March Holidays Book Discussion

[Heidi M Simone]

This month we will be discussing books that are based on holidays celebrated in March. At first, I wasn't sure how many holidays there were in March, but it turns out there's quite a bit!

What kinds of holidays? Well, there's...

• Dr. Seuss’s Birthday - March 2 (today!)
• International Women's Day - March 8
• St. Patrick's Day - March 17
• Certified Nurses Day - March 19
• International Day of Happiness - March 20
• Won’t You Be My Neighbor Day (by Fred Rogers)- March 20
• World Down Syndrome Day - March 21
• Respect Your Cat Day - March 28

There are so many more! Some more serious and some sillier than others. So pick something of interest, no matter how long or short and let's discuss these holiday-based books this month!

Some guiding questions:

• What have you read or are currently reading for this month?
• What March holiday was it based of?
• Discuss what other genres were woven throughout the text.
• Who would you recommend this book to?

As always, let's enjoy the books we read and discussing them!

[Bigwig1973]

So, I kinda feel like I cheated because I read a book entitled Some Aspects of the Geography of Finland by Ragnar Numelin. It was printed, I think, by the Finnish government in 1935 and is only about 42 pages long. It is nonfiction with black and white pictures, and it has a really cool map! My reading this was inspired, in part, by St. Urho's Day which is celebrated on March 16th - when St. Urho hollered at the crickets, grasshoppers, frogs, or snakes, saving the vineyards of Finland. Interesting. Some say that the Finns were in a friendly competition with the Irish who had St. Patrick's Day. Regardless of the origins, there is a St. Urho statue located in Menahga, MN. One of the things I learned from the book was that in 1935, 85% of the total area of Finland was either forest(73%) or lakes(12%)! I also came across a couple words I've never heard before, like "tarn". I will probably also finish reading The Greatest Lies in History by Alexander Canduci in honor of "Smoke and Mirrors" day!