The Children's and Young Adults' Librarian at Gosford City Library shares a wonderful multicultural celebration of children's picture books in this week's post.
Library on March 5Bruce had illustrated two of the top ten Australian picture books Pete the Sheep by Jackie French and the Little Refugee by Ahn and Suzanne Do. His extensive experience and compassion shone through an informative and emotional presentation. Bruce shared the process of taking texts from authors and transforming their words into the final production to complete award winning books.
This is the first time this fabulous exhibition has been in
Australia. Children and young adults have had opportunities to share stories
from many cultures, complimenting the current curriculum and supporting Harmony
Day celebrations. A greater appreciation of the diversity of children's books
in regard to their style, format and content has been a major outcome for many
visitors.
Programs to showcase the exhibition included special story times
for Erina library's three regular sessions each week featuring books from the
United Kingdom, USA, Singapore and the Australian titles. Several special
events with the large home school community provided an opportunity to showcase
African, Canadian, Korean and German books from the exhibition. Council
preschool visits were a delight as the children kept requesting more stories.
Many high school students were able to experience a variety of the
visual literacy components of the titles during several interactive sessions.
The entire year 7 cohort from Gosford High School toured the exhibition then
explored titles themselves.
The exhibition of over 300 titles was viewed by many local and
visiting library patrons during the month, including authors, artists,
illustrators and patrons from the countries represented. Hosting the local
primary teacher librarians meeting gave these professionals a unique chance to
enjoy a new aspect of children's literature.
A special Japanese family afternoon saw parents and children alike
relish the books on display. Mothers then took turns sharing some traditional
stories on the kamishibai story telling screen. During the month a feature
display of state library banners, bookmarks and examples of the book boxes
available informed many patrons of this special language service.
A special event “A World of Stories” was held in Kibble Park in
Gosford with local community members and language students sharing books with
school and preschool groups in Russian, French and Colombian. The park was
decorated and the event bought the project and exhibition outdoors to the wider
community.
For library staff it was sad to say farewell to this wonderful
exhibition but our professional knowledge and passion for quality children's
literature has been enhanced incredibly.
View the latest edition of the catalogue The World Through Picture Books and more
pictures of the Erina Library event.
Claire Stuckey
Children’s &
Young Adults' Librarian
Gosford NSW
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