16th - 23rd August Australian Children's Book Week

Happy Book Week! If you are someone who is not into children's books though, you might not know that it is Book Week!

The winners in each category were announced on Friday, 15th at 12.00 noon, yet I have not read anything in the newspapers, there was nothing to indicate it was Book Week at the local library I visited today or at either of the bookshops at my local shopping mall. One of the cheaper department stores had a sale on dress ups for Book Week. Not so long ago there would have been much more fanfare. The newspapers ran an article about the merit of Australian books for children, an author may have spoken on the radio ... but now? 

How disappointing! It is the Children's Book Council's 80th birthday this year and it still didn't rate a mention. Most schools will have a dress up parade for Book Week sometime this week, but really will it make children or teachers read more books? Yes, it might provide some fun, but given the falling statistics on reading in schools and reading for pleasure in particular, will it address this need. I do hope so! 

Unfortunately in my experience, everyone at school has an opinion about how Book Week should be celebrated. Often those with the loudest voices and the most power are not readers themselves and the Teacher Librarian(s) who should be running a week that focusses on books are not consulted about best practice. As long as we have an author visit and a dress up parade we can tick the Book Week box. 

Do I sound cynical? I sure do, because for quite some time now this is what has been happening at my school. The Book Week we were home with Covid and couldn't dress up and parade was amazing because the teacher librarian (me) was left to plan it all and we had a book grid with a choice of activities every day. The students posted photos of the things they were doing and the feedback was so positive. When the library reopened many students and parents borrowed books they were introduced to during Book Week.

I find it easy to enthuse the students when sharing the shortlisted books or books by the visiting author, but I do find it hard to get the teachers  involved in activities unless I do all the planning, provide the books and give them a run sheet. They are just so busy and feel very time-poor. The curriculum and timetable are just so jam-packed and there is the feeling that everything suggested in a unit of work must be done, even though they are suggestions only, and there is wriggle-room and the outcomes could just as easily be met by reading other titles.

Enough! The shortlisted books for Early Childhood this year were a very good collection to share with my young audience. I have written about each of them elsewhere in this blog: The Wobbly Bike; How to Move a Zoo; One Little Dung Beetle; Everything You Wanted to Know About the Tooth Fairy; Spiro; and  Don't Worry Felix.  And, the author illustrator who is visiting is Cate James who will be perfect for 5 to 8 year olds. 

Now to get ready for a dress up parade... think outside the box...put on your safari suit and go adventuring just like Lollipop and her Grandfather series of books by Penelope Harper and Cate James. I've got hiking boots, shorts, a vest and a tie. I could be a grandparent. I just need Lollipop!

To finish on a more positive note I did spy this book in the bookshops.

This book is based on a song about bookshops that was written by musician Emily Arrow quite a while ago now, but which has just come out in book form with illustrations by Genevieve Godbout.

Dear Bookstore, I remember
the first time I ever visited you...

For one little girl, the local bookstore is not only the beginning of her reading journey, it’s a world that’s always there for her—one that allows her imagination to soar, provides any answers she needs, and sparks her curiosity. It’s a place of wishes and dreams, where everybody and every book fits in. There’s always someone there who is happy to see her and help find her next exciting read. Dear Bookstore is an ode to bookstores, the people who love them, and the books that fill them with magic and it could just as easily be a library as a bookshop.

You can hear Emily sing her song here. This is certainly a book to share the joy of books and reading!

Book Week Early Childhood Shortlist: Don't Worry Felix by Yohan Devezy and Katharine Alice

 

Don’t Worry, Felix follows a little boy, Felix, on his first few days at a new school. For many, a new school can be a very anxious time. This book normalises children’s experiences of anxiety and
empowers children to identify and decrease systems of stress and worry and face their fears. One author is a qualified counsellor, and the other, an occupational therapist, and they have weaved into
the story a ‘special trick’ that the father teaches Felix. This ‘Take 5 breathing technique’ is a simple strategy that can empower children to calm their nervous system through the power of their own breath. The technique can be adjusted to suit each child’s current abilities. (from New Frontier Teaching Notes)

There are so many picture books about starting school, but I'm not sure that this is the right time of year for a display of these, unless Kindergarten orientation days are coming up and parents borrow from your library. If you want examples of books for this see this Pinterest page Starting School or Momotimetoread's Pinterest Starting School Books.

I think I'd be more likely to do a display of mindfulness books, especially ones that feature breathing. The 5 minute breathing technique highlighted in Don't Worry, Felix appears in many picture books. I also thought about a display of books about worries and while we do have many books to help with this, I don't like to put them all out at once, as my young children might discover 'a new worry'.

Wellbeing has been a school feature now for quite some time, but unfortunately every time the teacher responsible for it or the school councillor changes, what the school does in the name of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) may change. My school has used Circle Time, Kimochis, You Can Do It, Zones of Regulation and now as a Round Square school may adopt the Round Square Heroes of Discovery characters. Through all this I have collected Mindfulness and Growth Mindset picture book resources and endeavoured to make sure teachers know of their existence.

