8th May World Donkey Day

World Donkey Day is celebrated on 8th May every year. It is a day dedicated to recognising the donkey and bringing attention to their many amazing characteristics. For many years, the donkey has been of great service to humans. All around the world, this animal has served as a beast of burden and mount. It has survived and thrived even in areas with harsh climates and tough terrains. Donkeys are known for their endurance and persistence. This makes them respected and loveable animals. Their ability to succeed is partly due to their stubborn nature.

It is because donkeys have been around for so long that they turn up in stories and history all the time. They have a role in the nativity story, world war stories, folk tales and humorous stories.

What the library has:

War stories:

Donkeys were used during both wars to carry equipment and supplies, to ferry injured soldiers and to create tracks in inaccessible and steep terrains.

Simpson and his Donkey by Mark Greenwood

There are other versions of this story as well, such as Only a Donkey  by Celeste Walters.

Roly and the Anzac Donkey  by Glyn Harper

There is another version of this called Donkey Man too.

Nativity stories:

Mary travelled to Bethlehem on a donkey so he has a presence in most retellings of this story. However some of the picture book versions give him a much bigger role and he may even be the narrator.

The Little Donkey  by Gerda Marie Scheidl

The Christmas Story as Told by Asselus the Christmas Donkey by Janet Duggan

And others

• Clopper, the Christmas Donkey by EmilyKing

• Clip Clop the Bethlehem Donkey  by Jessica Johnston

• The Donkey's Song  by Jacki Kellum

Donkeys seem to be popular at Christmas in general and the story Father Christmas and the Donkey by Elizabeth Clark has been published with different illustrators and is still in print.

Donkeys feature in traditional stories such as fables, folktales and fairytales.

The Miller, the Boy, and the Donkey. This version of the fable is by Brian Wildsmith but you will find others. There is also another  Aesop fable The Donkey in the Lion Skin.

Donkey Skin is a Perrault fairytale with many similarities to Cinderella.

There is a donkey as main character in the Grimm fairytale The Bremen Town Musicians  too.

Riding Backwards on a Donkey by Sean Taylor

Mullah Nasruddin (Nasreddin Hoca), the eight-centuries-old "wise fool" character originating from Turkey the subject of thousands of funny, wise tales, jokes, and anecdotes told across the Middle and Far East and retold today around the world and you will find the story about riding backwards on a donkey elsewhere too and see statues of him on your travels. A story about a donkey and an ox also appears in the Arabian Nights.

 How Many Donkeys?  by Margaret Read MacDonald is a fun story that will have students counting in Arabic.

The Donkey and the Garden by Devora Busheri is a Jewish story based on Midrash Hagadol, and tells how Rabbi Akiva overcame his fear of humiliation to go from humble shepherd to legendary Jewish leader, with a little help from his clever wife and a donkey with a garden on its back.

Tangki Tjuta Donkeys  by Tjanpi Desert Weavers

This story focusses on donkeys and their role in an Indigenous community in South Australia.Donkeys are malpa wiru, valuable friends and helpers in the families and desert community of Pukatja (Ernabella) in the APY Lands of northern South Australia. People set off on their donkeys for picnics and longer journeys, always returning home safely.

Donkeys make us laugh. Not sure why, but many stories about them humorous.

And if you only want to read one donkey story don't forget the best one Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig.

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

6th - 13th May Donkey Week

Donkeys don't feature in picture books as much as many other animals, except at Christmas when they often become the narrator or a first-hand witness at the birth of Jesus in books such as The Christmas Story as Told by Assellus the Christmas Donkey  by Janet Duggan and The Donkey's First Christmas by Susanne T. Schroder. However some stories that do feature donkeys make worthwhile reading and are often memorable. A favourite of mine from my early teaching days is Lydia Pender's The Useless Donkeys and no doubt it can still be found in some school libraries. The newer The Wonky Donkey with its accompanying CD and toy is a favourite with the children and parents in my library. Michael Morpurgo's story about Jo-Jo which originally appeared as a Yellow Banana reader has now been re-illustrated and published as a picture book with Helen Stephens' illustrations. Don't forget all the Anzac stories that feature Simpson and his donkey or other stories where donkeys play an integral role. And, if you are looking for a fairytale you could always revisit Perrault's Donkey Skin where the princess wears a donkey skin in order to avoid the king.



Here are some donkey stories I have put out on display this week.
• Donkeys by Adelheid Dahimene
• The Wonky Donkey by Craig Smith
• How Many Donkeys? An Arabic Counting Tale by Margaret Read MacDonald
• Jo-Jo the Melon Donkey by Michael Morpurgo
• Crash Bang Donkey by Jill Newton
• The Magic Donkey Ride by Giles Andreae
• The Useless Donkeys by Lydia Pender

Together with the humorous donkey and goat series by Simon Puttock:
• Goat and Donkey and the Noise Downstairs
• Goat and Donkey in the Great Outdoors
• Goat and Donkey in Strawberry Sunglasses