15th May International Day of Families 15th - 21st May National Families Week

Each year, over a hundred thousand people and hundreds of organisations celebrate National Families Week, Australia’s annual celebration of families.

National Families Week has been run by Families Australia, with Australian Government support, every year since 2003.

National Families Week is a time to celebrate with family, make contact with extended family and friends, and share in the enjoyment of family activities within the wider community. It is a time to celebrate the meaning of family and to make the most of family life.

National Families Week is held between 15 and 21 May to coincide with the United Nations International Day of Families which is on the 15th May. The United Nations General Assembly, in its resolution 47/237 of 20 September 1993, proclaimed that 15 May of every year shall be observed as the International Day of Families.

The United Nations states that “this annual observance reflects the importance which the international community attaches to families as basic units of society as well as its concern regarding their situation around the world..."

Over the time I have been teaching, the structure of the family unit has changed greatly, but family is still an important constant in children's lives. The picture books available for young children now reflect this well. Look for these which are general in nature, not specific. There are some very good books where the family has two mothers, two fathers, an extended family household etc, but these are not listed here.

• The Family Book by Todd Parr

• The Great Big Book of Families by Mary Hoffman & Ros Asquith

• Who is in My Family? by Robie H. Harris & Nadine Bernard Westcott

• A  Family is a Family is a Family by Sara O'Leary & Qin Leng

• Love Makes a Family by Sophie Beer

• Family Tree by Josh Pyke & Ronojoy Ghosh                               

• All About Families by Felicity Brooks & Mar Ferrero

• We Are Family  by Patricia Hegarty & Ryan Wheatcroft

• Family Forest  by Kim Kane & Lucia Masciullo

• Isla's Family Tree by Katrina McKelvey & Prue Pittock

• Big Book of Families by Catherine & Laurence Anholt

What better way is there to celebrate Families Week than to read together as a family? Any books, not books about other people's families but ones you enjoy!

20th November Matisse: Life & Spirit, Masterpieces from the Centre Pompidou

The Art Gallery of NSW is holding an exhibition of art by Henri Matisse from 20th November until March and it will be something truly special! In preparation I have taken all the books about this French artist off the library shelves in order to start next year with a display celebrating his life and work. Many of the teachers at school focus on his work in art lessons during the year, but given that some students will visit the gallery in their school holidays and some others might be inspired to go in Term 1 after reading about him, a display in the library is warranted. We have over thirty books  about his work so it will look good. We can cater for the preschooler, the artist and the readers! Here is some of what will be in the display:

Blue and Other Colours with Henri Matisse

A Magical Day with Matisse by Julie Merberg & Suzanne Bober

   Oooh! Matisse by Jean-Yves Verdu & Mil Niepold    

         
Matisse's Magical Trail by Tim Hopgood & Sam Broughton

How the Snail Found its Colours by Haneul Ddang & Mi-Ran Yang

Henri's Scissors by Jeannette Winter

Matisse King of Colour by Laurence Anholt

Henri Matisse: Cutting with Scissors by Jane O'Connor & Jessie Hartland

Cut-Out Fun with Matisse by Nina Hollein & Max Hollein

Colourful Dreamer: The Story of Artist Henri Matisse by Marjorie Blain Parker & Holly Berry

Matisse's Garden by Samantha Friedman & Cristina Amodeo

The Mermaid and the Parakeet by Veronique Massenot & Vanessa Hie

Two picture books to read:

A Bird or Two by Bijou Le Tord

When Pigasso Met Mootisse by Nina Laden

and the piece de resistance

The Iridescence of Birds by Patricia MacLachlan & Hadley Hooper

For lunchtime cut and paste sessions a la Matisse which I will do with the students who choose to be in the library at lunchtime, inspiration will come from

The Swimmers by Ana Bianchi

13th International Tongue Twister Day

Today is a day to celebrate tongue twisters! What fun! The children at school love to hear them and try themselves to say them as quickly as possible. These phrases or sentences with alliteration or a sequence of similar sounds beg to be repeated as quickly as possible without stumbling.

There are many lists of them on the internet and they appear in children's anthologies and joke books. One Kindergarten class teacher loves to do 'She sells seashells by the seashore' with her class and this year her class have really got involved by following its recitation with finding out about its origin. They learned that the 'she' refers to Mary Anning, the great fossil collector who made a living for her destitute family by selling trilobite shells on Lyme Regis beach. Much has been written about her and now there are at least three picture book biographies about her life. These are: (from my blog on 8th March)

 • Stone Girl Bone Girl by Laurence Anholt tells the story of Mary Fanning who as a ten year old child found a fossilised sea monster which was a major prehistoric discovery at the time. 
• The Fossil Girl by Catherine Brighton  
• Mary Anning by Kay Barnham.

On line here you can see this book about Mary Anning and the tongue twister. This includes information about Mary as well as a revamped version of the original song.

