1st June Global Day of Parents

This day recognises the importance of responsible parenting in day to day life and was established in 1994. 

World Parents Day is essential as we honour the most important people in our lives. They nurture and protect the child all the time. This day not only reminds us of the selfless sacrifices our parents made for us, but it also reminds us of our responsibilities towards our parents.

The theme for this year is “Appreciate all parents throughout the world”.

I'm sure the children I teach appreciate their parents, but they do enjoy laughing at the funny things parents do. So here are some books from the library where children get to laugh at parents.

• My Mum and Dad Make Me Laugh by Nick Sharratt

• Meet the Parents by Peter Bently and Sara Ogilvie

• Weird Parents by Audrey Wood

• Impossible Parents by Brian Patten

• The Parents are Revolting by Danny Katz

And of course there's always the ever popular

The World's Worst Parents by David Walliams.

16th July World Snake day

It's World Snake Day! I'm certainly not enamoured of snakes, but the students I teach are. In fact the snake books in the library are nearly as popular as the shark books. Usually they want to borrow expository texts and marvel at the photos. We have many books that satisfy this need, the most popular probably being Damian Goodall's The Snake Book: Slip Sliding Away, but if you are looking for some picture books, these are some of the newer and more popular ones in the library:

• I (Don't) Like Snakes by Nicola Davies and Luciano Lozana
• Python by Christopher Cheng and Mark Jackson
• There's a Snake in My School!  by David Walliams and Tony Ross
• Boa's Bad Birthday by Jeanne Willis and Tony Ross
• Anna and Otis  by Maisie Paradise Shearring
• I Saw Anaconda by Emma Dodd and Jane Clarke

If you want to share a short novel, try:
• Akimbo and the Snakes  by Alexander McCall Smith
• The Snake Who Came to Stay by Julia Donaldson
• Snake and Lizard  by Joy Cowley

I have written about snakes before here.

20th August David Walliams (1971)

The children at school today were excited because it is David Walliams' birthday. Adults know him best as a British comedian, actor and television presenter, but the children I teach who are under 8 years old know him as an author. 'He wrote Gangsta Granny  and I love that book.' Coincidentally it was Grandparents Day at school too. My favourite is The Boy in the Dress, but there are also Billionaire Boy, Mr Stink and Ratburger. 'Mr Stink is even better than The Twits'. It is interesting that the children are making connections between David Walliams and Roald Dahl. The parents at my school are obviously enjoying serialising Walliams' books.

4th January 2013 Sir Quentin Blake

The children I teach will be thrilled to hear that Quentin Blake has 'won an award' even if they do not fully understand what it means to get a knighthood. Blake was knighted in the 2013 New Year Honours for his services to illustration. He is probably the most recognised-by-children children's illustrator because of all the Roald Dahl and David Walliams novels he has illustrated. And these two authors are 'big' with the young audiences I work with.

He has been illustrating for so long, so this award has been a long time coming compared to those given to sportsmen, and he has such a wonderful stock from which to choose. He has the books he has both written and illustrated like  my favourites Mr Magnolia and Mrs Armitage, those he has done with Russell Hoban like my favourites ACE Dragon Ltd  and How Tom Beat Captain Najork and his Hired Sportsmen and those with John Yeoman's like Beatrice and Vanessa and The Bear's Winter House. It is fitting that this new anthology of favourite stories he has both written and illustrated has appeared at this time.

You can watch him illustrate here.

PS Perhaps publishers could reconsider republishing ACE Dragon Ltd now that it is illustrated by a Sir!