23rd October Book Week

Another Book Week over! Every year I say do I have to do Book Week next year? It always seems like so much work and often so unrelated to books. This year's Book Week seems to have gone on forever because it was postponed from Term 3 to Term 4 in the hope that Covid would be over and we could once again have visitors in the school. We were lucky we did have an author visit 'in the flesh', not on Zoom and it was a huge success. Kate and Jol Temple came to talk to grades K to 2. They were hugely entertaining as well as informative and the children were certainly inspired. One Year 1 student told me it was the 'highlight of 2020'! We have ibis in our school playground, so the children were fascinated by  Bin Chicken  and I am in awe of Room on Our Rock and the way it gives two points of view, simply by reading the book backwards.

We did have a Book Week Parade and the students did a marvellous job of kitting themselves out, many without spending money, but instead using ingenuity and creativity. I suggested they come as a 'curious creature' or a 'wild mind' instead of a book character and many did do this. There was a myriad of Ada Lovelaces, Jane Goodalls, Albert Einsteins, David Attenboroughs, inspired by the Little People Big Dreams series of books, Bindi and Robert Irwins, from their series of books, Saucepan Men and Silky from The Faraway Tree.

The teachers got into the spirit too. I dressed as Ann Carroll Moore, the first librarian to advocate for children's libraries. I had shared the book  Miss Moore Thought Otherwise by Jan Pinborough with some of my classes and it seemed ideal. She certainly had a 'wild mind', as we now have many children's libraries including the most fantastic one that I work in which caters for 3 to 8 year olds, and as many of my students think 'has a book on everything'!

Every year I look at the Book Week theme and think how am I going to do that with such young children, but as the year rolls on and I think about it some more I manage something and this year was no exception. I have had great fun especially with curious creatures. When I was told next year's theme,  Old Worlds, New Worlds, Other Worlds I immediately thought...oh it is so long and so all encompassing, but no doubt as I mull it over and talk to friends, ideas will flow. On to next year. An author or illustrator needed...get thinking!

26th September International Rabbit Day

International Rabbit Day is celebrated on the  fourth Saturday of September each year. This day promotes the protection and welfare of both domestic and wild rabbits. Rabbits are considered pests in Australia as they have done so much damage to indigenous fauna's habitats, but it is nice to see that they do have a day of their own that has nothing to do with Easter. There are some wonderful books worth sharing too because books like these do not have a rush on borrowing at Easter. Where the rabbit in a story is not a toy, it is often adventurous just like Peter Rabbit in Beatrix Potter's classic.

See 

• The Wonderful Habits of Rabbits  by Douglas Florian and Sonia Sanchez. This is one long poem that begins

 ' The habits of rabbits are many, not few,

 with plenty of things that they love to do!'

• The Rabbit Problem  by Emily Gravett. This beautiful book follows a pair of rabbits through the year as they cope with their ever expanding brood. It is also a good introduction to Fibonacci and his number sequence!

• All Because of Jackson by Dick King Smith. Jackson, a rabbit wants to see the world so he stows away on a ship hoping to have adventures. This is just the way rabbits came to be in Australia!

• Tom Crean's Rabbit  by  Meredith Hooper and Bert Kitchen.  This is a true story about a rabbit that went to Antarctica with the Scott expedition!

• The Great Rabbit Chase by Freya Blackwood. This is the story of a mother and daughter who chase their escaped rabbit through the streets of town. Mum is wrapped in towel! Kindergarten love this story.

• One Runaway Rabbit  by David Metzenthen and Mairead Murphy. This too is a chase, but this time a fox is chasing the rabbit.

• The Black Rabbit by Philippa Leathers. This time a rabbit is trying to escape from the 'big black rabbit'. Children love to be in 'on the secret' when you read books like this where the big black rabbit is in fact a shadow.

20th September Barbara Ker Wilson (1929 -2020)

I seem to have had reason to dip into the death notices in the paper lately and am always saddened when I read about someone I know of. A couple of weeks ago I read of the passing of Barbara Ker Wilson who was quite a prominent person in the children's book world here in Australia. She not only wrote her own books but was instrumental in publishing others. I first met Barbara's writing when I read her book The Willow Pattern Story. I have long collected blue and white plates and am fascinated by the Chinese love story about a  Mandarin girl who defies her rich father and elopes with the poor boy who she loves. I have a copy of this book ready to share with any grandchildren interested enough to know why there are so many versions of willow pattern plates in my house.

I decided to reread many of her books that we have in our library. She certainly had a broad range:

• Wishbones a Chinese Cinderella beautifully illustrated by Meilo So.

• The Turtle and the Island a folktale that tells the story of how a sea turtle builds the island of New Guinea with illustrations by Frane Lessac.

• Maui and the Big Fish  is a Polynesian creation myth with illustrations by Frane Lessac.

• Acacia Terrace tells the story of one family who lives in this house in Sydney from the 1860s to after World War II. This book is used often because it fits in with the current History syllabus.

• The Day of the Elephant illustrated by Frane Leassac was written in response to the Asian tsunami which devastated Indonesia, India and Thailand.

And the fun birthday story Meltdown illustrated by David Cox which tells what happens when an ice-cream cake melts on a very hot day.

