Books and Whānau at the South Dunedin Street Festival

The best thing about being at the South Dunedin Street Festival recently was getting to chat with parents, grandparents, carers, uncles and especially the children who enjoy Read Share Grow books.

Being onsite at a festival we get to hear what books tamariki are interested in. Books featuring dinosaurs, cars, birds and fairies were just some of the subjects we were was asked to look for at our stall this year.

A big part of the Read Share Grow Communities of Readers project is having the right books on hand to interest young people. This might mean having books in languages other than English such as Chinese, Tagalog or te reo Māori or simply having the right topic at the right time for a particular child. Little ones are naturally curious and appreciate their preferences being acknowledged so, like any librarian, we are always happy to try and find that ‘right book’. The best thing about Read Share Grow is that the books are to take home and keep!

Getting the right book can be the difference between a child begrudgingly reading because they have to (and wanting to get away from it as soon as possible) and wanting to go back to a book because they are simply enjoying reading.

The Street Festival was a great opportunity to hear directly from children themselves about what they were finding interesting. We were grateful to have Su and Dianne from the City and South Dunedin libraries helping run our stall and telling people about the awesome holiday programmes they help run.

This year we were also able to hold a draw for some wonderful children’s bookshelves that the team at Otago Corrections workshop in Milton expertly constructed for Read Share Grow.

Pictured below are two of the lucky winners collecting their shelves from the South Dunedin Library.

Eadie and Ryan picking up their new bookshelves at the South Dunedin Library. Image by: Melloney Meek.