3rd September Hummingbird Day

The first Saturday in September means it is time to celebrate hummingbirds. These very small, delicate- looking, pretty birds are fascinating because of their long migration and special skills, but we do not have them in Australia.  Perhaps that is why they fascinate me. Most Australian birds are large and noisy so perhaps hummingbirds have novelty value for me, like robins do.

Hummingbirds are tiny, colourful, thin-beaked birds that get their name from the humming noise that occurs when they flap their wings very fast. The over 300 species of hummingbirds are natives of North and South America.

Hummingbirds lay the smallest eggs of all birds. They are smaller than a jellybean!

A hummingbird's heart rate is more than 1200 beats per minute. Our heart rate is only 60 to 100 beats a minute.

It is easy for Australian children to learn about hummingbirds from beautifully illustrated children's books. Try these:

• Hummingbird  by Nicola Davies and Jane Ray

• Tiny Bird  by Robert Burleigh and Wendell Minor

• My Tiny Life by Ruby T. Hummingbird by Paul Meisel

And there is a lovely section about hummingbirds in The Most Important Animal of All by Penny Worms and Hannah Bailey

Looking for nonfiction?

• Hummingbirds  by Quinn M. Arnold

 • Hummingbirds  by Bonnie Bader

 • Time to Shine: Celebrating the World's Iridescent Animals by                Karen Jameson and Dave Murray

And stories:

• The Little Hummingbird by Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas

This inspiring children's book is based on a South American indigenous story about a courageous hummingbird who defies fear and expectations in her attempt to save the forest from fire. The illustrated story is supplemented by a natural and cultural history of hummingbirds, as well as an inspiring message from Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai. The evocative artwork by internationally renowned Haida artist Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas complements this optimistic tale that encourages everyone to take responsibility for their home and the planet. 

• Hector and Hummingbird  by Nicholas John Frith

• Soar by Hillary Daecher and Angie Hohenadel

International Year of Glass

 

The Year will celebrate the essential role glass has and will continue to have in Society. In the library this year we started off with a display of books that feature glass and glass products. We collected fiction and nonfiction books about jars, glasses, bottles, spectacles, marbles, lights, lanterns, telescopes, microscopes, mirrors, magnifying glasses, lighthouses and windows. We couldn't believe just how much we had to display.

I was also pleasantly surprised to find books that were so worth sharing. Among many, these are just luminary.

It Fell From the Sky by Eric and Terry Fan

From the cover of the book you can see that 'it' is a glass marble.

Here is the blurb:

A whimsical and elegantly illustrated picture book about community, art, the importance of giving back - and the wonder that fell from the sky.

It fell from the sky on a Thursday. None of the insects know where it came from, or what it is. Some say it's an egg. Others, a gumdrop. But whatever it is, it fell near Spider's house, so he's convinced it belongs to him.

Spider builds a wonderous display so that insects from far and wide can come to look at the marvel. Spider has their best interests at heart. So what if he has to charge a small fee? So what if the lines are long?

But as Spider raises the prices, insects stop showing up, much to Spider's bemusement. And then, all of a sudden, an unexpected disaster hits and the marvel disappears!

This charming story is accompanied by characterful illustrations, and also teaches children important life lessons about greed and the importance of sharing.

A Thousand Glass Flowers by Evan Turk

Here is the blurb:

This gorgeous and empowering picture book from award-winning author-illustrator Evan Turk paints the portrait of Marietta Barovier, the groundbreaking Renaissance artisan who helped shape the future of Venetian glassmaking.  

Marietta and her family lived on the island of Murano, near Venice, as all glassmakers did in the early Renaissance. Her father, Angelo Barovier, was a true maestro, a master of glass. Marietta longed to create gorgeous glass too, but glass was men's work. 

One day her father showed her how to shape the scalding-hot material into a work of art, and Marietta was mesmerized. Her skills grew and grew. 

Marietta worked until she created her own unique glass bead: the rosetta. Small but precious, the beautiful beads grew popular around the world and became as valuable as gold. The young girl who was once told she could not create art was now the woman who would leave her mark on glasswork for centuries to come.

