National Non-Fiction November (7th November National Non-Fiction Day) Part 1 Authors and Illustrators

National Non-Fiction November was set up by the Federation of Children's Book Groups in the UK as a way to highlight the importance of information books and to promote reading non-fiction for pleasure. 

National Literacy Trust research (2022), said more than half (56%) of children and young people told us that they read non-fiction. We also found that children and young people who read non-fiction are more engaged with environmental issues.

Overall, this report found that more children and young people who read non-fiction were motivated to read for educational purposes, to satisfy curiosities, to foster social connections and to support their mental wellbeing.

Each year, National Non-Fiction November has a different theme. The theme for 2024 is Why Don’t You…? and is designed to stimulate discussion around hobbies and leisure activities and to encourage young people to try something new. (More about this in Part 2)

Non-Fiction books for young children have definitely changed from the traditional non-fiction books used for research which had short tiles, photographs, a contents page, an index, a glossary and other features ideal for researching. Now some of the most exquisitely illustrated books in the library are in the non-fiction section of the library. Another difference is the amount of narrative nonfiction that now exists and it is not only biography.

Author/illustrators such as these excel at non-fiction and while the list is not exhaustive, these will make a great beginning reading-wise and display-wise.

• Jason Chin

• Nicola Davies 

• Jenni Desmond

• Candace Fleming

• Meredith Hooper

• Martin Jenkins

• Steve Jenkins and Robin Page

• Claire Saxby

• Melissa Stewart

• Yuval Zommer

12th August Elephant Day

World Elephant Day is an international annual event on August 12, dedicated to the preservation and protection of the world's elephants. On August 12, 2012, the inaugural World Elephant Day was launched to bring attention to the urgent plight of Asian and African elephants. The elephant is loved, revered and respected by people and cultures around the world, yet we balance on the brink of seeing the last of this magnificent creature.

The theme for Elephant Day 2023 is  Safeguarding Elephant Habitats for a Sustainable Tomorrow

It is quite some time since I last wrote about Elephant Day and the library has some great books about elephants that are worth searching out.

• The Elephants Ears  by Catherine Chambers and Caroline Mockford is the perfect book to explain the difference between Asian and African elephants. It reads like a folktale, but what it explains to the reader is factual and easy to apply to photographs of elephants.

• Elephants  by Steve Bloom is a factual book for the whole family to share. It has amazing photographs with

Other factual books:

• Elephants  by Seymour Simon

• The Truth About Elephants  by Maxwell Eaton III

Books about why elephants need protection:

• Elephants on the Edge  by Charles Hope

• If Elephants Disappeared  by Lily Williams

• What the Elephant Heard by Charlotte Guillain and Sam Usher

Two books that show what can happen to elephants in the wild and the lengths we need to go to ensure they have a good life are:

• One Step at a Time  by Jane Jolly and Sally Heinrich

• The Elephant's New Shoe  by Laurel Neme and Ariel Landy

Two books that highlight elephants family structure:

• Grandma Elephant's in Charge by Martin Jenkins and Ivan Bates

• She Leads  by June Smalls and Yumi Shimokawara   

• My Bibi Always Remembers by Toni Buzzeo and Mike Wohnoutka

And of course, there's a myriad of great stories. See Pinterest here.

If you are lacking good nonfiction, you can always revel in elephant series that you have, such as Elmer (David McKee), Babar (Jean De Brunhoff), Elephant and Piggie (Mo Willems), The Large Family (Jill Murphy) or Ella the Elegant Elephant (Carmela D'Amico).

22nd September Elephant Appreciation Day

I can't believe I haven't written about this celebration before. There are just so many wonderful books for young children about elephants or which have elephants as main characters. I have a pinterest page for elephant books so I don't intend to list all of these. Instead as part of my elephant appreciation I have decided to categorise and then tell you my favourites. Here they are!

Picture Book:
My favourite to read to preschoolers is The Elephant and the Bad Baby  by Elfrida Vipont and Raymond Briggs. While not really about elephants one of the main characters is an elephant and the children find him a loveable villain.
My favourite picture book about elephants, which also has a loveable main character is Little Elephant, Thunderfoot by Sally Grindley and John Butler.

Novel:
It is a toss up between two, both of which I have had success with reading to classes.
1. Tua and the Elephant by R.P. Harris
2. Akimbo and the Elephants by Alexander McCall Smith

Non-Fiction:
With amazing photographs: Elephants a Book for Children by Steve Bloom
With illustrations: Grandma Elephant's in Charge by Martin Jenkins and Ivan Bates
This title is part of the wonderful Read and Wonder series which intersperses story with facts.

Folktale:
The Elephants' Ears by Catherine Chambers and Caroline Mockford
This story explains the differences between African and Indian elephants.

Biography/True story:
Queenie: One Elephant's Story by Corinne Fenton and Peter Gouldthorpe
This story is sad, but shows children a problem that may come with keeping wild animals in captivity.

Series:
Elephant and Piggie by Mo Willems

20th January Penguin Appreciation Day

Penguins are an especially popular choice of character in children's books! They are endearing, different from other birds because they can't fly, live on ice and can dive and swim in a way that humans envy.Why then do we need to have an Appreciation or Awareness Day for penguins? It really is just a time to celebrate penguins, but it is also a good time to reflect on the fact that some of the 17 species of penguins are being threatened by climate change.

What to read? Here's some fiction and non-fiction that is enjoyed in my library:

• Cuddly Dudley by Jez Alborough

• The Penguin Who Wanted to Find Out by Jill Tomlinson and Paul Howard

• Solo by Paul Geraghty

• Nanu, Penguin Chick by Theresa Radcliffe and John Butler

• Emily and Alfie by Meredith Hooper and Emma Quay

• Little Penguin by Patrick Benson

• The Emperor's Egg by Martin Jenkins and Jane Chapman

• The Emperor's Kingdom; Living on the Ice by Roger Kirkwood

• Antarctic Antics: A Book of Penguin Poems by Judy Sierra and Ariane Dewey

• The Penguin Book: Birds in Suits by Dr Mark Norman

and of course there's always the Atwater's Mr Popper's Penguins and the myriad of movie

s and DVDs about penguins and Jeanne Willis' new book Penguin Pandemonium.

30th November Jonathan Swift (1667 - 1745) L.M. Montgomery (1874 -1942)

Jonathan Swift was an Irish satirist, poet and Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin. He is best known as the author of Gulliver's Travels. Is this a children's book? The idea definitely appeals to children even if the length and language doesn't appeal to modern children. A good way to introduce the idea is to use a book like Usborne's Young Reading Gulliver' Travels or serialise an abridged version such as the one written by Martin Jenkins and illustrated by award winning Chris Riddell, Jonathan Swift's Gulliver. This book contains all of Gulliver's voyages and because Riddell has brought to life Swift's imagination in his depictions of the people, creatures and kingdoms, it is more accessible to younger readers than the original.

L. M. Montgomery was a Canadian author. She always published her books using her initials in this way. Her name was Lucy Maud, but she was known to family and friends as Maud. She is best known for her series about a young orphan called Anne. We first meet her as an eleven year old in Anne of Green Gables. As for Jonathan Swift's Gulliver, children often first meet Anne in a movie or television series, however also like Gulliver, young children can get to know her through abridged versions such as Mary-Claire Hellendorfer and Ellen Beier's Anne of Green Gables which is a picture book version.