14th February Valentines Day and Library Lovers Day

     

Love is in the air! Often on the 14th February I put together a display of picture books with the word 'love' in the title or I give each class a wrapped book to read that is about loving libraries. See here and here.

This year I went through the catalogue thinking of picture book 'romances' that I could use to make a display. As you would think, romance is not a topic for picture books for under eights, but I just wanted one for each day of the week and I definitely could find enough!

Here's what I chose. They are now all out on display with a red read heart attached!

 • Worm Loves Worm by  J.J. Austrian and Mike Curato 

Here's the blurb:

You are cordially invited to celebrate the wedding of a worm ...and a worm. When a worm meets a special worm and they fall in love, you know what happens next: They get married! But their friends want to know-who will wear the dress? And who will wear the tux? The answer is: It doesn't matter. Because Worm loves worm. 

• Dear Bunny by Michaela Morgan and Caroline Jayne Church

Here's the blurb:

Tino and Teeny are lovely lovelorn bunny rabbits, living just a few hops from each other. If only one of them could overcome their shyness and speak to the other When their efforts to woo each other with writing are ruined by a rainstorm it looks like they may never meet. Thank goodness there is a family of miniature matchmakers nesting nearby to help piece together their true feelings. 

• Frog in Love by Max Velthuijs

Here's the blurb:

Frog is feeling most unwell. He keeps getting hot, then cold, and something inside his chest is going 'thump, thump'. Hare says it means he's in love! But who with? And how can he show his devotion - perhaps by performing the biggest jump ever? 

•  Slug in Love by Rachel Bright and Nadia Shireen

Here's the blurb:

Doug the slug needs a hug. But who wants to hug a slug called Doug? After a long search for someone to snuggle, lonesome Doug is ready to give up hope. But you never know when love might come flying by! Young readers will love this funny and fabulous tale that shows there's a friend for everyone. 

• Slugs in Love  by Susan Pearson and Kevin O'Malley

Here's the blurb:

Marylou loves everything about Herbie-how his slime trail glistens in the dark, how he can stretch himself thin to squeeze inside the cellar window, and how he always finds the juiciest tomatoes. But Marylou is a shy slug. How can she get Herbie to notice her?

• Prince Charming and Baabarella  by Angelica Glitz and Annette Swoboda

Here's the blurb:

Prince Charming is short sighted and should wear glasses. But his vanity gets in the way. Baarbarella gets into a mess eating juicy berries. The four sisters will do anything to attract the prince. This zany version of the Cinderella story - played out by sheep - will entertain old and young readers alike. 

• Henry in Love by Peter McCarty

Here's the blurb:

Henry is a bit of a dreamer and not much of a talker.Then there's Chloe, who says what she thinks and knows how to turn a spectacular cartwheel.  
This is the story of how one blueberry muffin makes all the difference. 

• Penguin in Love by Salina Yoon

Here's the blurb:

When Penguin finds a lost mitten on the ice one day, he wonders who it belongs to--after all, every mitten has a mate! To unravel the mystery, he embarks on the biggest adventure of his life. Is love waiting for Penguin at the end of this incredible journey?

• Fly Guy Meets Fly Girl  by Tedd Arnold

Here's the blurb:

Fly Guy has met his match, and her name is Fly Girl. Fly Guy can do fancy flying. Fly Girl can do fancier flying. Fly Guy can eat gross stuff. Fly Girl can eat grosser stuff. Fly Guy can say his boy's name-Buzzzzzz! And Fly Girl can say her girl's name-Lizzzzzzz! Fly Guy is totally impressed, and totally smitten. Will Fly Guy and Fly Girl get married and leave Buzz without his dear pet? 

If you haven't any of these or you want something more overtly about Valentine's Day, many of the series have a Valentine's Day book, Splat the Cat  does, Pete the Cat does, Peppa Pig does, Curious George does...

13th May Frog Jumping Day

Frog Jumping Day is a good day to celebrate frogs and their amazing ability.

