14th January International Kite Day

The 14th of January is International Kite Day. A kite is a toy consisting of a light frame flying in the wind that a person holds by the end of a long string. Kites are very popular! That's why there are so many kite festivals worldwide: in India, Bali, China, Guatemala, Australia, France, the United Kingdom, the United States, and more. Kites were probably invented about 3,000 years ago in China, and they are part of the traditional culture in several countries. In Bali, from June to August it is the kite season as the wind picks up and blows consistently at that time of the year. Traditionally, the Balinese used to fly kites over the rice fields to ask the gods for an abundant harvest.

International Kite Day originated in India, in the state of Gujarat. The kite festival, called Uttarayan in Hindi, commemorates the transition from winter to summer, as well as the upcoming harvest season. In addition, the kites are meant to symbolize the spirits of the gods that are awaking from their deep winter sleep.

The Aussie Childcare Network has provided a very useful page to help celebrate this day. It includes activities, a book list and some amazing posters which you could use to start discussion. I have written about kites before, but not recently and there are so many fun books on this topic worth exploring, starting with a favourite:

• The Sea-Breeze Hotel by Marcia Vaughan and Patricia Mullins

and then

• Kite Flying by Grace Lin

• Kites by Simon Mole and Oamul Lu

• The Warlord's Kites  by Virginia Pilegard and Nicolas Debon

• Kite Day  by Will Hillenbrand

• Un Barrilette by Elisa Armando and Toya Hairs

• King for a Day  by Christiane Kramer and Rukhsana Khan

• The Best Winds  by Laura Williams and Eujin Kim

• The Dream Kite  by Grace Hallworth and Sophie Bass

• Chinese Kite Festival by Richard Lo

• What the Kite Saw  by Anne Laurel Carter and Akin Duzakin

• Daniel's Good Day by Micha Archer

12th -20th September NSW Bike Week

The weather here has been superb. It is Spring and you just want to be outside doing things. On the weekend the Festival of the Winds was on in Bondi. It is NSW Bike Week  from Saturday, 12 September until Sunday, 20 September and there are children in parks, at the beach and on the move. Hopefully it will still be like this in a week's time when it is school holidays. When I think of Spring at school I like to read Will Hillenbrand's Spring is Here to my preschoolers. It is one of the books in the series about Bear and Mole. Coincidently there is a title about kites, Kite Day and another title in the series about bike riding  is Off We Go! Here Bear is encouraging Mole to give up his training wheels. This too is the premise in other titles about bike riding (see list of titles below). 

I am often asked by parents for books about bike riding because their child is fearful and unwilling to take risks. I recommend Jeanne Willis' Don't Let Go! which hasn't failed me yet. Here a little girl persuades her father to teach her to ride a bike. She has all the trouble with balancing and speed control that every learner remembers - but at last she is whipping down the path in the park screaming: 'It's all right - you can let go now!' 

I notice that there has been a number of new books which feature bicycles lately including Byron Barton's My Bike, Everyone Can Learn to Ride a Bike by Chris Raschka and two more about bears on bikes, Bike On, Bear! by Cynthia Liu and Bear on a Bike by Hannah Shaw which is coming soon.

I like to share two books set in Africa with older children who take having a bike for granted,  Galimoto by Karen Lynn Williams and My Rows and Piles of Coins with fabulous illustrations by E.B.Lewis.  These two show how for a child without a bike the yearning for the freedom that comes with a bike is paramount.

And don't forget Mulga Bill's Bicycle. Read it with gusto and explain the history of it and penny farthings.

7th November Lawrence Hargrave Memorial Kite Day

The Lawrence Hargrave Memorial Kite Day is a NSW Department of Education and Training event that brings 1000 Illawarra primary school students together at Stanwell Park to celebrate the achievements of Australian aviation pioneer Lawrence Hargrave.  On the 12th of November , 1894, Lawrence Hargrave became the first man in the world to achieve vertical lift off while tethered to four box-kites on Stanwell Park beach. Hargrave's achievement was one of the most significant milestones in the development of manned flight.

Lawrence Hargrave, an aeronautical pioneer and inventor was born in England in 1850, but came to Australia in 1865 where he lived until he died in 1915. In 1893 he moved to Stanwell Park and began working on his second great invention, the box kite. He wanted to lift himself into the air. After a number of attempts on 12th November 1894 he lifted himself from the beach at Stanwell Park in a four kite construction attached to the ground by piano wire. This invention then inspired inventors and flight enthusiasts in Europe and America, in particular the Wright Brothers. Australia commemorates his achievements with his appearance on our $20 note.

While there aren't any children's books specifically about Lawrence Hargraves, there are many nonfiction books about flight, the history of flight, the Wright brothers and kites.

12th May Kite Day

I read somewhere that it is Kite Day on the 12th May, but on further reading there seems to be a lot of different Kite Days. Flying kites can be such fun for young children and making them even more fun so you probably don't need an excuse to share books about kites at all. In Sydney we have the Festival of Winds in September and I have written about it before here. I wrote here too about my all time favourite kite book, Marcia Vaughan and Patricia Mullins' The Sea Breeze Hotel, but your library might have it. While you are searching look for Marty and Mei-Ling by Phil Cummings and Craig Smith. It too is out of print but also has kite flying as a wonderful community-building catalyst. Two newer books which might inspire you to make and fly kites are:

• Kite Flying by Grace Lim and

• Kite Day by Will Hillenbrand

And while trawling through Google images I found this art work, great to initiate a discussion of the whole role of kites in Japanese culture and to pull out beautiful picture books about Japan.

11th September Festival of the Winds

The Festival of Winds is a colourful Spring festival held annually in the skies above Bondi Beach in Sydney. It is a fun family day out with Australian and international kite flyers demonstrating their expertise, workshops for children and a festival atmosphere.

Whenever I think about kites I am reminded of that wonderful story The Sea-Breeze Hotel by Marcia Vaughan and Patricia Mullins. The kites in this story are magic and make you want to rush out and make your own or at least make tissue paper collages of them flying in the wind. The story theme of co-operation and working together also makes the book a must-read.

If your library doesn't have this book there are always the more factual ones:

• Kite Flying by Grace Lin

• Catch the Wind by Gail Gibbons

• The Story of Kites by Ying Chang Compestine

• Kites Sail High by Ruth Heller