National Non-Fiction November (7th November National Non-Fiction Day) Part 1 Authors and Illustrators

National Non-Fiction November was set up by the Federation of Children's Book Groups in the UK as a way to highlight the importance of information books and to promote reading non-fiction for pleasure. 

National Literacy Trust research (2022), said more than half (56%) of children and young people told us that they read non-fiction. We also found that children and young people who read non-fiction are more engaged with environmental issues.

Overall, this report found that more children and young people who read non-fiction were motivated to read for educational purposes, to satisfy curiosities, to foster social connections and to support their mental wellbeing.

Each year, National Non-Fiction November has a different theme. The theme for 2024 is Why Don’t You…? and is designed to stimulate discussion around hobbies and leisure activities and to encourage young people to try something new. (More about this in Part 2)

Non-Fiction books for young children have definitely changed from the traditional non-fiction books used for research which had short tiles, photographs, a contents page, an index, a glossary and other features ideal for researching. Now some of the most exquisitely illustrated books in the library are in the non-fiction section of the library. Another difference is the amount of narrative nonfiction that now exists and it is not only biography.

Author/illustrators such as these excel at non-fiction and while the list is not exhaustive, these will make a great beginning reading-wise and display-wise.

• Jason Chin

• Nicola Davies 

• Jenni Desmond

• Candace Fleming

• Meredith Hooper

• Martin Jenkins

• Steve Jenkins and Robin Page

• Claire Saxby

• Melissa Stewart

• Yuval Zommer

19th March Aardvark Day

On the 19th March every year, National Aardvark Day is when we celebrate our favourite inquisitive friend, the Aardvark. The natural habitat of the aardvark is sub-Saharan Africa and they are nocturnal.

The aardvark has long ears like a rabbit, a snout somewhat similar to a pig, and a tail a bit like a kangaroo, but actually there are no close relatives to the aardvark. In fact, the nearest thing to an aardvark is an elephant!

In the world of picture books, Marc Brown's Arthur would probably be the best known aardvark, as he has a  series of books in which he stars with his sister D.W. There are chapter books, easy readers and picture books.

My favourite aardvark book is one of the African Animal Tales series illustrated by Adrienne Kennaway, Awkward Aardvark.  This story explains why aardvarks are nocturnal and live underground.

Of course there are other aardvark books in the library. Look for:

• Oi Aardvark! by Kes Gray and Jim Field

• It's an Orange Aardvark!  by Michael Hall

• Aalfred and Aalbert by Morag Hood

• Can an Aardvark Bark? by Melissa Stewart and Steve Jenkins

• Weird and Wonderful Animals: Aardvarks  by Emma Bassier

• Aardvarks by Maddie Gibbs

•  A is for Aardvark by Mark Shulman and Tamara Petrosino

• The Aardvark Who Wasn't Sure by Jill Tomlinson

• Noko and the Night Monster by Fiona Moodie

• Noko's Surprise Party  by Fiona Moodie

3rd March World Wildlife Day

World Wildlife Day (WWD) will be celebrated in 2022 under the theme “Recovering key species for ecosystem restoration”. The celebrations will seek to draw attention to the conservation status of some of the most critically endangered species of wild fauna and flora, and to drive discussions towards imagining and implementing solutions to conserve them. 

All conversations will be inspired by and seek to inform efforts towards the achievement of UN Sustainable Development Goals 1 (No Poverty), 2 (Zero hunger) 12 (Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns), 13 (Climate Action) 14 (Life Below Water) and 15 (Life on Land).

According to data from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, over 8,400 species of wild fauna and flora are critically endangered, while close to 30,000 more are understood to be endangered or vulnerable. Based on these estimates, it is suggested that over a million species are threatened with extinction.

Continued loss of species, habitats and ecosystems also threatens all life on Earth, including us. People everywhere rely on wildlife and biodiversity-based resources to meet all our needs, from food, to fuel, medicines, housing, and clothing.

Millions of people also rely on nature as the source of their livelihoods and economic opportunities.

In 2022, World Wildlife Day will therefore drive the debate towards the imperative need to reverse the fate of the most critically endangered species, to support the restoration of their habitats and ecosystems and to promote their sustainable use by humanity.

