13th September Roald Dahl Day

Roald Dahl Day is celebrated annually on his birthday, to honour the author and his contribution to children's literature. Roald Dahl’s imagination was incredible and the legacy of his children’s books has been in the staple reading diet for many of us. Not only that, the adventures of his infamous characters, and the unique tone of his narration have often served as an excellent gateway into reading. Dahl is still very popular and some critics wonder why.

As such, it can be challenging when children run out of the different Dahl titles to know what to read next. The things Dahl did:

• dark humour, slightly wicked

• laugh-out-loud (hilarious)

• adventures

• relatable child characters

• villainous adults

• invented words

• not sentimental

But, he was a product of the time he wrote in and some readers now are very critical of some aspects of his books. Some of his novels have been edited more recently to remove words, phrases and sentiments readers might find upsetting.

Personally I'm not in favour of this. I prefer to teach children that what was acceptable when the book was written is different from what is acceptable now. Yes, Dahl was racist, a misogynist, and created stereotypical characters, but when you come upon  examples use them as teachable moments.

Dahl's books are still being recommended for English study. The NSW English units use three of Dahl's titles. I had the pleasure of The Twits with Year 2 students. It is the book together with Fantastic Mister Fox  which I like least probably because these are the most sexist of his books. Mr Twit might be disgusting, but the words used for Mrs Twit historically and meaning-wise often only pertain to woman so this is the place to look very closely at language. Mrs Twit is described as ugly, mean, cruel and nasty. She is called a hag, a word only used to describe a woman. Neither Mr Twit or Mrs Twit are particularly considerate of each other and that and all the tricks they play on each other is what makes the children laugh.

Many parents who read Roald Dahl books to their children question the guns and language of Fantastic Mister Fox, but they still read it. 

Most of Dahl's books are suggested as reading for 7 plus, yet many of the students I teach have had them read to them before then, because their parents remember loving them. They then move on to David Walliams' books because they have been recommended to them. Yes, Walliams is a huge fan of Roald Dahl, but his writing and imagination are not Dahl's. Walliams should also be considered a product of his time which is now, so his books shouldn't be coming under fire because they are considered racist or misogynist, but they are. Also his most recent books have become quite thick and wordy, so are they really for seven year olds. Children need to learn what it is appropriate to laugh at. Fat-shaming, ridicule of single parent families and targeting the working class are not things that should be making us laugh.

So what do I recommend to my young readers who have read all the Roald Dahl books and who are looking for their next outrageously hilarious, yet slightly wicked tale? 

First up , many that are recommended online and which do seem to meet the brief are for  older students and are not in the Prep  library. Books such as 

• The Beast and the Bethany  by Jack Meggitt-Phillips

• Grandpa Frank's Great Big Bucket List  by Jenny Pearson

• The Great Chocoplot  by Chris Callaghan

• Holly Hopkinson  by Charlie P. Brooks

• The Exploding Life of Scarlett Fife by Maz Evans

• Nooks and Crannies  by Jessica Lawson

Others that we do have:

• Mr Gum  by Andy Stanton

• Grimwood  by Nadia Shireen

• Wigglesbottom Primary  by Pamela Butchart

• Buckle and Squash  by Sarah Courtauld

• A Series of Unfortunate Events  by Lemony Snicket

• Wayside School  by Louis Sachar

7th July Chocolate Day

There are several times a year to celebrate with chocolate, but it is a while since Easter and still some time till Christmas or Valentine's Day so it is timely to have a Chocolate Day in the middle of the year, especially when it is cold here in the Southern Hemisphere.

Latest reports suggest that regular intake of chocolate and cocoa could be beneficial for cognitive functioning over time, thereby staving off degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s.  People who ate chocolate every day were found to have better attention spans, working memory, ability to process speed and verbal fluency, but it should be dark chocolate to avoid health problems associated with high sugar intake.

The most popular book about chocolate is probably Charlie and the Chocolate  Factory by Roald Dahl, but there are many other wonderful novels which allow fans to read more about the wonders of chocolate. The books below are ideal for reading at times other than Easter and when you are feeling like some chocolate.

