6th March National Dentist's Day

It is National Dentist's Day here in Australia  as well as in the USA on the 6th March.

It is a day to recognise and appreciate the important work dentists do in promoting oral health and hygiene.

Parents often come to the library to get a book about visiting the dentist, either because their child hasn't been before or because they are worried about visiting the dentist.

When this day came up I began to think about a display. What would I include in it? Dentists, teeth, toothbrushes? The catalogue revealed we had enough books to do all three.

Nearly every picture book series has a book about visiting the dentist. See Peppa Pig, Maisy, Curious George, Arthur, Topsy and Tim, Berenstain Bears, Pout-Pout Fish, Max and Zoe, Harry and the Dinosaurs.

Then there are several nonfiction books about dentists which range from the very simple first experiences up to a more detailed description of what a dentist does.

But, the dentist and teeth can also provide us with humour.

 

If you want to do something before the 6th March, it is Tooth Fairy Day next week on the 28th February. I have written about Tooth Fairy Day before and here is a Pinterest page with lots of books to explore.

6th March Michelangelo (1475 -1564) Chris Raschka (1959) Dentist Day

Lots to celebrate. Firstly the great Michaelangelo, painter of the Sistine Chapel ceiling. There are not a lot of books about him that are suitable for very young children. Diane Stanley's is worth a look though.

Secondly, today is the birthday of American author/illustrator, Chris Raschka, this year's Caldecott Medal winner. He won this time for his book A Ball for Daisy. Chris is the master of the powerful story with minimum text. Here he explores the joy and sadness that having a special toy can bring. It will be good to share when children are dealing with the loss of a special possession.

And thirdly, Dentist Day. Is it coincidence that it comes so soon after Tooth Fairy Day? Nearly every favourite character that has a series of books has a dentist story. See Dora, Berenstain Bears, Maisy, Curious George and Peppa Pig! But, there are stories with much more to marvel at and ponder on. Look for:

• Margaret Mahy's The Dentist's Promise

• Robert Munsch's Andrew's Loose Tooth

• Judi Barrett's Never Take a Shark to the Dentist and there is always

• Shel Silverstein's poem The Crocodile's Toothache

1st November Brush Day

In America National Brush Day is celebrated annually on1st November, immediately following Halloween, to promote good oral hygiene and remind children and families to brush for two minutes, twice a day. That's a good choice of day!

There are lots of opportunities in the year to think about oral hygiene and teeth.

National Dentist Day is 6th March.

World Oral Health Day is on 20th March.

Dental Health Week is celebrated in Australia at the beginning of August. This year 3rd - 9th August.

Then there's Tooth Fairy Day on 28th February and again on 22nd August and False Teeth Day on the 9th March.

There are so many board books for toddlers that focus on teeth brushing, but at the school library we have more scientific books about why brushing teeth is a good idea.

Last week in the run up to Halloween I read The Scariest Monster in the World  by Lee Weatherly to a preschool class and all they could talk about afterwards was the monster's green teeth. So many of them pointed out the fact that he needed to brush his teeth.

The newest book in the library about teeth brushing is this lighthearted one:

This book, My Toothbrush is Missing  by Jan Thomas is fun!

And this one,  A Tale of a Toothbrush  by M.G.Leonard has a much more serious message.

15th November David McCord (1897 - 1997)

Books fall open,
you fall in,
delighted where,
you've never been.
Hear voices
not once heard before,
Reach world through world,
through door on door.
Find unexpected
keys to things,
locked up beyond
imaginings….
True books ill venture,
Dare you out,
Whisper secrets,
Maybe shout,
across the gloom,
to you in need
Who hanker for
a book to read.

This poem Books Fall Open by David McCord invites children into the worlds offered in books and thus is very well known to librarians. There is often an illustrated poster-version up in their library somewhere. There is one in mine. David McCord wrote poetry for everyone, but is probably best-remembered for poems that he wrote for children. He wrote of childhood experiences such as visits to the doctor and dentist, the loss of a pet, climbing trees (Every Time I Climb a Tree) and the weather (Summer Shower). His poems are always a sensual feast and use words playfully (The Pickety Fence). There wouldn't be many children's poetry anthologies that would not contain a David McCord poem. He lived to 99 and in that time was instrumental in raising a substantial amount of money for Harvard University as well as writing prolifically and teaching writing.

''Whatever may be said about this small but graceful art,'' Mr. McCord wrote in an article for The New York Times in 1964, ''three things should be remembered: good poems for children are never trivial; they are never written without the characteristic chills and fever of a dedicated man at work; they must never bear the stigma of I am adult, you are a child.''

Champions Read 4 - Literature

A great champion of children's literature died this week. Vale Margaret Mahy. She is the New Zealand author that most of us know well because of her abundance of books, ranging from picture books such as the ever-popular Great White Man-eating Shark, through great beginning chapter books such as The Great Piratical Rumbustification and The Dentist's Promise to her award-winning novels The Haunting and The Changeover. And in there as well there are anthologies of poetry and short stories. She is a popular author study choice with my teachers and so we purchased Questions Kids Ask Margaret Mahy.

There are books of this type and other straight biographies about many children's authors. Look for them on Roald Dahl, A.A.Milne, Beatrix Potter, Jacqueline Wilson and Dr Seuss. Mem Fox has even penned her own, Memories which is ideal for use with very young readers who are doing an author study on her, but if you want to look at picture book biographies that do a bit more than outline the chronology of their lives here are some suggestions:

• for Dr Seuss

The Boy on Fairfield Street by Kathleen Krull, Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher.

• for Beatrix Potter

My Dear Noel by Jane Johnson

Beatrix Potter by Alexandra Wallner

• for Wanda Gag

Wanda Gag : The Girl Who Lived to Draw by Deborah Kogan Ray

• for Roald Dahl

• D is for Dahl by Wendy Cooling and Quentin Blake

26th October World Teachers' Day

World Teachers' Day! Anyone who signs up to teach now must really want to do it because it is getting harder by the day. Everyone wants to tell you how to do your job, parents, people in the street, politicians. I want to be treated professionally and trusted to do my job well. I don't tell my dentist or doctor how to do their job. So why do so many people question what teachers do and whether they are qualified to do it. Thank heavens for the children because they really make my day. Today one of my cherubs told me I wasn't old, just mature! Bless him. Another told me he would like to recommend the book he was reading to Roald Dahl because he was sure it would make him laugh! Today I also taught a class of preschoolers all of whom start school next year and they are super keen to be there. We talked about their expectations of school and read Pog by Lynn Lee where a monster starting school is scared of children. They thought that was very funny.

We have four student teachers at school at the moment and they are enthusiastic, energetic and very committed to their future vocation which is wonderful. So as I write and think that often I am cynical and jaded, I remember why I chose to be a teacher and then a teacher librarian, and I smile at all the good experiences I have had, all the wonderful children I have taught and all the gifted teachers I have had the pleasure to work with and teach. I got out Mr Ouchy's First Day and Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten and had a read to myself and revelled in why I teach.

5th -11th August Dental Health Week; Shark Week

There are so MANY weeks to celebrate at the moment. It is Dental Health Week  and coincidentally Shark Week as well. Someone had a sense of humour combining sharks and teeth! Many mothers who visit my library ask about 'teeth cleaning' books and I always try to give them ones which are fun as well as discussion starters. The Discovery Channel is having a whole week of shark documentaries, many which my students would love but may give them nightmares. Here I've just put some of the popular, but lighthearted stories with sharks. If you want to combine the two topics look for Never Take a Shark to the Dentist  by Judith Barrett and John Nickle.