October Coming up

There is so many celebrations coming up! If you want to celebrate any of these days that are coming up this week, click on the link and you will see picture books for the topic and things I have written in the past.

7th October is World Smile Day! This year it was on 2nd October because it is celebrated on the first Friday in October

7th October is World Architecture Day. This year it was on the 5th October because it is celebrated on the first Monday in October.

7th October is Bathtub Day, but Bathtub Party Day is on 5th December.

8th October is World Sight Day observed on the second Thursday in October.

8th October is World Octopus Day which is part of Cephalopod Awareness Week. 5th -9th in 2026 

9th October is Ageism Awareness Day.

9th October is World Egg Day. It is on the 9th this year because it is celebrated on the second Friday in October.

10th October is World Mental Health Day.

10th October is I Love Yarn Day. It is celebrated on the second Saturday in October.

11th October is International Day of the Girl Child and here.

14th October is Ride2Work Day. 2026 theme Cycling for a Greener Future.

As well we are bang smack in the middle of World Space Week (4th - 10th) Here are several ways to celebrate this.

Here 2022 Here 2023 Here 2025

The theme for this year is "Rocket Revolution," which highlights commercial spaceflight, reusable rockets, and startups making space more accessible. The students who use the school library love reading about space and rockets is an oft-requested topic.

8th to the 12th of October, International Cephalopod Awareness Days

Every year from the 8th to the 12th of October, International Cephalopod Awareness Days come around to teach the world about cephalopods. This event is all about celebrating and sharing how fascinating and incredible they are!

October 8   – Octopus Day, for all the eight-armed species

October 9   – Nautilus Night, a time for all the lesser-known extant cephalopods

October 10 – Squid Day/Cuttlefish Day, or Squittleday, covering the tentacular species

October 11 – Kraken Day, for all the fantastical cephalopods of myth, movies, literature and legend

October 12 – Fossil Day (to coincide with National Fossil Day), for all the incredible suckers that have gone extinct but left an impression with us.

I have written about this week before here and about Octopus Day here, but since then new books have been added to the library, so here are some to look for on each of these days.

Octopus:

Nautilus:

Squid:

Kraken:

Fossils:

8th October World Octopus Day

Octopuses are one of the earth’s great survivors. Indeed, despite their relatively short lifespan, octopus fossils date back more than 300 million years, meaning that they pre-date even dinosaurs. 

Perhaps one of the reasons that these unique creatures have survived so long under the sea is because they are also believed to be highly intelligent. With around 500 million neurons located in their brains and arms, they are able to bypass their instincts, learn lessons and solve problems in a way that not very many other sea life creatures are able to. 

Children are fascinated by octopuses and any display of octopus books in the library is always popular, especially any that tell 'real-life' tales of octopus and their feats. Inky, a common New Zealand octopus who escaped from his tank at an aquarium would probably be the most popular and luckily he is well written about.

See:

• Inky the Octopus by Erin Guendelsberger and David Leonard

• Inky's Great Escape by Casey Lyell and Sebastian Serra

• Inky's Amazing Escape by Sy Montgomery and Amy Schiller-Safford

 

or there's these generic escape stories

• Octopus Escapes  by Nathaniel Lachenmeyer and Frank Dormer

• The Octopus Escapes by Maile Meloy and Felicita Sala

• Octopus Escapes Again! by Laurie Ellen Angus

These beautifully illustrated picture books will allow your students to learn about these amazing creatures:

Some new stories:

And a serial:

I have written about Cephalopod Awareness Days before in 2016 here which goes for the whole week from the 8th to 12th with a different focus each day. More books to look for here.

15th March World Sleep Day

Occasionally when I have a class in the library and I am reading to them, a student will fall asleep. I feel guilty momentarily. Then I begin to wonder about bedtimes of the children I teach. They are often very tired on Mondays. When asked about bedtimes, some children say they don't have a set bedtime... I go when I'm tired. I think about the rigour of bedtime I imposed on my own children. By the time I got home from work and did everything I was hanging out for child-free time, even if it was usually spent on the next day's prep. 

Along with this lack of bedtime structure goes the fact that many of my students do not have a bedtime story ritual as part of bedtime. I looked up what the recommended amount of sleep for a 5 to 8 year old is and learned that it is about ten to twelve hours a night.

Sleep is essential for growth, immunity, learning and memory and is important for helping a child heal and recover. Healthy sleep means a good quantity and quality of sleep, with regular sleep routines.

However when looking for picture books about 'sleep', there are so many that are marketed as aids for sleep. They spruik mindfulness and repetition. See the  Ten Minutes to Bed series by Rhiannon Fielding;  Sleep Stories by Sara Cordingley; and the Carl-Johan Forssén Ehrlin phenomenon that started with The Rabbit Who Wants to Fall Asleep.

If we do decide to do a display of books in the library we have a lot to choose from and I would want it to provide pleasure and fun for readers, not 'teaching'.

There are books about sleep and its importance:

• Sleep is for Everyone  by Paul Showers

• Why Do I Have to Go to Sleep? by Kay Barnham

• Resting and Sleeping  by Katie Woolley

There are books about animals sleeping:

• Sleep  by Kate Prendergast

• Snooze-O-Rama by Maria Birmingham

• How Does an Octopus Sleep?  by Octavio Pintos

• Sleep Like a Tiger by Mary Logue

• Where Do Creatures Sleep at Night? by Steven Simmons

• Time to Sleep  by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page

• We All Sleep by Ezekiel Kwaymullina

There are books that combine sleep and sheep (and I'm not sure why): 

• Let Me Sleep, Sheep! by Meg McKinlay

• Where Will the Sleepy Sheep Sleep?  by David Metzenthen

• When Sheep Cannot Sleep by Satoshi Kitamura

• Sheep Won't Sleep by Judy Cox

• Too Many Sheep by Christina Booth

• Sleepy Sam by Michael Catchpool

• One More Sheep  by Mij Kelly

• The Eleventh Sheep  by Kyle Mewburn

• Sleep, Sheep!  by Kerry Lyn Sparrow

• The Sleep Sheep  by Anna McQuinn

• It's Time to Sleep, You Crazy Sheep! by Alison Ritchie

• Russell the Sheep by Rob Scotton

• I Can't Sleep  by Ximo Abadia 

• Time to Sleep Sheep the Sheep by Mo Willems

We have stories:

• Dozy Bear and the Secret of Sleep  by Katie Blackburn

• A Book of Sleep by Il Sung Na

• Time for Bed by Mem Fox

• Let's Go to Sleep by Margaret Wild

• The Napping House  by Audrey and Don Wood

• Snuggle Up Sleepy Ones  by Claire Freedman

• The Animals Would Not Sleep by Sara Levine

• Can't You Sleep Little Bear? by Martin Waddell

• Mr Underbed  by Chris Riddell

• Sleepy Places  by Judy Hindley

• Go to Sleep, Jessie! by Libby Gleeson

• This Book Will Get You to Sleep by Jory John