24th November Fairy Bread Day

The 24th November is Fairy Bread Day everywhere, but it means more to Australians because fairy bread is native to Australia — something we can all be very proud of. 

Fairy bread is sliced white bread spread with margarine or butter and covered with hundreds and thousands, which adhere to the bread. It is typically cut into two triangles. It dates back to the 1920s in Australia, and is first recorded in The Hobart Mercury, which describes children consuming the food at a party. It continues to be popular at children's birthday parties and every Australian adult will have fond memories of fairy bread parties. A dear friend of mine actually has her birthday on the 24th November so I'm sure she'll be having fairy bread parties for quite some time yet. 

If you are reading a book set in Australia and a birthday is celebrated there may well be mention of fairy bread, but Ursula Dubosarsky took the iconic Australian party food and made it the focus of a whole book for beginning readers. Becky wants lots of fairy bread at her party, but there is too much. It is amazing all the things she thinks to do with it. For the readers in my library it is a favourite in the Nibbles series. 

Another beginning novel that is out of print but likely to be in many Australian school libraries is Bob the Builder and the Elves by Gillian Rubinstein. In this delightful story messy Bob has elves who clean for him and when they leave they leave him fairy bread to eat. He wants these elves gone from his house and enlists the help of his friendly neighbour, librarian Lily Sweet. Even some of the boys at school enjoy this story. Blake Education has teaching activities to go with this book.

There must be other Australian stories that feature fairy bread. Can you think of any? Interestingly the most iconic Australian book featuring food, Possum Magic doesn't feature it.

The name 'fairy bread' supposedly came about from a line in a poem, Scottish-born novelist  Robert Louis Stevenson published in 1885. It is poem 37 in 

A Child’s Garden of Verses and Underwoods.  1913.

37. Fairy Bread

COME up here, O dusty feet!
Here is fairy bread to eat.
Here in my retiring room,
Children, you may dine
On the golden smell of broom
And the shade of pine;
And when you have eaten well,
Fairy stories hear and tell.

Too hot February!

We have sweltered at school since the term began. The heat and humidity seem interminable. It doesn't make for productive teaching when everyone just wants to get cool. Why aren't schools air-conditioned? I tried the 'power of suggestion' by putting together library displays about swimming and ice cream.

Many of the preschool classes have been to the library for the first time and it is a long walk (not really but they think it is) so we pretended to eat ice cream, acted out an ice cream poem and read Sam Lloyd's Two Little Aliens . In this story two aliens find ice cream and don't know what to do with it. It always makes the children feel so knowledgeable and they laugh at the aliens.

The displays worked. All the ice cream books left the library very promptly.They went before I even had the chance to share Bob Graham's Vanilla Ice Cream or Peter Sis' Ice Cream Summer. I always  enjoy sharing Mr Plunkett's Pool too, as there are so many scenarios that arise and can then be  discussed by the children, especially with my students who think that everyone has a pool or lives near the beach.

Below are some of the books we put out on display.

29th August Gillian Rubinstein (1942) Karen Hesse (1952)

Australian Gillian Rubinstein and American Karen Hesse are not best-known for their books for very young children. They generally write novels for older children and both have won awards for these. However both have published picture books. Karen Hesse's books are not easy to find in Australia. Perhaps because many deal with history and America, but The Cats in Krasinski Square and Come On, Rain! are both beautifully executed picture books. The second is illustrated exquisitely by Jon J Muth.

Gillian Rubinstein has several picture books, two of which I have used with great success with prep classes. Dog In, Cat Out which is illustrated by Ann James is great with preschoolers who are eager to read. You can read the pictures and get the minimal text correct. It only has four words and the pictures tell you what they will be. It is also good for children learning to tell the time using analog clocks. Mr Plunkett's Pool which is illustrated by Terry Denton is very different from Dog In, Cat Out. It looks at sharing and the whole concept of community. There is plenty here for heated class discussions. Gillian Rubinstein has also published many beginner novels, three about Troy and Tania; The Giant's Tooth; The Fairy's Wings; and The Pirate's Ship and a series of four books about two 'kitkids' Jake and Pete.