15th October National Pug Day

This Saturday (tomorrow) be ready to celebrate PUGS! Yes, the breed of dog that has become quite popular as a book character. What is special about them?

• They are an ancient breed that originated in China hundreds of years ago. 

• Queen Victoria bred pugs.

• Pugs were bred to be companion animals. This means they love a good snuggle on the couch.

• Pugs are brachycephalic, which means they have a smushed in face. This can lead to snoring and breathing problems.

• Pugs can spend up to fourteen hours a day sleeping.

• Pugs don’t bark much, but are known to be vocal and “talk” to their pet parents.

• A “perfect” pug tail is believed to have between two to four curls.

• A group of pugs is called a grumble.

So many series of books feature them. Of course, every Australian child knows Pig the Pug by Aaron Blabey, but there are many others. Look for these.

• Pig the Pug  by Aaron Blabey (now has 10 titles)

 • Chick and Pug  by Jennifer Sattler (4 titles)

• Pug and Pig by Sue Lowell Gallion and Joyce Wan (3 titles)

• Diary of a Pug by Kyla May (this series is in a short chapter book format for beginning readers. There are  6 books about a pug called Baron von Bubbles, or Bub.)

• Pugley by Pamela Butchart (there are 3 in this chapter book series Bakes a Cake, On Ice and Solves a Crime)

• The Adventures of Pug series by Laura James (there are 4 titles Cowboy Pug, Captain Pug, Safari Pug and Pirate Pug)

• The Pug Who Wanted to Be a... by Bella Swift (currently there are 8 titles Unicorn, Mermaid, Elf, Star, Reindeer, Pumpkin, Bunny  and Fairy)

And of course there's lots of fun stand alone titles such as:

• Pig and Pug  by Lynne Berry and Gemma Correll

• Pugs Don't Wear Pyjamas  by Michelle Worthington and Cecilia Johansson

• Pug by Ethan Long

• Pug Hug  by Zehra Hicks

• Don't Hug the Pug by Robin Jacobs and Matt Hodson

• Pig and Pug  by Laura Marchesani and Jarvis

Your library might even have this spoof by Becky Davis.

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.