Welcome to the blog of the Tasmanian branch of the Children's Book Council of Australia!

Sunday 9 February 2014

Who Reads the CBCA (Tas Branch) Blog?


Each week a thoughtful CBCA member, usually a committee member or author, writes a blog.  Topics range from reviews of books and favourite children’s books to opinions about the merits of reading books and associated media like film or how to use particular books in classrooms.

While it is obvious the latter types of blogs will be of interest and hopefully of use to teachers, I wonder who, other than teacher-librarians, actually read these blogs.  I know there is a record of our ‘hits’ but I am only aware of a couple of comments posted as responses to this blog.

The membership list (not very big) shows a mixture of teachers, librarians and authors, all members for obvious reasons but is there a wider audience following this blog, albeit silently?

Any experienced writer will tell you that to write effectively one needs to clearly see and understand one’s audience.  Without this fundamental knowledge, choosing topics, style and vocabulary for starters is like spitting in the wind and that, as we all know, is a futile exercise, let alone a waste of time.

It would be very informative and encouraging if CBCA bloggers could garner some feedback; some comments; some direction as to what our followers are looking for in this blog.

I also wonder how many of the paid up CBCA (Tas) members read the blog.  Again feedback would be wonderful. 

If there is anyone out there other than my fellow blog writers actually reading our blogs, could you give us a wave and perhaps some indication of how we can support your interest or assist you to encourage children in particular to engage with the abundant and wonderful array of young people’s literature available to us.

C A Fuller

5 comments:

  1. Hi Carol,
    I always read the blogs with interest. Not big on reponding - sorry - but I enjoy reading reviews, info about who's reading what, trends in kid's literature - all of it, really.
    Thanks,
    Julie Hunt

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  2. Well from this union official who was once a teacher -librarian I'm happy to say that I always read the blog, even though I haven't commented until now. I do find it really interesting and quite varied depending on who writes the blog -but that does make it worth reading as it's a little unpredictable.

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  3. Thank you, Carol. I have been keenly interested in the CBCA (Tas) blogs. In my role as a grandmother, teacher and school librarian I have used the information in the blogs in various ways and have also tried to pass this on to others whenever possible. However, I retired from my paid employment position at the end of 2013. this does not mean that my interest in children's literature will not continue and hopefully I will still be able to contribute to bring the love of books and reading to children well into the future. Reading your blogs regularly certainly gives me "food for thought" and helps me to keep abreast with what is going on in the world of children's literature. I have found this reading to be most valuable. I must remember to pay my subs!!

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  4. I read this blog regularly and enjoy it - as a CBCA Tas member and an illustrator, I like to get the viewpoints of teachers, librarians and readers as well as those of creators - but I rarely post comments on it. Why?
    1. Actually I wrote you a nice long thoughtful comment last week and lost the whole thing when I tried to sign in! Posting comments sometimes just meets with technical difficulties.
    2. Posting comments on blogs is a two way process. You comment on mine, I'll comment on yours - that's how it works. Plenty of people will read and not comment because they aren't bloggers or don't understand how blogging works, or because you don't respond by visiting and commenting on their page.
    I like that there is a diversity of types of post on this blog and I often tune in just to read something I wouldn't otherwise see.

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