Whatever tongue twisters you choose to share you and the students are sure to have fun. Perhaps you can find out if Peter Piper and Betty Botter were real people too.

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6th January Bean Day (Part 3)

Now for having fun with Jack and the Beanstalk. When I survey my four kindergarten classes to see which fairytales they know, unlike many others, they do know this story. When questioned further they know there is  a giant, magic beans and a beanstalk. A few children will know Fee Fi Fo Fum, but not many. So they are very happy to read and compare versions and then look at 'corrupted' modern retellings. If you know the original well then it is easy to laugh at the spoofs. Many of the spoofs are in small chapter book format too, so they are ideal for my budding readers.

I love Raymond Brigg's Jim and the Beanstalk. Mary Pope Osborne has swapped Jack for Kate in Kate and the Beanstalk. Who can resist a book with the title Jack and the Baked Beanstalk? It has a modern twist where the beans come in a can, but still Jack's mother throws the can out the window in disgust. Jack  by Liesl Shurtliff is a novel length 'true story of Jack and the Beanstalk' which takes the concept of fractured fairytale to its full extent and makes a good serial. It's Not About the Beanstalk by David Parkin is a short chapter book which is part of a series about three friends who explore fairytales from around the world. Collect together all the versions of the beanstalk story you can find and have some fun!

8th March International Women's Day

International Women's Day, the one day of the year that we devote to celebrating all things female. From the progress we've made, to the dreams we have for the future.

The day was designed to inspire women and celebrate their achievements, so in assembly on Friday I had fun talking about women and their achievements. Of course I took a children's book as a focus, Seven Chinese Sisters, and it is one where the women have special skills, but as it came about because of the wonderful story  The Seven Chinese Brothers, it was a good choice to highlight that girls can do anything as well or better than boys!

Then in the library we made a display of biographies about successful, pioneering women who achieved despite the odds stacked against them. Among others we used:
• Me and Momma and Big John  by Mara Rockliff is a good story to show girls and boys that women can do anything they want to, even a job that appears to be 'male'.
• Fossil Girl  by Catherine Brighton, and Stone Girl Bone Girl by Laurence Anholt, both are the story of Mary Anning who was the first person to find dinosaur bones in England.
• Mrs Harkness and the Panda by Alicia Potter and Melissa Sweet which tells about how in 1934 Ruth Harkness continued the work that her husband started, went on an expedition in China and brought a panda to America.
• Marvellous Mattie  by Emily Arnold McCully which tells the story of inventor Margaret Knight.
• Girls Think of Everything by Catherine Thimmesh and  Melissa Sweet which highlights many female inventors.
• Rachel  by Amy Ehrlich and Rachel Carson and the Book That Changed the World by Lawrie Lawlor tell of pioneering environmentalist, Rachel Carson.
• Life in the Ocean by Claire A. Nivola tells of the life of oceanographer Sylvia Earle.

Also in your library there will be picture books about other wonderful women such as Rosa Parks, Madame Curie, Annie Sullivan, Florence Nightingale, Jane Goodall and Wangari Maathai, some of whom I have written of before in this blog. See pinterest page for more biographies.

Champions Read 3 - Art Champions

As there was for science and the environment, there is a large number of picture book biographies about artists. There are also books, that while strictly speaking they are not biographies, they are very close because they tell about an artist's life or a famous painting. Laurence Anholt's Artists series does this. Brenda Northeast also does this and Nina Laden likes to illuminate artists' lives in picture book format.

* Building on Nature: The Life of Antoni Gaudi by Rachel Rodriguez & Julie Paschkis

* Claude Monet: The Painter Who Stopped the Trains by P.I. Maltbie & Jos. A. Smith

* Just Behave, Pablo Picasso by Jonah Winter & Kevin Hawkes

* Sandy's Circus: A Story About Alexander Calder by Tanya Lee Stone & Boris Kulikov

* Action Jackson by Jan Greenberg, Sandra Jordan & Robert Andrew Parker (Jackson Pollock)

* My Name is Georgia by Jeanette Winter (Georgia O'Keefe)

* Through Georgia's Eyes by Rachel Rodriguez & Julie Paschkis (Georgia O'Keefe)

* Me, Frida by Amy Novesky & David Diaz (Frida Kahlo)

* Frida by Jonah Winter & Anna Juan (Frida Kahlo)

* Dali and the Path of Dreams by Anna Obiols & Subi (Salvador Dali)

Champions Read 1 - Science Champions

In Australia the theme for Book Week this year is Champions Read, probably partly because of its close proximity to the Olympic Games. As I only teach very young children from 3 to 8 years old, this theme didn't strike me as being that exciting and I wasn't all that enthusiastic, but the more I have thought about it and the wider I am able to make the definition of 'champion' the better I feel about it. I have been putting together a reading list of picture book biographies for teachers and my Year 2 Book Club group and have decided to spread them out over several blog entries. I plan to look at Champions of Science; Champions of the Environment; Champions of Art; Champions of Literature and others as well as Champions of Sport.

