16th December A Donkey's Christmas

This morning when I checked in at my friend's blog: Momo Celebrating Time to Read, I saw that she has written about the donkey's view of Christmas because of this lovely book The Little Donkey. This reminded me of the year at school where one of the Year 1 teacher's favourite Christmas book was that version of the nativity told from the point of view of the donkey. It started the library staff on a mission to find other donkey books and other nativity stories told in first person from an animal's point of view. We were surprised to find that we had quite a lot of both, so the Christmas display that year ended up being about the animals at the birth of Jesus. It looked wonderful with all the books and soft animal toys out to accompany them. As well as the many donkeys  there were cows, sheep,  a dog, (Room for a Little One),  a cat (Cat in the Manger), a camel (The Last Straw), a hare (Hare's Christmas Gift), and even birds (The Birds of Bethlehem) and spiders (Spider's Gift: A Christmas Story).

Today I had a catch up with the donkey-mad teacher and her two small girls and we talked about Christmas books as she is doing the 25 days till Christmas with her girls, unwrapping a book to read each night. She said that she had tried to buy the donkey book but it was out of print and then she wanted to know the name of a book to buy about the origin of tinsel and we had a chat about Cobweb Christmas  and the other versions of this story. There are just so many wonderful picture books about Christmas and it does seem such a shame that they only really get an airing (reading) at Christmas. Our school year finishes so early in December that for some books that means they're only read once.

Here's what the library has about donkeys that were present at Christmas:
• The Little Donkey by Gerda Scheidl and Bernadette Watts
• The Lion, the Unicorn and Me by Jeanette Winterson and Rosalind MacCurrach
• Ruby the Christmas Donkey by Mirabel Cecil and Christina Gascoigne
• Father Christmas and the Donkey by Elizabeth Clark and Jan Ormerod
• The Donkey's First Christmas by Susanne T. Schroder
• The Ox and the Donkey by Gunter Spang and Loek Koopmans
• Little Donkey's Wish by Udo Weigelt and Pirkko Vainio
• The Donkey's Dream by Barbara Helen Berger
and some newer ones still available to purchase
• Father Christmas and the Donkey by Elizabeth Clark and Ari Jokinen
(the same story as above but with new illustrations instead of Jan Ormerod's)
• The Christmas Story as Told by Assellus the Christmas Donkey by Janet Duggan and Catherine Robertson
• Mary's Little Donkey by Gunhild Sehlin and Helene Muller

And stories about the spider and the origins of tinsel
• Cobweb Christmas by Shirley Climo and Jane Manning
• The Christmas Spider's Miracle by Trinka Hakes Noble and Stephen Constanza
• The Spider's Gift: A Ukranian Christmas Story by Eric A. Kimmel and Katya Krenina

Christmas Books for Under 6s

I have been really enjoying following quite a few bloggers who have been highlighting an advent book each day in the lead up to Christmas. Some have done one a day since the beginning of December. Others such as my friend at Momo Celebrating Time to Read have chosen twelve books. Two teacher friends with young children and another with grandchildren have been enjoying opening a book parcel each day during advent for a shared reading experience. This got me thinking about which books I would put on an advent list or wrap for my advent reading. As the teacher librarian in a school I find myself constantly thinking about what to read to whom. When I read to my preschool and Kindergarten classes in Term 4 as a lead up to Christmas, I read from these books. All have been very successful. You will notice how many of them are either very well known or are by authors who write prolifically for this age group.




1. The Christmas Book by Dick Bruna. I chose this one because it tells the Nativity story chronologically and simply but uses lovely language and is illustrated in the typical Bruna manner, that the children recognise from the Miffy books.

2. How Many Sleeps Till Christmas? by Mark Sperring and Sebastien Braun. This is about waiting patiently, not something children find easy to do at this time of the year. The title question is one that children ask every day as they are counting down.

3. What Do You Wish For? by Jane Godwin and Anna Walker. This book is especially pertinent to Australian children as it depicts a summer Christmas and a typical Australian child's street. Ruby needs to write a wish, but she struggles to decide upon one. Such a good thing to be talking to children about at this time of giving as well as receiving.

4. Max's Christmas by Rosemary Wells. I chose this one because I am the mother of a Max and a Ruby. My children loved this and all the Max and Ruby stories. Max's droll questions make everyone laugh. I also like this story because Santa appears in it, but without a huge emphasis on presents.

5. Angel Mae and the Christmas Baby by Shirley Hughes. This is the story of many children under six. Mae's mother is pregnant and tired. Her brother wants the baby to be a boy and Mae wants a girl, so squabbles ensue. It also features the school nativity play which is something most children will experience at some point in their schooling.

6. The Gift of Christmas  by Christine Leeson and Gaby Hansen. I have two copies of this story in the library. They have different titles, but are the same text and illustrations. The Very Special Christmas came with flashing fairy lights on the tree in the book, so you can imagine how much the children like it when we get to the decorated tree at the end. Molly Mouse collects a variety of decorations for the tree and the lights finish it beautifully.

