23rd June Pink Flamingo Day

The first Pink Flamingo Day was declared in 2007 to honour the plastic lawn flamingo and its creator, Don Featherstone. 

Australian author Andy Geppert even included this lawn flamingo in his book Backyard Birdies.

While today, none of the species of flamingos are endangered, large populations that call the Rift Valley of Africa home, are rapidly shrinking and facing growing challenges. All species are facing shrinking habitats due to human encroachment and climate change. Read about these birds in a nonfiction book such as these:

And this one is coming and if it is like Abi Cushman's Wombats are Pretty Weird it will be lots of fun.

I haven't seen this book, and it is not really about flamingos but it fits in to any science unit on materials so I need to look for it.

I have written about flamingos before on this blog, but many new books featuring flamingos have arrived in the library since then.

There's also two beginning chapter book series that are popular:

Hotel Flamingo  by Alex Milway   and

Fabio the World's Greatest Flamingo Detective  by Laura James

And this title is one of the books from the Armadillo and Hare  series by Jeremy Strong.

29th May Pink Flamingo Day

Pink Flamingo Day is celebrated on this day according to a book I have just purchased. It is written by the poet laureate,  J. Patrick Lewis and called World Rat Day: Poems About Holidays You've Never Heard Of. It is perfect for planning library displays because it is quirky and celebrates days you literally will never have heard of. There is Worm Day and Cephalopod Day among others. Lewis claims the holidays are real, but to me it doesn't really matter. It gives me an excuse to keep the displays changing and the books in my library going out the door and the readers get to see their planet as a home for wonderful living creatures that warrant some thought occasionally.

In honour of flamingos Lewis wrote a wonderful concrete poem:
   'A flamingo is a long cooooooooool drink of something pink.'
And Anna Raff illustrates it amusingly and irresistibly.

There's obviously not an abundance of books on flamingos in the library, but there was enough to make  a benchtop look enticing with a copy of the poem and the six books. Included were:
• the wonderful new textless treat - Flora and the Flamingo by Molly Idle
• Sylvie  by Jennifer Sattler which gives a whole new stance on you are what you eat.
• the three Miss Mingo books by Jamie Harper
• the beautiful poetry anthology Flamingo Bendalingo by Paula Green, and
• the token non-fiction information book, Flamingos by Jean M. Malone

Did you know a group of flamingos is a flamboyance! What a great word to share with children. I learned this and some other amazing facts about flamingos here.