Love2read @ Crab Fest

Here are some photos of the activities Mandurah Libraries held at Mandurah's Crab Fest last weekend.  Crab Fest was a great success with 120,000 attending and everyone looking like they were having a great time.

Hundreds of people of all ages added messages to our Quote Me! Reading Wall then read the messages others had left there. 

The wall grew and grew,

and by the end of the event it was completely full on both sides.

Nearly a thousand people spread our reading activity throughout Crab Fest by wearing Quote Me! badges. The quotes covered a huge range of subjects and were from a very diverse range of sources including much-loved authors, philosophers, The Castle, Pink Floyd and The Simpsons! I have received reports of badges still being worn and as far afield as Joondalup.

But as much fun as these activities were, my favourite part of the weekend was when I was able to sit and simply read to young visitors to our marquee.

Even more enjoyable though was seeing parents and caregivers reading to the children in their care.

Throughout the National Year of Reading we are promoting the message that sharing a love of reading with with your children is one of the best things you can do to give them a head start in life.  Research into early brain development shows that a child’s ability to learn and to develop pre-literacy skills is greater if they are read to from birth.  Sharing books with children, even for as little as ten minutes a day, will help them to develop a love of reading that will be of benefit to them right throughout their lives.

As some of the Quote Me! badges put it:

"Children are made readers on the laps of their parents." — Emilie Buchwald

"The greatest gift is a passion for reading." — Elizabeth Hardwick

"The more you read, the more things you will know.The more that you learn, the more places you'll go." — Dr Seuss

"Reading is a basic tool in the living of a good life." — Mortimer Adler

"Reading and writing actually paid off!" — Homer Simpson

Love2read picnic

Yesterday we took our fabulous new love2read marquee, our picnic gear and a selection of books and other reading material to Mandurah's beautiful Eastern Foreshore and we ... read. 

A guest reader read poetry to appreciative adults. Library staff and volunteer Roving Readers read picture books to children. Parents and grandparents joined in and read books with the children in their care.  Others just relaxed and read to themselves.  It was a very hot day but the shade of the trees and the lovely sea breeze meant it was a great place to be.

Thanks to everyone who came along especially and many thanks also to the people who just happened upon the event and joined in.  Your company made Love2Read @ The Eastern Foreshore a most enjoyable way to spend an afternoon.

As we packed up many many people asked "When are we doing this again?"  While we will have many other reading events like this one throughout the year, our next reading event is something completely different: Quote Me! at Channel Seven Mandurah Crab Fest is coming up this weekend, Sat 17th and Sunday 18th March.  Details coming soon.

You are invited!

February 14th is the day that libraries around the country will officially launch the National Year of Reading 2012 at a wide variety of events.

The City of Mandurah's National Year of Reading launch event will be held at the beautiful Mandurah Performing Arts Centre and YOU are invited!

Please join us for a continuous reading of

Norman Lindsay's The Magic Pudding

 

Tuesday 14th February 2012

from 11am - 5pm

at the

Mandurah Performing Arts Centre

Craft table, Face painting, Competitions.

Come along and join us for an hour or stay all day. Join in the reading or sit and listen while you enjoy a cup of tea or coffee.  Find out about National Year of Reading events to be held in Mandurah throughout the year.  This is a free event; no tickets required. Suitable for all ages.

By the way, in order to refresh my memory about the book (which I first read with my children on an epic road trip around Australia six years ago) I went to Mandurah Libraries homepage , followed the links through to Project Gutenberg, then downloaded a free copy of The Magic Pudding onto my iPad.  Now all I have to do is perfect my funny voices and I am ready to join in with the reading!

We'd love to see you at our National Year of Reading launch on the 14th.  Perhaps you will join in with the reading too.