19th July International Castles Day

International Castles Day is celebrated on July 19th. The 19th July is also Palace Day. Why are they on the same day? I don't know, but they do have a lot in common and together will make a great library display.

The dictionary says that:

a castle is a large building, typically of the medieval period, fortified against attack with thick walls, battlement, towers, and in many cases a moat or a massive imposing house built by a king or some important person.

a palace is a large and impressive building forming the official residence of a ruler, pope, or archbishop. 

There are just so many castles and palaces to visit in Europe, but for Australian children their first introduction to such grandeur and history will probably be through a book, perhaps a fairy tale such as Twelve Dancing Princesses, a  story about King Arthur or St George, a series such as Geronimo Stilton or The Dragonsitter. 

Collect together any books with 'castle' or 'palace' in the title and then look for stories about kings, queens, princes, princesses, knights and dragons and you will find castles and palaces.

12th March More Sleep

Today, coincidently I covered and catalogued a wonderful book that fit so well with the sleeping fairytale discussion. I could have written about it last night, but I didn't know about it then. It is called Princess Sleepyhead and the Night- Night Bear by Peter Bently. It is written in verse which I don't usually like, but this book reads really well. It has all the sleep vocabulary, the royal castle setting and the bear tells the princess the stories of Sleeping Beauty and The Princess and the Pea. Just perfect and what a way to tie all the sleeping fairytales together!