skip to main |
skip to sidebar
June 23, the anniversary of the granting of a patent to American inventor Christopher Latham Sholes in 1868 is celebrated around the world as Typewriter Day. So, take out your old typewriter from the attic, dust it and get started on your magnum opus! Bring out a typewriter and start typing.
Yesterday I just happened to be sharing Tom McLaughlin's picture book, The Story Machine with some Kindergarten classes. We had a great discussion about typewriters. Some of the children were keen to explain that their grandparents had one and they were allowed to use it. This fascinated the children who'd never seen one. This got me thinking about other books that featured a typewriter and I could only think of Mini Grey's Hermelin: the Detective Mouse and Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type by Doreen Cronin. There must be others. Now I'll be on a mission when I'm reading and shelving.
Then this morning when I started my search I found out that there was a day to celebrate typewriters and it is very soon, the 23rd June!
I have found two more picture books that look as if they would be worth exploring, but we don't have them in our library.
• The Typewriter by Bill Thomson. We have his other books, Fossil and Chalk which are well-borrowed so I will get this one. And I love the cover of this with its smiling typewriter
• Typewriter by Yevgenia Nayberg, but it's price will exclude a sight-unseen purchase.
If you don't have The Story Machine there is a video of Tom McLaughlin reading it here.
I had been exploring author/ illustrators reading their own books during the home-learning period to encourage my students to make their own books and the CLPE (Centre for Literacy in Primary Education in the UK) has many fine examples.
Did you know that the hot air balloon is the oldest form of flight technology used for carrying humans? The first manned flight occurred in 1783. The balloon itself consists of an envelope, which is used to contain the hot air, and a gondola, where passengers and a means of creating hot air are typically housed.
Recently a popular television program started its new season with a harrowing scene which involved a hot air balloon. My husband and son think this show is very humorous, but often I find myself squirming. A book I really enjoyed, Enduring Love began with an awkward hot air balloon incident too. It was made into a movie and I had to cover my eyes at the beginning of it while the hot air balloon scene was playing. You guessed it, there is absolutely no way I would ever get in a hot air balloon. I do think they look good sailing across the sky. They are beautifully bright and demand your attention, but my attention is from the ground with my feet touching the dirt.
Today I collected up some books to put together a display. We had a Donut Day display out for the 2nd of June, but it had been decimated so I had to find something to replace it. Obviously donuts are popular. I could have had several copies of the Mr Panda books. I have a Mr Panda toy and together with the books he is popular.
Hot air balloons has proved an ideal replacement ...there are plenty of books across a wide reading range. Some special books worth mentioning are:
Picture books:
• The Great Balloon Hullaballoo by Peter Bently
• Flight of the Dodo by Peter Brown
• Miranda the Explorer by James Mayhew
• The Cloudspotter by Tom McLaughlin
• Hot Air: the Mostly True Story of the First Hot-air Balloon Ride by Marjorie Priceman
• Hot Air by Sandrine Dumas Roy (about global warming really...wonderful art)
• Sebastian and the Balloon by Philip C. Stead
Nonfiction:
• Hot Air Balloons by Joanne Mattern
• How Do Hot Air Balloons Work? by Buffy Silverman
Novels:
• Emily Eyefinger and the Balloon Bandits by Duncan Ball
• Fortunately the Milk by Neil Gaiman
• Meerkat Madness Flying High by Ian Whybrow
and two that are worth searching out in a library because they are out of print :
• Cinderella and the Hot Air Balloon by Ann Jungman
• The Balloon Farmer by Geoffrey Lehmann
