15th May International Day of Families 15th - 21st May National Families Week

Each year, over a hundred thousand people and hundreds of organisations celebrate National Families Week, Australia’s annual celebration of families.

National Families Week has been run by Families Australia, with Australian Government support, every year since 2003.

National Families Week is a time to celebrate with family, make contact with extended family and friends, and share in the enjoyment of family activities within the wider community. It is a time to celebrate the meaning of family and to make the most of family life.

National Families Week is held between 15 and 21 May to coincide with the United Nations International Day of Families which is on the 15th May. The United Nations General Assembly, in its resolution 47/237 of 20 September 1993, proclaimed that 15 May of every year shall be observed as the International Day of Families.

The United Nations states that “this annual observance reflects the importance which the international community attaches to families as basic units of society as well as its concern regarding their situation around the world..."

Over the time I have been teaching, the structure of the family unit has changed greatly, but family is still an important constant in children's lives. The picture books available for young children now reflect this well. Look for these which are general in nature, not specific. There are some very good books where the family has two mothers, two fathers, an extended family household etc, but these are not listed here.

• The Family Book by Todd Parr

• The Great Big Book of Families by Mary Hoffman & Ros Asquith

• Who is in My Family? by Robie H. Harris & Nadine Bernard Westcott

• A  Family is a Family is a Family by Sara O'Leary & Qin Leng

• Love Makes a Family by Sophie Beer

• Family Tree by Josh Pyke & Ronojoy Ghosh                               

• All About Families by Felicity Brooks & Mar Ferrero

• We Are Family  by Patricia Hegarty & Ryan Wheatcroft

• Family Forest  by Kim Kane & Lucia Masciullo

• Isla's Family Tree by Katrina McKelvey & Prue Pittock

• Big Book of Families by Catherine & Laurence Anholt

What better way is there to celebrate Families Week than to read together as a family? Any books, not books about other people's families but ones you enjoy!

2nd June Michael Emberley (1960)

Happy birthday to Michael Emberley, an American illustrator who lives in Ireland with his Irish wife. He is the son of Ed Emberley, the sister of Rebecca Emberley and the husband of Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick. He is literally surrounded by other illustrators and no doubt influenced by them, but he has many books to his credit. He illustrates Mary Ann Hoberman's wonderful series, for two readers, You Read to Me, I'll Read to You. He is responsible for the illustrations in many of Robie H. Harris' books, my favourite being Happy Birth Day!, the perfect gift for a new baby, and it's sequel Hi New Baby! More recently he illustrated Barbara Bottner's Miss Brooks Loves Books. This book has won read-aloud awards and is particularly good for talking to children about reading tastes and how not every reader needs to like the same books. And as a teacher who is trying to convince children that books are terrific, I just love this picture from Michael's website of the exultant teacher and the child dressed as Shrek.

9th March Harry Bliss (1964)

Coincidentally, a Year 1 teacher came into the library today looking for tooth fairy books and I had Mrs Watson Wants Your Teeth out on display. She didn't know it was Harry's birthday, but it planted the seed for me to write up his birthday.

Harry Bliss grew up in New York and became an illustrator and cartoonist. He does cartoons for The New Yorker magazine. On initial perusal many adults make comments about the covers of his books, saying things such as 'it looks as if it will be scary', but if they do pick up the book and read them with a child they change their mind. Don't Forget to Come Back!; Mrs Watson Wants Your Teeth and A Very Brave Witch may illicit comments like this, but his better known illustrations for Kate DiCamillo's Louise, the Adventures of a Chicken, Doreen Cronin's diary books, Diary of a Worm; Diary of a Spider and Diary of a Fly certainly won't.