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Singapore has been celebrating Children’s Day on 1st October every year, something which will change come 2011, where Children’s Day will be celebrated on the 1st Friday of October instead.

Other countries around the world also celebrate Children’s Day! In Germany, Children’s Day is known as ”Kindertag” and is celebrated on 1st June.

Over in  India, Children’s Day is celebrated on 14th November to commerate the birth of India’s first prime minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru.

Interestingly, in Japan, Children’s Day, known as Kodomo No Hi  is celebrated on 5th May, where girls bring out their special dolls known as Hinamatsuridolls (dolls representing the Emperor and Empress in ancient costumes) and families with boys hang colourful carp kites known as Koinobori to symbolize the wish for the sons to grow up brave and strong.

Well, how did Children’s Day come about? Well, it started during the World Conference for the Well-being of Children in Geneva in 1925, where Switzerland proclaimed June 1 to be International Children’s Day. After the conference in Geneva, many countries around the world decided to dedicate a day to children to draw attention to children’s issues such as children’s rights and well being.

So for all the children out there, have a wonderful Children’s Day!

Sources:

1) Children’s Day Around The World:http:www.//kidsgen.com
2) Children’s Day Celebrations: http://www.childrensdaycelebration.org
3) International Children’s Day: http://www.amnestyusa.org

Posted By:

Ms Chen Wanying
Children’s Librarian
Children’s Services

Career Planning:

You might wish to read up more about the selected occupations before embarking on them.. 

Title: Career opportunities in banking, finance, and insurance 
Author: Thomas Fitch
Call no.: 332.02373 FIT -[BIZ]

Title: Idea industry : how to crack the advertising career code
Author: Brett Robbs, Deborah Morrison
Call no.: 659.1023 ROB -[BIZ].

Title: Your successful sales career
Author:Brian Azar
Call no.: 658.85 AZA -[BIZ]

Career Development:

Title: Strategic career management : developing your talent
Author: Jane Yarnell
Call no. 650.14 YAR –[BIZ]

Title: Career building : your total handbook for finding a job and making it work
Editors: the editors of CareerBuilder.com
Call no.: 650.14 CAR –[BIZ]

Title: Career distinction : stand out by building your brand
Author:William Arruda, Kirsten Dixson.
Call no.: 650.14ARR- [BIZ]

Title: Top jobs : how they are different and what you need to succeed
Author: Kevin Kelly
Call no.: 658.409 KEL –[BIZ]

Web resources:

http://app2.wda.gov.sg/web/Contents/Contents.aspx?id=191

http://www.mom.gov.sg/skills-training-and development/Pages/default.aspx

For new graduates from the polytechnics and universities, you can always seek career guidance from your institution:

http://www.nus.edu.sg/osa/career/

http://www.smu.edu.sg/students/career_services/index.asp

http://www.nyp.edu.sg/NYPStudents/career_index.html

*Websites last accessed on 29th September 2010

 Posted by Yen Yen Toh, Librarian, Adult and Young People’s Services

Found this question interesting? What do you think? Post your comments.
If you have a different question, please email to ask@nlb.gov.sg instead of sending a comment

Image is retrieved from: http://www.bahighlife.com/Adventure/Batty-for-safari.html

[I often see flying bats late at night near the trees by the road, at the eastern side of Singapore. Once, I was feeling adventurous and took a closer look at a hanging bat on a low branch, its small furry face and big beady eyes look rather cute! The urge to pet it came but, it looked so comfortable wrapped underneath it's wings...and I did not want to overstay my welcome! Where have you seen bats in Singapore? Do you find them cute or scary?]

Bats are the only mammals that can fly!
Unlike birds that lay eggs and have feathers, bats have fur, are warm-blooded and give birth to live babies. Not all bats look alike as there are nearly one thousand different types of bats. For example, the large flying fox bat has a wingspan as wide as a child’s bed and is a strong swimmer, using its wings to row itself.

According to ‘Pigs aren’t dirty, bears aren’t slow : and other truths about misunderstood animals’ by Joanna Boutilier: “Bats are incredible creatures who help the earth immensely. Bats devour billions of mosquitoes, flies, beetles, and worms each year. Some farmers now install bat houses in their orchards and fields so that more bats will come to eat the pests that damage crops. Bats also help pollinate many flowers and to spread the seeds of many fruits so that new fruit will grow.”

Reference:
Boutilier , Joanna . (2005). Pigs aren’t dirty, bears aren’t slow : and other truths about misunderstood animals. Toronto : Annick Press.

If you want to read more on the topic, here are books that you can check out at our libraries.

All Rights Reserved, N.Y. : Bearport Pub., c2010

The bat’s cave : a dark city by Joyce Markovics
Publisher: New York, N.Y. : Bearport Pub., c2010
Call No.: J 599.4 MAR
Click here to check for item availability

All Rights Reserved, PowerKids Press, 2010.

Bats in the dark by Doreen Gonzales
Publisher: New York : PowerKids Press, 2010.
Call No.: J 599.4 GON
Click here to check for item availability

All Rights Reserved, PowerKids Press, 2009.

Bats : nature’s night flyers by Frankie Stout
Publisher: New York : PowerKids Press, 2009.
Call No: J 599.4 STO
Click here to check for item availability

All websites are last accessed on 17 Sept 2010. Please refer to the terms and conditions on the homepages for use.
For the availability of the above book titles, please check the library catalogue.

Ms Judy Kong Siew Choo
Children’s Librarian
Children’s Services

[1] Title: Moonlight
Author: Rachel Hawthorne
Call No.: Y English HAW
Description: “While working as a wilderness guide in the national forest where her parents were killed twelve years earlier, seventeen-year-old Kayla is powerfully drawn to Lucas, who she learns is her appointed guardian–and much more–as she discovers her true identity and destiny.” Book 1 of the Dark Guardian series.

[2] Title: Blood and chocolate
Author: Annette Curtis Klause
Call No.: Y English KLA
Description: “Having fallen for a human boy, a beautiful teenage werewolf must battle both her packmates and the fear of the townspeople to decide where she belongs and with whom.”

[3] Title: The summoning
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Call No.: Y English ARM
Description: “My name is Chloe Saunders and my life will never be the same again. All I wanted was to make friends, meet boys, and keep on being ordinary. I don’t even know what that means anymore. It all started on the day that I saw my first ghost—and the ghost saw me. Now there are ghosts everywhere and they won’t leave me alone. To top it all off, I somehow got myself locked up in Lyle House, a “special home” for troubled teens. Yet the home isn’t what it seems. Don’t tell anyone, but I think there might be more to my housemates than meets the eye. The question is, whose side are they on? It’s up to me to figure out the dangerous secrets behind Lyle House . . . before its skeletons come back to haunt me.” Book 1 of the Darkest Powers series.

[4] Title: Wolfsbane and mistletoe
Author: Edited by Charlaine Harris and Toni L.P. Kelner
Call No.: English WOL -[HO]
Description: “New York Times bestselling authors Charlaine Harris, Patricia Briggs, Keri Arthur, and Carrie Vaughn—along with eleven other masters of the genre—offer all-new stories on werewolves and the holidays, a fresh variation on the concept that worked so well with birthdays and vampires in Many Bloody Returns.”

For the locations and availabilities of the above titles, please use our online catalog

Originally answered by Farah Abdullah, Associate Librarian, Adult and Young People’s Services

Found this question interesting? What do you think? Post your comments.
If you have a different question, please email to ask@nlb.gov.sg instead of sending a comment