In April I celebrate my birthday, so this month’s theme is celebrating. From birthdays to differences, there are a lot of things for children to celebrate. At my library, we celebrate a lot of fun things, from National Brownie Day to National Superhero Day. My best friend’s birthday is Yell “Fudge” at the Cobras in North America Day – there really is a holiday for everything, and if you can’t find one you can create your own.
Children’s Books about Celebrating: A Birthday Surprise!
The Little Bitty Bakery by Leslie Muir
This is such a sweet book (pun intended!) about an elephant who has a bakery, and after a long day realizes that although it’s her birthday, she’s forgotten to make herself a cake. She sadly goes to bed, probably thinking about how early she needs to be up the next morning. Then five mice enter the bakery and take bits and pieces of lots of things and make a “crumble jumble cake” for the elephant. When the oven squeaks as they put the pan in, the chef wakes up and the delicious smell brings her cautiously to the kitchen (“This dream smells sweet as creme brulee, but who is baking it?”). She discovers the mice with her surprise cake, eats it with them, and then adds the crumble jumble cake to her menu, with the mice baking every night.
There is quite a bit of baking jargon in this book that you can use to teach kids about things like eclairs and brioche and macaroons. But the best part is the recipe in the back for crumble jumble cake. If you don’t want to bake from scratch, use a boxed cake mix and frosting, and then let your child choose fun things to add to the cake mix, between layers, or on top. I did this with my daughter when she was about three years old. I think we crumbled chocolate chip cookies and put them on top of the frosting in the middle of the cake, and then we added sprinkles and cherries and crushed M&M candies on top. Yum, yum!
Children’s Books about Celebrating: Celebrating Friends
Hooray for Today! by Brian Won
This is a story about an owl whose friends are not nocturnal. As you can imagine, they are none too pleased when he comes knocking on their doors in the middle of the night asking them to come out and play with him. He goes to them in turn, and each one greets him with a grumpy, “GO AWAY, I’M SLEEPY!” By the end, day has come and his friends want to play, but the owl is the one who is tired.
Kids like the repetition of the animals’ responses. and I like to pause before reading the line so they will join in with me. You could use this to talk about diversity, as the owl’s friend group includes a turtle, an elephant, a giraffe, a zebra, and a lion, but there are so many other books with a better treatment of the subject. So I have no lesson for this book, just a fun reading experience. Also check out Hooray for Hat! and Hooray for Books! by the same author.
Children’s Books about Celebrating: Celebrating Differences
It’s Okay to Be Different by Todd Parr
Being different is what makes us special, and this book gives kids a lot of examples of this. It’s okay to ask for help, or to wear glasses. It’s even okay to eat macaroni and cheese in the bathtub! (That’s my favorite page in the book.) Todd Parr’s unique illustrations show people in a rainbow of colors – literally! A person in one of his books might have pink hair and yellow skin, or green hair and purple skin. Because he doesn’t use traditional skin and hair colors, every child can potentially see himself on every page, which is wonderful.
I would suggest that you read this first, and then talk with your child about other silly or serious things that make them different from other people. Then have your child choose one thing to illustrate. They can draw and color their own picture, using any colors they like. Because this is about expressing themselves, there is literally no wrong way to do this. Hang the picture on the wall so they have a constant reminder that it’s okay to be exactly who they are.
Children’s Books about Celebrating: Invent Your Own Holiday
Mrs. Muddle’s Holidays by Laura F. Nielsen
This is a new one for me. When Mrs. Muddle moves to a new home, the kids in her neighborhood celebrate holidays with her like Let’s Pretend It’s Summer Day in February, and May’s Earthworm Appreciation Day. The kids look forward to celebrating the same holidays again, but they also decide to create their own holiday. All of the kids and their families work together to have a big celebration for Mrs. Muddle Day.
You can use this as a starting point for a discussion about holidays, religious and not. There’s a page at the back of this book that introduces the origin of the word holiday, and talks a little bit about different types of holidays. Then you can help your child invent their own holiday. Maybe it’ll become a fun new family tradition! In college I created Pink and Black Day, which is March 25. It’s just an excuse to wear pink and black, which I do a lot anyway, but it’s more fun when it’s a personal holiday. [Note from Kristen: I celebrate Pink and Black Day almost every year since Michelle created it, and I plan to share this holiday with my kids as they get older!]
Bonus: Reference Resource
This is one of my favorite books to look at. It’s a calendar of over 12,000 holidays, observances, and birthdays. There are anniversaries of historical events, and national days for various countries around the world. There are special days, weeks, and months, all listed chronologically, so you can always find something to celebrate. It’s a very big book and I don’t have my own copy, but I do have it in my Children’s Reference section at the library and I use it to help come up with fun ideas for programs and displays.
Check out Miss Michelle’s Book Nook
Miss Michelle shares her book recommendations each month on the In Our Homeschool blog. Find links to all of her posts here.
Miss Michelle is the sister of Kristen, who writes this blog. She has a daughter who is 9 and a son who is 4. They are not home-schooled, but Miss Michelle is super supportive and proud of her sister for doing it. She has been a full-time Children’s Librarian for over 15 years and loves to recommend her favorite books. You can follow her on Goodreads, where she keeps track of books she has read for storytime, at https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/170007385-miss-michelle.
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