23rd June Pink Flamingo Day

The first Pink Flamingo Day was declared in 2007 to honour the plastic lawn flamingo and its creator, Don Featherstone. 

Australian author Andy Geppert even included this lawn flamingo in his book Backyard Birdies.

While today, none of the species of flamingos are endangered, large populations that call the Rift Valley of Africa home, are rapidly shrinking and facing growing challenges. All species are facing shrinking habitats due to human encroachment and climate change. Read about these birds in a nonfiction book such as these:

And this one is coming and if it is like Abi Cushman's Wombats are Pretty Weird it will be lots of fun.

I haven't seen this book, and it is not really about flamingos but it fits in to any science unit on materials so I need to look for it.

I have written about flamingos before on this blog, but many new books featuring flamingos have arrived in the library since then.

There's also two beginning chapter book series that are popular:

Hotel Flamingo  by Alex Milway   and

Fabio the World's Greatest Flamingo Detective  by Laura James

And this title is one of the books from the Armadillo and Hare  series by Jeremy Strong.

29th May Pink Flamingo Day

Pink Flamingo Day is celebrated on this day according to a book I have just purchased. It is written by the poet laureate,  J. Patrick Lewis and called World Rat Day: Poems About Holidays You've Never Heard Of. It is perfect for planning library displays because it is quirky and celebrates days you literally will never have heard of. There is Worm Day and Cephalopod Day among others. Lewis claims the holidays are real, but to me it doesn't really matter. It gives me an excuse to keep the displays changing and the books in my library going out the door and the readers get to see their planet as a home for wonderful living creatures that warrant some thought occasionally.

In honour of flamingos Lewis wrote a wonderful concrete poem:
   'A flamingo is a long cooooooooool drink of something pink.'
And Anna Raff illustrates it amusingly and irresistibly.

There's obviously not an abundance of books on flamingos in the library, but there was enough to make  a benchtop look enticing with a copy of the poem and the six books. Included were:
• the wonderful new textless treat - Flora and the Flamingo by Molly Idle
• Sylvie  by Jennifer Sattler which gives a whole new stance on you are what you eat.
• the three Miss Mingo books by Jamie Harper
• the beautiful poetry anthology Flamingo Bendalingo by Paula Green, and
• the token non-fiction information book, Flamingos by Jean M. Malone

Did you know a group of flamingos is a flamboyance! What a great word to share with children. I learned this and some other amazing facts about flamingos here.

23rd March World Meteorological Day

No birthdays and I can't show you photos of Poetry Day because I left the camera at school, but I did want to tell you about an amazing poetry book that I used a lot last year during Book Week when the theme was Book Safari. The book, Flamingo Bendalingo: Poems from the Zoo is a collection of animal poems by New Zealand poet, Paula Green and fifty children. Paula runs poetry workshops and after a series of workshops she took two groups of children to the Auckland Zoo to do more activities that she had designed. The result, this book, which is divided into two parts, a part with poems that she wrote, and another part with poems written by the children.

These poems have then been illustrated by prominent New Zealand artist, Michael Hight who also happens to be Paula Green's partner. The illustrations, black ink outlines with colour wash are divine - light and mischievous. And then to top off all this there is a glossary of poetry terms in the back with a myriad of examples that make you want to rush out and try writing or teaching them.

Here are two poems I loved:

Flamingo Ballet

Pink legs like statues

Lithe rubber necks stretch and bend

Flamingo ballet

Jessica Kyne 9

An Elephanty Poem

Loom large

Jumbo diddy elephiddy

Large loom

Jambo daddy elephaddy

Looming barge

Jimbo doddy elephinty

Large boom

Jumbo body elephanty.

Paula Green

Now to search for more by this talented duo!

And if you want to note Meteorological Day, why not start a discussion with Lilian Moore's poem:

Weather Report

Pinging rain

stinging sleet

tonight.

Frost at dawn,

bright

sun in the morning.

Ice-bearing trees,

a glass

orchard,

blinking

sunwinking.

A noonwind will

pass,

harvesting the brittle crop,

crashing

clinking.

18th May Book shortlists to watch out for!

Around this time of year, I know to check what is on shortlists for picture book awards. They are always good indicators of what is to come, indicators of what authors and illustrators are doing, indicators of what is new and good suggestions for my own reading. Two that I particularly watch for are Oscar's Book Prize  and The Alligator's Mouth Award because they are of significance to the readers I teach.

Oscar’s Book Prize is an annual award for the best picture book for pre-schoolers and young children. The prize was founded in 2014 by James Ashton and Viveka Alvestrand in memory of their three-year-old son Oscar Ashton who died unexpectedly in 2012. It aims  to reward the creativity of early-years literature and to highlight the importance of reading with children.

There are seven classes of preschoolers using the school library and this award enables me to find books for this age group that the teachers may not have met. Each year a teacher will read one of the shortlisted books, enjoy it and then come and ask for more books by that author or illustrator.  

This year's winner is Just the Two of Us by Polly Noakes. We have only two other books of hers, so this gives me some homework to do. I purchased the first  Gina Kaminski  book, Gina Kaminski Saves the Wolf because it appeared on so many shortlists, but it has not proved to be a favourite with teachers or children, so given the price of this new one I haven't purchased it and I'll wait til August and get the paperback. Hank Goes Honk  is funny and sure to be a hit.  It is illustrated by Duncan Beedie and his books are popular in the library, as are Fred Blunt's. 

Much has been written already about There's a Tiger on the Train, but despite ordering it quite a while ago it still hasn't arrived. It is available in bookshops in Australia now, but it wasn't when I ordered it. This picture book is by Mariesa Dulak who won the 2020 FAB prize, which is awarded by the publisher Faber to new writers and illustrators from BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic) backgrounds. It has illustrations by Rebecca Cobb who is well known by preschoolers and has another book of her own A Wild Walk to School  on the shortlist for Picture Books to Shout About together with Duncan needle's Heavy Metal Badger.

In contrast The Alligator Mouth Book Award celebrates  the best in highly illustrated children’s fiction for readers aged 6 - 8. There are 12 classes of children at school in this age group and these lists have enabled me to learn about series that might not yet be available in Australia. This is where I learned about Adventuremice  which won last year and the series Pizazz, Indigo Wilde, Kate on the Case, Flamingo Hotel, Sam Wu  and Dave Pigeon all of which have their fans.

Other UK shortlists I browse

• Inclusive Books for Children Awards These fiction book awards showcase the best of the diverse voices and stories published in the UK and Ireland. 

• UKLA Book Awards The only national awards entirely judged by teachers, demonstrate how important it is to them, that all children and young people can find themselves represented in the books that they read or study.

• The Children's Book Award The Children’s Book Award is the only UK award voted for solely by children from start to finish. Over 1,000 new books are submitted to be read and reviewed by local Testing Groups across the country.  

9th June Molly Idle

Today while shelving a large number of textless books that we have been using this term as part of a wide-reading contract (if completed the reward is lunch with the principal in the secret garden on the roof), I stopped to peak once again at Molly Idle's beautiful books about Flora and her interactions with a flamingo and a penguin. I wondered when her birthday was so that I could include her in my birthday celebration calendar. I came home to google her and 'lo and behold' Eric from Happy Birthday Author had written about her today because it is her birthday tomorrow. How freaky is that! I will just send you to his website and here you will get all you need, and you will see that Molly Idle has so much on      offer picture-book wise.