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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6th January Bean Day (Part 4) Jonathan Bean

Jonathan Bean is an author illustrator based in Pennsylvania in the US. Until his picture book Building Our House, I hadn't noticed his illustrations in other authors books, but after doing a search I realised I already had books in my library with his illustrations, even one by an Australian author, Wendy Orr's novel,  Mokie and Bik Go to Sea. Lynne Jonell's series of novels about Emmy had been popular with a small group of good readers and I loved their covers, but hadn't 'twigged' to the fact that Jonathan was the illustrator. Last year I added Deborah Underwood's Bad Bye, Good Bye and At Night which I really love and thus got a new appreciation of Jonathan Bean's work. I am now off to buy his newest title This is My Home, This is My School. Very few of the students I teach would know about homeschooling so I'm sure this book will lead to some interesting discussion.

When I do displays in the library I always 'go off on tangents' so sometime this year as part of the International Year of Pulses, Jonathan Bean will have his own display as an 'author/illustrator to watch'!