9th April International Unicorn Day

Unicorns are supposed to look like horses, but with a single horn on their forehead. The first one appeared in early Mesopotamian artworks, in ancient myths in India and China. Later on, the Green historian Ctesias described the mythical creature and the healing properties of drinking from its horn. The unicorn is also mentioned in the Bible, linked to Christ, and people in the Middle Ages believed that unicorn horns could heal sickness! Nowadays, the mysterious animal is a symbol of fantasy and wonder, making appearances on birthday cakes and children's clothing.

The students I teach are besotted with unicorns. The three year old preschoolers yell, 'I need a unicorn book' and they do not mean a Peppa Pig unicorn book and just when I think they have unicorns out of their system because they are reading chapter books they still      to the unicorn chapter book series. I even have books who will read them.

Next term I have given in and put together a 'bin' of unicorn picture books so that the preschoolers make less mess and can find a book easily. The students love Oscar; Sparkle; Uni; Thelma; Grumpycorn and Twinkle (Little Unicorn) and many other 'stand-alone' books.

Now for the series for independent readers:

My Secret Unicorn series is so old and I have been discarding them as they fall apart, but they are still the most borrowed of all the unicorn chapter books.

August is for Antelope Month

What is an antelope? And why do they need a whole month to celebrate? 

Antelopes are hoofed mammals with hollow horns commonly mistaken for deer. The name ‘antelope’ is a catch-all term for many species in the Bovidae family. 

Antelopes come in a staggering range of shapes and sizes, with some built for pure speed and others for agility. The largest antelope (the  giant eland) can stand as tall as 182 centimetres, while the smallest (the royal antelope) is only 25 centimetres tall.

Antelope is a catchall term for an astonishing variety of ruminating ungulates. Have you heard of or seen the word eland, gazelle, kudu, oryx, rhebok, springbok, impala, dik-dik, duiker? They are all antelopes. Impalas are widespread and abundant throughout much of sub-Saharan Africa and are easily one of the most common antelope species. 

The rarest antelope in Africa is the Hirola. It is critically endangered as there is estimated to be only 300-500 left in the wild. Because of its scarcity the hirola has a day to itself. It is Hirola Day on 12th August. 

All living antelope species are found in Africa and Asia (including parts of the Middle East). Most species are found in Africa.

Did you know that Uganda is home to about 29 antelope species, which is nearly a third of the species found across Africa? 

There might be a lot of different types of antelopes, but there aren't many children's books about them. Probably because there isn't the need. A child who  lives in Africa can probably identify many of them and use the correct name. A child in Australia hasn't the need to know all those names. When we look at animals of the African savannah, the students love saying wildebeest, gnu and impala.  The best book to have if you want to get to know antelope is:

You may also be able to find some of these:

Often my students will look at an antelope and call it a deer, but antelopes and deer are different. Antelopes belong to the Bovidae family, made up of sheep, goats and cattle; whereas deer are members of the Cervidae family, which includes muntjac, elk, red and fallow deer, reindeer, roe deer, and moose. 

Both deer and antelope are hoofed animals (known as ‘ungulates’). They are also ruminant mammals, which means they have multiple stomachs. This allows them to swallow food and then bring it back up for a second munch – a process known as ‘chewing cud’. 

Antelope are indigenous to most of Africa, India, the Middle East, Central Asia, and parts of Eastern Europe, while deer originally come from the Northern Hemisphere, but are now native to Europe, Asia, North America and South America.

Deer have antlers that are shed and regrown annually, whereas antelopes have permanent horns that are not shed.

There are not many books about deer either, but they are much more likely to be found as characters in storybooks. Think of stories that feature reindeer and  moose for starters.