Books, Lakes, and Henry David Thoreau - August 9

Saturday, August 9, 2025

Today is National Book Lovers Day, International Day of the World's Indigenous People, National Rice Pudding Day, National Hand-Holding Day, National Polka Day, Celebrate Your Lakes Day, Garage Sale Day, and Veep Day.

• Health and Wellness Month Resource of the Day: Exploring Careers in Health Science
• Sandwich Month Sandwich of the Day: Croque Monsieur

Today's Birthdays
Songs of the Day
Today's Theme: Books and Henry David Thoreau

ON THIS DATE

• 1854 - Henry David Thoreau's Walden is published
• 1944 - Smokey Bear makes his debut on posters.
• 1945 - 35,000 people are killed when the atomic bomb Fat Man is dropped on Nagasaki, Japan.
• 2014 - 18-year-old African American Michael Brown is shot and killed by police in Ferguson, Missouri, leading to protests across the U.S.

BIRTHDAYS

• 1767 - Philanthropist and socialite Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton
• 1776 - Italian chemist Amedeo Avogadro
• 1899 - Mary Poppins author P. L. Travers

SONGS OF THE DAY 

• Hamilton - The Schuyler Sisters - LISTEN
• Elvis Costello - Everyday I Write the Book - LISTEN
• The Beatles - Paperback Writer - LISTEN
• The Beatles - I Want to Hold Your Hand - LISTEN

THEME: BOOKS

• Grades PreK-1 - NHPBS LearningMedia - Between the Lions - Read a Book Today (1:02) - VIEW
• Grades PreK-3 - PBS Parents - Booklists - READ
• Grades PreK-6 - Database of Award-Winning Children's Literature - SEARCH
• Grades K-4 - Reading Rainbow - VIEW
• Grades K-5 - NHPBS LearningMedia - Accordion-Fold Books (4:04) - VIEW and DO
• Grades 3-12 - NHPBS LearningMedia - The Great American Read Collection - VIEW, READ, DO
• Grades 6-12 - NHPBS LearningMedia - MN Original - Minnesota Center for Book Arts (6:42) - VIEW and DO
• Grades 9-12 - Annenberg Learner - In Search of the Novel - VIEW, READ, DO
• Grades 9-12- NHPBS LearningMedia - It's Lit - Can You Judge a Book By its Cover (7:43) - VIEW
• Grades 9-adult - NHPBS Video - PBS Books Series  - VIEW

THEME: HENRY DAVID THOREAU

• Grades 3-12 - NHPBS LearningMedia - Henry David Thoreau: Author, Philosopher, and Abolitionist (Available in Spanish)  (3:23) - VIEW
• Grades 5-12 - NHPBS LearningMedia - Henry David Thoreau: Author, Philosopher, and Abolitionist Lesson Plan - DO
• Grades 7-12 - NHPBS Video - Windows to the Wild - Thoreau at Walden Pond (26:46) - VIEW
• Grade 7-12 - American Experience - Henry David Thoreau - READ
• Grades 7-12 - NHPBS LearningMedia - Nature: Walking with Emerson and Thoreau (26:46) - VIEW
• Grades 9-12 - NHPBS LearningMedia - Where the Road Ends: Using Henry David Thoreau's Journals to Study Climate Change (5:51) - VIEW, READ, DO
• Grades 9-12 - The Thoreau Society - READ
• Grades 9-12 - ReadWriteThink - Examining Transcendentalism through Popular Culture Unit - DO

THEME: LAKES

• Grades K-2 - Hero Elementary - The Lajke Mistake/The Plant Problem - VIEW
• Grades 4-12 - NHPBS Wildlife Journal Junior - Lakes - READ
  
• Grades 4-12 - US Geological Survey - Water Science School - Lakes and Reservoirs - READ
• Grades 5-12 - NHPBS LearningMedia - Tapping the Great Lakes (26:46) - VIEW
• Grades 5-12 - NHPBS Video - Great Lakes Wildlife (26:46) - VIEW
• Grades 5-12 - NH Department of Environmental Services - River and Lakes - READ

Pressroom Contact

Carla Gordon Russell
Director of Communications
crussell@nhpbs.org
(603) 868-4339