The world relies on its biodiversity for clean air and water, food, energy, and materials of all types. But our biodiversity is in danger through unsustainable human activities. It is up to us to decide and act now for the future. In addition to the books I have put on my Pinterest UN SDG 15 Life on Land i have decided to put together a display in the library of books about threatened species and extinction.

Some of the books in the display are:

• Almost Gone by Steve Jenkins

• Saving Species by Jess French

• Disappearing Acts  by Isabella Bunnell

• We Will Miss Them by Alexandra Wright

• Red Alert by Catherine Barr

• Don't Let Them Disappear by Chelsea Clinton

• Danny Dodo's Detective Diary by Rob Hodgson

• Who Am I? by Tim Flach

• Vanishing by Mike Lucas

• Extinct  by Lucas Riera

• Animals in Danger in Australia by Richard Spilsbury

• Atlas of Animals in Danger by Sylvaine Perrols

• Endangered Close Up Lorna Hendry

• The Only Ones Left by Sandra Kendall

• V is for Vanishing Patricia Mullins

• Garry Fleming's Animals: On the World's Rare and Endangered Species  by Garry Flemming

• Animals in Danger by Pierre deHugo

• Animals in Danger by Anne Faundez

• Animals Like Us by Andrea Mills

• Let's Save the Animals by Frances Barry

• A - Z of Endangered Animals by Jennifer Cousins

• Fauna by Tania Mc Cartney

• Small and Tall Tales of Extinct Animals by Damien Laverdunt

• Hello Hello by Brendan Wenzel

                                                      

 

11th December International Mountain Day

The theme for 2018 International Mountain Day is Mountains Matter. The website states

'Considering the crucial role they play in providing key ecosystem goods and services to the planet and their vulnerability in the face of climate change, we need to step up and raise attention to mountains.'

To raise attention of anything, I turn to books and in particular picture books so here I want to highlight two, an old one and a new one.

• Mountain Dance by Thomas Locker (2001)  This poetic text is accompanied by intense oil paintings that reveal geological details from the base to the tip of mountains. It is accompanied by Water Dance and Cloud Dance but stands alone as a testament to the beauty of mountains. We turned these books into a dance performance for a K -2 school concert. It was stunning.

• Mountains of the World by Dieter Braun (2018) This is a beautifully detailed and illustrated collection of the mountains of the world, part of the new range from Flying Eye Books.

If you haven't access to these two books in your library, of course there are others which will help children be enthralled by mountains. These two will help:

• How Mountains are Made by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld
• Mountains  by Seymour Simon



If you want to be more specific, these two books allow students to 'feel' the Himalayas:

• The Top of the World Climbing Mount Everest by Steve Jenkins
• Our Village in the Sky by Janeen Brian and Anne Spudvilas




And for two new stories with magnificent illustrations

• Up the Mountain by Marianne Dubuc
• Secrets of the Mountain by Libby Walden and Richard Jones

5th September Vulture Awareness Day

The first Saturday in September is International Vulture Awareness Day. I'm sure that most of us give very little thought to vultures, except to think that they are big and unattractive, but their number in the wild is dwindling and thus many countries organise events to raise awareness of their plight.


As a subject of interest, vultures are quite high on the list in my library, especially with Year 2 boys after we have done animals of the African savannah and they learn about scavengers. Suddenly vultures, hyenas and jackals are in demand and we do not have a lot of books on any of these. I purchased some of the Sandra Markle  Animal Scavengers series which has proved popular despite the amount of text, possibly because of the 'bloody' photographs.

While vultures appear as characters in many picture books, especially those set in Africa, the two books where they are the 'stars' are The Sulky Vulture by Sally Grindley, illustrated by Michael Terry, and Vulture View by April Pulley Sayre with wonderful illustrations by Steve Jenkins.

