Read Grow Inspire The Slogan for Book Week 2023

Read Grow Inspire - three verbs to unpack for the three word slogan for Book Week this year! I am beginning to think about how to decorate the library, what to put on display and just what tangent to go off on, which is often what I do in preparation for Term 3 Library lessons. Of course there's the shortlisted books to consider too, but they are easier to plan for because hardly any of them come without any teaching notes or ideas online.

READ is quite self explanatory, but what a good chance to explore with children why they read. So often they tell you it is to learn and that is a good reason, but what about to enjoy, to use, to escape!

At my school more emphasis needs to be placed on reading for pleasure. We want children to become life-long readers, children who can not only read, but who choose to read! I worry that some very young learners who are spending so much of their learning time on isolated phonics, do not know why they are doing the worksheets and saying these sounds over and over again. If they are not read to at home and the teachers are saying they don't have time to read picture books or a serial so that their class experiences pleasure from reading, will the students make the connections, will they be inspired to want to read? Why read at all? There are so many other pleasures to pursue.

GROW can stand a much wider interpretation. Simply it means to become larger or greater over a period of time. This could be the child, a plant, a tree, knowledge, confidence... in fact anything that can become bigger or change physically.

It would be fun to explore the origins of the word 'grow'. The Latin root 'cult' means to grow. How many words can you list with that root in them which have something to do with growing...cultivate, culture, horticulture, agriculture... ? How many other words can we list that are synonyms for grow...sprout, bloom, germinate, flourish, flower ... ? All of these words could be leaves of a tree or petals on flowers for a display.

INSPIRE means to fill yourself or someone else with feelings, thoughts, motivation, stimulation or even with the urge to do something creative. How wonderful! 

Now of course we could take this literally. Read something...learn something...be inspired to do something like William Kamkwamba the boy from a Malawi village who spent his days in the library during a drought where he read about windmills and figured out how to build one using junkyard scraps. Later he worked out how to use the windmill for irrigation purposes. His story is in The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. 

There will be other biographies telling students about something that the person read about, that later became the inspiration for some invention. Reading picture book biographies will be ideal wide reading for this slogan. Perhaps think about a biography wide-reading contract.

If you take it less literally Read, Grow, Inspire can be translated to mean Read, Connect, Act which is the mantra for Empathy Lab and what we as teachers should be aiming for  when choosing books to read to our students. Whichever way you choose to interpret this slogan it allows for plenty of flexibility, creativity and activity. Go for it!

Next... Why did Matt Ottley choose to put a seahorse on the Book Week poster?

25th June Day of the Seafarer

The Day of the Seafarer (25 June) was established  2010 to honour the vital contribution that seafarers make to global trade and the economy, frequently at considerable personal sacrifice to themselves and their families.

In 2023, the campaign will look at seafarers' contribution to protecting the marine environment. They spend a great deal of time at sea and are a big part of the solution when it comes to protecting the marine environment. 

'Seafarer' is not a common word and not one that young children are likely to use in their everyday speech unless they know someone who is a seafarer. You can define a seafarer as literally being someone who is employed to serve aboard any type of marine vessel. It is their job to work on boats and they are paid to do so.

Here for my purposes, today's blog will highlight ships and boats, rather than the people who work on them. Young children borrow books about trains, planes and boats from the library. I have written about planes and trains before so today it is time for boats to shine. The library has a good collection of books about boats and stories that feature boats. See the Pinterest page.

My son was boat mad as a child and is still boat mad as an adult. He is now a marine mechanic and spends every day on boats. I watch in awe as he parks a very large motor boat in what seems like a tiny space or explains how the multiple boat engines work.

His favourite book was Salty Dog by Gloria Rand and when it came to giving his picture books away that one had to stay. He took it on sleepovers, he took it as a teenager when he went to babysit to read to his charges. I was pleasantly surprised to see it is still in print and available to buy. The owner of Salty Dog is a boatbuilder who gets the ferry to work everyday, sometimes taking his dog, but not always which does not please Salty.

He would have liked Whose Boat?  by Toni Buzzeo and Tom Froese too because it is a guessing game where you match up workers with their boats.

