Welcome to DiNovember! It might not actually be November when you read this, but that’s okay! Dinosaurs are cool at ANY time of year. This reading guide is aimed at children aged 6-9 but can be used by kids of any age (even your 99-year-old great-grandmother). On this page we have a range of books Read More…
Author: Joanne
Reflection on INF505 Library Services for Children and Young Adults
I have always wanted to work with children and naturally drifted towards children’s services when I started working in public libraries. When I decided to do the Master of Information Studies (MIS), it was natural for me to choose the Children’s Librarianship specialisation, for which INF505 Library Services for Children and Young Adults is a Read More…
Censorship reflection
To explore the topic of censorship, I intended to critically review a 2014 essay written by Alyson Miller called Unsuited to age group: the scandals of children’s literature. However, I found myself unable to write objectively on the subject, particularly in light of the recent events surrounding an attack on Brisbane Square Library’s Drag Queen Read More…
Book review: And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell
Title: And Tango Makes Three Author: Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell Illustrator: Henry Cole Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 2005 A true story about two penguins in Central Park Zoo in New York City, And Tango Makes Three has won multiple awards, including American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) Henry Bergh Award Read More…
CBCA Book Week play reflection
Source: https://www.cbca.org.au Recently, I had a meeting with two other staff members to review our annual Book Week play, based on the Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) Book of the Year Awards. We discussed what worked and what didn’t with the planning, the play itself, the bookings, time allocations, and expectations from management. We Read More…
CBCA Book Week play review
In 2019 my library’s annual Book Week play, based on the Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) shortlists for Book of the Year, was performed 23 times at 9 different venues across Newcastle, seen by 1800 children from 23 different schools and preschools. Recently, the three staff members involved sat down to (finally!) review the Read More…
Diversity reflection
Diversity is all about variety, and is often linked with inclusion. In fact, the Oxford Learner’s Dictionary of Academic English defines diversity as “a range of things or people that are very different from each other; the fact of including such a range” (Diversity, n.d.). When looking for diversity in children’s picture books, people are Read More…
Stephen Michael King – author review
Stephen Michael King is one of my favourite Australian author/illustrators, who tells gentle stories of diverse characters who are usually outcasts and misfits finding a place or people to identify with. Friendships and families feature heavily, with an awareness of differences between characters often emphasised, and those differences being accepted by others. His writing has Read More…
StarLAB Mars Rover
Recently, I attended a three hour workshop at Newcastle Library, learning how to operate a StarLAB Mars Rover (Rover). The workshop was run by Lewis Quill, the Director of Obelisk Systems, and considering I didn’t even know what a Rover was, I learned a lot! Newcastle Libraries has two Rovers, which use coding in Read More…