12th May International Nurses Day

International Nurses Day is the perfect time to celebrate the contribution these health-workers make to the community, even more so since their importance has been highlighted during the pandemic. It is celebrated on this day to commemorate the birth of English nurse, Florence Nightingale in 1820. I wrote about this day in 2011 here, yet in that time there has not been an abundance of newer books about nurses. 

Nurses feature in board books for preschoolers and in series such as Peppa Pig, Maisy, Topsy and Tim,  more often than not because they are visiting a hospital, but then there is a big gap reading-wise till you have biographies like those about Florence Nightingale. Your library might have these books:

 

The stories here that are based on real nurses show readers how fearless, compassionate and driven they were .

If you have young children the book A Trip to the Hospital  by Freda Chiu highlights each of the health professionals that work in a hospital which means there is a lot to discover and discuss.

4th October World Animal Day St Francis of Assisi

 World Animal Day is an international day of action celebrated annually on October 4, the Feast Day of St Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals. It started in 1931 at a convention of ecologists in Florence, Italy who wished to highlight the plight of endangered species.

"Saint Francis of Assisi has always held a fascination for members of all faiths, and his story continues to inspire and motivate us more than seven hundred years after his death. Born into a wealthy family, he led a dissolute life as a young man. Then one day he had a conversion experience while passing a poor leper's hut. From that day on, Francis dedicated his life to helping the poor and outcasts of society and to teaching respect for all living things. He was joined by a noblewoman, Clare, who was soon known as Sister Moon to Francis's Brother Sun." (Amazon) He is responsible for the famous prayer that begins, "Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace.", the Canticle of the Sun and many stories about how he tamed a wolf and talked to animals. 

Below is a collage of all the wonderful picture books that feature Saint Francis. Lots of well-known authors and illustrators have presented their view of this favoured saint. See Tomie dePaola, Brian Wildsmith, Fiona French, Pat Mora, Demi, Margaret Mayo, Reeve Lindberg and Katherine Patterson. You might even be able to find a favourite of mine, the very old and now out-of-print How St Francis Tamed the Wolf by Gerald Rose.

There are so many wonderful books about animals, including Walker's wonderful Nature Storybooks, anything by Steve Jenkins, those large, beautifully illustrated books with flaps by Francesco Pittau Gervais, anything fro National Geographic... World Animal Day is such a good excuse for a display in the library.

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.

2nd October Mahatma Gandhi (1869 - 1948) International Day of Non-Violence

Mahatma Gandhi, the famous peace activist was born on this day in India. He is honoured in India as the Father of the Nation and as such today is a national holiday in India, known as Gandhi Jayanti. It is also commemorated world-wide as the International Day of Non-Violence.

While much has been written about Gandhi, there is very little for very young children. Gandhi by Demi and Jaydn and the Magic Bubble: I Met Gandhi by Brigitte Benchimol are two that would be helpful. They would also be worth a look while the Commonwealth Games are on in Delhi.

2nd September Demi (1942) Ellen Stoll Walsh

Well it is a colourful day today! Both of these illustrators love bright colours and their books have great visual impact.

Demi, the pen name for Charlotte Dumaresq Hunt, comes from a very artistic family, married Tze-si Huang who was born in China, is a practising Buddhist and has travelled widely and studied many art techniques. In an interview she says, "Life is magic. Everything alive is magic. To capture life on paper is magic. To capture life on paper was the aim of Chinese painters. That is my aim too." Demi has a love also of gold leaf and intricate detail which she also includes in her illustrations. Many of her early books are retellings of folktales. See The Empty Pot, Firebird and One Grain of Rice. Her more recent books present important figures in history and /or religion, such as Gandhi, Buddha, Muhammad, and Mother Teresa.

Ellen Stoll Walsh, on the other hand, makes books for much younger children. They have less text and more gentle illustrations, which use torn paper collage in the style of Leo Lionni. She uses mice and other small animals as her characters. She is probably best-known for her series of concept books which feature a very attractive mouse family, Mouse Paint; Mouse Shapes and Mouse Count. Many teachers use Mouse Paint, together with Lionni's Little Blue and Little Yellow to introduce the colour wheel and mixing colours. I was very interested to read that Ellen was reading a Lionni title to her son, when she had the thought that she would like to make children's books too.