'Frogs have great jumping capabilities and are the best jumpers among all vertebrates given their size.'

Collect all the frog books you can find, both stories and expository texts and set aside time to read and learn, read and laugh and read and share. The most borrowed frog book in the library is Juliette MacIver's The Frog Who Lost His Underwear. There are so many favourite 'frog' series in my library.
There's
* Frog by Max Velthuijs. There is a dozen or so books in this series and they have recently been reissued in a larger format with covers that no longer have a bordered illustration.

* A Boy, a Dog and a Frog by Mercer Mayer. These little books are textless and small hands love them and tell the stories to each other without any trouble. There are six of them.

* Frog and Toad by Arnold Lobel. This series has been around for a long time, but so many generations of children have learned to read using these beginning chapter books. They are always in print.

* Lester and Clyde by James Reese. These three books are very old now, out of print and hard to find, but I know teachers who share these stories with their class and then the children are keen to borrow them.

While these aren't a series, there are several versions of the dreamtime story of Tiddalick , a frog who caused a flood in my library, complete with puppets so that the children can make a play. It would be good also to introduce the fairytale  The Frog Prince  because it is one of the Grimm stories that not as many children know. Read a traditional version with fairytale language, not a 'reader' and then compare it with a spoof like Jackie Urbanovic's Prince of a Frog. Have fun revisiting lots of old favourites and jumping around like a frog. Below is a collection of stories about frogs. There are a large number of nonfiction books too listed here.

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4th August The Tjong-Khing(1933)

Not long ago I purchased a new textless book for the library. I have been building up quite a collection of textless books as the teaching of visual literacy has given them a new credibility. The book The Birthday Cake Mystery came from Gecko Press, the New Zealand publishing company that has been translating foreign language books and thus bringing us the best of European books. I noticed the book was by The Tjong-Khing and I had only seen one other of his books, Andrew's Angry Words which is written by Dorothea Lachner. I knew nothing about him, but really liked this new book so I set about learning more about him. I learned that his birthday was August 4th and I made a mental note to remember to write about him on the blog and then got busy and promptly forgot.

The Tjong-Khing was born in Java to a large Indonesian-Chinese family. He moved to the Netherlands in 1956 and has been based there since, illustrating, drawing comics and being involved in film. Currently there is an exhibition of his work in the Children's Book Museum in The Hague. I don't read any Dutch but enjoyed looking

at this clip. He has won many awards for illustration including the Max Velthuijs Award in 2010, which is awarded to a Dutch illustrator every three years. Now I am on the search for the prequel to this new book. It is called Where is the Cake?

22nd May Max Velthuijs (1923 - 2005) Arnold Lobel (1933 - 1987)

Today should be known as Frog Day. Both of these author/illustrators are best known for their series of books about a frog. Both write fables that give the children that read their books messages for how they should be living theirs. Both are thoroughly loved by children, so it is sad that there will never be any more.

Max Velthuijs is probably the best known Dutch children's book creator besides Dick Bruna. He won the Hans Christian Anderson Award in 2004 for his contribution to Children's Literature. Initially he illustrated other author's books, but with Frog in Love started a series of books about Frog and his friends that he wrote as well as illustrated. The books have cheerful, colourful illustrations, the stories always end with Frog and his friends solving their problems in a very positive way. Each of the animal characters has very specific traits and is easily identified behaviourly. There are about twelve titles about Frog. If you need to know what they are, look here.

American author/ illustrator Arnold Lobel won the Caldecott Award for Fables but he is best known for his books about Frog and Toad. These two characters also have very definite personality traits and readers expect them to behave in certain ways. The illustrations in these books, while not as bright, in fact they are rather green are also distinctive.

My favourite poster and verse about reading is by Arnold Lobel. Every library needs one!

You can see the poster at www.owlsquarepress.com/otpopr.html .These are the words:

Books to the ceiling, books to the sky.
My piles of books are a mile high.
How I love them!
How I need them!
I'll have a long beard by the time I read them.
≈ Arnold Lobel