29th April World Wish Day

World Wish Day occurs on the 29th April each year and originated because of a seven year old child who was sick with leukaemia wishing for something to happen in 1980. His wish was granted and when people heard about it the Make-A-Wish Foundation was founded. It has become a well-known world-wide children's charity but I am writing about this day because of a request I had from a preschool teacher at the end of last term for books about 'wishing'. She had been talking to her class about wishes and realised that the children didn't really know what a wish was when she asked them what they would wish for during an activity.

There are so many books I could have given her. Narrowing it down to a small number was hard. Most of the picture books with 'wish' in the title have a Christmas setting so I avoided them except for Jane Godwin and Anna Walker's beauty, What Do You Wish For? , and gave her that and these:

• Wish by Roseanne Thong and Elisa Kleven
• I Wish... by Nick Ward
• I Wish For More by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld
• The Wish Giver by Roseanne Hawke and Lenore Penner
• The Wish Factory by Chris Riddell
• The Fish Who Could Wish by Korky Paul
• The Wish Tree  by Kyo Maclear and Chris Turnham
• The Wishing Boat by Amanda Tarlau and Chris Saunders



We all make wishes and these wishes differ greatly in magnitude but it was interesting to see that a concept we as adults take for granted was something the three and four year olds at an affluent school needed to be introduced to through planned intervention. The classroom now has a wish tree and they talk about wishes and wishing in their regular discourse. If you have none of the books above buy The Wish Tree  or watch it here. Danielle Davis from the blog This Picture Book Life outlines an accompany activity she has planned for the book here and there are other ideas on the web.

19th February Tug-of-War Day

All children know what tug-of-war is, because it is a fun activity on school sport or picnic day. Schools may not always play it the 'formal' way that international competitions use, but it is meant to be fun.

The concept of tug-a-war has been treated admirably by picture books, most of which have  African animals 'warring' to see who is strongest. 



In John Agard's version a rhino and an elephant are tricked by Brer Rabbit into staging a tug-o-war which ends in a dead heat. Brer Rabbit teaches them that 'friendship is longer than rope'. 

In John Burningham's tale an elephant and a hippo tease poor hare constantly, until fed up the hare challenges each of them to a tug-of-war. As before, he tricks them and proves that brains can be better than brute strength.

 Beverley Naidoo takes the African setting further giving the animals African names befitting the Nigerian folktale upon which the story is based.
'Mmutla the hare tricks Tlou the elephant and Kubu the hippo into having an epic tug of war. The whole savanna is soon laughing at their foolishness. However small animals should not make fun of big animals and King Lion, together with Tswhene the baboon and wise old Khudu the tortoise set out to teach Mmutla a lesson - but the clever hare is always one step ahead.'

 

And in the newest version by Naomi Howarth, it is the tortoise who challenges Elephant and Hippo to a tug-of-war. As in the other stories they end up fighting each other.

All these fables about wit and wisdom being more important than physical size or strength and how friendship matters most are masterfully told and beautifully illustrated.