13th May World Migratory Bird Day

This year the theme for World Migratory Bird Day is “Birds Connect Our World” and it was chosen to highlight the importance of conserving and restoring the ecological connectivity and integrity of ecosystems that support the natural movements of migratory birds and that are essential for their survival and well-being. What a great theme!

I have written about this day before, but wanted to write about it again because lately I have been reminded of so many beautiful books that do this topic so well.

Mike Unwin and Jenni Desmond's wonderful book Migration gives many examples of birds that do these great migrations, but it is the individual picture story books that heighten our awe and empathy for both the birds and the sheer vastness of the journeys.

Jeannie Baker's Circle  tells the migration story for the Bar-tailed Godwit which makes the longest unbroken migration of any bird, a total of 11000 kilometres, all the way from Alaska to New Zealand. The illustrations allow the reader to follow the journey very closely and to marvel at the ingenuity and tenacity of such a small bird. New Zealand authors have also written about this bird and a new book  Little Godwit Finds His Wings was published this year.

Two books that look at migrating cranes are Grandfather's Dream by Holly Keller and Lotus and Feather by Ji-Li Jiang. Holly Keller's book, set in Vietnam tells the story of Nam and her grandfather who is constantly harking back to the days when the cranes came to the delta as part of their migratory journey.  Jiang's story, set in China tells of a crane that fails to finish a migration because of a hunter's bullet. The discussions elicited by classroom readings of these two books. Lotus and Feather could be read along side Rechenka's Eggs by Patricia Polacca as there are similarities in that Rechenka is an injured goose who also needs to be nursed back to health.

Another two books for comparison are about hummingbirds. Look for Tiny Bird by Robert Burleigh and Wendell Minor and Hummingbird by Nicola Davies and Jane Ray. Both of these chart the long journey from Mexico to Canada that this tiny bird that is smaller than you thumb makes each Spring.    

In Is this Panama? by Jan Thornhill and  Soyeon Kim,  a young Wilson's warbler wakes up one day knowing this is the day to start a long journey from the Arctic Circle to Panama and because this bird is named, Sammy you cannot help but get involved in his plight. He is no longer, just any bird!

I noticed there is a new book coming called The Sea Swallow and the Humpback Whale by Catherine Barr and Gerry Turley which tracks two migratory journeys across sea and sky. I look forward to seeing this.

While each of these books tells an amazing story of persistence, resilience and sheer determination it is the illustrations in each that make them very special. The illustrations do much more than give a map or track a journey. They personalise, imbue wonder and allow the reader to marvel.

17th August Reading is my secret power

It is Book Week in Australia, a time to celebrate books, especially Australian books, authors, illustrators and reading. As I only teach 4 to 8 year olds I found it harder this year to get enthused about the books on the shortlists. I shared the Early Childhood shortlisted books with my Kindergarten and Year 1 classes, but felt that in the main they were aimed at an even younger audience.   I read my Year 2s The All New Must Have Orange 430  from the Picture Book Shortlist, which they did enjoy and discussed the message at length, but I didn't feel invested in any of the others on the list, too much background needed.

So, instead Year 2 classes and I have shared books where the theme of Book Week, Reading is my secret power  and the theme of the power of reading has opened their eyes and mouths to just what reading or the lack of it means. We have had lots of lively debate, some good personal reflection and connections and lots of questions. All good.

Firstly, we read that wonderful book by Nadia Wheatley, The Greatest Gift of Charlemagne the King. Why is it out of print? The debate at the end of this story about what the greatest gift is always amazes me. The students fall into three camps, those who think it is the book, those who think it is the library and those who think it is the ability to read. Remember these animated students are 7 or 8 and they are loudly and vehemently stating their case.

Secondly, we read Nasreen's Secret School  by Jeanette Winter. I stopped at the part where it says the girls were not allowed to go to school and separated the students into boys and girls. The boys were asked to discuss what they thought it would be like to have no girls in the class. The girls were asked to discuss what they thought it would be like to stay home from school every day. Four different Year 2 classes all had very different views on this. We then kept reading and discussed at the end what would happen long term without schools.

Thirdly, we read Ruby's Wish by Shirin Yim Bridges which continued this theme of education only for boys. The girls in particular had very little difficulty putting themselves in Ruby's shoes and had lots to say about being excluded from a university education. I paired this with The Girl Who Buried her Dreams in a Can an autobiographical picture book by Tererai Trent so that the students realised that this is not a phenomena applicable only in Ancient China or Afghanistan, but also happened in parts of Africa.

We haven't read these two books yet, but I plan to also share with the students what happens when learning to read is not easy or doesn't happen when you're young, by sharing Patricia Polacco's Thank You, Mr Falker and Amy Hest's Mr George Baker.

22nd June Visiting Russia for the World Cup

At school we put together a display of all the wonderful picture books and novels on soccer as the students became interested in the World Cup. Some of the students were discussing it and I asked them where it was being held. This led to finding out about Russia and locating it on the globe. I had just bought this lovely new book Capitals by Taraneh Ghajar Jerven and we perused the double-page spread on Moscow.

I began to wonder then how many books we would have for a display about Russia. I was surprised. We had quite a few folktales such as Firebird  and Baboushka, many picture books by Patricia Polacco and then I thought of Russian writers such as Alexei Tolstoy (The Enormous Turnip) and Alexander Pushkin (The Golden Fish); musicians such as Tchiakovsky (Swan Lake  and The Nutcracker), Mussorgsky (Pictures at an Exhibition) Prokofiev (Peter and the Wolf);  and artists such as Kandinsky, all of which we had books for and could display. See the pinterest selection here.

3rd April Happy Easter

It's finally school holidays and I can fall in a heap. The family is all at home so the house is full. It's raining like it often is at Easter. We've eaten copious amounts of hot cross buns which I love and we are planning to cook kedgeree which is a family tradition for Good Friday.

The last week of school was very busy with Easter services and hat parades and an International Day, but in amongst all this in the last couple of weeks, I did have time to read some of my favourite Easter books, Muddy Footprints by Mary Small; Rechenka's Eggs by Patricia Polacco; Max's Chocolate Chicken by Rosemary Wells and The Smallest Bilby and the Easter Tale by Nette Hilton. But I have a new favourite, The Easter Bunny's Assistant  by Jan Thomas. This book is a real hoot. I read it to preschool classes with the assistance of their teacher. Like Mark Sommerset's Baa Baa Smart Sheep and Mo Willem's Elephant and Piggie  books this book is written for two speakers, the Easter bunny and his assistant, Skunk. Each class teacher and I hammed up the respective parts to make a wonderful reader's theatre rendition of the book. The students loved the fact that skunk smelled and joined in with the humour, holding their noses and warning the Easter bunny about what was going to happen. They even predicted the peg ending. An added bonus of the book is a well set out procedure for decorating and dying hard boiled eggs. This book is such good value all round!

12th November WOW (Wear Orange Wednesday)

It is Wear Orange Wednesday in celebration of everything the SES (State Emergency Services) do to help those in need. The children I teach have probably had little to do with the SES, but I thought it a good excuse to look for ways of celebrating 'orange' through books. This is what I found:

• The Big Orange Splot by Daniel Pinkwater is an oldie but goodie that explores the themes of creativity and individuality.
• An Orange for Frankie by Patricia Polacco is perfect for this time of year as it is a Christmas story based on the traditions of Polacco's own family.
• Otto's Orange Day by Jay Lynch is one of the very popular titles from the Toon series of books.
• It's an Orange Aardvark by Michael Hall. A fabulous new book, it explores colour, has great holes and lends itself to lots of creative fun.
• Big Wolf and Little Wolf, Such a Beautiful Orange by Nadine Brun-Cosme. One in a series of three books about a great friendship between two wolves who share adventures.
• Once Upon an Alphabet, Short stories for all the letters by Oliver Jeffers. This is not about anything orange, but it has a spectacular orange cover and it is an absolute wonder.

