14th August World Lizard Day

World Lizard Day is to make  people aware that there are 5600–6000 species of lizards. Wow! How many can you name? 

My young students will tell you about             

geckos

skinks

iguanas

chameleons

frillnecks

blue tongues

Komodo dragons

but there are many more with much less generic names.

Lizards are both predators and prey, making them critical to the ecosystem. They eat insects and rodents, while being food for birds. Lizards have been around for more than 250 million years. They typically live in deserts, forests, and rocky warm areas. The children find them in their backyards!

Lizards are rarely chosen for starring roles in picture books, and if they are they will probably be a chameleon because they look good for pictures and can do amazing things with camouflage.

Geckos are catching up...

I took one look at this book cover and it did not enthuse me, but then the book won many awards and I decided to share it with a Year 2 class while they were looking at Australia, deserts and mapping and I was pleasantly surprised just how interested the students were in the many Australian lizards mentioned and where they travelled in the book. We then went to look in other books and online to find out more about these lizards. The book is long and I think it could have done with a better editor, but still worth a look.

Another Australian book I have shared with classes that fascinates students is Dragons of the Galapagos by Bruce Whatley.

And a book that I also wish was still in print is Jesse by Tim Winton because often my students have a blue tongue lizard in their backyard and there isn't any other book that lets them read a story with a blue tongue.

17th August Black Cat Appreciation Day

What is special about black cats? Quite a lot really. Our family has been a cat family. For eighteen years we had two very curious, very opinionated, very sociable Tonkinese cats and one of them was very dark, black in most lights. He was the runt of his litter and my daughter was convinced we should take him home. In contrast, his champagne coloured brother was the alpha male of the litter. He was in charge and he was the boss at home too. He ate first, he decided where they would sleep, what they would play, so when the 'boss' died first we feared for our black cat because we thought he would be at a loss. We should not have worried, he'd had a good teacher and he just became the 'boss' in every way. 

Black cats have a lot of lore and superstitions that surround them and they haven’t always been greeted with love and adoration. For our family a black cat was not a problem, but black cat symbolism varies from culture to culture and runs the gamut from symbolising a positive omen to being the harbinger of bad luck. 

Irish and Scottish people respected black cats as they believed that crossing paths with one would bring prosperity to your home.

In Japan and much of Asia, black cats symbolize good luck. Some Japanese folklore suggests that if a single woman crosses a black cat, she will find many potential suitors. 

In Greek Mythology, Hera, the Queen of the Gods, turned Galinthias, her servant, into a black cat in a fit of anger. Galinthias, in cat form, became an assistant to Hecate, the goddess of witchcraft, the moon, and death.

In North America, the Puritans who settled in New England believed that witches possessed the ability to change into black cats.

How do black cats fare in children's books? 

They are often portrayed as the villain. See Scarface Claw and Slinky Malinki  in the Hairy Maclary series.

 A Dark, Dark Tale  by Ruth Brown

Is Sid  from Six Dinner Sid, by Inga Moore a villain? 

They are often part of stories about witches and Halloween. See

•  Moonlight the Halloween Cat  by Cynthia Rylant

• Trixie the Witch's Cat by Nick Butterworth

• Rumblewick,  the witch's cat from the series of books that started with My Unwilling Witch by Hiaywn Oram

• Mog from the  Meg and Mog  series by Helen Nicoll and Jan Pienkowski. Mog does have some white stripes though.

Then there are the favourite series where they are not witch's cats, villains or heroes.

• Splat the Cat by Rob Scotton

• Pete the Cat by Eric Litwin and James Dean

The article I read did say that black cats were less likely to be adopted from cat shelters. There is 'black cat bias'. Research shows that this is because 

• People view black cats as less friendly and more aggressive

• People are still superstitious

• People believe they’re not able to read the emotions of black cats

Two books about adopted black cats are

• Holly  by Ruth Brown

• The Black Cat Who Only Wanted to be Loved by Rosa Silva

Still need convincing black cats reign supreme...read 

13th August International Wolf Day

Wolves once ranged the majority of the world’s northern hemisphere and were adapted to a wide variety of ecosystems. Over time, that has changed.  Wolf numbers are now vastly reduced in these areas.

Originally, the Grey Wolf was the world's most widely distributed mammal. It has become extinct in much of Western Europe, in Mexico and much of the USA, and their present distribution is more restricted; wolves occur primarily but not exclusively in wilderness and remote areas.

Currently, wild wolf populations representing two distinct species of wolf are found in North America, Europe, Asia and Africa – the gray wolf (Canis lupus), and the red wolf (Canis rufus). Worldwide, the gray wolf, is not under threat.  The red wolf,  found in North America, is considered critically endangered. The biggest threat to wolves is humans whose tolerance of them is a problem.

Given that Australian children would never see a wolf in the wild, it always fascinates me to see how many students at school are so interested in them, not in storybook wolves which there are plenty of, but rather in real wolves and not all of them think they are ferocious and should not exist. They are very sympathetic to wolves and so because of this the library has quite a large collection of nonfiction books about wolves such as these:

         

                        

10th August World Lion Day

Lions – with the scientific name Panthera leo – are the second-largest cat in the world, just behind the Asian tiger.

Three million years ago, lions roamed all over Africa and the Eurasian supercontinent. But today, various ice ages and changes in the natural environment means that their range is reduced primarily to Africa and select parts of Asia. 

