Fantastic Friday

This is nearly the last day of my 3 weeks holiday, and only the 3rd on which I have actually worked! (instead of being on holiday). I will take substitute days of as soon as possible - somewhere near the end of time. So, what motivates a librarian to go to work when she could be resting at home with the sad dog? Well, this time it was our book: the one we pieced together with our Indigenous Playgroups over the past year and finally got around to launching and sharing with the families. With the very snappy title "Let's go to playgroup" our book recollects all the learning and fun that the group have enjoyed together and the close relationship being developed with the families and the library. I guess the next one will have to be about going to the library! And now, for an early night. More later.

L is for ...

Well, I just saw this lovely animation, so look! Just when I was beginning to think that libraries were starting to labour the point about literacy, along comes this beautifully illustrated (and spoken) message that says so much. Libraries are lively places these days, and not everybody loves this. Our Noosa Library today had the pleasure of welcoming 70 new young readers from a local school. A good third of the 7-8 year olds had not previously visited the library at all, although they were able to walk over from school. When we introduce children to the library for the first time, I like to turn off the computers, and give them plenty of time to explore the books independently. Rather than tell them how important reading is to them, just give them space to look around and explore their passions. I was rewarded by the positive comments of the teachers, and three hearty cheers from the masses as they headed back to school. I felt like The Queen! Two myths were busted: Year 2s are too old for Storytime (busted!); Non-fiction books don't interest kids anymore (BUSTED!) More later.

Voices at your Library

Wednesday, the day after Voices on the Coast Youth Literature festival is over, enables us to tour a couple of willing authors around our local Sunshine Coast Libraries, to meet and greet those kids (and some adults) who may have missed the fun. This year we had the pleasure of Sally Rippin and Christopher Cheng, visiting a range of libraries. I had the honour of 'driving Miss Sally" from Coolum to Cooroy to Noosa, meeting a variety of listeners on the way. Sally impressed her fans with her range of talents - from illustrating to writing novels and early readers. The most interesting part of her talk, for me, was how she made beautiful picture books as gifts for children in her life. What a great idea. Even if you did no other form of writing, or ever became a "famous author", using your talents to give pleasure to a special person is a great thing to do. Thanks Sally!

Voices on the Coast - day 2

This Youth Literature Festival is one of the best I have attended. And it's run by a modern day Darby and Joan! Well, that's not completely accurate, but the atmosphere is local and friendly with a broad view on literary styles and cultural sensitivities. As a volunteer usher, I had the joy of meeting authors as varied as Alison Lester (Australian Children's Laureate 2012), DC Green (surf writer and mad creature), Frane Lessac (NY born self taught artist of many picture books) and Glenda Millard (who has won so many Australian awards). Glenda reminds me of my cousin, and had so many different stories to tell about the origins of her picture books: each unique, and making me think there should be a new category of picture book to encourage people to buy them for other than small children! Things are evolving. More later.

Voices on the Coast

The annual Youth Literature Festival on the Sunshine Coast has come around again. So I must interrupt the winery library research to concentrate on books and kids. This year there will again be a great line up of authors, illustrators and other creators of great wordy and piccy things that kids (and many adults) will love. Example: James Roy, a truly talented, multi-award-winning (I know authors cringe to hear that phrase!) author of books for young people. See his website. He'll be doing talks and workshops. See Voices on the Coast Website for the full programme. Or follow them on the TwitFace @voicesoncoast. More later.

Consumed with Passion?

Where is this place? Ram's Gate Winery Library! Just reading their advertisement makes me nostalgic for something. "In this digital age, there is something deliciously naughty about escaping to our Library." They seem to have wine, books about wine, and somewhere nice to sit and sample wine. Hmmm. More exploration is necessary.

Wine and libraries

This second day of June we travelled several hundred kilometres through mostly rain to get to Brisbane. Proper blogging can be resumed once we get back home. Preliminary research on the winery library topic has resulted in this - about the Napa Valley Wine Library. I'm sure we could use something like that here in Australia. More later.

June Blogs or is it Blog June.

OK. I missed blogging the holidays but I'm willing to have a crack at this June Blog thing. Although still hammering the highways of Eastern Australia there is still scope for developing mew skills, such as touch typing on an iPhone and reading elfen writing while simultaneously photographing landscape highlights. Geographical fact: there are a lot of libraries in excellent winery areas (and vice versa)! More to follow.

Heading South

I'm starting this blog again today ... record our amazing adventures into the frozen south of the country. I will be attending the Children's Book Council conference in Adelaide, AUS, then driving home over two weeks. You can read all about it!