Trump’s new budget SLASHES all federal funding for public libraries

So I’m a Library fan, I work in one, volunteer in others, take my child to many. (I even visit them when I’m on holiday).

But what gets me, is when the funding to them is cut. I’ve seen what a Library can do to children who can’t afford to access books any other way. I’ve seen the power of reading change lives….so when you cut funding, you cut off the equitable access to education and empowerment that often goes hand in hand with a Library service.

If you live in America – please, please sign up and Save your Public Library. Stop this nonsense right now.

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Sorry Day by Coral Vass and Dub Leffler

Coral Vass (text) Dub Leffler (illus.), Sorry Day, National Library of Australia Publishing

There was a hum of excitement.
Flags flickered in the breeze as Maggie’s heart danced with delight.
‘This is a very special day!’ her mother said.

Maggie holds tight to her mother as they await the long anticipated apology to show a willingness to reconcile the past for future generations. In the excitement of the crowd Maggie loses touch of her mother’s hand as is lost.

In a time ‘long ago and not so long ago’ children were taken from their parents, their ‘sorrow echoing across the land’.

As the Prime Minister’s speech unfolds Maggie is reunited with her mother. But the faces and memories of the stolen generation are all around them.

Two stories entwine in this captivating retelling of the momentous day when the then Prime Minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd, acknowledged the sorrows of past and said ‘Sorry’ to the generation of children who were taken from their homes.

The book includes a foreword from Lee Joachim; Chair of Rumbalara Aboriginal Cooperative and Director of Research and Development for Yorta Yorta Nation Aboriginal Corporation.

Read it because:

Forced separations of children from their families are still happening today, and we need to acknowledge the damage that is done when children are stolen from their family. Suitable for opening the discussion from Grade Two students upwards.

Level Playground Resource

I’m a parent of a child who doesn’t really fit. They’re like me in that respect, I was always too fat (which looking back on I wasn’t but in the playground I felt I was), too ugly (again kids are cruel – what is a bush pig anyway?), wore glasses, spoke with an English accent (thanks to my migrant parents), read science fiction, and wandered around with my head in space. Now my child is experiencing issues around weight, reading, standing out because they think for themselves, feeling isolated and alone.

So when I came across this awesome website the Level Playground, I thought I can’t be the only parent out there wanting more guidance and help in achieving an environment that is safe for our kids to be their true selves…

President Donald Trump book

Friend,
“President Donald Trump” by Joanne Mattern (2017) claims to offer young readers an informative, accurate, and unbiased narrative about the 45th U.S. president, but the author omits facts, glosses over context, and ignores opposing perspectives. Tell Scholastic that young people deserve an accurate and age-appropriate biography of Donald Trump.
Click here to write a letter to Scholastic if you want to protest the fakery on offer here.
Thanks!

Westmead Hospital NSW seeks Library Volunteers

Can you help?

The Book Bunker at Westmead Children?s Hospital is looking for some more volunteers. Some long term volunteers have retired after 15-20 years, so new faces will be most welcome to join the team to assist either on a casual basis when current voluntary library staff members are ill or on holidays, or on a regular shift (monthly, fortnightly or weekly).

They use Alice (soon to transition to Oliver) and try to have 2-3 volunteers rostered on each week day from 10am-3pm. Our aim is to ease the stress and boredom of children who are often in hospital for long periods of time. Ambulatory patients, or parents, visit the library to browse or read in a cosy and colourful environment. Bed-bound patients may select from a trolley taken to the wards by the volunteers each day.

If you are interested in volunteering, please contact me and I can pass the email onto you.

School Libraries are vital.

Neil Gaiman leads authors demanding action to halt decline of school libraries.

I’ve seen first hand the magic of reading. When a reluctant reader blossoms into an active reader. Libraries, especially school libraries, can change the economic outcome of a child. Imagine the world if all children had free access to books, magazines and comics. I’m not talking about internet or ipad use, but actual physical books that require concentration and dedication to read – instead of flicking through.

Support your school libraries and the dedicated staff who work there – offer to volunteer covering books – I do, and it is wonderful supporting this essential school service.

International Women’s Health and Human Rights – Free Course

Stanford University is offering a free course that focuses on women’s health and human rights issues from infancy through old age, including information about positive interventions relating to those issues. For more information please go to their website here.