According to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, lions are a “vulnerable” species, meaning that their numbers could and should be higher. Currently, researchers estimate that there are between 30,000 and 100,000 lions left on planet Earth. Without significant intervention, there is a chance that they could find themselves on the endangered list alongside other species most at risk of extinction.

World Lion Day,  has three objectives. The first is to raise awareness of the plight of the lion and the issues that the species face in the wild. The second is to find ways to protect the big cat’s natural environment, such as creating more national parks and reducing the areas in which people can settle. And the third is to educate people who live near wild cats on the dangers and how to protect themselves.

Lions are the only cats that regularly live in social groups and their groups are called prides. The size of a typical pride is usually between 10 to 15 animals but it can vary between 2 to 40 members. In a pride, females do most of the hunting and cub rearing and males defend the pride territory. While females live with the pride for life, males usually leave the pride when they are a few years old.

Lions are not as popular as tigers in the library or in picture books in general, but they do get borrowed and it is always worth doing a display. What the library has is here, but I do have some favourites, which are these:

Dumazi is a young savvy Zulu girl who encounters a yellow lion caught in a trap one day. Although compassionate, she instantly surmises the lion’s true nature and only after making a deal for her life, agrees to set him free. But can one really trust a hungry lion? And is Dumazi’s brazen bravery and quick thinking enough to save her life?

It tells the story of a lion who, bored by his rural life in the savannah, seeks excitement and opportunity in the city of light. On arrival in Paris the lion is disappointed to find that despite his size, people barely pay attention to him, not even when he lets out a ferocious roar on the busy Metro. Taking in the sights and sounds of Paris it successfully conveys the experience of being a stranger in a new city and the process of understanding our own identity. 

There are seven steps to becoming a proper lion, including Looking Fierce, Roaring, Prowling Around, and Pouncing. Our young hero, a rather meek and scrawny human boy, does his best to learn the necessary skills during his training with a master instructor (who just happens to be a real lion). After a grueling set of lessons, the boy discovers that that the final step--Looking Out for Your Friends--is the most important of all.

All the books in this series are good, but I really like this one about why lions don't have a home like most other animals.

And I am especially fond of the fable The Lion and the Mouse and there are so many beautifully illustrated versions, but none are better than the pencil lion drawings in this one:

Vale Jim Trelease (March 23, 1941 – July 28, 2022)

I read yesterday that Jim Trelease was no longer here to champion the importance of reading to children which is such a shame as now more than ever I feel many of us are banging our heads against brick walls trying to convince parents and teachers of the importance of reading aloud, reading real books and sharing 'rich' literature with quality artwork.

Hopefully his books will remain in print and some other expert will update his lists as teachers and parents will continue to need them. The Science of Reading people and the curriculum committees who espouse their beliefs have created teachers who no longer read to their class and who are telling parents that children no longer need to worry about comprehension until they have mastered phonics. That may not be what their aim was, but from my viewpoint, what teachers do in their classrooms in the name of teaching reading has really changed and many students have no idea what the purpose of reading is and they are even more thirsty for books and being read to, than they have ever been.

Two things that happened this week that highlight my conundrum, are 

1. I was sent a copy of these bookmarks and told to use them to help readers. Yes, it is that simple! Not. As the parent of two children who struggled with reading (the barking at print), but who had superior comprehension when read to, this bookmark would not have helped me or them. I knew what to do and they struggled to keep all those things going at once and it made them angry that they had to do the same thing over and over again when everyone else didn't. Perhaps my children would have been more appreciative of these strategies ad nauseam if they had not been read to from birth. They know what real reading is! Their mother had done a Masters in Reading Education and Libraries.

2. I have been off school with Covid, and to be fair, so have a lot of other staff, but most of my lessons have not been covered. What message does this send? Library, books and being read to are not high priorities.

Everyone should read this article.  I am making sure that all my friends' grandchildren are being read to by gifting them books and they all comment on what a wonderful time they share when reading and how it leads to much bonding and talking. They have grandchildren who love books and reading, but what will happen when they arrive at school and the only reading is phonetic, decodable and not in a book?

Grandparents Day at our school is coming up. The grandparents love visiting the library and all comment on the abundance of books and seem pleased that the technology while there is not predominant. This article is something I also gift to friends who need convincing.

I'm sure I'll go back to school, see the children and feel much more positive again about my role.

5th August Underwear Day

When you work in a Prep Library, you cannot forget Underwear Day. Books about underwear make 4 to 7 year olds giggle and their parents sigh. There are so many books to go round though, so there is rarely a squabble . This is what the library has on offer.

There's always the favourite series:

• Aliens Love Underwear by Claire Freedman and Ben Court

• Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey

• Vegetables in Underwear by Jared Chapman

• Bear in Underwear and Veggies With Wedgies by Todd H. Doodler

• Sir Scallywag  by Giles Andreae and Korky Paul

• Pants; More Pants  and Animal Pants by Giles Andreae and Nick Sharratt

• Underwear Dragon by Scott Rothman

And if your display needs more add 

• Sir Charlie Stinky Socks  by Kristina Stephenson

And two stand alone titles which are among the most borrowed books in the library

• The Frog Who Lost His Underpants  by Juliet McIver and Cat Chapman

•  Brief Thief by Michael Escoffier and Kris Di Giacomo