Resource Centre

New books

Illustrator Visit 

A fortnight ago, we had the privilege of working with illustrator Chris Kennett.

During his sessions with Kindergarten to Year 2, students had the opportunity to hear Chris read one of his latest releases, Dinosaur Trail, from the Mr Luke’s Magic Library series written by Luke Springer. Following the reading, Chris used the imaginative ideas provided by the students to create some wonderfully unique characters.

• Meet Tim, a character brought to life with suggestions from our Year 1 and Year 2 students. 

• Meet Unicorn Squarehead, inspired by the creative input of our Kindergarten students.

During one of our Kinder transition days, I had the pleasure of working with two groups of Kinders as they began developing a writing piece about the character they created with Chris Kennett. Below are the two very different beginnings to their stories, each showing the children’s creativity and imagination.

Group 1:

One day, a unicorn broke his horn. Unicorn Squarehead broke his horn by fighting off predators. The tiger bit the Unicorn Squarehead's horn. Michael helped him wrap a bandage around this hurt horn. Then he was taken to the naughty hospital.

Group 2:

Once upon a time, there was a monster named Unicorn Squarehead. He was feeling scared and nervous because it was his day at the School of Monsters. When he got to school, he saw some of his friends.  

With Years 4 to 6, Chris guided the students through the process of developing a character’s story, from setting to personality traits and features, looking at the morals of the story. 

• Meet Grumpy Grandma, created by the Year 4 students.

• Meet the Basketballing Octopus, imagined by our Year 5 and 6 students.

As part of the Library lessons after the visit students were given the chance to begin to write a story using the Character they assisted Chris Kennett to develop in the workshop. 

Below are examples of some introductions developed by the Year 5 and 6 students. 

Once there was an octopus called blue that was very clumsy and not very nice to others and loved to play basketball. He thought he was really good but he really wasn't very good at basketball. When someone wanted to play with him he said no to them. He was so short he could not slam dunk and he always trips over the ball and hurts himself playing. But he couldn't stop doing it then one day after school he tripped and broke his wrist in one of his 4 arms. And one of his 4 legs. He went to a waterable aka hospital in the earth language. To get his limbs checked out then he found out that he broke his wrist and leg. He thought to himself how am i going to play basketball now he can but it will hurt to play with .

By Bodhi

Dan Eight legs

“Squeeck” went the basketball dribbling on the ground. Dan had a very good chance of winning as he had eight legs after all,also speaking he was the only octopus in the game. Dan was a basketball champ at his school,and a lot of the time that's how he had met his new friends. He got popular because of how he played. It was the day of the big match against jiggily’bogs team, but Dan wasn't scared.

Dan went to the corner where he played best. He again had a big advantage, except the only problem is that his team didn't have a big giraffe like the other team. Soon Dan felt nervous about how he would reach with his tentacles that far up.

“BUNG” went the buzzer. The match had begun. It was crazy. Dan could hear all the shoes screeching on the floor. He didn't like it. He kept being left behind. He'd never heard such annoying sounds in his practise matches. At first he thought they were cheating. “CHEATER” Dan yelled out loud. Soon enough the whole match stopped and everyone was watching Dan. The other team looked very confused as to what he was saying. Everyone started looking at each other before sharing a glance at Dan. “What is the meaning of this Dan?” the referee said. “We're all not playing right! This isn't how we play.” Dan started speaking in a rushed tone. “What are you speaking about Dan?” everyone said. “The shoes?” “screeching on the ground” Dan said getting a bit confused. Everyone was laughing Oh Dan you silly octopus, we’re wearing rubber shoes. It's ok for them to screech and slide on the wooden floor. It's normal and happens in every match when you're moving fast” The referee said giggling. Dan then understood and gave a chuckle “Oh my I’m sorry everyone” he said. He was clearly embarrassed, then the game went on.

The end!  

By Meadow 

 Squid the basketball player

“Squid wake up and get ready for school” yells mum. I don't answer hoping I can stay in bed for longer but no she just yells even louder and my ear drums burst. I get out of bed rubbing my ears when I trip over my basketball laying on the ground. I get ready for school when the bus arrives. I quickly grab my toast on the bench “bye mum,bye sis”. My sister Opal runs to me and gives me a hug “have fun” she says with her cute baby voice. “I gotta go” I say to her in a rush to get out the door. The bus doors open I find a spare chair. As I go to sit down, my glasses get knocked off. They fall to the floor. I look up to see my worst enemy in my face laughing at me saying “four eyes guys he has four eyes you're a monster” he says with his stinky breath. I pick up my glasses from the rusted bus floor and go to my seat surprisingly he left me alone

