Book talk from Down Under

Last week we had a Very Special Visitor to our writers’ group session. Paula O’Sullivan, a librarian in a state primary school in Sydney, Australia came to our meeting. We listened with awe to her description of the purpose-built library that has just been provided for her school, complete with dedicated classroom, interactive whiteboard etc. Australia’s way out of recession was to invest in infrastructure projects…

And then we talked about books and what gets her kids reading. As well as the obvious wizard and fairy series that have winged their way from the UK, she listed a number of Australian authors which were not so familiar to many of us. Picture book titles included: Possum Magic by Mem Fox; Who sank the Boat? by Pamela Allen; The Red Tree by Sean Tan.

Other books and series popuar with her kids are: Diary of the Wimpy Kid; Zac Power; and Jeronimo Stilton. She also introduced us to two charming video clips on You tube: ‘The lost thing’ (look for the longer version), and ‘It’s a book’ which is a charming advert for – well, a book!

We ended with a rare moment in the 17-year history of our meetings – a photograph(!) of Paula and some group members, with copies of some of the picture books the group has produced over the years.

MARION ROSE