Valentines Day

We have had so much fun in the library in the last couple of days. All of my 'romance' books were borrowed so I had to quickly find more. Going through the catalogue I did find so many more and this list isn't going to help now, but maybe it will next time. We added:

• Fearless in Love by Colin Thompson

• Bernie Loves Flora  by Annemie Berebrouckx                                   

• Penguin in Love by Salina Yoon

• Tulip Loves Rex  by Alyssa Satin Capucilli

• George and Sylvia by Michael Coleman

• Osbert in Love by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel

• Foxy in Love  by Emma Dodd                                                              

• Love Splat by Rob Scotton

• Mr Prickles: A Quill-Fated Love Story by Kara LaReau

• Bear in Love  by Daniel Pinkwater

• Bear in Love  by Sam Loman

• Mole's in Love by David Bedford

• Lola Dutch I Love You So Much by Kenneth Wright                         

• Dinosaurs in Love  by Fenn Rosenthal

• I Love You Too by Stephen Michael King

• Bloom! by Maria Van Lieshout

• What is This Thing Called Love? by Davide Cali

• Love and Kisses  by Sarah Wilson

• Max and Tallulah  by Beverly Gooding

• Ten Things I Love About You by Daniel Kirk

• XO, OX: I Love You  by Adam Rex                                           

• Love by Sophia by Jim Averbeck

• That Yucky Love Thing by Michael Catchpool                              

•  Never Too Little to Love  by Jeanne Willis

• You Can Never Run Out of Love by Helen Doherty

14th February International Book Giving Day: Library Lovers Day; Valentines Day

Too many things to celebrate today! I gave a book to a family in Bristol taking part in a book swap organised by Zoe Toft. My book from Bristol arrived today so I felt very special, even if I would have liked to know more about the selection criteria for the book they chose. I agonised over what to send them, choosing something recent and quintessentially Australian which I thought they would not have or have seen. I was surprised to see so much Australian art work on the website for Book Giving Day, bookplates from Gus Gordon and bookmarks by Anna Walker because it doesn't seem to get as much promotion here as Library Lovers Day.

It is Library Lovers Day in Australia, a day organised by the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) when it asks library lovers to celebrate with their library. As I wasn't at school in my library today, I visited the NSW State Library with a teacher friend. There were three special exhibits to browse, one on pulp fiction from the past, one the photos from an interesting photo essay book on shopkeepers in Newtown and another on New Zealand's children's author/illustrator, Lynley Dodd which I found endeared me even more to Hairy Maclary and made me wish that I had a three year old with me. A little girl who was there was extremely upset when her mother told her they were leaving to have some lunch...'Don't need lunch!' she was telling everyone within earshot.

We too had lunch in the library where it has wonderful awnings with book quotes written in large print for all to read and then a potter in the shop revealed a card with yet another fantastic quote about books, this time from Napoleon Bonaparte.

         “Show me a family of readers, and I will show you the people who move the world.”

 I need to remember this one for the library newsletter.

Then lastly Valentines Day. Not much happening at my place but I've had a very successful display of books in the library, nearly all of which were borrowed. My pinterest page shows some of the titles that  saturated the display. I chose to read Samuel's Kisses by Karen Collum and Serena Geddes to my preschool classes and we had lots of fun talking about who they love, who they want to change and who they were going to blow kisses to.

14th February Paul O.Zelinsky (1953)

I know very little about Paul Zelinsky apart from his Rapunzel and Rumpelstiltskin. These are wonderful retellings of the Grimm fairy tales with amazing artwork that looks as if it should be hanging in art galleries with other masterpieces from the past, even though it was done at the end of the 20th century. I love the notes in the back of these two titles which gives the reader some history of the tales and the changes they have undergone over time.

What does the O. stand for and why is it necessary? While visiting his website in search of an answer which I didn't find, I did learn that he had done a class at university with Maurice Sendak. That must have been very special and no wonder children's books drew his attention.

On a lighter note, it is Valentine's Day. To date my favourite Valentine's book has been Dear Bunny by Michaela Morgan and Caroline Jayne Church. It is sentimental, but the tenderness of the relationship between two bunnies too shy to talk to each other, but who write notes, matches the sentimentality of the whole idea of Valentine's Day. But, this week I bought The Love Bugs by Simon Puttock and Russell Ayto and now it might be my favourite. It too has letters and an unexpected turn in the plot, but with insects instead of rabbits. The pictures and the idea are quirky. Insect dating internet style!