He would have loved Boats Fast and Slow  by Iris Volant and Jarom Vogel if it had existed when he was young. This book allows children to learn about the history of boat building, about famous boats and technological advances. 

I remember reading Little Tim and the Brave Sea Captain by Edward Ardizzone to a Year 2 class who were looking at life in their grandparents' time. This book had been reissued for its eightieth anniversary. The students sat riveted as I read and at the end we talked about the differences between their lives and Tim's. While they could see that it was a great adventure they were nervous when only Tim and the Captain were left on the ship. The thing that worried them most was that he had gone on an adventure alone without parent permission, but then students said things like well so do the children in the Famous Five and Secret Seven series. It made for a great discussion and many questions to ask grandparents.

My favourite boat books are 'slower and calmer' as I am not a boat lover.  Little Bear's Boat and Big Bear's Boat  by Eve Bunting and Nancy Carpenter epitomise what it means to be happy with your lot.

A Kindergarten boy who visits the library asked me about tug boat books. Initially I wondered what I would give him, but now I know there are some:

Little Tug by Stephen Savage, I'm Mighty  by Kate and Jim McMullan Boats are Busy by Sara Gillingham and Anchored by Debra Tidball and Arielle Li will make a good start and they are all in our library.

In 1933 The United States Congress established National Maritime Day to honor the important contributions of the maritime industry. The date of May 22 was chosen to commemorate the 1819 voyage of the steamship Savannah from the United States to England, which marked the first successful crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by steam power. I haven't written about this day before either so if you want to save your boat and ship display till May you can.

“Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing — absolutely nothing — half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.” So says the Water Rat to Mole in Kenneth Grahame’s “The Wind in the Willows.” While this has become a cliche, for some young children and even adults, boats do hold a great fascination and there is nothing better than messing around in boats!

19th - 25th June Insect Week

Insect Week

19th - 25th June

Insect Week is observed every year in the last full week of June. This year, it takes place from June 19 to 25. It’s a one-of-a-kind event for those who are fascinated by insects and entomology and is run in the UK by the Royal Entomological Society. Their website is amazing. Look at the winners of the photography competition. 

Insects are an important part of the earth’s ecosystem. They are a vital source of food for birds, fish and animals. In addition, they pollinate crops and plants and break down plant and animal matter. Over one million species of insects have been discovered and described, but it is estimated that there may be as many as 10 million species on earth. Scientists estimate that insects make up to 90% of all species of animals on the planet and more than half of all living things.

All insects have:

1. Six legs.
2. Three body sections (head, thorax and abdomen)
3. Pair of antennae.
4. Compound eyes.
5. Most have wings.
6. Three or four stage life cycle (egg, larva or nymphs, pupa and adult)

Insects can be found in every habitat on earth from hot deserts to snow-covered mountains, some such as termites and ants live in large colonies. Others, like the praying mantis and some bees and wasps, are solitary only coming together to mate.

Year 1 at school do a unit of inquiry bases on minibeasts and most of the animals they actually look at are insects. They focus on butterflies, ants and bees, but cicadas, stick insects and beetles are also popular, so the library has an abundance of books to satisfy these budding entomologists.

Talking of entomologists...start with these picture book biographies

• The Bug Girl  by Margaret McNamara and Sophia Spencer

Real-life 7-year-old Sophia Spencer was bullied for loving bugs until hundreds of women scientists rallied around her. Now Sophie tells her inspiring story in this picture book that celebrates women in science, bugs of all kinds, and the importance of staying true to yourself. 

• Evelyn the Adventurous Entomologist by Christine Evans 

Back in 1881, when Evelyn Cheesman was born, English girls were expected to be clean and dressed in frilly dresses. But Evelyn crawled in dirt and collected glow worms in jars. When girls grew up they were expected to marry and look after children. But Evelyn took charge of the London Zoo insect house, filling it with crawling and fluttering specimens and breathing life back into the dusty exhibits. 

• Summer Birds, the Butterflies of Maria Merian by Margarita Engle

In the Middle Ages, people believed that insects were evil, born from mud in a process called spontaneous generation. Maria Merian was only a child, but she disagreed. She watched carefully as caterpillars spun themselves cocoons, which opened to reveal summer birds, or butterflies and moths. Maria studied the whole life cycle of the summer birds, and documented what she learned in vibrant paintings.