The Glassmaker's Daughter by Dianne Hofmeyr and Jane Ray

Here is the blurb:

Daniela the glassmaker's daughter is grumpy and never smiles. Her father promises a beautiful glass palace to anyone who can make her laugh. People come from far and wide to try their luck in amusing Daniela. But mask makers, lion tamers and magicians cannot raise a smile from the princess. It is only when a young apprentice makes the first looking glass that Daniela learns to smile - at her own grumpy reflection! This beautiful fable set in sixteenth-century Venice features stunning illustrations from award-winning artist Jane Ray alongside a poetic text. 

Glass Tears by Jane Jolly and Di Wu

Here is the blurb:

Tian and her family make a special glass bouquet to place on their father's grave. Some years before, he had left Vietnam on a ship bound for wider, browner lands, but never came home. As Tian threads the tiny glass beads onto wire stems she remembers her father and sheds for him, a glass tear.  Based on a true event from the 1940s.

Child of Glass  by Beatrice Alemagna

Here is the blurb:

Child of Glass follows Gisele, a fragile yet resilient girl who was born entirely made of glass. Sparkling and luminous, she attracts awe and attention from across the world. But as she is also completely transparent and her innermost thoughts and feelings are always on display, she also faces rejection and alienation. Gisele must, therefore, embark on a journey to find her place in the world. In sparse, poetic language marked by insight and realism, Child of Glass reminds us of the inner courage and capacity for self-realization we all possess.

A Bottle of Happiness by Pippa Goodhart and Ehsan Abdollahi

Here is the blurb:

There was once a big mountain. The people on one side were rich and worked only to get richer. The people on the other side of the mountain were poor but had a wealth of stories and laughter. One day a poor young boy decides to seek a new story and this leads him to the rich people's marketplace. He would love one of the ripe pieces of fruit, but what can a poor boy trade?  Find out if it is possible to bottle and share happiness in this timeless fable, exquisitely illustrated in an eye-opening and unusual style. 

Memory Jars by Vera Brosgol

Here is the blurb:

A young girl finds a clever way to keep her favorite things--and people--close to her forever in Memory Jars. Freda is devastated when she can't eat all the delicious blueberries she's picked. She has to wait a whole year before they're back, and she doesn't want to lose them! Then Gran reminds her that they can save blueberries in a jar, as jam. So Freda begins to save all her favorite things. But it turns out that saving everything also means she can't enjoy anything, and Freda realizes that some things are best saved as memories. 

In a Jar by Deborah Marcero

Here is the blurb:

Here's a marvelous picture book, charmingly written and beautifully illustrated, about the power of memory and the magic of friendship. 
Llewellyn, a little rabbit, is a collector. He gathers things in jars--ordinary things like buttercups, feathers, and heart-shaped stones. Then he meets another rabbit, Evelyn, and together they begin to collect extraordinary things--like rainbows, the sound of the ocean, and the wind just before snow falls. And, best of all, when they hold the jars and peer inside, they remember all the wonderful things they've seen and done.

And an oldie that I found on the shelves and reread. It might still be in your library too.

Ah Kee and the Glass Bottle by Joan Salanitri and Di Wu

'A picture book for all ages. This is love story set in China when merchant caravans travelled the Silk Road. Ah Kee's gift of a blue glass drinking bottle to her husband Li Chong leads her on a perilous journey in storm-ravaged mountains to save his life.' 

All these and I haven't mentioned mirrors, spectacles, windows or any of the many other things on the list above.

13th May World Migratory Bird Day

This year the theme for World Migratory Bird Day is “Birds Connect Our World” and it was chosen to highlight the importance of conserving and restoring the ecological connectivity and integrity of ecosystems that support the natural movements of migratory birds and that are essential for their survival and well-being. What a great theme!

I have written about this day before, but wanted to write about it again because lately I have been reminded of so many beautiful books that do this topic so well.

Mike Unwin and Jenni Desmond's wonderful book Migration gives many examples of birds that do these great migrations, but it is the individual picture story books that heighten our awe and empathy for both the birds and the sheer vastness of the journeys.

Jeannie Baker's Circle  tells the migration story for the Bar-tailed Godwit which makes the longest unbroken migration of any bird, a total of 11000 kilometres, all the way from Alaska to New Zealand. The illustrations allow the reader to follow the journey very closely and to marvel at the ingenuity and tenacity of such a small bird. New Zealand authors have also written about this bird and a new book  Little Godwit Finds His Wings was published this year.