By Zadie

Dr Suckers…

“Beautiful darling” said mother to Hydra, she smirked at me when I looked in awe at her medal. Ohhhh boy, here comes the snarky remark that I will never be good enough for anything. I lift my chin and stride to my framed doctors’ degree. I may be older than Hydra, but that doesn’t stop her making me feel like I’m two years old. “Don’t get your tentacles in a twist little sister.” I smile a sweet grin to let her know we’re done, and she can’t win this time.” I fistbump myself in the mirror, look at me, a geek, clumsy and soft hearted but hopeless at sport. I wish… if only I could be good enough for life in the sea. I can’t ink anyone, my parents turbulence tentacles skipped me and the gene went to Hydra. Obviously with her name, ‘Hydra’ she has power that wins every race in town. I stumble to bed dreaming about a family who accepts me for who I am, my eyes close and I fall into a deep sleep with a smile on my face.

Living just under royalty, I get the chance for a good life with heaps of opportunities. Mother and father are good friends with King Krypton and Queen Vanta, and every week we dine in the palace with royal cousins, siblings and friends.

This collaborative experience was a fantastic opportunity for our students to see how their ideas could be transformed into characters and stories, while learning directly from a professional illustrator.

Resource Centre Acknowledgements

As the year draws to a close, I would like to extend my sincere thanks to the many people who have supported the Resource Centre throughout 2025.

• Ms O’Neil has made an invaluable contribution through her work with processing books (cataloguing and covering), the creation of a variety of engaging displays, and her ongoing support of our Year 8 Volunteer Programme. These are just a few of the many tasks she has undertaken on a daily and weekly basis.
• I would also like to acknowledge Mrs Alex Kent and Caryis Owens, who have generously assisted us in covering numerous resource books and readers this year.
• During SIM we have had many students volunteer their time in the Resource Centre, Shelving books, assisting the maintenance team with setting up chairs for our International Travel Information sessions, removal of cardboard, sharpening pencils,  cleaning up and sorting of Lego, adding shelving, cleaning out our storeroom and finally stocktaking books on our shelves.
• Finally, I would like to thank our Year 8 students, who have contributed to the Resource Centre as part of the Out and About Programme and others who volunteered their time at other stages of the week. Their efforts have enabled us to complete many tasks that would otherwise have taken us several days, including stocktake, shelving books, dismantling displays, and also helping the Year 12 students wrap the boxes for the Christmas hampers.

Book Returns and Stocktaking

As the year draws to a close, we continue our recall of Library books, and we kindly ask that all books be returned at your earliest convenience. 

Library Returns Update

Since sending out our overdue notices in early November, we have had  1,500 resources make their way back to the Resource Centre. A heartfelt thank you to all members of our school community who have supported this process.

We have even been able to reunite with many long-lost titles, now safely back on our shelves and ready for the next reader to discover their new favourite book — so please keep up the search!

We have sent home overdue book lists with students who still have outstanding loans. If we could aim to have all overdue books back by Tuesday, we would appreciate it. If you are unable to locate these titles, please email the Resource Centre, and we will mark them as lost. As we move into Week 10, we will continue our stocktake and hope to recover even more resources.

Important details

Opening Hours:

Passwords

If you haven’t received your new password yet, please contact the Resource Centre at library@moamagrammar.nsw.edu.au. We’ll ensure your password is sent to you as soon as possible.

Borrowing and Returns

Students may borrow and return books before school, recess, lunchtime and after school. Primary School students also have the chance to borrow books during their fortnightly Library lessons. 

Borrowing Permissions

If students are requesting to borrow books above their age level, we request parents to write a letter regarding their permission for their child to borrow and read a specific book which will be reviewed by library staff.

Renewals

Students are able to re-borrow books for an additional two weeks by speaking to staff at the Library Circulation Desk. If further borrowing is requested after this, students are required to bring their book/s with them to allow the staff to see the book. In addition, students can renew their book/s by emailing the Library.

Requests

If your child would like to borrow a specific book and the title is not included in our current catalogue, we will add this to our purchase wishlist.

Overdue notices

If you receive an overdue notice, there is a chance that the books may have been processed through our system after the email was sent. We encourage all parents to follow up on any issues by emailing the Resource Centre at library@moamagrammar.nsw.edu.au

Reading Permissions

Due to our shared space catering for students from Kindergarten to Year 12, our library collection is organised to help students easily find books with protagonists close to their own age. For example, in the Upper Primary section, most of the characters are between 11 and 13 years old. This approach ensures that themes and content remain age-appropriate, and also supports students in reading independently and with confidence.

When deciding where books are placed within the collection, we are guided by author and publisher recommendations.

If you have any other enquiries, issues or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us via phone by ringing the main office or via email address at library@moamagrammar.nsw.edu.au

Keep reading everyone!

Kind regards,

Ms Height and Ms O’Neill

Resource Centre Team