4th - 10th October World Space Week

World Space Week is an international celebration of science and technology, and their contribution to the betterment of the human condition. The United Nations General Assembly declared in 1999 that World Space Week will be held each year from October 4-10. These dates commemorate two events:

• October 4, 1957: Launch of the first human-made Earth satellite, Sputnik 1, thus opening the way for space exploration
• October 10, 1967: The signing of the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activites of States in the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies.    

For World Space Week (WSW) 2025, the chosen theme is “Living in Space.” This theme explores humanity’s journey toward making space a habitat, emphasizing the innovative technologies, challenges, and collaborative efforts that make this vision a reality.

The students I teach like to read about space, especially astronauts, so I would make a display that includes nonfiction and fiction as well as some easy chapter book series.

   

 

2nd July World UFO Day

Wow, any excuse to do an alien display!

Start with the Aliens in Underpants  series and keep going...there's so many good ones and they are loved by the under eights.

Here's eight picture books that leave the library often:

Aliens in Underpants and all the others in the series by Claire Freedman and Ben Cort

and other QPootle  book in the series by Nick Butterworth

Mr Wuffles  by David Wiesner

Earth Space Moon Base  by Ben Joel Price

Earth to Clunk by Pam Smallcomb and Joe Berger

Alistair and the Alien Adventure  by Marilyn Sadler and Roger Bollen

Beegu  by Alexis Deacon

Your Alien  by Tammi Sauer and Goro Fujita

And a few chapter books:

Shifty McGifty and Slippery Sam: The Aliens are Coming  by Tracey Corderoy and Steven Lenton

Dirty Bertie: Aliens  by Alan MacDonald and David Roberts

Nelson: Pumpkins and Aliens by Andrew Levins and Katie Kear

18th May International Astronomy Day

International Astronomy Day is a holiday that is celebrated not once during a calendar year but twice a year – once in spring and once in autumn. The purpose of this holiday is not only to celebrate astronomy and all of its contributions to society but also to bring the general public together with astronomy professionals and groups.

Astronomy goes all the way back to antiquity and is in fact, one of the oldest natural sciences in the world.

Of course you can just go outside and look up at the sky, but to know what you are looking at, you may need to look in a few books first.

Do you have a telescope? What can you do with a telescope? What will you see?

These books will help answer these questions.

Some books that will help with knowing what you're looking at:

This is a new Australian book from the CSIRO and a book by Australian astronomer Lisa Harvey-Smith.

Then if you know a child who is astronomy-mad and sees their future being a contributor to that world, explore some of the wonderful picture book biographies about famous space devotees.