16th January Appreciate a Dragon (Dragons Day 1)

Happy New Year! It's the Chinese Year of the Dragon and the International Year of Camelids. It's 2024!

To coincide with Appreciate a Dragon Day and in preparation for Chinese New Year and the Year of the Dragon we have planned to display dragon books in the library to start the New School Year which begins at the end of January. We have so many books featuring dragons, so over a series of blogs, I will introduce you to what is on offer for our library users. There are seven days so you will be able to make a long list of books to get from your library.

Firstly, my young students associate dragons with fairytales, knights, breathing fire and having battles, and yes the stories they choose to read do feature these kind of dragons, but there's many more to explore. There's chapter books, myths and legends, Asian folktales and dragons who are friendly. 

Are you ready to battle a dragon? This is the signage above the library display but many of the dragons in the pictures displayed above the books make the dragons look friendly, fun and not too scary because the readers who frequent my library are under eight or parents and teachers of these students who are at preschool or in Kindergarten, Grade 1 or Grade 2.

For my very young readers I would start with books such as these:

• How to Catch a Dragon by Carol Hart and Ed Eaves

• Sylvia and Bird by Catherine Rayner

• This is Not a Fairytale  by Will Mabbit and Fred Blunt

• Me and My Dragon  by David Biedrzycki

• King Jack and the Dragon  by Peter Bently and Helen Oxenbury

• Jill &  Dragon  by Lesley Barnes

• Again!  by Emily Gravatt

• Look Out, It's a Dragon! by Jonny Lambert

• Ellie's Dragon  by Bob Graham

• Dragon Dancing by Carole Lexa Schaefer and Pierr Morgan

• George and the Dragon  and  George, the Dragon and the Princess by Chris Wormell

4th July World Firefly Day

Scientists have carried out extensive studies on fireflies. Some have been relating to their unique feature of emitting energy in the form of light, while other studies revolve around the deteriorating population of fireflies. In 2022, the theme of the event is 'Watch Us, Don't Catch Us'. This is done to raise awareness about the depletion of the firefly population. Like other natural resources, the firefly can become extinct too. The event can be celebrated by taking care of fireflies, watching and admiring their beauty from afar, and building a better environment to sustain a firefly's life in the future.

There are more than 2,000 described species of Lampyridae fireflies, 25 of which are found in Australia. The fireflies, which are actually bioluminescent beetles,  inhabit the forests and mangroves of coastal New South Wales, Queensland, and the Northern Territory. The sole firefly species in the Sydney area is the Blue Mountains firefly (Atyphella lychnus). Not a lot of people are aware this country has fireflies, let alone two dozen different species, because they’re not in places commonly seen by the public and they are normally seen for only a short period during spring and summer.

We mightn't see real fireflies very often, but we certainly can read about them in books.

The library has these:

• The Very Lonely Firefly by Eric Carle

• Sam and the Firefly  by P.D. Eastman

• Fireflies!  by Julie Brinckloe

 • Fireflies in the Night  by Judy Hawes & Ellen Alexander

• Daddies Are for Catching Fireflies  by Harriet Ziefert and Cynthia Jabar

• Firefly Home  by Jane Clarke and Britta Teckentrup

• Follow the Firefly  by Bernardo Carvalho

• Among a Thousand Fireflies  by Helen Frost and Rick Lieder

• Fly Firefly!  by Shana Keller and Ramona Kaulitzki

• How the Firefly Got Its Light  by Pradyumna Kumar and Urvashi Butalia

• Good Night Firefly by Gabriel Alboroza

• Leo the Lightning Bug by Eric Drachman and James Muscarello

• Light the Sky, Firefly! by Sheri Bestor and Jonny Lambert

Others slightly off topic, but worth a look at or put out as part of a display

• Glowing with Electricity: Science Adventures with Glenda the Origami Firefly by Thomas Kingsley Troupe and James Robert Christoph

• Firefly July: A Year of Very Short Poems  by Paul B.Janeczko and Melissa Sweet 

29th July International Tiger Day

I have written about this celebration before here, but I need to tell you about some tiger books that have been added to the library since then and two of them are never in the library. As soon as they are returned, they leave again. They are:
• There's a Tiger in the Garden  by Lizzy Stewart
• Tiger in a Tutu by Fabi Santiago.

As well, this year I have purchased these
• Cinnamon  a fable by Neil Gaiman.
• Never Tickle a Tiger by Pamela Butchart
• Goodnight Tiger  by Timothy Knapman
• Tiger Tiger  by Jonny Lambert

There are 125 fiction books in the library featuring tigers as well as several lovely nonfiction titles, so come the end of the month the library will be roaring with tigers!