30th May Puffin Day

As far as I know there is no such thing as Puffin Day. I'm instigating one! It was Puffin Fest in Scotland from the 15th - 25th May. I have a good friend who is off hunting puffins in Scotland at the moment. She has seen some, sat in a bus stop decorated with puffin paraphernalia and written about her adventures. I can't help but feel a little jealous. Then yesterday I bought a new puffin picture book and thought about my friend as I did so, to add to the library's already extensive collection - The Angry Little Puffin by Timothy Young. This book will really make you smile. The puffin in the story shares an exhibit at the zoo with penguins and has to listen to the visitors talk about him as 'that kooky little penguin', 'that funny-looking penguin' etc, and he is on a mission to make the visitors read and take note of his characteristics and how different he is from the penguins. It is a fun way to learn about the differences and to learn about an arctic bird that children in Australia are not likely to see. The reader gets the puffin's point of view. He is persuasive and it mixes graphics, speech bubbles for the visitors and text for the puffin's thoughts. Lots to talk about, use for teaching and just fun to read! See the trailer here.

Next week I'll get the library's books and puffin toy out, we'll celebrate puffins and practise using the word 'auk'! I love that word!

7th June Butterfly Day

In the UK today is designated Butterfly Education and Awareness Day, a day to make people aware of the role of butterflies in pollination and what they can do to ensure there are butterfly habitats close to them. Butterflies are certainly fascinating creatures because of their beauty and delicacy.

Many children's books focus on butterflies, but the ones here, I have included because of their illustrations and/or stories rather than their factual information. They will certainly cover a wide range of uses.

1. Butterfly by Petr Horacek.
2. A Butterfly is Patient  by Dianna Hutts Acton and Sylvia Long.
3. Caterpillar Butterfly by Vivian French and Charlotte Voake.
4.  Caterpillar and Butterfly by Ambelin Kwaymullina.
5.  Ten Little Caterpillars by Bill Martin Jnr and Lois Ehlert.
6.  I Wish I Were a Butterfly by James Howe and Ed Young.
7. Velma Gratch and the Way Cool Butterfly by Alan Madison and Kevin Hawkes.
8.  Summer Birds: The Butterflies of Maria Merian by Margarita Engle and Julie Paschkis

For more butterfly titles including expository texts see Pinterest here.

27th February Strawberry Day

Seeds on the outside, sweet on the inside - February 27th is National

Strawberry Day! Even if they aren't in season, that doesn't mean you

can't enjoy them because today they seem to be in the shops all

year round.

A gift from Chile in the 1700s, garden strawberry plants made their

way to North America in the 1750s. The plant is easy to grow and now 

seems to flourish anywhere in the world. I don't know when or how 

they arrived in Australia.

We only had a handful of books in the library about strawberries, 

so when putting together a table display today I needed to put out

recipe books open to wonderful concoctions such as cake, cheesecake,

shortbread and smoothies made with strawberries.

Books worth having though are:
• The First Strawberries by Joseph Bruchac and Anna Vojtech
This is a retelling of a Cherokee legend which explains how strawberries
came to be.
• Strawberries are Red by Petr Horacek is a board book about colour but
the cover works well for display.
• Life cycles: Strawberries by Robin Nelson is a nonfiction book that looks
at how a strawberry grows.
• The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry and the Big Brown Bear
by Audrey and Don Wood. This is an old story but a good one where a
small mouse is determined to save his strawberry from a hungry bear.
• Cock-a-doodle-doo by Janet Stevens and Susan Stevens Crummel
Big Brown Rooster is sick of chicken feed and together with his friends
decides to make a strawberry shortcake.

21st October Apple Day

Apple Day is an annual celebration, held in October, of apples and orchards. It is celebrated mainly in the United Kingdom where it is Autumn and harvest time. The first Apple Day was held in 1990. Given that the Granny Smith green apple originated in Australia in 1868 and apples are popular as snacks in Australian school lunchboxes we should celebrate it here too.

Apples and their place in our language and life could make for some interesting discussions with children, even a whole unit of study. Look at how many sayings there are. Just some that come to mind:
• an apple for the teacher
• an apple a day keeps the doctor away
• that apple didn't fall far from the tree
• rotten to the core
• you are the apple of my eye
• don't upset the apple cart
• don't let one rotten apple spoil the whole barrel.

