31st May World Parrot Day

 

World Parrot Day is celebrated annually on May 31st. It is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate these attractive birds. There are many threats to the population and wellbeing of parrots. Habitat loss, climate change, and wildlife trade are some of the main threats. Many parrot species are in decline. There are over 350 different kinds of parrots but most live in tropical and subtropical regions of the Southern Hemisphere.

To be classified as a parrot, the bird must have a curved beak, and its feet must be zygodactyl, which means there are four toes on each foot with two toes that point forward and two that point backward. Common parrots are parakeets, macaws, cockatoos and cockatiels. Australia has an amazing number of very colourful parrots.

For a display in the library I would put out these books two books to start with and then add.

• Parrots Over Puerto Rico by Susan L. Roth

• Kakapo Rescue  by Sy Montgomery

• The Parrot Tico Tango  by Anna Witte

• Parrots by Valerie Bodden 

• Two Parrots by Rumi Rashin

• The Parrot and the Merchant by Pippa Goodhart and Marjan Vafaian

• A Pandemonium of Parrots  by Kate Baker and Hui Skipp

• Papagayo  by Gerald McDermott

• Petunia Paris's Parrot  by Katie Haworth and Jo Williamson

• The Cocky Who Cried Dingo  by Yvonne Morrison and Heath McKenzie

• Pepi Sings a New Song  by Laura Ljungkvist

• Harold Finds His Voice by Courtney Dicmas

• Hello Jimmy! by Anna Walker

• Pardon Me! by Daniel Miyares

• Mango, Abuela and Me by Meg Medina and Angela Dominguez

• Cezanne's Parrot  by Amy Guglielmo and Brett Helquist

• Town Parrot by Penelope Bennett and Sue Heap

• Pedro the Puerto Rican Parrot by Beverly Jatwani and Sunita Chawdhary

• Polly Parrot Picks a Pirate by Peter Bently and Penny Dann

• The Gossipy Parrot  by Shen Roddie and Michael Terry

• I Said Nothing: the Extinction of the Paradise Parrot  by Gary Crew and Mark Wilson

If you do not have many parrot books, remember there'll be in a lot of parrots in pirate books!

15th March Favourite Folktales

As it is Folktale and Fable Week and I wrote about fables yesterday, I thought I'd share a few favourite folktales today. What is a folktale? A definition I have borrowed

Books in the folktale genre contain stories that have been passed down from generation to generation, often by oral telling. The folktale genre includes, but isn’t limited to: myths, tall tales, legends, fables, and fairy tales.

The stories have often been passed down from one generation to the other until no one remembers who first made up the tale. They tend to focus on broad themes and there may be multiple versions of the tale.

There's so many to choose from, and I have not included any fables, fairytales or myths.  The following are culture-based and are ones that I love to share with classes. Quite a lot has been written for teachers about being careful not to read a folktale to students and let them believe that it is indicative of the culture today. For this reason many teachers will not share Tikki Tikki Tembo. I think it is better to share good stories and talk about there place in time and culture.

Here's ten I love!

• Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears by Verna Aardema and Leo and Diane Dillon (African)

• Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters by John Steptoe (African)

• The Seven Chinese Brothers by Margaret Mahy and Jean and Mou-Sien Tseng (Chinese)

•Two of Everything by Lily Toy Hong (Chinese)

• Why Ducks Stand on One Leg by  Sherry Garland and Jean and Mou-Sien Tseng  (Vietnamese)

• The Old Woman and the Red Pumpkin by Betsy Bang and Rachel Merriman or No Dinner! by Jessica Souhami (Indian)

• The Talking Eggs by Roberts D. San Souci and Jerry Pinkney (Creole)

• The Princess Mouse by Aaron Shepherd and Leonid Gore (Finnish)

• Anansi and the Spider by Gerald McDermott (African)

• The Green Frogs by Yumi Heo (Korean)

31st January Gerald McDermott (1941) Denise Fleming (1950)

The birthday display today for the first day of borrowing was certainly colourful. American author illustrator Gerald McDermott's 'stylised figures and abstract motifs combine ancient imagery with contemporary design' as he retells many of the myths and folktales in a way that allows children to ascertain good from evil and examine recurring motifs such as 'the trickster'. If you have time and an interest there is a very interesting video about mythology and McDermott's approach to it here.

Denise Fleming is also American and her books also enthuse with colour, but her approach is different. Firstly, her books are ideal for a younger age group because they have simpler stories and require less background context. She uses a technique known as pulp painting though, which makes for beautifully textured paper collage. She explains her technique on her website. In fact I found the whole of her website fascinating. She is a very talented lady and it is such a pity Australia isn't on her list of visits.