'Breathing' picture books for teachers to use with classes:

• My Magic Breath  by Nick Ortner and Alison Taylor

This is the 'best' one for libraries to have because it covers other feelings besides 'worry', but still uses breathing as a means of modulation. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra have added music on this link.

  

More picture books for mindfulness on Pinterest here.

As to the metaphor of the balloon being a worry that changes in size, you are probably better off having fun doing science with balloons, but if you do want to explore books that feature balloons look here.

The balloon has a metaphoric role in these:

Book Week Early Childhood Shortlist ... the Tooth Fairy... by Briony Stewart

Blurb: Every single minute, of every single day, a child somewhere loses a baby tooth. But what happens to all those teeth?

They are collected by the tooth fairy, of course! Or the tooth fairies - because there is more than just one tooth fairy. In fact, there are millions! Like us, they are all different.

And now there is an informative and fully illustrated guide that's jam-packed with answers to every child's tooth fairy questions, like: What do tooth fairies eat? Where do they live? How do they collect your tooth - and what on earth do they do with it?

Find out everything there is to know about the magical (and sometimes just a little bit gross) world of the tooth fairy!

This book is every early childhood teacher's dream. It answers all the questions they are asked. It also gives you an idea for a very easy Book Week dress- you can be a tooth fairy!

Tooth fairy displays are popular in the library because it caters for 3 to 8 year olds and their parents, and they are the age that fully appreciates the tooth fairy. For this reason we have a large number of books about tooth fairies. See:

Not all children experience visits from the tooth fairy. Other cultures have a tooth mouse or throw the tooth on their roof.

I have written about the tooth fairy, teeth and dentists before on this blog. Type in what you are searching for and see what I have suggested there and this Pinterest page will give you examples of other books.

Book Week Early Childhood Shortlist: The Wobbly Bike by Darren McCallum and Craig Smith

This book The Wobbly Bike  by debut author Darren McCallum and 'old hand' Craig Smith is a joy and will certainly make you smile. It is fun and very pertinent to this age group.

So often the parents at school will say 'my child can't ride a bike. When will he learn?' in a manner that implies that it is the school's job to teach him, and then they add 'we live in a unit/ apartment'.

I think this is sad because it means that this child isn't outdoors at the park often or that his parents don't see it as their job to make time to ensure he does learn. Learning to ride a bike is about time, practice, perseverance, risk taking, adult belief and investment in their child, but so rewarding when a child shouts 'I can do it!'

Linked displays:

1. books about learning to ride bicycles

2. books set in the Northern Territory and /or Darwin and books by authors who live in the Northern Territory

3. books about Australian birds

4. other books by Craig Smith

Display 1: Learning to Ride a Bike

The library often has a display about bikes. The preschoolers are very keen to borrow books about bike riding. If you are putting together a display, these are popular

• Don't Let Go! by Jeanne Willis and Tony Ross   (this would make a perfect companion text)

• Don't Let Go, Dad!  by Mark Wilson

• Hello, Bicycle!  by Ella Boyd and  Taming a big-kid bike

• Everyone Can Learn to Ride a Bicycle  by Chris  Learning to Ride a Bike

• Two Wheels  by David Gibb and Brizida Magro  (this would make a perfect companion text)

• Let's Ride a Bike  by Ruth Walton

• I Love My Bike  by Simon Mole and Sam Usher

• Off We Go!  by Will Hillenbrand

• Logan's Big Move by Logan Martin, Jess Black and Shane McG

• Frank and Bert: the One Where Bert Learns to Ride a Bike  by Chris Naylor-Ballesteros

• The Bike Lesson  by Stan and Jan Berenstain

• Duck on a Bike  by David Shannon

• Wild Blue: Taming a Big-Kid Bike  by Dashka Slater and Laura Hughes

• Bike on Bear by Cynthia Liu Kristyna Litten

Display 2: Books set in the Northern Territory 

• Ernie Dances to the Didgeridoo  by Alison Lester

• To the Top End  by Roland Harvey

• My Home in Kakadu  by Jane Christophersen

• Dry to Dry: the Seasons of Kakadu by Pamela Freeman and Liz Anelli

• Walking the Country in Kakadu  by Diane Lucas, Ben Tyler and Emma Long

• Collecting Colour  by Kylie Dunstan

• Big Rain Coming  by Katrina Germein

• Too Many Cheeky Dogs  by Joanna Bell and Dion Beasley

• Aunty's Wedding  by Miranda Tapsell and Samantha Fry

• Look See, Look at Me!  by Leonie Norrington and Dee Huxley

• Cyclone by Jackie French and Bruce Whatley

Leonie Norrington, Joanna Bell, Samantha Fry, Rosemary Sullivan, Katrina Germein and Kylie Dunstan have all lived in the Northern Territory at some time.

Display 3: Books about Australian Birds

The teaching notes for the book suggests:

• Have your class work in groups to research different species of birds in Australia. What do they look like? Where do they live? How many birds illustrated in the story can they identify?

Display of books like these would help with this:

Coming in August from CSIRO

Display 4 Books illustrated by Craig Smith.

The library has more than 100 books illustrated by Craig Smith. Time to revisit these two humorous tales:

And these two more serious tales: