1st June Global Day of Parents

This day recognises the importance of responsible parenting in day to day life and was established in 1994. 

World Parents Day is essential as we honour the most important people in our lives. They nurture and protect the child all the time. This day not only reminds us of the selfless sacrifices our parents made for us, but it also reminds us of our responsibilities towards our parents.

The theme for this year is “Appreciate all parents throughout the world”.

I'm sure the children I teach appreciate their parents, but they do enjoy laughing at the funny things parents do. So here are some books from the library where children get to laugh at parents.

• My Mum and Dad Make Me Laugh by Nick Sharratt

• Meet the Parents by Peter Bently and Sara Ogilvie

• Weird Parents by Audrey Wood

• Impossible Parents by Brian Patten

• The Parents are Revolting by Danny Katz

And of course there's always the ever popular

The World's Worst Parents by David Walliams.

21st March Common Courtesy Day

How appropriate at this troubled time in the community. Common courtesy has almost disappeared at the shops when it comes to people wanting something for themselves. How sad. I think we need it more than ever at the moment, so now that we've moved on in the library from hand washing and germs, I'm moving on to Common Courtesy!

What does common courtesy mean?
It is politeness that people can usually be expected to show!


Common Courtesy Day is a great way to remind ourselves that the world is better off when we show gratitude and graciousness in both big and small ways.

So what books to put in this display? I could put any books about manners, but some are definitely better than others because some are far too didactic. Below are some that warrant reading and sharing. The reader will laugh at the despicable behaviour but once recognised they will know it is inappropriate.

Magic Little Words by Angele Delaunois and Manon Gauthier is the gem to get you started. It presents one word and its meaning on each double-page spread and because there is not  much text it allows for lots of talk.

Hello, Goodbye  by David Lloyd and Louise Voce is very simple and for very young children, but greeting each other  is an important concept.

The Elephant and the Bad Baby  by Elfrida Vipont and Raymond Briggs is a classic that many children will know but will be happy to tell you what the baby and the elephant did wrong.

Please Mr Panda by Steve Antony has a storyline similar to Elfrida Vipont's but has other concepts to explore besides manners.

"Say Please, Little Bear" by Peter Bently and Rob McPhillips. Daddy bear is the kind of parent you hope every child has. He enjoys having fun with his child, but expects exemplary behaviour.

The Magic Word  by Mac Barnett and Elise Parsley. Here humour takes over, but the underlying message isn't lost.


One Word from Sophia  by Jim Averback and Yasmeen Ismail. Sophia tries all sorts of negotiations, but in the end only needs one word.

My Little Gifts  by Jo Witek and Christine Roussey.

Norris the Bear Who Shared by Catherine Rayner.

Betty Bunny Wants Everything by Michael Kaplan and Stephane Jorisch

Rude Cakes by Rowboat Watkins

Yuk! said the Yak by Alex English and Emma Level

Tea Party Rules by Ame Dyckman and K.G. Campbell

We Don't Eat Our Classmates by Ryan T. Higgins

No Slurping, No Burping! by Kara LaReau and Lorelay Bove

You're a Rude Pig, Bertie by Claudia Bolt

All Mine! by Zehra Hicks

How Do You Do, Mr Gnu? by Billy Coughlan and Maddie Frost

Me First! by Michael Escoffier and Kris di Giacomo

Give Me Back My Book! by Travis Foster and Ethan Long

Plankton is Pushy by Jonathan Fenske

18th July Hot Dog Day

It is Hot Dog Day (the third Wednesday in July) and hotdogs are not something you usually associate with children's literature, but there are more books featuring them than you would think. I have written about the 'oldies' before ... Mo Willems' Pigeon finds one and Tom Watson's Stick Dog wants one. The three books pictured above are new, very funny and thus popular with the young audience in my library.

18th October Vampire series for beginning readers

Well just as I thought I was doing a good job of encouraging the children to borrow all the witch and wizard series in the library, I got 'but where are the vampire books?' Ten years ago this age group did not know about vampires or werewolves, but now these two are sometimes asked for. Is it television or older siblings?

Well luckily after a quick search I came up with two series:
• Mona the Vampire by Hiawyn Oram. This series is old, out of print currently, and mine have two different covers depending on whether they were published before or after it was a television series, but they are still borrowed and read as 'readers' for Year 1 students. we have four titles.

• Vampire School  by Peter Bently.  These are newer, about the same length and there are six books in the series. They are set in a school called St Orlok's which you have to be a vampire to attend. Lee, Bella and Billy are students in Miss Gargoyle's class. We appear to have a mixture of covers from two different issues of this series as well.

Then recently I purchased a new series of books about Isadora Moon which are written and illustrated by Harriet Muncaster. Isadora is half fairy and half vampire because her mother was a fairy and her father a vampire. These four stories are attractive beginning chapter books from Oxford and like many of the new books for newly fluent readers these feature one colour and here it is pink. They stayed on the shelf this morning for less than ten minutes! So far they are popular, let's see if they continue to walk out the door with very little upselling.

I also have
• Three Little Vampires by Georgie Adams
• Daisy and the Trouble With Vampires by Kes Gray
• Horrid Henry and the Zombie Vampire  by Francesca Simon
• Jake Cake The Visiting Vampire by Michael Broad

5th June Hot Air Balloon Day

Did you know that the hot air balloon is the oldest form of flight technology used for carrying humans? The first manned flight occurred in 1783. The balloon itself consists of an envelope, which is used to contain the hot air, and a gondola, where passengers and a means of creating hot air are typically housed. 

Recently a popular television program started its new season with a harrowing scene which involved a hot air balloon. My husband and son think this show is very humorous, but often I find myself squirming. A book I really enjoyed, Enduring Love began with an awkward hot air balloon incident too. It was made into a movie and I had to cover my eyes at the beginning of it while the hot air balloon scene was playing. You guessed it, there is absolutely no way I would ever get in a hot air balloon. I do think they look good sailing across the sky. They are beautifully bright and demand your attention, but my attention is from the ground with my feet touching the dirt.

Today I collected up some books to put together a display. We had a Donut Day display out for the 2nd of June, but it had been decimated so I had to find something to replace it. Obviously donuts are popular. I could have had several copies of the Mr Panda books. I have a Mr Panda toy and together with the books he is popular. 

Hot air balloons has proved an ideal replacement ...there are plenty of books across a wide reading range. Some special books worth mentioning are:

Picture books:
• The Great Balloon Hullaballoo by Peter Bently
• Flight of the Dodo by Peter Brown
• Miranda the Explorer by James Mayhew
• The Cloudspotter by Tom McLaughlin
• Hot Air: the Mostly True Story of the First Hot-air Balloon Ride by Marjorie Priceman
• Hot Air by Sandrine Dumas Roy (about global warming really...wonderful art)
• Sebastian and the Balloon by Philip C. Stead

Nonfiction:
• Hot Air Balloons by Joanne Mattern
• How Do Hot Air Balloons Work?  by Buffy Silverman

Novels:
• Emily Eyefinger and the Balloon Bandits by Duncan Ball
• Fortunately the Milk by Neil Gaiman
• Meerkat Madness Flying High by Ian Whybrow

and two that are worth searching out in a library because they are out of print :
• Cinderella and the Hot Air Balloon by Ann Jungman
• The Balloon Farmer by Geoffrey Lehmann

12th March More Sleep

Today, coincidently I covered and catalogued a wonderful book that fit so well with the sleeping fairytale discussion. I could have written about it last night, but I didn't know about it then. It is called Princess Sleepyhead and the Night- Night Bear by Peter Bently. It is written in verse which I don't usually like, but this book reads really well. It has all the sleep vocabulary, the royal castle setting and the bear tells the princess the stories of Sleeping Beauty and The Princess and the Pea. Just perfect and what a way to tie all the sleeping fairytales together!