Scrolling through my library catalogue there were more than thirty picture books which highlighted apples. Some were sheer celebrations of the apple such as Apple by Nikki McClure and Little Apple: A Book of Thanks by Brigitte Weninger; others such as The Apple Trees by Vivian French, One Red Apple by Harriet Ziefert, Apples Apples Apples  by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace, From Seed to Apple  by Anita Ganeri and Apples Grow on a Tree by Mari Schuh explain the lifecycle of apples in an illustrated format suitable for young readers; some tell the benefits of and how to make apple pies (Amelia Bedelia's First Apple Pie; How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World) and yet others are just great stories for young children to enjoy and marvel at.

The most recent acquisition that sent me on this search for an Apple Day is The Apple Orchard Riddle  by Margaret McNamara and Brian Karas. I bought this because their earlier book How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin? had been such a success with the teachers and this story is also about teacher, Mr Tiffin and his class, and in it they go on a trip to an orchard and learn a lot about apples while trying to solve a riddle as well.

Other stories that I have shared with preschool or kindergarten classes to great effect are:
• Mr Brown's Magnificent Apple Tree  by Yvonne Winer and Maya Winters
• A New House for Mouse by Petr Horacek
• Red Panda's Toffee Apples by Ruth Paul
• The Very Helpful Hedgehog by Rosie Wellesley
• The Apple Pie Tree by Zoe Hall and Shari Halpern
• The Apple Tree by Lynley Dodd
and two picture books with more 'meat' and things to talk about
• Hubert and the Apple Tree by Bruno Hachler and Albrecht Rissler
• One Green Apple by Eve Bunting and Ted Lewin. This story also features an excursion to an apple orchard, but the main character here is Farah, a Muslim immigrant who is new to the class.

30th June Malachy Doyle (1954) Petr Horacek (1967)

I was going to write about something else but when I looked at the date, I felt compelled to write about two books I have read recently by authors who have their birthday today.

Firstly, Malachy Doyle.

I have been searching out books to use with my preschoolers while the Olympics are on. I looked for books about races, sports, good sportsmanship etc and came across Digger and Lew by Malachy Doyle and Daniel Howarth. Digger is a mole and Lollopy Lew, a hare. The story starts a bit like the hare and the tortoise with the hare bragging and the mole being annoyed by his behaviour. Digger, the mole comes up with a plan to beat Lew. What happens will give readers plenty to discuss. Did mole cheat? Is what he did ethical?

I plan to use this together with books such as The Hare and the Tortoise, The Best Beak in Boonaroo Bay, (Narelle Oliver), The Race (Christobel Mattingley) and Lightning Fred (Dick King Smith) to have some lively discussions.

Secondly, Petr Horacek.

Jonathan and Martha is Horacek's newest picture book and like all of his books, this too has stunning illustrations using wonderful collage. This is the story of two worms who both find the same pear. Like Digger and Lew they agree to share and eventually become friends. It too then has an ideal message for the children I teach.

30th June David McPhail (1940) Malachy Doyle (1954) Petr Horacek (1967)

David McPhail is an American author /illustrator who has a long list of books to his name. I especially like the way he illustrates bears so I seem to be drawn to his many titles that include bears. Drawing Lessons From a Bear is one of his books in our library that the children really enjoy.

The author Malachy Doyle was born in Northern Ireland, but now lives in Wales. His books appear to be very different from each other because of the different illustrators that have been chosen to illustrate his books. Cow and Horse which are illustrated by Angelo Rinaldi are striking looking books that you cannot fail to be drawn to. Look also for The Bold Boy which is illustrated by Jane Ray and Sleepy Pendoodle, a book about a gorgeous puppy which is illustrated by Australian Julie Vivas.

And thirdly, Petr Horacek who was born in Czechoslavakia, but now lives in England is the author/illustrator of many beautiful books. Suzy Goose got me hooked on his books and then I have eagerly purchased his subsequent titles. His most recent Fly, has shaped pages internally, bright colours and a story told from the fly's point of view. It makes you smile!