28th July International Cockroach Appreciation Day

This week I read Mini Grey's outstanding new picture book The Greatest Show on Earth. This is the story of the entire history of Planet Earth. It is narrated by a group of insects who are putting on a show which will show the evolution of life on Earth. The insect that to me has a starring role is the cockroach! He almost looks appealing. This got me thinking about other books that feature that insect that Sydney-siders struggle with, cockroaches, and I remembered that Felicita Sala has also managed to make cockroaches the centre of attention and seem endearing in the two books she illustrated for Maggie Hutchings. I'm not sure we need a day to appreciate cockroaches though!

The students at school really enjoy these two story books which are told from the cockroach's point of view. They remind me of creative writing or 'composition' lessons as they were called when I was at school where we were often asked to write a story from an inanimate object or a speechless animal's point of view.

Cockroaches, as we all know have existed forever. As I often do I googles to see if there was Cockroach Day and lo and behold there is! It is called International Cockroach Appreciation Day and it is on the 28th July. We missed it, but I will be sure to do a display now for next year.  I'm  not sure they need my appreciation though. I will appreciate them vicariously through books.

Cockroaches even appear in folklore. Martina the cockroach appears in Cuban and Mexican folktales and versions of it are often published in English and Spanish. Not sure about the adjective 'beautiful' being associated with cockroaches, but this is the case again in this book where the cockroach is named Anastasia.

There are other stories worth searching out, such as Crickwing by Janell Cannon, another cockroach that you will feel sorry for.  Cocky Colin by Richard Tulloch, where Colin just wants not to live in the dark and be on show. The Super Fly  series where Super Fly and Fantastic Flea are forever trying to save the city of Stinkville from their arch nemesis, Crazy Cockroach. My all time favourite to read aloud is The Cockroach Cup  by Kim Caraher which is just the sort of thing we did as children, race cockroaches.

Luckily we have some more factual books which will give readers another view of cockroaches.

Have fun reading about them without having to deal with a live one! And if you want to buy something, buy the new Mini Grey. It is special.

15th October Worm Day

Last week Australia made a momentous decision to allow same-sex marriage and we were talking in the library about what books we could put out on display to celebrate this. We thought of Worm Loves Worm and the lovely conversation in it about who will be the bride and who will be the groom. Then we went off on a tangent and started chatting about how many picture books had worms as main characters or as the topic. I then thought surely there is a 'worm day' and looked it up. It was on the 15th October and we missed it! So here I am writing it up so that next year we will be well prepared to celebrate it.

These books are in our library and they are perfect for celebrating worms. Firstly picture books:
• Diary of a Worm by Doreen Cronin and  Harry Bliss
• The Worm Who Knew Karate by Jill Lever and Terry Denton
• Worm  by Nicki Greenberg
• Worm Weather by Jean Taft and Matt Hunt
• I Can Only Draw Worms by Will Mabbitt
• Noodle and Lou by Liz Garton Scanlon and Arthur Howard
•  I Won't Eat That by Christopher Silas Neal
• Superworm by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler
• Rooting For You by Susan Hood and Matthew Cordell
• Yucky Worms by Vivian French and Jessica Ahlberg
•  The Worm by Elise Gravel


Then there's all the chapter books:
• Snail and Worm by Tina Kugler (series)
• Boobela and Worm by Joe Friedman and Sam Childs (series)
• Marty McGuire Digs Worms by Kate Messner and Brian Floca
• Dirty Bertie Worms by Alan MacDonald and David Roberts
• Yuck's Pet Worm by Matt and Dave
• They Didn't Teach Me This in Worm School  by Simone Lia
• How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell

Now add some great non-fiction with amazing worm photographs, a book with instructions for making a worm farm, some books on compost and you'll have a great display.

15th March Worm Day

I missed celebrating Worm Day in the library, but I might get to celebrate it next year so I am including it here. All the worm books from the library are in Year 1 classrooms because they are exploring their schoolyard and minibeasts. We have quite a number of books and some such as Elise Gravel's Worm and Doreen Cronin's Diary of a Worm are popular. Surprisingly there's even beginning chapter books featuring worms.

When I read what Worm Day is celebrating and why it was instigated, I'm not sure I would share any of that with students. Instead it is just a good excuse to read about worms, check out the school worm farm, play with the library's Lowly Worm toy,  and wonder why 'worms' go with 'book' to become 'bookworms'.

When you have read all these, check out this new book about twins Violet and Victor by  Alice Kuipers :