• The Girl Who Drew Butterflies: How Maria Merian's Art Changed Science by Joyce Sidman

One of the first naturalists to observe live insects directly, Maria Sibylla Merian was also one of the first to document the metamorphosis of the butterfly. 

The following insect books are quite recent and you may not have seen them.  Check them out!

• Pollination: How my Garden Grows by Christopher Cheng

• Wonderful Wasps by Katrina Germein

• Butterflies for Kids, A Junior Scientist's Guide by Lauren Davidson

• Insects for Kids, A Junior Scientist's Guide  by Sharman Johnston

• The Butterfly and the Ants  by Kate McCabe

• Searching for Cicadas by Lesley Gibbes

• The Girl Who Loves Bugs  by Lily Murray and Jenny Lovlie

22nd June World Rainforest Day

June 22 is World Rainforest Day, which is a “collaborative effort to raise awareness and encourage action to protect the world’s rainforests”.

Tropical rainforests have an outsized role in the world. Of the Earth’s ecosystems, rainforests support the largest variety of plants and animal species, house the majority of indigenous groups still living in isolation from the rest of humanity, and power the mightiest rivers. Rainforests lock up vast amounts of carbon, moderate local temperature, and influence rainfall and weather patterns at regional and planetary scales. 

The Amazon Rainforest makes up nearly a third of all the tropical rainforests left on Earth and it plays a vital role in sustaining life on the planet to help stabilise the climate. Yet, this vast, tropical wilderness and its inhabitants are losing the fight for survival.

It is important for children to know about the role of rainforests. In the library, the books we have concentrate on the joy and animals found in rainforests but as they get older things like deforestation become more important.

Whenever  Rainforest by Julia Groves is on display it is borrowed almost immediately. This simple book's cover illustration, its immediacy and the size and shape of the book make it so appealing.

Books in the library:

• Rainforest by Julia Groves

• Over and Under the Rainforest by Kate Messner and Christopher Silas Neal

• The Rainforest Book  by Charlotte Milner    

• The Really Old Forest by Cecil Kim and Elsa Huet

• We're Roaming in the Rainforest  by Laurie Krebs and Anne Wilson

• Secrets of the Rainforest by Carron Brown and Alyssa Nassner

• Going to the Rainforest by Black Dog Books

• Let's Visit the Rainforest  by Buffy Silverman

• Rainforest by Roger Priddy

• Creatures of the Rainforest by Warren Brim and Anna Eglitis

• Rainforest by Helen Cowcher

• The Tree of Wonder  by Kate Messner

I like to connect the students to people who have a passion for what we are talking about. I usually do this through a picture book biography or a film clip. These two biographies are perfect for this:

• Rainforest Warrior by Anita gainer and Margaux Carpentier

This is the story of Chico Mendez, a Brazilian rubber tapper in the Amazon rainforest who became an environmental activist who fought to save the Amazon.

• The Leaf Detective; How Margaret Lowman Uncovered Secrets in the Rainforest  by Heather Lang and Jana Christy.

This is the story of Meg Lowman who was a courageous explorer, who made amazing discoveries high in the forest canopy despite challenges such as males who thought a woman shouldn't be up in the trees and loggers who were clearing the forests. She became  a pioneer scientist in a discipline that demands exceptional imagination, courage, and physical rigour. But of equal importance, she has created an extraordinarily important branch of environmental and conservation research.

21st June World Giraffe Day

World Giraffe Day is an annual event initiated by the Giraffe Conservation Federation to celebrate the longest-necked animal on the longest day of the year. I have blogged about it before but this time I want to highlight two biographies about Anne Innis Dagg, the first giraffologist and the new book by Nicola Davies and Emily Sutton, The Season of Giraffes.

When Anne Innis Dagg saw her first giraffe in a zoo she was entranced. So much so that a love for giraffes shaped her whole life. She decided at a young age that she would one day travel from her home in Canada to study giraffes in their natural environment in Africa. 

