Will you find a family of beavers to observe on International Beaver Day? How many newspapers will you read on International Snailpapers Day? Will you take a day off from doing housework on No Housework Day? How will you encourage a young person’s love of reading on International Children’s Book Day? How many peanut butter & jelly sandwiches will you eat on National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day? Will you visit Benton, Kentucky, on Tater Day?
beaver family, wikimedia commons
International Beaver Day – The purpose of this holiday is to educate the public about beavers, and let everyone know the important role that beavers have in our ecosystem. Beavers have the wonderful ability to build dams and store water, so they are able to successfully manipulate their environment.
What do beavers accomplish by building dams? These largest living rodents in North America love the sound and the feel of flowing water. This stimulates them to build the dams, which protect them from predators.
One thing I’ve always heard about beavers is that they use their tail to pat the mud in place on the dam. This is false—the tail stores fat and helps to regulate body heat. They also use their tail to slap the water and warn others that danger is near.
Writing Prompt: I suggest you research beavers. The life of this rodent is really interesting. Then from what you learn, write a fiction story about a family of beavers.
Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen
International Children’s Book Day – This purpose of this holiday is to encourage children to treasure books. How can we encourage our young people to love reading? Pick an interesting book, one that you know the young people around you will love, and read it together. Show them how reading can open up completely new worlds full of adventure for them.
Hans Christian Andersen, the author of many great stories for young people, was born on April 2, 1805. This day was chosen to celebrate nurturing a love for reading in honor of his birthday.
Writing Prompt: Rachel lives in a world where reading has been outlawed, so she has no clue what joys reading a good book can bring. Only those who rule are allowed to read. Anyone caught with a book will be executed on sight. Rebecca finds a book one day. When she picks it up, she is transported magically to a world where everyone reads freely and she discovers the joys it can bring. Then she wakes up back in her home world. What does she do?
a stack of newspapers, flickr
International Snailpapers Day – You’ve heard of snail mail (or smail) mail that is delivered by the postal service. Email’s delivery is much quicker.
Newspapers are now going paperless. Many can already be found online to read and enjoy whenever the urge hits to catch up on what is going on in this world. And you aren’t left with any outdated papers lying around your house to get rid of.
International Snailpapers Day is the day to enjoy the smell of a freshly printed newspaper. Enjoy the rustling sound it makes as you turn its pages. The ink it leaves on your fingers may one day be a thing of the past.
Writing Prompt: Write a story about a world where there are no newspapers. Current events are learned about by reading books. This world does have books, but none of them are fiction. Why not? Did something happen to make them illegal?
peanut butter and jelly sandwich
National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day – This holiday is probably a favorite of kids everywhere. Who doesn’t love a good peanut butter and jelly sandwich? During World War II, American soldiers are rumored to have mixed their rations of peanut butter and jelly for a treat. Once they returned home from the war, the sales of both peanut butter and jelly soared.
Writing Prompt: On November 6, 1993, the world’s largest peanut butter and jelly sandwich was created in Peanut, Pennsylvania. This 40-foot long sandwich was spread with 150 pounds of peanut butter and 50 pounds of jelly. Create a character who had a part in making this humongous sandwich and write a story about how it was made. And who ate this gigantic treat?
dishes to be washed, simple wikipedia
No Housework Day – It isn’t known who came up with this holiday, but it sure is one awesome holiday for those of us who feel like slaves to housework. If you have ever wished for a reason to put off doing the housework for just one more day, here is the perfect excuse. Today, April 7, let someone else clean up or just save it all for tomorrow. There is one for sure thing about housework – it doesn’t go away by itself.
Writing Prompt: Since the origins of this day aren’t known, come up with a way it could have originated and write a story about it.
purple sweet potato slips, flickr
Tater Day – Tater Day is a celebration of spring, not a celebration of potatoes. This day was started in Benton, Kentucky, in 1843 on the day when people of the town would gather together and trade in sweet potato slips, which were used to grow sweet potatoes. A carnival is now brought to town on this holiday and includes a parade, contests, a marching band, pageants, etc.
Writing Prompt: Create a character who is traveling through Benton, Kentucky, on Tater Day. This traveler is on the run. Is this vagabond being chased by the law or by criminals? Why are they chasing after him? When he arrives in Benton, Kentucky, he sees a chance to hide so well that he can’t be found. What happens?
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