A Month of Birthdays

All students and library patrons expect to celebrate the birthdays of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Their minds will be filled with American History projects in the weeks leading up to Presidents Day. But there are a host of other birthdays to celebrate during the month of February. There are writers and poets, musicians and dancers, inventors, and sports and television personalities.
• Make a birthday calendar and display in the library or classroom. Include the following people:

• Feb. 1 Langston Hughes
• Feb. 2 James Joyce
• Feb. 3 Norman Rockwell
• Feb. 4 Betty Friedan
• Feb. 5 Hank Aaron
• Feb. 6 Tom Brokaw
• Feb. 7 Garth Brooks
• Feb. 9 John Williams
• Feb. 10 Mark Spitz
• Feb. 11 Paul Bocuse
• Feb. 12 Judy Blume
• Feb. 13 Chuck Yeager
• Feb. 14 Gregory Hines
• Feb. 15 Matt Groening
• Feb. 16 John McEnroe
• Feb. 17 Michael Jordan
• Feb. 18 Vanna White
• Feb. 19 Smoky Robinson
• Feb. 20 Gloria Vanderbilt
• Feb. 21 Charlotte Church
• Feb. 22 Drew Barrymore
• Feb. 23 Paul Tibbets
• Feb. 24 Steven Jobs
• Feb. 25 George Harrison
• Feb. 26 Levi Strauss
• Feb. 27 Marian Anderson
• Feb. 28 Linus Pauling
• Feb. 29 Herman Hollerith

• Ask readers to identify as many of these people as they can. Then allow them to work in groups to find out why each individual is noteworthy. Have each group divide the names into career categories. For example, sports, artist, music, dance, theater, television or movie, inventor, writer or poet, fashion, and military.
• Ask readers to select at least 5 personalities and design and write a full-page newspaper or magazine tribute to them on their birthday.
• Introduce fiction and nonfiction works that may connect to each personality in some way. Books from Random House include:

• The ABCs of Rock (all ages) by Melissa Duke Mooney & illus. by Print Mafia
• Famous Poems Old & New (all ages) by Helen Ferris & illus. by Leonard Weisgard
• The Boy Who Invented TV (ages 4-8) by Kathleen Krull & illus. by Greg Couch
• Out of This World: Poems & Facts about Space (ages 4-8) by Amy Skiansky & illus. by Stacey Schuett
• Song & Dance Man (ages 4-7) by Karen Ackerman & illus. by Stephen Gammell
• Miss Brooks Loves Books (and I Don’t) (ages 5-8) by Barbara Bottner & illus. by Michael Emberley
• Sky High (ages 6-8) by Marissa Moss & illus by Carl Angel
• As Good as Anybody (ages 6-10) by Richard Michelson & illus. by Raul Colon
• The Daring Nellie Bly (ages 6-11) by Bonnie Christensen
• Basketball’s Greatest Players (ages 7-10) by Sydelle Kramer
• Baseball’s Greatest Hitters (ages 7-10) by Sydelle Kramer
• The Dream Keeper & Other Poems (ages 8-up) by Langston Hughes & illus. by Brian Pinkney
• Bud, Not Buddy (ages 9-12) by Christopher Paul Curtis
• Bobby Baseball (ages 9-12) by Robert Kimmel Smith
• Darnell Rock Reporting (ages 9-12) by Walter Dean Myers
• How to Survive Middle School (ages 9-12) by Donna Gephart
• The Century for Young People (1901-1936: Becoming Modern America)
  (ages 10-up) by Peter Jennings & Todd Brewster
• The Century for Young People (1936-1961: Defining America) (ages 10-up) by Peter Jennings & Todd Brewster
• The Century for Young People (1961-1999: Changing America)
  (ages 10-up) by Peter Jennings & Todd Brewster
• Four Seasons (ages 10-up) by Jane Breskin Zalben
• Pictures of Hollis Woods (ages 9-12) by Patricia Reilly Giff
• Boys of Steel (ages 10-up) by Marc Tyler Nobleman & illus. by Ross McDonald
• Last Shot: A Final Four Mystery (ages 10-up) by John Feinstein
• Rush for Gold: Mystery at the Olympics (ages 10-up) by John Feinstein
• Vanishing Act: Mystery at the U.S. Open (ages 10-up) by John Feinstein
• The Day They Came to Arrest the Book (ages 12-up) by Nat Hentoff
• A La Carte (ages 12-up) by Tanita S. Davis
• Eyes of the Emperor (ages 12-up) by Graham Salisbury
• The Fortune of Carmen Navarro (ages 12-up) by Jen Bryant
• The Gadget (ages 12-up) by Paul Zindel
• The Gospel According to Larry (ages 12-up) by Janet Tashjian
• Kissing Shakespeare (ages 12-up) by Pamela Mingle
• The Outside Shot (ages 12-up) by Walter Dean Myers
• The Pillow Book of Lotus Lowenstein (ages 12-up) by Libby Schmais
• Pieces of Georgia (ages 12-up) by Jen Bryant
• Vintage Veronica (ages 12-up) by Erica S. Perl
• When You Wish (ages 12-up) by Kristin Harmel
• A Little Wanting Song (ages 14-up) by Cath Crowley

• Ask older readers to write a essay that makes the connection between a book they read and one of the birthday personalities.