19th March National Quilting Day

National Quilting Day is celebrated on the th
ird Saturday in March in America. I'm not sure we have an equivalent here in Australia, but as there is a keen quilter working in the library with me, we have a wonderful collection of books that feature quilts and we often use her quilts as part of our displays. The stories that accompany the quilt books usually celebrate themes such as community, family, memories, sharing, kindness and giving so they make ideal discussion starters and often lead to a myriad of craft activities. Among the 'quilt' books in our library are the following picture books:

• The Quiltmaker's Gift and The Quiltmaker's Journey by Jeff Brumbeau and Gail DeMarcken

• The Patchwork Quilt by Valerie Flournoy and Jerry Pinkney

• Granny's Quilt by Penny Ives

• The Quilt Story by Tony Johnston and Tomie dePaola

• The Quilt by Ann Jonas

• The Keeping Quilt by Patricia Polacco

• The Patchwork Path by Bettye Stroud and Erin Susanne Bennett

• The Kindness Quilt by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace

And of course there are all those beautiful books of poems where the illustrations are quilts made by author/ illustrator Anna Grossnickle Hines. Her newest is poetry about peace called Peaceful Pieces.

12th July

Patricia Polacco is an American author/illustrator whose books reflect her family heritage, upbringing and interests. She spent much of her childhood with grandparents, one pair Ukrainian and the other of Irish background. Her stories always have very positive relationships between children and older people. Many of her stories feature Babushka (a Russian grandmother), goats (a particular interest), and the theme of the outsider, this as a result of her own childhood and schoolyard treatment. She had dyslexia and did not read until she was fourteen and was bullied at school because of it. Her book Thank You, Mr Falker combines the theme of reading difficulties and the relationship between child and adult. The Keeping Quilt combines memories and babushka's role in keeping them.

My favourite of her books is Rechenka's Eggs, a lovely story to share at Easter. The decorated Russian eggs that are entered into a competition are beautiful, the story touching and the children wouldn't choose to read it themselves so it is always a surprise to them. In fact, in my library that is the case with many of Patricia's books. They are not borrowed until I or another teacher shares them with a class and then they are in big demand.

Patricia has her own very comprehensive website and there is an interview video of her on Reading Rockets.

11th July E. B. White (1899 - 1985) Margaret Hodges (1911 - 2005) Jane Gardam (1928) James Stevenson (1929) Patricia Polacco (1944)

Five birthdays! If you want to be a children's author this is the date to be born! Each of these authors has published a large number of books, but for the age group I teach and for my library, the first three are best known for one or two particular books.

Elwyn Brooks (E.B.) White is well known because of Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little. The 50th Anniversary version of Charlotte's Web with its large print and coloured illustrations (Garth Williams' original illustrations coloured by Rosemary Wells) has made the book accessible to very young children. The parents who have serialised it have all commented on how much they have enjoyed the experience and how attentive their children were. Stuart Little, on the other hand tends to be read by the children in abridged or retold I Can Read form. The movies have helped maintain these classics, but they are still good reads.

Margaret Hodges is the author of Trina Schart Hyman's Caldecott Medal winning St George and the Dragon. She also wrote versions of the King Arthur stories such as The Kitchen Knight . Most of her books were retellings of traditional literature, but she was a master storyteller, a librarian and professor of librarianship who was a very strong advocate for children, storytelling and libraries.

Jane Gardam was one of my favourite authors when I was at university. I read all of her novels and marvelled at her use of language. She has written very little for my clientele, but two beginning novels that my good Year 2 readers will read are Bridget and William, a lovely story about horse-mad Bridget, whose father thinks her horse is a waste of money until Bridget and William save the day, and Tufty Bear, which is three short stories about a teddy bear that is so real-to-life that he talks. These stories have a very British, in-doorsy, cold-weather feel, but extend modern Australian children's view of the world.

James Stevenson is chiefly an illustrator and as he did cartoons for The New Yorker, it comes as no surprise to see that his book illustrations are done in comic-book style too. He does do picture books on his own, (see The Night After Christmas), but he is better known for illustrating poetry anthologies by Jack Prelutsky, such as The New Kid on the Block and My Dog May Be a Genius, and Judy Blume's The Pain and the Great One series of books.

There are a lot of Patricia Polacco books in my library and many are worth commenting on, so I will write about her tomorrow.