For me a champion is:

• someone who surpasses all rivals,

• someone who commits an act and is worthy of positive recognition for such an act,

• someone who vigorously supports a cause.

To start with Science Champions:

Mary Anning (1799 - 1847) fossil collector

As a young girl in Lyme Regis, England she collected fossils along the shoreline. She is believed to have been the first to find the bones of an Ichthyosaurus. There are two picture books that tell her story:

* The Fossil Girl by Catherine Brighton, and

* Stone Girl Bone Girl by Laurence Anholt who also lives in Lyme Regis.

Eratosthenes - (276 BC - 194BC)

Greek philosopher and scientist who compiled the first geography book and accurately measured the globe's circumference. This book tells his story:

* The Librarian Who Measured the Earth by Kathryn Lasky

Galileo (1564 - 1642) astronomer

* Starry Messenger by Peter Sis

* I, Galileo by Bonnie Christensen

John Tebbutt (1834 - 1916) Australian astronomer

* Bright Star by Gary Crew and Anne Spudvilas. This book tells the story of Alicia whose life is influence by John Tebbutt.

Buzz Aldrin (1930 - ) astronaut

* Reaching For the Moon by Buzz Aldrin

Charles Darwin - naturalist

There are a large number of picture books about Darwin's life, but these three are in my library and offer the opportunity for a thorough examination of his work and life with wonderful illustrations.

* What Mr Darwin Saw by Mick Manning and Brita Granstrom

* One Beetle Too Many by Kathryn Lasky

* The Tree of Life by Peter Sis

The students who are interested in Darwin will also like this biography about the geneticist, Mendel.

* Gregor Mendel: The Friar Who Grew Peas by Cheryl Bardoe

And lastly, although I am sure there are many more that you would add, a book about Thomas Edison.

* Odd Boy Out by Don Brown

19th January Paul Cezanne (1839 - 1906)

Today is the artist Paul Cezanne's birthday. He was born in France in 1839 and died in 1906. He was one of the well-known artists who were known as the Post Impressionists. He painted still-lifes, landscapes and portraits with distinctive short-brushstrokes and thick brightly coloured oil paint. Two books where children can read about Cezanne and learn about his life and paintings are:

• Cezanne and the Apple Boy by Laurence Anholt and

• Paul Cezanne: How He Amazed the World by Angela Wenzel. This is from the wonderful Adventures in Art series by Prestel.

25th October Pablo Picasso (1881 - 1973)

There seems too be so much written about the famous artist, Picasso and so much of it is in picture book format and accessible to young children. For this reason, I am always happy when a class in the Prep school choose to do an artist study on Picasso. The books start at the board book level with Painting With Picasso by Julie Merberg and Picasso For Kids by Margaret Hyde. Then there are picture story books such as Laurence Anholt's Picasso and the Girl With the Ponytail, P.I.Maltbie's Picasso and Minou, Nina Laden's When Pigasso Met Mootisse and Paris in the Spring With Picasso by Jean Yolleck.

And amongst the many informative non-fiction titles these four stand out. There is the biographical The Boy Who Bit Picasso by Antony Penrose, My Little Picasso by Marie Sellier and the Adventures in Art title, A Day With Picasso by Susanne Pfleger, but the not-to-be-missed-by -anyone book is Alain Serres' And Picasso Painted Guernica. While the young children I teach see the absolute magnificence and horror of the painting, older children can follow the text and put the painting in a context and adults can revisit and learn more about the painting and the complex political events surrounding it. There is so much to contemplate here and French children's writer, Serres, whose birthday was on 21st October (1956) has produced a truly beautiful book, perfect for all audiences despite the context of the painting.

4th August Laurence Anholt (1959) Tim Winton (1960)

Laurence Anholt has collaborated with his wife Catherine on a large number of picture books, among them the series about twins Chimp and Zee, but he also has a series of books that he has done on his own about artists. These are particularly good for introducing young children to famous artists and their paintings. The facts are embedded in a story which keeps the child's interest initially and then they can explore the art on subsequent readings. There are books about Leonardo (Leonardo and the Flying Boy), Picasso (Picasso and the Girl with the Ponytail), Matisse (Matisse, King of Colour), Van Gogh (Camille and the Sunflowers), Degas (Degas and the Little Dancer) and Monet (The Magical Garden of Claude Monet).

Laurence also has a series of books called Seriously Silly which plays with nursery rhymes and fairytales to mix them up to the point where although recognisable they have become very funny. These are just three of the fun titles: The Emperor's Underwear; Rumply Crumply Stinky Pin; and Snow White and the Seven Aliens.

Australian author, Tim Winton is better known as a writer for adults than children, but each time he ventures into the children's realm he comes up with a winner. The children in the library love the beginning novel The Bugalugs Bum Thief and the picture book The Deep.