This week marks the CBCA’s Book Week, and Wollongong City Libraries are ready to magic up a long list of activities to inspire a love of reading for our community.
Whether it’s Book Week themed toddler time, favourite character dress up days, or a children’s art competition, there is something happening in all of the city’s seven libraries to celebrate the occasion.
But underneath the fun and dress ups, there is an underlying motivation to the annual celebration of everything books. This is to provide as many opportunities as possible to support our community members to discover and embrace a lifelong passion for reading.
“I’ve no doubt that last weekend, there were parents and carers pulling together Thelma the Unicorn themed costumes, making a carboard trident for a Percy Jackson inspired outfit or creating a handmade bow and arrow for an aspiring Katniss Everdene,” Wollongong City Council Director Community Services Kerry Hunt said.
“And these efforts should be applauded as they’re about engaging children to have conversations about books, their favourite characters and how these can be expressed creatively in the school playground.
“But, much more than this, it’s also about making reading an everyday activity that is something to be enjoyed and where stories and books can be talked about, celebrated and recommended to others.”
Ms Hunt said Wollongong City Libraries played a vital role in providing everyone in our community with equal access to library services, programs and resources.
“It costs nothing to be a member of Wollongong City Libraries and to come into any of our locations to borrow books – or even just do some quiet reading or research while you’re there,” she said.
“Our librarians have a wealth of knowledge and a wide range of resources available to help everyone in our community.”
While there are a range of activities on offer during book week, Ms Hunt said there were year-round opportunities to support parents and carers instil a love of reading in the next generation.
“We do see some parents, grandparents and carers who might not have had the opportunity to fall in love with reading when they’re younger, and they seek our advice on how they might help their children and grandchildren embrace books,” she said.
“That’s where our programs like Toddler Time are so important as they’re fun ways to talk about books and reading in a relaxed, inclusive and welcoming space.
“Wollongong City Libraries preschool programs have been developed within the NSW public libraries’ early language and literacy framework and we ensure that our staff have regular training in best practice early literacy program delivery. We regularly hear from parents and carers who tell us how much our programs have helped them.
“It’s never too early to start reading to children – or too late to start. We recommend reading aloud three at least to five times a week and our free programs for kids are a great way to get inspired. They’re on year-round during the school term and our libraries are happy to offer advice and assistance on finding one that works for you.”
Ms Hunt said research shared by the Reading Writing Hotline includes data that points to one in five Australians between 15-74 years having low literacy and/or numeracy skills. Our libraries have targeted programs that don’t just support children but improved adult literacy as well.
“It’s never too late to learn and we’ve for a Read and Write for life program that offers adults the chance to meet one day a week with a tutor for one-on-one skills development,” she said.
“The program is focussed on those everyday needs like being able to read a school newsletter, an electricity bill or writing for a job application.
“Libraries play such an important role in our community beyond being a place to study and borrow books. Book Week provides us with the opportunity to open up our doors not only to those who currently love and use our libraries, but also those not as familiar with these spaces.”
For details of Wollongong City Libraries’ Book Week activities, visit our website.
Below is a snapshot of some of the great reading resources available from Wollongong City Libraries.
Early Literacy Resources
Dyslexia friendly resources
Dyslexia Friendly Books are books specially formatted for people with dyslexia and are printed with a font designed to alleviate some of the difficulties typically reported by readers with dyslexia. They are also formatted to improve the spacing between letters, lines and words, and to improve the overall layout of text on a page.
We have more than 250 titles in our collection for both junior and young adult readers, with more coming in all the time. To find them simply go to our and type in “dyslexic friendly” or “dyslexia friendly” in the search bar.
Decodable readers
Decodable books are simple books that are written for beginning readers that encourage children to sound out words using phonic decoding strategies rather than guessing from pictures or predicting from other cues.
We have nearly 300 titles in a variety of reading levels. To find them, just head to our and search ‘decodable’. We’ve also more than 1900 Leapfrog readers titles available as well.
Read Along Books – Audio & Print in one book!
Read alongs, also known as read to me books or read aloud books for kids, bring stories to life through professional narration. These books offer a rich and immersive experience and help to nurture reading skills.
We have over 200 read along books aimed at both preschool and primary school readers. Our Wonderbooks and Vox Books offer an enormous range of titles and subjects, from picture books to nonfiction books, to graphic novels like Captain Underpants. Head to our and search for ‘Wonderbook’ or “Vox books”.
Braille
We have more than 50 Braille books for younger readers, with both picture books and nonfiction titles. Simply type braille books into our
Wollongong City Libraries members also have free access to a range of digital resources to help kids fall in love with reading from a young age. These include:
Storybox Hub
With hundreds of stories by local authors and illustrators read aloud by diverse Australian storytellers – actors, comedians, sports people, musicians, artists, authors and children, StoryBox Hub gets kids excited about reading and stories, improving their language and literacy skills along the way. Suitable for pre-school through to upper primary school aged children with some titles available in languages other than English.
iVox
iVox engages young readers with immersive storytelling technology…it’s like a digital pop-up book. With digital 3D illustrations, and more than 70 titles available, kids from 2-10 will be enthralled.
Era Books
Era Books offers hundreds of books, guided read-alongs, and games to support educational development and aid in reading, writing, and comprehension skills for pre & primary schoolers. They also offer a variety of languages other than English.
