21st Century
Learning Space
Library News
I recently revisited the YABBA website to see which books were voted by Australian students as their favourites. YABBA stands for Young Australians Best Book Awards and is a non-profit organisation who promote Australian books for Australian children. YABBA have a yearly process – Recommend, Read, Rate and Reward children’s books. This allows students to have a voice regarding the books that they like to read. The process is quite comprehensive and it’s wonderful to see students recommending books to their peers. I regularly encourage students to try various books, but I do believe in the power of book recommendations from your friends. It’s very interesting for me to see what our students are most interested in reading. Andy Griffiths attended the YABBA awards, and he said that “I love the YABBA awards! They’re the thing I look forward to the most.” In some way it’s a validation to his work and he gets to speak personally to the children who are enthusiastically reading his books.
The YABBA Award winners for 2024 are as follows:-
The Picture Book Winner is Macca the Alpaca by Matt Cosgrove.
The Younger Readers Winner is Hotdog! #10: Beach Time by Anh Do and illustrated by Dan McGuiness.
The Older Readers Winner is Runt by Craig Silvey.
The Fiction for Years 7-9 Winner is Scar Town by Tristan Bancks.
If you would like further information on YABBA visit their website at https://www.yabba.org.au/ or if you would like to read any of the YABBA shortlisted books please visit the library we have copies available for many of the award-winning titles.
THANK YOU
Once again members of the school community have donated a great selection of books to the school library. Thank you very much to the Vaughan family who kindly donated two large bags of books including novels, non-fiction, picture books, and some readers. Thank you also to Ms Moretti and Mrs Waterhouse for your donations. Book donations help the school in lots of ways – students have greater choices for selecting their reading materials, budgets can fill the gaps for more specific resources needed, and our classroom libraries are filled with books that cater to everybody’s reading interests and reading levels. Thank you very much.
STUDENT’S LIBRARY BOOKS
Could everyone please make some time to check at home for any Rowville Primary School library books as well as any classroom readers, books from class sets and any other books that have a Rowville Primary School identification stamp on them? Please do your best to locate the items and return them to school after the holidays.
I remind everyone that you can access Oliver V5 our library cataloguing system through Compass to check your current loans. Overdue letters were given to students with overdue books this week. You can return any books to the “returns trolley” in the main library at any time. If you have any enquiries about the books you have on loan please come and see me or email so that we can sort it out as soon as possible. I will follow up student overdue books again at the start of 2025.
CHILDREN’S CHRISTMAS BOOKS
There are lots of Christmas books with wonderful heartfelt messages in them. My favourites include ones with humour, some with lessons on the value of giving and ones that are sentimental to me. So here are my top picks for Christmas!
Pig the Elf by Aaron Blabey
Pig the Pug thinks Santa will give him everything he wants no matter how silly or outrageous it is. Pig is the world’s greediest Pug who will stay up all night to get his presents! There are lessons to be learnt here and Pig should know better. Our students love reading this book especially the part where Santa is chased up the chimney! Cheeky, fun, thoughtful and a lovely message about what is truly important at Christmas time.
The Smallest Gift of Christmas by Peter H. Reynolds
Roland was excited about Christmas but when he raced downstairs he found a very small gift under the Christmas tree. He decided then and there that he wanted something bigger! And bigger! And bigger! His travels take him far from home in his search for that big present but then realisation hits! The biggest gift of all is waiting for him at home and it’s not even a present!
The Night Before Christmas – this book became part of our family Christmas rituals. I have very fond memories of reading The Night Before Christmas to my children every Christmas Eve until they were too old to sit still! This book always makes me smile… “It was the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring not even a mouse...” I hope to read it to our grand-children this year to continue the family connections.
Books can bring us together to create wonderful memories. I hope you enjoy some fantastic children’s books with your families at this special time of year.
I encourage everyone to enjoy a good book over the holidays. There are so many books to read, re-read and discover. Anytime is a good time to read but during the school holidays it’s even better. In-between all the holiday activities you can refresh, put your feet up and relax with stories of every kind.
A quote from Roald Dahl’s book The BFG says…. “I is reading it hundreds of times,' the BFG said 'and I is still reading it and teaching new words to myself and how to write them. It is the most scrumdiddlyumptious story.' Sophie took the book out of his hand. 'Nicholas Nickleby,' she read aloud. 'By Dahl's Chickens,' the BFG said.
So whether you are exploring the classics, reading some nonsense from Dahl’s Chickens, going on adventures, using your imagination to battle pirates or dance with fairies, researching fast cars or a favourite animal or learning about another country, I’m sure you can find something that interests you. Keep trying, keep learning and most of all enjoy the process.
I look forward to seeing everyone again in 2025, working with our wonderful staff and being part of your reading journeys. Best wishes for the holidays, take care and keep reading!
Jackie Hicks
21st Century Learning Space Manager