21st Century
Learning Space
Library News
INTERNATIONAL BEST BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE (IBBY)
The International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) is a non-profit organization which promotes children’s books around the world. The IBBY website at https://ibbyaustralia.wordpress.com/about/ states that “IBBY’s founder, Jella Lepman, believed that books could build bridges of understanding and peace between people. Because of this strongly held belief, she created IBBY as an international organization that would bring children together by means of books. She did this because she was convinced that the German children she saw after World War II needed not only food, medicine, clothes and shelter, but also books. Good books, literature, and especially books from around the world. They needed to know what all good readers know: you are not alone; others have experiences, feelings, and needs just like you do, and there is a whole world out there you know nothing about. And that world is not what you imagined. You will find out a lot about the world and its children in these wonderful books.”
I was pleased to learn recently that IBBY have created a list of twenty outstanding books that were judged to be so important that they needed to be translated so that children world-wide could read them. The full list can be found on the IBBY website but the best news is that Australian Author Gary Crew is on the list with his book The Watertower.
The Watertower by Gary Crew
This 1995 award winning picture book written by Gary Crew and illustrated by Steven Woolman is a good example of when the words and illustrations are perfectly combined to tell a story. The book is thought provoking like many of Gary Crew’s books with themes of rural life and the impact of technology. It has a mysterious science fiction feel to the story as we follow two boys from the town going for a swim in the watertower. Please note that the book is definitely more suitable for older primary age students.
The first paragraph of the book says “Nobody in Preston could remember when the watertower was built, or who had built it, but there it stood on Shooter's Hill — its iron legs rusted, its egg-shaped tank warped and leaking — casting a long dark shadow across the valley, across Preston itself.”
Congratulations Gary Crew for your nomination to this prestigious list of books.
BOOK DONATIONS
Thank you to our staff Carly Hawkins and Kim Brennan for your recent book donations and belated thanks to the Vaughan family for the large box of donations we received at the end of 2023. Please know that they will be added to the library collection shortly and I know our students will enjoy reading them. We thank you very much.
BOOK RECOMMENDATION
CLAUDE SERIES BY ALEX T. SMITH
Reluctant readers might like to try one of the books from the Claude series written by Alex T. Smith. These early chapter books have great illustrations with a sense of fun on every page. The series follows the adventures of Claude who is an “extraordinary dog with an extraordinary life!” I love the name of his best friend Sir Bobblysock! The series has also been shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize and selected for the Richard and Judy Children’s Book Club in the UK. Try Claude… on Holiday, in the Country, in the Spotlight, at the Circus, on the Slopes or Lights! Camera! Action! Enjoy
Jackie Hicks
21st Century Learning Space Manager