7. Jingle Bells by Nick Butterworth. This is not the Christmas carol. Lottie and Jack are mice and they are having problems with the cat. The bell is part of the solution. When I bought this book for the library it was tied closed by beautiful red satin ribbon which had two bells on the ends, which is extremely fitting when you know what Mrs Mackie finds addressed to the cat.

8. Threadbear by Mick Inkpen. A story about a well-loved toy bear whose squeaker does not work. The bear thinks Santa will be able to help him. It has large fold out pages that the children love, even if they don't wear well.

9. Baboushka (various available) or The Legend of Old Befana by Tomie DePaola. I would choose one of these because they are folktales specific to either the Russian or Italian Christmas tradition that relate the story of the Three Kings going to Bethlehem.

10. Dream Snow by Eric Carle. This one because none of the other stories have snow and as with many of Carle's books it has paper engineering and music, a novelty which will keep everyone interested.


Then 11. and 12. would come from:
Wombat Divine by Mem Fox and Kerry Argent; Doing Christmas by Sarah Garland; The Snowman (show the filmclip) by Raymond Briggs; The Silver Christmas Tree by Pat Hutchins and Summer by June Factor and Alison Lester.

19th January Popcorn Day

It's Popcorn Day. Get out the popcorn machine and eat popcorn while you read any of the books below. Compare the procedure you undertook to get popcorn with the ones in the two expository texts or share a story. The Popcorn Dragon by Jane Thayer is an oldie but a goodie and Frank Asch's title has been reissued in a new cover. Look in the library as there's bound to be other titles as well!

22nd December Merry Christmas from Tomie de Paola

It is very easy to 'do' Christmas reading by just collecting together any Tomie de Paola picture books at hand. In the process you will also learn so much about Christmas traditions elsewhere in the world, about being grateful, about enjoying Christmas and about Tomie de Paola's fascination with Italy and Christmas.

The stories do not need to be read in any particular order, but if you have been eating panettone in the lead up to Christmas it is good to read Tony's Bread  and see where panettone came from and why. If your house is decorated with poinsettia you need to read The Legend of the Poinsettia. I like the way Old Befana explains epiphany and why Italian children get gifts then. My preschool classes who often put on a Christmas play relate well to  The Christmas Pageant. I have included Tomie's new book Look and Be Grateful which strictly speaking is not about Christmas and may well be used more for Thanksgiving, but here in Australia where Thanksgiving isn't a celebration I think this is a good sentiment for Christmas discussions.

Merry Christmas! May the holiday be meaningful, family-and-reading filled.

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.

20th November Christmas Folktales

I have been having so much fun reading with my Kindergarten classes this term. We have been studying folktales and for the last four weeks we have looked closely at folktales that are set at Christmas. They are perfect for teaching students to make text-to-text connections. We started by looking at the Ukrainian tales which tell why spiders are hung on Christmas trees in the Ukraine and then compared it to the German Cobweb Christmas where we found out about the origins of tinsel. Next we looked at gift-bearers in Italy and Russia by comparing Old Befana and Baboushka and then to finish off we went to Mexico to learn why poinsettias abound as Christmas decorations.

These books are in my school library so they were the ones I used, but I am sure there are others.

•  The Legend of Old Befana by Tomie dePaola
• The Tale of Baboushka: A Traditional Christmas Story by Elena Pasquali
• Baboushka by Arthur Scholey (we have two versions, same words different illustrations)
• Babushka by Sandra Ann Horn
• Cobweb Christmas: The Tradition of Tinsel by Shirley Climo
• A Christmas Spider's Miracle by Trinka Hakes Noble
• The Spider's Gift: A Ukranian Christmas Story by Eric A. Kimmel
• The Legend of the Poinsettia by Tomie dePaola
• The Miracle of the First Poinsettia: A Mexican Christmas Story by Joanne Oppenheim

4th July Soup Day

I don't think such a day exists but it has been very cold here in Sydney the last few days and it feels like soup weather so it should exist. A group of teacher friends and I had a soup lunch. It was wonderful exchanging teacher stories over warm soup, crusty bread, cake and coffee. It made me think of winter displays for the library and while I always do snow and winter sports I got to thinking was there enough books to do a soup display?

And there is! There are several different versions of Stone Soup of course, but as well there was:

1. Pumpkin Soup by Helen Cooper

2. Making Minestrone by Stella Blackstone and Nan Brooks

3. Growing Vegetable Soup by Lois Ehlert

4. Carrot Soup by John Segal

5. Watch Out For Chicken Feet in Your Soup by Tomie dePaola

6. Alphabet Soup by Kate Banks and Peter Sis

7. Everybody Serves Soup by Norah Dooley and Peter J. Thornton

Many of these have soup recipes at the back of the story and while looking for pictures I learned there is in fact a book called Soup Day by Melissa Iwai which also sounds ideal for my clientele, so I need to add it to my shopping list.

6th July Frida Kahlo (1907 - 1954)

Frida Kahlo is Mexico's most celebrated female artist and although she is more revered in the United States than she is here it is still interesting to see how many children's books there are that celebrate her colourful, creative and imaginative world. Even Tomie de Paola has illustrated a book about her life and the most recent book, Me, Frida by Amy Novesky and illustrated by David Diaz certainly entrances the reader.