27th February Birds

Hard to believe we've been back at school already for over a month. The time has flown. There seems to be so much to do at the beginning of a school year. Over the last six months or so I seem to have bought so many picture books that feature birds and so many of them have simply outstanding illustrations. It got me thinking about how many books we already had in the library about birds so we decided to turn the library into an aviary to start the year's displays. It has been amazing. The teachers at school think it odd because they know I don't like birds, that is real birds. I'm quite scared of them since I had a magpie in the library and he couldn't get out. However I really like pictures of birds. They make for great illustrations, greeting cards, posters, sculptures etc so it was easy to decorate the library. I used some old books as my initial focus to sort out the wording to accompany the display -

• Have You Seen Birds?  by Joanne Oppenheim and Barbara Reid. Like all of Reid's books this uses wonderful plasticine collage for the illustrations but my children do not engage with the text.
• Birds, Birds and More Birds by Matt Cosgrove
• Birds  by Kevin Henkes and Laura Dronzek. My preschool teachers love this book.
• Birdsongs by Betsy Franco and Steve Jenkins. Perfect for having fun with the noises birds make.

I put out all the old favourites such as Edward the Emu; Edwina the Emu; Olga the Brolga; Enoch the Emu; Samantha Seagull's Sandal; Don't Let Pigeon Drive the Bus; Leonardo Pigeon of Siena; Pidge; Jeremy; Waddle Giggle Gargle; How the Birds Got their Colours; The Birdwatchers; Vuture's View; Condor's Egg; Owl Moon; Owl Babies; The Owl Who was afraid of the dark; Feathers for Phoebe; The Best Beak in Boonaroo Bay; Puffling; Little Owl Lost; Mozzie and Midgie and King of the Birds.

The library also has two beautiful biographies about two prominent bird lovers which we featured:
• The Boy Who Drew Birds  by Jacqueline Davies and Melissa Sweet. This is the story of John James Audubon
• For the Birds by Peggy Thomas and Laura Jacques. This is the the story of Roger Tory Peterson

And then all the new ones. I have put All I Said Was by Michael Morpurgo first because it is a great book to start a discussion about birds and their characteristics because in this story a boy wishes he was a bird, becomes a pigeon and then experiences the consequences of the change.

4th October World Animal Day St Francis of Assisi

 World Animal Day is an international day of action celebrated annually on October 4, the Feast Day of St Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals. It started in 1931 at a convention of ecologists in Florence, Italy who wished to highlight the plight of endangered species.

"Saint Francis of Assisi has always held a fascination for members of all faiths, and his story continues to inspire and motivate us more than seven hundred years after his death. Born into a wealthy family, he led a dissolute life as a young man. Then one day he had a conversion experience while passing a poor leper's hut. From that day on, Francis dedicated his life to helping the poor and outcasts of society and to teaching respect for all living things. He was joined by a noblewoman, Clare, who was soon known as Sister Moon to Francis's Brother Sun." (Amazon) He is responsible for the famous prayer that begins, "Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace.", the Canticle of the Sun and many stories about how he tamed a wolf and talked to animals. 

Below is a collage of all the wonderful picture books that feature Saint Francis. Lots of well-known authors and illustrators have presented their view of this favoured saint. See Tomie dePaola, Brian Wildsmith, Fiona French, Pat Mora, Demi, Margaret Mayo, Reeve Lindberg and Katherine Patterson. You might even be able to find a favourite of mine, the very old and now out-of-print How St Francis Tamed the Wolf by Gerald Rose.

There are so many wonderful books about animals, including Walker's wonderful Nature Storybooks, anything by Steve Jenkins, those large, beautifully illustrated books with flaps by Francesco Pittau Gervais, anything fro National Geographic... World Animal Day is such a good excuse for a display in the library.

8th November World Radiography Day

World Radiography Day 

is celebrated on 8 November each year. The date marks the anniversary of the discovery of x-radiation by Wilhelm Roentgen in 1895.

I was pleased to see that there is a day to celebrate radiography because I have discovered this year that an early childhood library can never have too many books about x-rays. After sharks, snakes and dinosaurs, x-rays and bones would be the next most popular topic with 4 to 6 year old boys in my library. They especially like the books with the acetate pages that show what is under the skin or what is on the x-rays. If you are looking for books this is what is most popular in my library:
• Jessica's X-ray  by Pat Zora
• You Can't See Your Bones With Binoculars by Harriet Ziefert
• X-treme X-ray by Nick Veasey
• Bones: Skeletons and How They Work by Steve Jenkins