30th May Puffin Day

As far as I know there is no such thing as Puffin Day. I'm instigating one! It was Puffin Fest in Scotland from the 15th - 25th May. I have a good friend who is off hunting puffins in Scotland at the moment. She has seen some, sat in a bus stop decorated with puffin paraphernalia and written about her adventures. I can't help but feel a little jealous. Then yesterday I bought a new puffin picture book and thought about my friend as I did so, to add to the library's already extensive collection - The Angry Little Puffin by Timothy Young. This book will really make you smile. The puffin in the story shares an exhibit at the zoo with penguins and has to listen to the visitors talk about him as 'that kooky little penguin', 'that funny-looking penguin' etc, and he is on a mission to make the visitors read and take note of his characteristics and how different he is from the penguins. It is a fun way to learn about the differences and to learn about an arctic bird that children in Australia are not likely to see. The reader gets the puffin's point of view. He is persuasive and it mixes graphics, speech bubbles for the visitors and text for the puffin's thoughts. Lots to talk about, use for teaching and just fun to read! See the trailer here.

Next week I'll get the library's books and puffin toy out, we'll celebrate puffins and practise using the word 'auk'! I love that word!

3rd May International Dawn Chorus Day

International Dawn Chorus Day is a day to celebrate that time early in the morning when birds sing to start the new day. It is celebrated as an International event on the first Sunday in May, but it is most noticeable in the spring so this date means more to the Northern hemisphere countries. I have recently bought a lovely picture book for the library called The Dawn Chorus by Suzanne Barton. This is the story of a fledgling nightingale, named Peep and how much he wants to join in with the other birds of the chorus because he loves the sound.  This book is worth buying whether it is shared for this day in  May or at any other time of the year.

30th April Janet Morgan Stoeke

It is the birthday of Janet Morgan Stoeke of Minerva Louise  fame. (Thank you Happy Birthday Author.) You cannot help but like Minerva Louise. She is a very daffy hen whose antics certainly make you smile. I did not know that Janet had another series of books also about hens, The Loopy Coop Hens. Now I need to find them and expand my students knowledge of Janet Morgan Stoeke and hens.

25th April World Penguin Day

Every day is Penguin Day for me. I love them. The children I teach love learning about them and they are very popular as topics and characters in children's books. I have written about them before for Penguin Awareness Day in January and listed many of my favourite books.

Last term Year 2 and I read Jill Tomlinson's short novel, Penguin's Progress (The Penguin Who Wanted to Find Out) over several weeks and as we read, we checked to see if the information she had given us about Emperor penguins was indeed correct. In the process the students handled many non-fiction books, looked online at film clips and websites and chose themselves to borrow picture books and short novels which had penguins as characters.  The library had over a hundred penguin books and they were well-borrowed. We looked at penguins' habitat, lifecycles, food and enemies. The students were not happy when we added 'man' to the list of enemies. This came about when we read Solo  by Paul Geraghty, a heart-wrenching family story where the students felt sure that the father and mother penguin would not come back to feed baby Solo. Ulco Glimmerveen's A Tale of Antarctica  also showed students the impact humans have on the pristine environment of Antarctica.

With the topic of penguins it is so hard to know where to start reading with children because there is just so much worth reading! But these are musts!

12th April Gianna Marino

Happy birthday Gianna Marino. Her picture books are very special. She writes about a variety of things but all her books feature animals and she illustrates them beautifully and endearingly. I especially like the expressions she manages to imbue the wales with in her most recent book, Following papa's Song.

5th April Richard Peck (1934)

Some websites say today is Richard Peck's birthday, others including Wikipedia say it is on the 10th April. Whenever it is, it is worth celebrating, both for his wonderful books and this poem which has as it's title, every teacher's catchphrase,  'please read for twenty minutes a day'.



Twenty Minutes A Day
by Richard Peck 

Read to your children, twenty minutes a day;
You have the time, And so do they.
Read while the laundry is in the machine;
Read while the dinner cooks;
Tuck a child in the crook of your arm
And reach for the library books.
Hide the remote,
Let the computer games cool,
For one day your children will be off to school.
"Remedial?" "Gifted?" You have the choice; Let them hear their first tales
In the sound of your voice.
Read in the morning;
Read over noon;
Read by the light of Goodnight Moon.
Turn the pages together,
Sitting close as you'll fit,
Till a small voice beside you
says, "Hey, don't quit."

My favourite of his books are his two delightful books about mice, Secrets at Sea and its sequel The Mouse With the Question Mark Tail. These are adventure stories set in the past in Britain and they have a similar feel to stories such as The Borrowers where small characters are able to have  adventures of their own amongst humans.                        

4th April Happy Easter with Betty Bunny

I have a family at school who discovered Betty Bunny on a visit to the library. They are regular and prolific borrowers, a mother and her two young sons who are now 4 and 6, but who have been visiting the library for over two years. When they read and love a book they come in looking for more 'by that author 'or 'more about this character'. And this is how their love for Betty Bunny began. The library only had Betty Bunny Loves Chocolate Cake when they first borrowed it and wanted more. While I waited for another to arrive they borrowed the chocolate cake book again and again. So as each new title has been published I've made sure we have purchased them. Just before Easter, Betty Bunny Loves Easter arrived. We hurriedly covered and catalogued it and sent it home on the second last day of school with the boys for Easter. On the last day there were two excited boys at the library who just had to give me a very excited rundown about Betty's Easter book. This is what makes the job of a teacher librarian in a Prep School so special!

Betty Bunny is your typical, if somewhat precocious preschooler, so preschool children can laugh at her and her misdemeanours. There is always plenty to discuss as the result of her behaviour too. In Betty Bunny Didn't Do It, Betty tries to blame the Tooth Fairy for breaking a lamp, but Mum is always a step of Betty despite Betty's negotiating skills. Here is an interview with Betty Bunny's creator Michael B. Kaplan explaining how the series came about. The books are illustrated by Belgian born, Canadian illustrator Stephane Jorisch.

Presently there are five books and a Betty Bunny toy:
• Betty Bunny Loves Chocolate Cake
• Betty Bunny Wants Everything
• Betty Bunny Didn't Do It
• Betty Bunny Wants a Goal
• Betty Bunny Loves Easter