August 18 – Serendipity Day

About the Holiday

The word “serendipitous” was first coined in 1754 by Horace Walpole in a letter to a friend as he described a Persian fairy tale known in English as The Three Princes of Serendip. In the story three young men, having been banished from the kingdom of Serendip (commonly known as Sri Lanka) to prove their worth, travel the world continuously enjoying surprising good luck—or serendipity—along the way. In 2001 author Madeleine Kay founded Serendipity Day to encourage people “to live your life . . . with the belief that at any moment, something wonderful is about to happen.” Let today’s holiday inspire you to pay closer attention to those moments of serendipitous magic that occur each day. They’re all around us as long as we recognize and embrace them!

The Strangest Fish

Written by Katherine Arden | Illustrated by Zahra Marwan

Daisy lives in a colorful house on the edge of a lake with water like “blue glass.” She loves the month of October for its golden trees, pumpkins, cider, and, especially, the county fair. After riding the teacups and munching popcorn, Daisy “fished for prizes from the go-fish booth.” She came away with her own, real, strange fish. Despite the fish’s extra fins, leaf-like scales, and big head, Daisy loved him and vowed to take care of him. At home she placed him in the nicest bowl and named him October.

In the morning, October had outgrown his bowl, so Daisy gave him a bigger one. The same thing happened the next morning, and the next, even though Daisy had transferred him to the bathtub. October looked like a pile of leaves. Daisy’s brother proclaimed him “so weird.” Daisy, though, thought “October was the best fish,” and when “she petted his scales, she was sure his blue eye winked at her.”

The next morning Daisy knew she had to move October again. But where? He “blinked his lake-blue eyes,” and she knew. She rolled October to the lake in her wagon then worried and worried about him all night. In the morning she ran to the lake but saw only a small ripple. Then a snout and a head broke the surface of the water, and Daisy was gazing into the lake-blue eyes of a water dragon. She cried “‘I knew you weren’t a fish!’” and happily climbed on his back for a magical trip around the lake.

Katherine Arden’s The Strangest Fish radiates charm and the type of serendipity children make happen every day with their open hearts. Daisy is a dear, and in one masterful scene that is both touching and candid, Arden reveals the depths of Daisy’s kindness: While carrying her unusual new pet from the car to the house, Daisy feels a pang of jealousy for the cute and more conventional stuffed koala bear her sister has won, but, not wanting to hurt the fish’s feelings, she keeps it to herself. “Friends didn’t hurt friends’ feelings,” she knows. Instead, Daisy tells her fish that she will give him “the nicest bowl.” Arden extends such perception to each family member, as well, through lyrical descriptions and dialog peppered with honest sibling and parental banter and Daisy’s loving reassurances to October that make her story a read aloud with poignancy for all ages.

Fanciful and shimmering with breathtaking color, Zahra Marwan’s watercolor and pen-and-ink illustrations invite readers to enjoy a nostalgic autumn fair before welcoming them into Daisy’s close-knit family life. The siblings’ love for each other shows up in heart-patterned clothing and the way Daisy and her sister and brother huddle under one blanket as they worry about October together. Marwan’s singular fish is part punk aesthetic, part balloon, and completely adorable, stealing readers’ hearts from their first glimpse of him. The details Marwan sprinkles throughout her pages are both evocative and quirky, and she even adds a bit of foreshadowing (but I won’t tell you where). October’s final incarnation will delight kids and adults alike.

Enchanting, unforgettable, and with an ending that fulfills all of a child’s heartfelt wishes, The Strangest Fish is a story that kids will want to hear again and again and is a must addition to home, classroom, and all library collections.

Ages 4 – 8

Astra Young Readers, 2024 | ISBN 978-1662620782

About the Author

Katherine Arden is the NYT-bestselling author of the Winternight Trilogy and the middle-grade series Small Spaces. She won the 2020 Vermont Golden Dome Book Award and was a finalist for the 2020 Hugo Award for Best Series. She graduated from Middlebury College in 2011, where she obtained her degree in Russian and French.

About the Illustrator

Zahra Marwan is a children’s book author-illustrator and the 2022 recipient of the Dilys Evans Founder’s Award. Her first picture book, Where Butterflies Fill the Sky, was named one of NPR’s Best Books of 2022 and a NYT Best Illustrated Children’s Book. Originally from Kuwait, Zahra now lives in New Mexico.

Serendipity Day Activity

Go Fishing Game

Kids can engage in their own serendipitous adventure with this Go Fishing Game! With a paper plate pond, some printable fish, and a few other supplies, kids will be catching a whole lot of fun in no time!

Supplies

Printable Colorful Fish Template
Printable Black and White Fish Template
Printable Go Fishing! Playing Die (optional)
A large straw, wooden dowel, or pencil for a fishing pole
String
Two 1-inch round magnets for fishing pole
Paper clips
Scissors
Crayons (optional)
Glue (optional)

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-go-fishing-game-1

Directions

Color the paper plate blue
Print the Go Fishing! Game Playing Die (optional)

To Make the Fish

Print the fish templates or have kids draw and color their own fish and cut out
Tape a paper clip to the back of the fish or slip a paperclip on the nose of the fish
If using back-to-back templates, cut fish out, put a paper clip between the sides and glue or tape the two sides together

To Make the Fishing Pole

Tie a length of string to the straw, pencil, or dowel
Sandwich the other end of the string between the two circular magnets
Lay the fish on the plate
Go fishing!

Optional Game: Kids can roll the die to determine which fish to catch.

