Library Lovers’ Week 2016
What a delight it is to walk into our beautiful Library and see it decorated for this special week in our Library calendar. Special thanks to Mrs O’Keefe and Miss Corbett who never cease to amaze us with their creativity and flair for design.
Every lunch time we have girls partaking in a myriad of activities. Some girls are reading, others working on assignments with others chatting, playing cards or games and even an occasional hair styling moment. By taking a few random photos I was able to capture many of these activities on a typical day.
After months of planning, creating and preparing our Book Week celebrations they got underway on Monday, 24th August. On that day we held our first ever book stacking competition (congratulations Charlotte!), welcomed author Cath Crowley, the Emoji book title competition was creating much interest and voting was underway for what book lit up students’ worlds. Tuesday was our annual morning tea for staff which went down a treat and at lunchtime we held a highly successful scavenger hunt. Wednesday was our first ever ‘Read In’, where entry to the Library at lunch time was only for quiet reading. It was blissful and a definite hit with staff and students who took part. Thursday saw the opening of our Pop Up Book Shop which continued all day Friday staffed by wonderful student helpers. On Thursday, we welcomed dynamic YA author Ellie Marney back to Loreto where she spoke to Year 10’s and ran a highly engaging writer’s workshop for a lucky group of students.
The week was brilliant and a wonderful celebration of books and reading. It would not have happened without the amazing Library team who went to extraordinary lengths to make the display a stand out and to ensure the girls had a wonderful week.
Last year as part of our school’s Book Week celebrations we held a fundraising activity in support of the Indigenous Literacy Foundation. This year we are going to once again open our “Pop Up Book Shop” on August 27th and 28th in a Library meeting room.
We have been gathering books for our sale but need many more good quality fiction books, picture books and DVD’s to sell. If you can assist us please contact Library staff and help us to raise funds to support higher literacy levels within our indigenous communities.
TED Talks are brilliant. I try to watch several a week and I always feel inspired or empowered by viewing them. The range of topics and presenters is breathtaking. Everything from Street art with a positive message, Human trafficking, Sailing solo around the world or How driverless cars see the road.
Catch the author of The Fault in Our Stars, John Green, as he delivers The Nerd’s Guide to Learning Everything Online.
I was most fortunate to attend the recent Reading Matters Conference in Melbourne which was held at the beautiful Arts Centre on St Kilda Road in Melbourne. Over two wonderful days attendees were held spellbound by the many extraordinary stories told by Sally Gardner, Sara Farizan (in the right of the picture), Laurie Halse Anderson, Clare Atkins, Tom Taylor, Abe Nouk, Sean Williams, Jaclyn Moriarty and many more.
Opportunities were given to participants to talk with authors and to have books signed. Over the 2 days the Arts Centre buzzed with fabulous conversations between those attending and those speaking, book signings, and social opportunities.
The organisers of the event, the Centre For Youth Literature, State Library of Victoria once again proved how much demand there is for a conference focusing on YA literature. Congratulations to all the team and especially to Anna Burkey, for her charming and professional command of the MC duties.
There is always such excitement surrounding the CBCA short list announcement and this year is no exception. We have familiar names featured such as Margaret Wild, David Metzenthen, Glenda Millard and Steven Herrick but new names have emerged such as Darren Groth, Trace Balla and Tamsin Janu. One of the most pleasing aspects of the announcement is the discussion that ensues and that was the case today with colleagues when we read the list. Now to read the short listed titles that I haven’t as yet.
Congratulations to all the short listed authors and illustrators and to all who made it onto the Notable list.
I am always fascinated by lists such as this one compiled by Sainsbury’s, a huge UK supermarket chain. Included on the list of 50 must read books are many of the classics such as Black Beauty, The Railway Children and Alice in Wonderland. Also featuring are a number of Roald Dahl novels and two of the Narnia series. A cursory glance shows the majority of authors are English with a smattering of American and one Canadian-LM Montgomery with Anne of Green Gables.
Seriously, the gurus at Sainsbury’s have not included one Australian children’s author in the mix and I am wondering how can this be? Was it a commercial decision … the list looks a lot like a supermarkets stock list! If I were to compile a list of the books I think all children should have read or heard before they turned 16 it would look very different to the Sainsbury list. Watch this space!