13th September Roald Dahl Day

Roald Dahl Day took on even more significance this year because it marked the day that he would have turned 100 years old. The new movie of The BFG has just been released so the children I teach have a renewed interest in Dahl's books. But, I have noticed, that in recent years less and less of my Year 2 students are reading his books independently than used to be the case. While I still have many Year 2 students who are good readers and can probably read most things if they choose to, they are not choosing to read anything that requires reading stamina on their part. They are turned off by the amount of text, the compactness of text and the lack of coloured pictures. They cannot loose themselves for over half an hour of interrupted reading. There are too many other things vying for their time. They are too busy. Such as shame I think. I yearn for the readers I had ten years ago before devices took up so much of their time.


Because of this, earlier in the year I made a decision to replace all of the library's Dahl books with the new, larger format editions that have coloured pictures. I put them on display and made a point of showing them to the children and there has been a resurgence in borrowing of Dahl books. So much so that when I decided to put together a birthday display last week there was only two of his books in the library, the two books of verse and a biography, so not enough to bother! Inadvertently, we celebrated Roald Dahl Day!

21st June World Giraffe Day

In the last few weeks I feel like quite a few new picture books about giraffes have come across my desk and I thought 'must do a giraffe display' and then lo and behold I find out from the radio that it is World Giraffe Day so now I have no excuse. I collected my favourites first... Shel Silverstein's A Giraffe and a Half, first published 50 years ago, then Roald Dahl's The Giraffe, the Pelly and Me.  Giraffes Can't Dance by Giles Andreae always makes me smile because I have fond memories of a preschool Christmas concert when the children performed this book.

My Year 1 Book Club group and I look at true animal stories and the children are always fascinated by the giraffe who walks to Paris and we now have four different versions of this story, each with its own distinctive illustrations. Now for the best of the new ones. I love Giraffe on a Bicycle by Julia Woolf. This debut book really made the children laugh. Can't wait for her next book. Another new one, Blue and Bertie by Kristyna Litten has a wonderful message about coping with change, inclusion and acceptance of difference, perfect for the age group I teach.

See all the library's giraffe books here.

Champions Read 4 - Literature

A great champion of children's literature died this week. Vale Margaret Mahy. She is the New Zealand author that most of us know well because of her abundance of books, ranging from picture books such as the ever-popular Great White Man-eating Shark, through great beginning chapter books such as The Great Piratical Rumbustification and The Dentist's Promise to her award-winning novels The Haunting and The Changeover. And in there as well there are anthologies of poetry and short stories. She is a popular author study choice with my teachers and so we purchased Questions Kids Ask Margaret Mahy.

There are books of this type and other straight biographies about many children's authors. Look for them on Roald Dahl, A.A.Milne, Beatrix Potter, Jacqueline Wilson and Dr Seuss. Mem Fox has even penned her own, Memories which is ideal for use with very young readers who are doing an author study on her, but if you want to look at picture book biographies that do a bit more than outline the chronology of their lives here are some suggestions:

• for Dr Seuss

The Boy on Fairfield Street by Kathleen Krull, Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher.

• for Beatrix Potter

My Dear Noel by Jane Johnson

Beatrix Potter by Alexandra Wallner

• for Wanda Gag

Wanda Gag : The Girl Who Lived to Draw by Deborah Kogan Ray

• for Roald Dahl

• D is for Dahl by Wendy Cooling and Quentin Blake

13th September Roald Dahl (1916 - 1990) Else Minarik (1920)

Another day to remember classics in children's literature and then revisit them afresh. As each new lot of children come to school and enjoy my library I get to share Roald Dahl and Else Minarik anew and revel in the children's pleasure, being just that they discover that they can read Little Bear all by themselves, or that they come to tell me that they found a 'rude' word in the Dahl book that they are reading or that 'did you know Mr Twit is disgusting!'

Roald Dahl is so well known that the 13th September has become known as Roald Dahl Day and schools organise activities to celebrate his birth.

Dahl was born to Norwegian parents in England and was educated there. Minarik was born in Denmark to Danish parents and migrated to the USA when she was four. They both chose to write books that children would read. Minarik saw a gap in the market for books that children inGrade 1 could read for themselves and so wrote the Little Bear series which are made even more special because they are illustrated by Maurice Sendak. Roald Dahl chose to write books that children would love because of their irreverence and anti-adult stance. He too, has been fortunate in that many of his books have been illustrated by Quentin Blake, also someone not to be missed in the world of children's books. Both pairs, writers and illustrators have become classics!