Two books that look at migrating cranes are Grandfather's Dream by Holly Keller and Lotus and Feather by Ji-Li Jiang. Holly Keller's book, set in Vietnam tells the story of Nam and her grandfather who is constantly harking back to the days when the cranes came to the delta as part of their migratory journey.  Jiang's story, set in China tells of a crane that fails to finish a migration because of a hunter's bullet. The discussions elicited by classroom readings of these two books. Lotus and Feather could be read along side Rechenka's Eggs by Patricia Polacca as there are similarities in that Rechenka is an injured goose who also needs to be nursed back to health.

Another two books for comparison are about hummingbirds. Look for Tiny Bird by Robert Burleigh and Wendell Minor and Hummingbird by Nicola Davies and Jane Ray. Both of these chart the long journey from Mexico to Canada that this tiny bird that is smaller than you thumb makes each Spring.    

In Is this Panama? by Jan Thornhill and  Soyeon Kim,  a young Wilson's warbler wakes up one day knowing this is the day to start a long journey from the Arctic Circle to Panama and because this bird is named, Sammy you cannot help but get involved in his plight. He is no longer, just any bird!

I noticed there is a new book coming called The Sea Swallow and the Humpback Whale by Catherine Barr and Gerry Turley which tracks two migratory journeys across sea and sky. I look forward to seeing this.

While each of these books tells an amazing story of persistence, resilience and sheer determination it is the illustrations in each that make them very special. The illustrations do much more than give a map or track a journey. They personalise, imbue wonder and allow the reader to marvel.

31st December The Nutcracker

As the year ends and I now have time to reflect on year's end in the library and just how many Christmas books we have, I still have trouble discarding favourites and those by favourite authors or illustrators. This year we contemplated culling the large number of versions of The Nutcracker we have, yet as we agonised over which ones to let go we realised that every single version we owned had been borrowed during 2015, so ultimately none went. I have a diehard group of girls who will borrow anything that has to do with ballet, so James Mayhew's Ella Bella Ballerina and Marilyn Singer's Talulah versions had been borrowed several times. That is due too, to the power of a series. Tallulah stories are borrowed frequently. James' ballet series is even more popular at the moment than his Katie and artist series.

The story of the Nutcracker has two sources...a story by German author E.T.A. Hoffman called The Nutcracker and the King of Mice and the ballet The Nutcracker by Tchaikovsky which was also based on this story and was first performed in 1872. At Christmas many ballet companies perform this ballet so many children know the story of Clara, the Land of Sweets and the Sugarplum Fairy. It's plot is very appropriate for young children as it is about overcoming obstacles and of course good triumphs over evil.

Some very well known illustrators have done picture book versions, even Maurice Sendak who was involved in designing the sets for a production. If your library doesn't have a version look at these four:
• Jane Ray
• Susan Jeffers
• Alison Jay, and
• Ian Beck (author Berlie Doherty)
From these you will be able to select the 'right' amount of text and still have a 'traditional' version of the story.

The other titles above are for more specific audiences. Bea in the Nutcracker  is an ideal introduction for a very young ballerina. Whatever you choose from above you will get exquisite artwork and a good read. Happy New Year.

23rd November The Twelve Days of Christmas

Browsing through the Christmas picture books I noticed that Alison Jay has done a new version of The Twelve Days of Christmas and I picked it up for perusal, and while it does have beautiful artwork in her trademark style, I did wonder how many copies one library needs of this song, especially a school library like mine where school finishes for the summer holidays three weeks before Christmas and the teachers do so little Christmas-wise with their classes. Some very well known children's illustrators seem to have enjoyed creating their own version - see among others Susan Jeffers, Rachel Isadora, Brian Wildsmith, Jane Ray, Jan Brett, Robert Sabuda, Britta Teckentrup and Jane Cabrera.

One of the most popular holiday songs of all time, 'The Twelve Days of Christmas' probably originated in France during the late Middle Ages and became popular in England as a chant sung without music. The 12 days are traditionally those following Christmas, with the last day being the end of the season. Over the years the lyrics have changed but the song remains a perennial favourite. 

