November

Remembrance Day is November 11th.

“I am a Canadian, free to speak without fear, free to worship in my own way, free to stand for what I think right, free to oppose what I believe wrong, or free to choose those who shall govern my country. This heritage of freedom I pledge to uphold for myself and all mankind.” John Diefenbaker

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Read about…

wars before before the 20th century,

wars: 1900 – 1945,

wars after World War II,

soldiers.

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Read about…

people with courage.

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Learn about…

Anne Frank, a Dutch girl who hid in an attic during World War II.

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Read true stories about…

surviving during a war.

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Learn how to speak up for the truth…

against bullying.

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Write about…

a powerful story you have read,

a powerful nonfiction book you have read.

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Click here for informative books for parents and teachers.

Click here for great books I’ve recently read.

October is Library Month

October is Canadian Library Month!

There are almost 3 times as many public libraries in Canada as there are McDonald’s restaurants.
Canadians visit public libraries more than 150 million times a year.
In fact, more people in Canada visit libraries than play sports!

A study showed that children with high reading skills tended to visit public libraries at an earlier age and more frequently than children with poor reading skills.

The biggest library in the world is the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. It has over 1000 kilometers of shelving and over 140 million items including 33 million books, 5 million maps and 6000 comics!

The British Library in London has over 62 million items including 14 million books.

The National Library of China in Beijing has over 22 million books.

The Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg has over 20 million books.

And the National Library of Canada in Ottawa has over 18 million books.

People have been keeping written records of ideas and information for thousands of years.  Archeologists have discovered a collection of 30,000 clay tablets at an ancient site in modern Iraq. Historians know that the famous Alexandria Library in ancient Egypt had over 400,000 scrolls and that by 400 C.E., there were already 28 public libraries in the city of Rome! But it wasn’t until the 1800s that free public libraries became popular.

Visit your local library!