22nd September World Rhinoceros Day

I have written about rhinos before here, but I wanted to add some books to any celebration of Rhinoceros Day that you may have. I have been looking at 'true' animal stories while exploring the Book Week theme, Curious Creatures Wild Minds, with one of my classes. We looked at Rhino in the House: the True Story of Saving Samia and  Anna and Samia: the True Story of Saving a Black Rhino. Both of these books tell the story of Anna Merz, a wildlife conservationist and a baby black rhino that she rescues and plans to rehabilitate, ready to send back into the wild. She nurtures the calf, names it Samia, feeds it special formula, and even lets it sleep in her bed. The children were fascinated by what Anna did.          

We then looked at My Travels With Clara, a book that follows the travels of a Dutch sea-captain and a black rhino from India to Venice with many adventures along the way. This story is reminiscent of the story of Zeraffa Giraffa, where a giraffe  travels from Africa to Paris.

Then last Thursday I covered and catalogued a new book called Rhinocorn Rules!  by Matt Carr and was pleasantly surprised to see that this book delivered far more than I thought it would. My readers like Matt Carr books, zany animal books, iridescent colours and unicorns so I picked it up in the book shop. On reading it, I found that the last two pages offered amazing facts about rhinos succinctly but very pertinently, perfect for Endangered Species Day.

See these and other rhino titles here on
my Pinterest page.

6th September Happy Father's Day

Even without mothers in the library to borrow Fathers' Day books, the books about fathers did leave the library this year, especially with the preschoolers and Kindergarten classes. This makes me happy because many of these books only leave the library once or twice a year. Father's Day is a pretty much a non-event in my house as the children are absent, but I do remember some good celebrations and some favourite books.

These five are my favourites and timeless. Unfortunately all are out of print and need republishing! They do not need to be read on Father's Day! Happy searching and then reading!

• Not Like That, Like This! by Tony Bradman and Joanna Burroughes

I love the sense of silliness and fun in this book, the word patterns that young listeners and readers quickly predict, and the ending.

• A Dad Who Measures Up  by Davide Cali

I love the initiative the girl in this story has. She is looking for a dad who measures up to her single-parent mum. Together with her mum she makes a list of all the necessary attributes and puts an add in the paper.

• My Father's Shop by Satomi Ichakawa

I love the father son relationship here. Dad wants one thing and son is determined it won't happen. The solution to the standoff is very novel and amusing.

• Smart Dad by Amanda Graham 

I love this one because living with boaties it is so easy to see this situation arising. Dad builds a boat in the backyard not thinking about the logistics of he  getting it out of the backyard!

 • The Dad Library  by Dennis Whelehan

Such a good read aloud. Who hasn't thought about swapping dads even if only for a short time? 

19th September International Red Panda Day

Red pandas are not as popular as giant pandas in children's books, but they still manage to find their way into endearing stories and are worth celebrating on their special day, the third Saturday of  September annually.

Unlike the name and the diet of bamboo implies, red pandas are not related to giant pandas and were discovered fifty years earlier.

If you want a brief, but useful informative text about red pandas for young students and you do not have one in your school library this is a good start. And this on Kiddle. 

In our library we have:

• Red Pandas by Laura Marsh

• Red Pandas by Victoria Blakemore

Picture book stories that feature red pandas

• Pip and the Bamboo Path  by Jesse Hodgson

• Red Panda's Toffee Apples by Ruth Paul

• Hedgehog's Magic Tricks by Ruth Paul

• Rabbit's Hide-and-Seek by Ruth Paul

• Amy the Red Panda is Writing the Best Story in the World by Colleen Venable & Ruth Chan

Look out for Baby Red Pandas by Kate Riggs, one book in a new series for very young readers by a publisher who really knows how to do young nonfiction with spectacular photographs.

Curious Creatures Armadillos (Armadillo Day is the 13th August)

I have been contemplating talking to my students about armadillos because at the moment many of them think aardvarks and armadillos are interchangeable. This is not a major issue because we have neither of these animals in Australia and it is much more important that they know about animals such as echidnas, bandicoots and bilbies etc that live here, but as we are talking about 'curious creatures' and we have books that feature them I thought I would do a little bit of research.  Firstly I noticed that a new Jon Klassen book is about to hit the shelves next year and it has an armadillo in it. Here's the publisher's blurb for The Rock From the Sky

"Turtle really likes standing in his favorite spot. He likes it so much that he asks his friend Armadillo to come over and stand in it, too. But now that Armadillo is standing in that spot, he has a bad feeling about it . . . 

Here comes The Rock from the Sky, a hilarious meditation on the workings of friendship, fate, shared futuristic visions, and that funny feeling you get that there’s something off somewhere, but you just can’t put your finger on it. Merging broad visual suspense with wry wit, celebrated picture book creator Jon Klassen gives us a wholly original comedy for the ages."

Now this armadillo does not look particularly like the ones we have in other books, so all the more reason I need to find a photograph. All the species of armadillos can be found in the Americas. This website gives some good photos and some interesting facts.

Here's the books the library has:

             

• Armadillos by Kate Riggs

• Ape and Armadillo Take Over the World by James Sturm

• The Armadillo fom Amarillo by Lynne Cherry

• Willow the Armadillo by Marilou Reeder and Dave Mottram

• Arnie the Accidental Hero  by Joanne Partis

• Milo Armadillo by Jan Fearnley

• Armadillo Ray  by John Beifuss and Peggy Turley

• An Armadillo in Paris by Julie Kraulis

• Accident! by Andrea Tsurumi

• The Wishing Stone by Steve Smallman and Rebecca Elliott

• The Beginning of the Armadillos by Shoo Rayner 

and two series for chapter book reading young readers

• Hare and Armadillo  by Jeremy Strong

• Adventure Duck vs the Armadillo Army by Steve Cole