Gibbon Day 24th October; Monkey Day 14th December.)  They are not as popular as many other animals with this age group, even the toys, but we'll have fun in the library celebrating this day with a display of any book about chimpanzees, including all the Willy the Chimp series, Jane Goodall or the Red List of Threatened Species and see if this smaller display is more popular.

We have:

• The Chimpanzee Book: Apes Like Us by Dr Carla Litchfield

• Termites on a Stick: A Chimp Learns to Use a Tool by Michele Coxon

• Chimaka the Chimpanzee by Jan Latta

• Chimpanzees  by Claire Llewellyn

• The Chimpanzees of Happytown by Giles Andreae and Guy Parker-Rees

• Chimpanzees for Tea  by Jo Empson

• Cha-cha Chimps  by Julia Durango

• Tano and Binti: Two Chimpanzees Return to the Wild by Linda and Andy Devolls

• Cheeky Chimpanzees by Sally Grindley

All the Willy the Chimp books by Anthony Browne

• Willy the Wimp

• Willy the Champ

• Willy and Hugh

• Willy the Dreamer

• Willy's Pictures

• Willy's Stories

• Willy and the Cloud

• Jane Goodall  by Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara and Beatrice Cerrochi

• Jane Goodall: Living With Chimpanzees by Annie Ortiz and Denise Ferrell

• The Watcher  by Jeanette Winter

•  Me...Jane by Patrick McDonnell

• Red Alert! 15 Endangered Animals Fighting to Survive by Catherine Barr and Anne Wilson

23rd May World Turtle Day

It’s easy to get confused between a tortoise and turtle. The main difference between the two is that turtles sometimes live in the water, while tortoises only live on the land. Turtles live up to the age of 40 and have streamlined and mostly flat shells. On the other hand, tortoises can live up to 300 years and they have larger, more domed shells. You will mostly find turtles in the sea, while tortoises inhabit dense jungles and grasslands. Turtles and tortoises are two different animals but this day is dedicated to celebrating and protecting both.

I have written about this day before here and here, but in our school library this is a day when no matter what I put on display, the books all seem to get borrowed. This topic is nearly as popular as polar bears and pandas so the library has a number of fiction and nonfiction titles. See my Pinterest page. The book pictured A Turtle's View of the Ocean Blue  by Catherine Barr and Brendan Kearney is truly inspiring and fairly new so if you are short of turtle books, consider this one. The day after Turtle Day Lindsay Moore's new book, Yoshi and the Ocean will be released. It is based on a real turtle who was released from captivity in South Africa, but then was tracked travelling thousands of miles. What amazing creatures turtles are!

If tortoises are of more interest, two must reads are Jean Craighead George's  Galapagos George (also based on a real creature) or Paul Geraghty's Tortuga are worth hunting for in a library.