April 2 - International Children's Book Day!

Today is International Children's Book Day! Since 1967 it has been celebrated on or around Hans Christian Andersen's birthday - April 2nd!

I quizzed the library staff to see what their favourite (top 3) children's books were. Here are the results:

Shannan's favourites:

Green Eggs and Ham – Dr Seuss

The Monster at the End of This Book – John Stone (Sesame Street)

The Voice That Challenged a Nation: Marian Anderson and the Struggle for Equal Rights – Russell Freedman

 

Jeri's favourites:

Jeremiah Learns to Read – Jo Ellen Bogart

Bubba the Cowboy Prince – Helen Ketteman
Where the Wild Things Are – Maurice Sendak

Tammy's favourites:

Mr Brown Can Moo, Can You? – Dr Seuss

Little Bear – Maurice Sendak

Parvana’s Journey – Deborah Ellis

Heather's favourites:

Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons - Eric Litwin

Me Hungry – Jeremy Tankard

Beware of the Frog – William Bee

Deb's favourites:

Give Me Back My Dad –Robert Munsch

Horton Hears a Who –Dr Seuss

Miss Rumphius –Barbara Cooney

Cathy's favourites:

Moccasin Goalie - William Roy Brownridge

Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel - Virginia Lee Burton

The Berenstain Bears and Too Much TV - Stan and Jan Berenstain

My favourites: 

Love You Forever - Robert Munsch

The Tale of Peter Rabbit - Beatrix Potter

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone – J.K. Rowling

Some honourable mentions:

The Giving Tree - Shel Silverstein
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie - Laura Numeroff
Curious George - Hans Augusto Rey
The Complete Tales of Winnie the Pooh - A.A. Milne
The Story of Babar - A.A. Milne
The Velveteen Rabbit - Margery Williams
Matilda - Roald Dahl

Today is also National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day, Reconciliation Day, and World Autism Day!

Here are some interesting things that happened on this day in history:

- French explorer Jacques Cartier arrived on the coast of Labrador in 1534. He further explored the Gulf of St. Lawrence, discovering Magdalen Islands and PEI.
- Forty merchantmen were shipwrecked when a convoy led by HMS Apollo ran aground off of Portugal in 1804
- Joseph Dixon began manufacturing lead pencils in 1827
- The Liberal broke news of the Pacific Scandal in Parliament in 1873. A spate of damaging letters and telegrams appeared in Liberal newspapers in July.
- Wandering Spirit and other rebel Cree Indians of Chief Big Bear's band killed 9 white meat Frog Lake, Saskatchewan during the North-West Rebellion in 1885
- Edwin Boyd, the bank robber whose holdups and 2 spectacular escapes from the Don Jail brought him notoriety, was born in Toronto in 1914
- Jeannette Rankin became the first female member of the US House of Representatives in 1917
- Camillien Houde (known as "Mr. Montreal") was first elected mayor of Montreal in 1928
- Novelist Howard Engel, founding member of Crime Writers of Canada, was born in Toronto in 1931
- Seventeen-year old Virnett Beatrice “Jackie” Mitchell struck out Babe Ruth & Lou Gehrig in an exhibition game in Chattanooga, Tennessee in 1931. She was one of the first female ball players of that league, though her contract was revoked a few days after the event.
- Sir Watson-Watt patented RADAR in 1935
- The Angus L. MacDonald Bridge linking Halifax and Dartmouth opened in 1955
- Mayor Drapeau announced the creation of a lottery to raise money for Montreal's financial needs, and to help for the 1976 Summer Olympics in 1973
- The last section of the CN Tower - the world's highest free-standing structure at that time - was put into place in 1975
- Vancouver's Orpheum Theatre opened after a complete restoration in 1977, becoming the permanent home of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra
- Velcro went onto the market in 1978
- Social Credit leader Rita Johnston was sword in as BC's 29th Premier, subsequently becoming both Canada and BC's first female Premier in 1991

Stay tuned for our next, "On This Day in History"!

Let us know what your favourite children's book is!