After overcoming obstacles based on her gender, Anne succeeded in fulfilling her dream in 1956 and became the world's leading scientific expert on giraffes and continues to be an advocate for giraffes in their natural environment through her foundation.

Her work is now accessible to child readers through these two books.

• Anne and her Tower of Giraffes (2022) by Karlin Gray and Apart Varma 

Read a review 

•The Girl Who Loved Giraffes and Became the World's First Giraffologist (2021)by Kathy Stinson and Francois Thisdale. See review here.

The Seasons of the Giraffes is an inspiring story of how giraffes have dealt with modern climate change. Here's the blurb:

In this powerful picture-book, bestselling children's author Nicola Davies writes in collaboration with conservationist Kisilu Musya to explain how one of the world's best-loved animals has dealt with the challenges of climate change. Giraffes were once a part of daily life in Niger – but after severe droughts one year, when the rains eventually return, the giraffes are nowhere to be seen. However, as award-winning artist Emily Sutton's magnificent illustrations capture, The Season of Giraffes ultimately has a hopeful, celebratory story to share ... and an important point to make about how human beings can change for the better.

Here's Nicola Davies blogging about this book.

20th June World Refugee Day

Refugee Week in Australia is always held from Sunday to Saturday of the week which includes 20 June (World Refugee Day). For 2023, it will be held from Sunday 18 June to Saturday 24 June. It is Australia’s peak annual activity to inform the public about refugees and celebrate positive contributions made by refugees to Australian society.  

There is always a theme for refugee Week and this year it is Finding Freedom.

It is always interesting having a discussion with the children under eight years old,  that I teach about what freedom is. They live very comfortable, safe lives and experience very little hardship so they have a view that being free means that you can do whatever you like...but        

What does it mean to be free?  

Are we all born free?

Using this page from this book might be a good place to start a discussion.

To live without the fear of war, to have your basic human rights upheld, to live in equality and without the fear of persecution are just some of the examples of what freedom can entail. Every day millions of people across the world embark on dangerous journeys for the sole purpose of finding safety and freedom. From Australia to nations across the globe, settling into a new environment after experiencing the perils of a refugee’s journey can also provide the opportunity to live, to love and to dream.   

Rightly so, young children here are generally shielded from the fear of war and persecution, but this doesn't mean that they cannot feel through literature some of the feelings that refugee children experience. There are Ukrainian children living temporarily in Sydney and our children may meet them at school, their sporting club or church. It is important that these privileged children see that refugee children are just like them, wanting to play, eat, learn...

There are so many picture books that can be shared to start conversations about what it is like to be a refugee. You can start with something subtle like Amira's Suitcase where it is inferred or you can look at life in a refugee camp where the children are busy playing as if it is in the school playground. 

The Refugee Council of Australia's website suggests picture books to read. Also look at this Pinterest page.

19th June Gerald Rose (1935 -2023)

The English illustrator, Gerald Rose has three books that have played a huge role in my teaching career and  parenting life. I wrote about "Ahh!" Said Stork  yesterday and while looking for an image of the cover I read an obituary for Gerald Rose. He died on 5th May 2023. 

In his obituary I read that he was the youngest winner of the Kate Greenaway Medal which he won in 1960 when he was in his twenties and barely out of art school.

Back to his books:

The Tiger Skin Rug  seems to be his only picture book still in print. This is a good thing because it is such a good story. No class or child I have read it to has ever commented on its implausibility, but instead revels in the fact that the tiger is triumphant. 

Trouble in the Ark is the best book for teaching vocabulary, especially verbs. The cumulative plot where one act is the catalyst for the next introduces students to how many different actions there are words for. All the animals cooped up in the ark with Noah begin making loud noises at each other, and the result is chaos.

"Ahh!" Said Stork  is also a deceptively simple cumulative story but it is a great beginning reader because once a child reader knows the pattern they can use the pictures to work out what the words say.

In the library we also has copies of How St Francis Tamed the Wolf and Horrible Hair.  The first simply tells the story of St Francis and his love of animals, the second a bad hair day story but the expression Rose is able to add to his characters whether they are people or animals shines through here too.

Perhaps at some point in the future a publisher will deign to feel that many of his books are worthy of republishing!