You can purchase The Strangest Fish from these booksellers

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Bookshop (discounted books and support for your local independent bookstore)

Picture Book Review

May 13 – Get Ready for International Museum Day on May 18

Posted by Kath Carroll

About the Holiday

International Museum day was created in 1977 by the International Council of Museums to raise awareness that “museums are an important means of cultural exchange, enrichment of cultures and development of mutual understanding, cooperation and peace among peoples.” The theme for this year is “The Future of Museums in Rapidly Changing Communities.” Museums are not just repositories of the past. They are vital and active members of the communities they serve and as such can be leaders in tackling some of society’s biggest issues. This year’s theme focuses on “how museums can navigate and contribute to a world undergoing profound social, technological, and environmental shifts” and addresses three main points:

Support for local economies by creating employment opportunities and offering educational programs
Driving innovation and enhancing accessibility by fostering creativity and embracing technological advancements
Contributing to sustainable urban development by acting as cultural hubs that promote inclusion, resilience, and heritage preservation

To celebrate International Museum Day, visit a museum near you—and don’t forget to print and take along the activity sheet found below!

Thank you to Bloomsbury Children’s Books for sending me a copy of Sakina and the Uninvited Guests!

Sakina and the Uninvited Guests

By Zahra Marwan

When a sandstorm turns “the city orange—the sun like a tangerine, the waves like clementine peels,” Sakina’s mother drives past the beach, where Sakina had hoped to spend the day, and goes to the museum. Inside, Sakina gazes with boredom at the statues of a crocodile holding papers and a blue jaguar guarding the first laws ever written. She nearly trips over one of the many, many winged lions. She can’t believe there had once been so many flying lions in her city. But as they move from exhibit to exhibit, Sakina sees that her mama’s eyes, keep “filling with tears” as they come upon likenesses of her mom and her uncle, a ring she used to have, and other familiarities.

Sakina can’t understand her mother’s affection for “. . . all of these old, boring, boring things.” But then Sakina stumbles and another winged lion seems to be watching her. In fact . . . “Did he just . . . wink at her? Sakina was absolutely sure.” Suddenly, it’s time to leave, and while Sakina’s backpack feels heavier, she feels lighter, hopeful she will soon be playing by the sea.

At home, it’s nap time, and while everyone else sleeps, Sakina cannot. Suddenly, she hears strange noises and follows them to find the crocodile, jaguar, and winking winged lion crawling from her backpack. Sakina is nonplussed and worried the noise will wake the household. Sakina tries to catch them, but they run through the house, toppling furniture and knick-knacks, knocking pictures off the walls.

As she picks up a photograph of her grandmother, though, she notices how her eyes “were full of life and water, like the sea. Like the people in the museum.” Sakina then helps the crocodile pick up his scattered papers and realizes they are poems. She reads a line: “‘I hope they will remember me.'” Suddenly, Sakina understands. She feels the “thousands and thousands of years, in that little crocodile. Thousands and thousands of years, in little Sakina.”

With the lifting of the sandstorm and her promise to remember them, Sakina’s guests depart just as her mother appears with a gift from the museum shop—a set of small familiar porcelain figurines. At last Sakina gets her wish, but as she and Mama walk to the sea, she can’t wait to return to the museum and tell its inhabitants “‘I remember you.'”

Back matter includes an Author’s Note in which Zahra Marwin explains the significance of the crocodile sculpture in her story and how people have had and will always have the same feelings—from the times of ancient history into the future. She also touches on the other sculptures she has depicted here and asks readers to consider what kind of art people were making thousands of years ago in the area where they live now as well as the kind of art their ancestors would have been familiar with. In another note, Marwan discusses several particular parts of the book, including the origins of distinct words and phrases, the value placed on education in the Middle East, and her inclusion of two recreated modern paintings.

Whimsical and profound, Zahra Marwan’s story of a trip to a museum reaches deep into the heart and invites readers to join the collective memory of their own family as well as that of the world at large. Marwan reminds us that, just as the sea that Sakina longs to visit, museums and even history itself is always alive with the past, the present, and what’s to come.

Children will be charmed by Sakina who, despite her disappointment about not visiting the sea and some boredom, wanders the museum with an open mind and curiosity. Her alertness to her mother’s emotions shows empathy and a close bond. Sakina is also attuned to her mother’s eyes and the eyes of the paintings and sculptures. Children will notice that Marwan has also drawn Sakina with her “mother’s eyes” when the winged lion, crocodile, and jaguar hitch a ride in her backpack and again when they emerge from it at her house, spurring her to a deeper understanding of what she has seen.

Marwan’s lyrical language, carried on gentle waves of consonance and assonance, beautifully adds texture and imagery to the pages, each of which are washed in gorgeous colors and exquisite recreations of paintings and sculptures that will intrigue readers and spark an interest in visiting museums in their own area.

Infused with depth and enchantment, Sakina and the Uninvited Guests is sure to become a favorite read aloud and a captivating spark for discussions about family heritage at home as well as for classroom genealogical projects. The book is highly recommended for home bookshelves and is a must for all school and library collections.

Ages 4 – 8

Bloomsbury Children’s Books, 2025 | ISBN 978-1547613427

Zahra Marwan grew up in two deserts: one close to the sea in Kuwait, the other close to the mountains in New Mexico. She is a fine artist who exhibits extensively and has won international awards and fellowships, including a New York Times/New York Public Library Best Illustrated Children’s Book, NPR Best Books of 2022, an Ezra Jack Keats Honor for Illustration, a Dilys Evans Founders Award from the Society of Illustrators, and more. She studied the visual arts in France and currently lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she keeps a small studio at the Harwood Art Center. Visit her at zahramarwan.com.

International Museum Day Activity

Museum Visit Activity Sheets

Interact with your museum visit on International Museum Day or any time you go with this activity sheet that gets you thinking, feeling, and remembering your favorite parts of your trip!

International Museum Day Activity Sheet