2nd February Hedgehog Day

 

Hedgehogs are cute and resourceful. We don't have hedgehogs in Australia and that is why we think they are special, endearing and a novelty. They are covered with stiff, hollow hairs they use to defend themselves. When they sense danger, they roll into a ball so that their hairs stick out like spines, causing pain to anyone silly enough to touch. They have an amazing sense of smell and can find food buried under an inch of soil. 

They are very popular characters in stories, especially stories set in England. Recently I highlighted all the series of books about rabbits with my students and many of them were borrowed. So where to next? There are some very good book series that do feature hedgehogs!

• There's the series of picture books by M. Christina Butler and Tina Macnaughton. They are about Little Hedgehog which preschoolers love because he has the same concerns as them and many of the pages have 'flock' where children can experience the texture of his red hat.

• There's the three books by Rosie Wellesley, that started with The Very Helpful Hedgehog.

• There's five books in the Hedgehugs series by Lucy Tapper and Steve Wilson

• There's the series Hedgehog and Friends by Eoin McLaughlin and Polly Dunbar that began with The Hug  and now has five books.

• There's the new books by Britta Teckentrup about Big Hedgehog and Little Hedgehog that look like they are going to be a series.

• Then there's the lovely Acorn Hello Hedgehog! series about two friends, Hedgehog and Harry by Norm Feuti. There are now six books in this series and they are perfect for beginning readers.

• There's a small step up in difficulty then to these two full colour short chapter book series Our Friend Hedgehog by Lauren Castillo and Sydney and Taylor by Jacqueline Davies and Deborah Hocking.

• For more able readers or as a class serial there's always the classic, The Hodgeheg  by Dick King Smith and its sequel King Max the  Last.

So masses of hedgehog books to choose from. If this is not enough check out Pinterest here.

8th January Bubble Bath Day

Having a bubble bath is so relaxing. Only thing better? Reading a book while soaking in the bubble bath, not that I tell the students I teach to read in the bath. While there are are some picture books about bubble baths, none are great literature so don't rush off to buy them. Instead use Bubble Bath Day to read an old favourite that my preschoolers just love, The Lady With the Alligator Purse. And even if you don't have this book you will know the verse from your own childhood,

Miss Lucy had a baby

His name was Tiny Tim

She put him in the bathtub

To see if he could swim.

He drank up all the water.

He ate up all the soap.

He tried to eat the bathtub

But it wouldn't go down his throat...

Have your preschoolers act out the parts, Tim, Miss Lucy, the Doctor, the Nurse and the Lady with the alligator purse.  And if you don't want to share this, find Margaret Mahy's Bubble Trouble and enjoy it with children or visit the library titles shown below.

2nd April Hans Christian Andersen (1805 - 1875) International Children's Book Day Amy Schwartz World Autism Day

Today is International Children's Book Day in honour of Hans Christian Andersen's birthday and as usual IBBY has produced a poster. This year's theme is The Book Remembers and it is by Estonian illustrator Juri Mildeberg.

It is also Amy Schwartz's birthday. She is an American author illustrator whose work I know very little about as

I have only seen a couple of her books. The library has What James Likes Best, which won the 2004 Charlotte Zolotow Award. This is a great honour, given that it is awarded to the author of the best picture book text published in the USA in the

preceding year. It seems as if we should have more of her books!

Thirdly, it is World Autism Day, also known as World Autism Awareness Day. The aim of this day is to increase people's awareness about people, especially children with autism. This is becoming easier to do using children's books because of titles such as Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time and Cynthia Lord's Rules. Although many of the books for younger children are still overly didactic anything by Kathy Hoopman who writes about Asperger's Syndrome is worth exploring and the picture book Looking After Louis by Lesley Ely and Polly Dunbar is especially good for looking at the consequences of mainstreaming children with autism and thus increasing tolerance of difference. This story is told from the point of view of a girl who sits next to Louis, an autistic boy who is a loner, repeats things he hears, mimicks adults and gets away with behaviour that wouldn't be tolerated from the other children. This book should help initiate good discussion. Another picture book worth searching out is My Brother Sammy by Becky Edwards and David Armitage. In this story Sammy does not go to a mainstream class and he is constantly ruining his brother's things. His brother just wants Sammy to be a 'normal' brother.