25th April ANZAC Day

I have written about Anzac Day before here, but so many new picture books have been published since then that will help teachers and families share the significance of this day that I felt I should update my list. The new books probably have been initiated by publishers in readiness for next year, the 100th Anzac Day, but never the less many of them are memorable. A few weeks ago at a CBC event a publisher had the dummy for another book that is about to come out. I can't remember the title, author or illustrator, but the story made me cry. A young man goes off to war and is killed. His injured mate brings his coat home to his wife and as you can imagine she is shattered. I will find sharing this one very hard, but I have just read Lightning and another one about a horse that was in the battlefields and the two about dogs and I can see the students reading them and being moved by the love between the soldiers and their animals. See the list here on Pinterest and if you want an annotated list look here at Momo's list.

25th April Anzac Day

It is Anzac Day, a day when all Australians and New Zealanders remember their countrymen who have fought in wars, beginning with WW1. It is a holiday in Australia so any celebration done at school is usually before or after the actual day. This year it is right at the end of the school holidays so it will be afterwards. I have collected together all the picture books in my library ready for teachers and parents to borrow on Monday. Once it was hard to find books for early childhood aged children, but now there are so many wonderful picture books just right for sharing and discussing with young children.

Here's our collection:
• The Bantam and the Soldier by Jennifer Beck and Robyn Bolton
• Lone Pine by Susie Brown and Margaret Warner  
• Why Are You Marching, Daddy? by Di Burke
• The Fair Dinkum War by David Cox
• Memorial by Gary Crew and Shaun Tan
• Anzac Biscuits by Phil Cummings and Owen Swan
• Grandad's Medals by Tracy Duncan and Bruce Potter
• A Day to Remember by Jackie French and Mark Wilson
• The Donkey of Gallipoli by Mark Greenwood and Frane Lessac
• The Red Poppy by David Hill and Fifi Colson
• My Grandad Marches on Anzac Day by Catriona Hoy and Benjamin Johnson
• Anzac Day Parade by Glenda Kane and Lisa Allen
• In Flanders Fields by Norman Jorgensen and Brian Harrison-Lever
• Harry and the Anzac Poppy by John Lockyer
• My Mother's Eyes: The Story of an Australian Boy Soldier by Mark Wilson

Some of these are fairly new, such as Anzac Biscuits and Lone Pine which are particularly moving and provide plenty of food for thought. These books have been written about on many websites and many come with teaching notes.