SOLC 2016 30/31: Birthdays Are a Big Deal!

Today I join my fellow bloggers in "serving up a slice" 

to the Slice of Life (SOL) community.

Thanks to Stacey, Tara, Betsy, Dana, Beth, and Anna

for hosting this meeting place each day in March

and for nurturing our writing lives.

It's one of those "in-search-of-a-slice" days.  I could write about my dad's lunchbox (something I've been intending to write all month), or my favorite read aloud titles (still working on that list and trying to remember the favorites), or a Currently post (a popular fall-back slice).  Yet, none of those ideas feel quite right for today.  And that's when my eye falls on my 2016 Authors and Illustrators Birthday Calendar, compliments of Perma-Bound.  Aha!  Another slice has found me. 

Last week while subbing in a sixth grade classroom, someone mentioned an upcoming birthday. Another student chimed in that his family didn't celebrate birthdays.  I tried to hide my initial reaction as I chatted briefly with the student, but inside I was horrified.  Not celebrate birthdays? That's criminal.  I love birthdays.  I always sing to family members and friends on birthdays.  If I don't see you in person, I'll call just to sing Happy Birthday.  I have a variety of birthday songs up my sleeve, and I take delight in being the first person to sing to someone on his or her birthday.  

So in honor of my own birthday obsession, today's slice shares some of my favorite titles written by authors and illustrators born in March:

March 2    Dr. Seuss - And To Think that I Saw it on Mulberry Street

March 3    Patricia MacLaclan - All the Places to Love (and of course, Sarah, Plain and Tall)

March 4    Helen Frost - Crossing Stones

March 4    Dav Pilkey - One Today, illustrator

March 5    Mem Fox - Koala Lou

March 6    Chris Raschka - The Hello, Goodbye Window, illustrator

March 9    Ellen Levine - Henry's Freedom Box

March 11  Wanda Gag - Millions of Cats

March 12  Carl Hiaasen - Hoot
March 12  Naomi Shihab Nye - A Maze Me:  Poems for Girls
March 15  Ruth White - Memories of Summer
March 17  Ralph Fletcher - A Writing Kind of Day
March 17  Lilian Moore - Sunflakes:  Poems for Children, selected by Lilian Moore
March 18  Douglas Florian - Handsprings (Summersaults, Autumnblings, & Winter Eyes)
March 20  Lois Lowry - Gossamer (and of course, Number the Stars)
March 20  Bill Martin Jr. - Barn Dance!
March 20  Louis Sachar - Sideways Stories from Wayside School
March 24  Kate DiCamillo - Because of Winn Dixie
March 24  Linda Sue Park - The Third Gift
March 25  Robert Frost - Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, illustrated by Susan Jeffers
March 26  Betty MacDonald - Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle
March 27  Dick King-Smith - The Stray
March 28  Byrd Baylor - I'm in Charge of Celebrations

So many wonderful authors and illustrators with birthdays in March!  Let me know which ones are your favorites when you leave your comment.