3rd - 4th March Holi

Just as Lunar New Year finishes, the Indian festival of Holi is celebrated. Holi  known as the festival of colours, is a Hindu festival celebrated on the last full moon in the lunar month of Phalguna which is usually in March. This ancient tradition marks the end of winter and honours the triumph of good over evil.

The night before Holi, people light bonfires to say goodbye to winter. They gather at temples to sing and dance to music. Then the real fun starts on the day of Holi. That’s when people throw gulal—bright powders and water—at anybody and everybody. These coloured powders have special meaning: red dye symbolises love; blue represents the Hindu god Krishna, and green stands for new beginnings.

There are families at school who celebrate Holi so we have a small number of books.

29th July International Tiger Day.

The world celebrates Tiger Day on July 29th to show our collective support for the magnificent yet endangered big cat.

I have written about this day before, here and here, but quite some time ago and while there are sufficient picture books to celebrate this day, here's some newer ones to look for. There's a Tiger on the Train  by Mariesa Dulak and Rebecca Cobb is a must read!

12th November Diwali

It is nearly time for Diwali, the Hindu festival of light that celebrates the victory of good over evil,  and as quite a number of the students at my school will be celebrating we always have a book display. 

Currently Kindergarten and I are reading folktales too, so yesterday we read an Indian folktale, The Old Woman and the Red Pumpkin which was a 'big hit' with them. As a result of this my Diwali display grew to include Indian folktales and other stories.

There are many books about Diwali available, but look for these in the library as they will cover all aspects and enable you to answer any questions the children will have:

• Binny's Diwali by Thrity Umrigar

• Shubh  Diwali by Chitra Soundar

• Lighting a Lamp by Jonny Zucker

• It's Diwali by Kabir Sehgal

• Happy Diwali  by Sanyukta Mathur    

• All About Diwali: Things to Make and Do by Swapna Haddow

• Rama and Sita  by Malachy Doyle

• Rama and the Demon King by Jessica Souhami

• The Story of Divaali  by Nilesh Mistry

• Rama's Return  by Lisa Bruce

• Chook Doolan: Let's Do Diwali  by James Roy 

• Rangoli by Anuradha Anath     

Some Indian folktales to look for:

• The Elephant's Friend  by Marcia Williams

• The Old Woman and the Red Pumpkin  by Betsy Bang

• No Dinner! by Jessica Souhami

• Grandma and the Great Gourd by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

• Monkey  by Gerald McDermott

• The Monkey and the Crocodile by Paul Galdone

• Seven Blind Mice by Ed Young

• Under the Great Plum Tree  by Sufiya Ahmed

• Once a Mouse... by Marcia Brown

• Pattan's Pumpkin  by Chitra Soundar

• The Elephant's Garden  by Jane Ray

• Jamil's Clever Cat  by Fiona French

• Manu and the Talking Fish  by Roberta Arenson

• The Tiger Child  by Joanna Troughton

Stories:

• The Tiger-Skin Rug  by Gerald Rose

• Stay for Dinner by  Sandy Parappukkaran

• Amma's Sari by Sandy Parappukkaran

7th November Diwali

Today Diwali is being celebrated in Australia. This is the festival of lights, one of the most celebrated festivals in India. It has many beautiful traditions attached to it it and the children in Year 1 at school who are celebrating festivals this term enjoy this one immensely. They make lamps, design rangoon with coloured chalk on the playground and enjoy Indian sweets. For this reason the library now has a good collection of books to spread among the four classes. Among them are these: