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.

11th June Jacques Cousteau (1910 - 1997)

Jacques Cousteau was a French naval officer who pioneered marine conservation, photographed under the sea and wrote about it. His contribution to diving and the general population's knowledge of under the sea is immense. It is fitting that today's children should know about his contribution so here are three books in our library that I would recommend.

• Manfish by Jennifer Berne and Eric Puybaret

• The Fantastic Undersea Life of Jacques Cousteau by Dan Yaccarino.

These two picture books are biographies of his life, the first emphasising Jacques curiosity as a very young boy.

• Cousteau: an unauthorized biography by Kevin Comber is old and in our school it is in big book format. It was part of a series of big books put out by Era Publications and your school may well have a copy too. It is worth digging out! It has a lot of photographs in it and will give readers a sense of the time.

It is fitting that Jacques Cousteau's birthday is also the date that the Western world explorers, namely Captain James Cook discovered the Great Barrier Reef in 1770. He discovered it by accident when his ship, the Endeavour crashed into it and the coral ripped a hole in its bottom. Cook and his crew managed to stop the ship from sinking and made it to shore at what is now called Cooktown in the very north of Queensland. It took seven weeks to repair the ship and then their journey was resumed.

There are myriads of books about the Great Barrier Reef that show the wonder of coral and its underwater world. It is a pity though that so many of them are not Australian. It would be good to see some more Australian factual texts for very young children such as marine biologist Dr Mark Norman's The Great Barrier Reef Book: Solarpowered. For beautiful artwork and a sense of the wonder of the reef see Kim MichelleToft.

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7th June

Tomorrow isWorld Oceans Day. Visit the website to glean very quickly what it is about. Here there are a number of facts to get you inspired and for you to use to initiate discussion with your children. There is also activities relating to the 50th birthday of Dr Seuss' One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. I have covered the desktops with books about the ocean for borrowing today. In this way the children will be immersed in the beauty and colours of the ocean during library time. I have put out all of Kim Michelle Toft, all the Marcus Pfister Rainbow Fish titles, all the Ruth Galloway sea creature titles, Steve Jenkins Down Down Down and Into the A, B, Sea, Guundie Kuchling's See Food!, Jeannie Baker's Where the Forest Meets the Sea and The Hidden Forest and an assortment of non-fiction titles with large photographs.

29th February Mara Bergman(1956) Kim Michelle Toft (1960)

I know there isn't a 29th February this year, but these two were lucky enough to be born in a leap year and are too prolific and too good to miss.

Mara Bergman was born in the US but moved to London in 1983. As well as many other titles she is the author of three books about Oliver Donnington Rimington-Sneep. They are wonderful 'adventure' stories that all occur around sleep time. Nick Mallard's illustrations add to the fun and the rhythmic text. You have to see the reading picture in the first book Oliver Who Would Not Sleep. Wouldn't it make a great card for all your reading friends? In the second book, Oliver Who Was Small But Mighty, Oliver has given up his rocket and is off in a boat. By the third book, Oliver Who Travelled Far and Wide he is on a train. Given that one title came out each year for the last three, can we safely predict there will be a fourth this year? What mode of transport will Oliver choose this time?

Kim Michelle Toft's books are reams away from Mara's. She is an Australian illustrator who specialises in silk painting of beautiful marine creatures in books that explore environmental themes. Her pictures highlight the amazing blueness of Australian tropical waters and often display a tranquil, idyllic marine environment that you would love to explore. Her website www.kimtoft.com.au shows her books and how she does the amazing artwork.