I sometimes use the song to explain to students that the twelve days are the twelve days after Christmas Day that take us up to Epiphany, the day when the three kings went to visit baby Jesus and the day when traditionally we take down our Christmas tree and decorations.

As well there are many spin offs designed to suit a particular place. There are African (A Stork in a Baobab) and Latino (A Piñata in a Pine Tree) versions and here in Australia there are a myriad of innovations, with emus, kookaburras and platypuses up gum trees and even an underwater version by Kim Michelle Toft. The original by June Williams and John McIntosh is gentle and almost reverent, the newer ones such as the Heath McKenzie version and the Colin Buchanan version are loud and boisterous. At the Lifeline Book Fair this weekend near my home I could have bought a number of each version for as little as fifty cents each! Perhaps good for compare and contrast activities and as background to making your own.

4th January Jacob Grimm (1785 - 1863)

It is the famous German philologist and folklorist, Jacob Grimm's birthday. He is half of the Brothers Grimm who are responsible for collecting fairytales together and publishing Grimm's Fairy Tales. I have written about him and his brother, Wilhelm on 24th February, which is Wilhelm's birthday and I said there which anthologies of Grimm I prefer. There I also said that I wanted more Grimm versions of Cinderella and since I wrote that, Berlie Doherty's wonderful fairytale anthology has been reissued as individual tales in picture book editions illustrated by Jane Ray and the Cinderella is a Grimm version. It is perfect for my clientele. I have also found some websites that are good places to explore Grimm's fairytales: 1. The National Geographic Grimm and 2. Kids Fun Canada's Grimm Fairytales.

23rd December Carol Ann Duffy (1965)

Carol Ann Duffy is a Scottish poet who is currently the British Poet Laureate. She writes for all ages, but has a large number of children's poems and stories that are presented in picture book format that are well-worth searching for in a library or book shop. These are in my library and are good starting points.

6th November Berlie Doherty (1943) Michelle Magorian (1947) Craig Smith (1955)

British author, Berlie Doherty writes for all ages, from picture books through short stories to novels, two of which have won the Carnegie Award. Here though I want to highlight several picture books that are perfect for the children in my library. A few days ago I walked into the bookshop where I do most of my shopping for school to find ten individual fairy tales by Berlie Doherty with illustrations by Jane Ray. They look stunning. Perusing them I realised I had seen them before and that they were from their anthology Fairy Tales. They are better this way for young children to borrow, carry home, and feel success at reading. Parents can borrow the collection, but I purchased the ten for the children. Two of her picture books that are also popular are The Magical Bicycle illustrated by Christian Birmingham and Jinny Ghost which is also illustrated by Jane Ray.

Michelle Magorian is also a British author and best known for her novels, but she too has some picture books, albeit not as many as Berlie. The one I use the most is Jump! a story, illustrated by Jan Ormerod about a boy who goes to ballet lessons with his sister and has to watch while he waits for her, when he really would rather be doing the dancing. he practises the moves and finally joins the classes. Given that the school I teach at, teaches ballet and boys attend classes I like to have books such as this to provide positive role models and address the boys who scoff.

Read tomorrow's entry for Craig Smith.

30th June David McPhail (1940) Malachy Doyle (1954) Petr Horacek (1967)

David McPhail is an American author /illustrator who has a long list of books to his name. I especially like the way he illustrates bears so I seem to be drawn to his many titles that include bears. Drawing Lessons From a Bear is one of his books in our library that the children really enjoy.

The author Malachy Doyle was born in Northern Ireland, but now lives in Wales. His books appear to be very different from each other because of the different illustrators that have been chosen to illustrate his books. Cow and Horse which are illustrated by Angelo Rinaldi are striking looking books that you cannot fail to be drawn to. Look also for The Bold Boy which is illustrated by Jane Ray and Sleepy Pendoodle, a book about a gorgeous puppy which is illustrated by Australian Julie Vivas.

And thirdly, Petr Horacek who was born in Czechoslavakia, but now lives in England is the author/illustrator of many beautiful books. Suzy Goose got me hooked on his books and then I have eagerly purchased his subsequent titles. His most recent Fly, has shaped pages internally, bright colours and a story told from the fly's point of view. It makes you smile!