Diary Dates: May 2022

27 April 2022

National Share-a-Story Month

Throughout May join in the national celebration of stories, organised by Federation of Children's Book Groups. This year's theme is 'Belonging', because everyone deserves to feel as though they belong and are loved for who they are! Events will celebrate unique and different books, characters who we can connect with and places we know or wish to visit around the world or in our dreams. Find inspiration from our book lists featuring titles that will inspire children to discover stories about all manner of people and places!

Mental Health Awareness Week

Running from 10 – 16th May, the theme for this annual event this year is ‘Loneliness’ and seeks to raise awareness of the impact of loneliness on our mental wellbeing and the practical steps we can take to address it. Books are a great way to help children think about how they are feeling and start conversations about wellbeing; use our wellbeing book list to start the conversation and read our Top Tips about supporting wellbeing through creativity here.

International Nurses Day

On the birthday of Florence Nightingale, 12th May, International Nurses Day is celebrated around the world every year. We have much to thank our wonderful nurses working in the NHS for, so take this opportunity to invite your class to show their gratitude with a note of thanks to people who help us, using our postcards inspired by Captain Sir Tom Moore.

Virtual Author Visits

You can tune into three LIVE Virtual Author Visits this month, and they're absolutely FREE! Kicking off the Summer events is Lucy Hawking, author of Princess Olivia Investigates: The Wrong Weather, a brand new middle-grade STEM series on 6th May. This is followed by Cerrie Burnell on 13th May, author of Wilder than Midnight, an adventure set deep inside an enchanted forest, inspired by classic fairy tales and centred around themes of sisterhood and the power of myths and storytelling. On 20th May, Lotte Jeffs and Sharon Davey, author and illustrator of My Magic Family will be sharing their picture book story about the magic of ALL families. Find out more and register for free here.

Whatever you are doing to celebrate stories in your school this month we’d love t hear about it! Please contact [email protected] with 'Inspiring Ideas' in the subject line.

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Win!

Watch our World Book Day 2024 Story Makers Show from 4th March 2024, and submit your class' short stories to win 1 of 5 stacks of Puffin Books!