Fremantle Press is the driving force behind the fabulous Books for Little Bookaburras 2024 program that was launched last week by Hon. Sabine Winton MLA, Minister for Early Childhood Education.
The Bookaburras program is founded on the belief that every child deserves to have books in their life – not only for all they will learn, but for all the special moments they will share with the grown-ups in their lives.
Renae Hayward, herself a children’s author with Fremantle Press, is an Ambassador for the program and part of a growing group of sponsors and creatives helping share a mini-library of local books with more than 4,000 Western Australian children.
Renae Hayward
Chair of Fremantle Press Clair Medhurst explained how Renae had joined James Foley, Kyle Hughes-Odgers, Norman Jorgensen, Rebecca Mills, Helen Milroy, Chris Nixon and Chris Owen in generously donating royalties back to the program.
Ms Medhurst said the Bookaburras program’s founding sponsors – the Stan Perron Charitable Foundation, Wright Burt Foundation, Hesperia Group, Paul Jones in memory of Allan and Wendy Jones, Barton Family Foundation and Hartree and Associates Architects – had been joined this year by Louise Jones in memory of her sister Beverley, a lifelong passionate reader.
On top of that, Ms Medhurst announced that the Premier’s Summer Reading Challenge and Kindlinks had committed to a pilot program assisting with distribution and a regional tour that will see Bookaburras Ambassadors visiting KindiLink centres across the state.
Each Little Bookaburras participant will receive a copy of Say Hooray by Renae Hayward and Rebecca Mills, Backyard Birds by Helen Milroy and one of the following picture books by local WA authors and illustrators: Pandamonia by Chris Owen and Chris Nixon, The Two-Hearted Numbat by Ezekiel and Ambelin Kwaymullina, The Last Viking Returns by Norman Jorgensen and James Foley, or One Thousand Trees by Kyle Hughes-Odgers.
This mini-library is designed to encourage a love of stories by including new books by local authors, including First Nations storytellers, which can be shared and enjoyed by families.
Renae Hayward explained that sharing a book with a favourite grown-up is one of the best ways to develop literacy in kids.
If you’d like to involve your organisation in Bookaburras, register here today!
Our editor, Michael Barker, was pleased to catch up with Renae Hayward this week to make this podcast and learn more about Bookaburras, as well as how she became an early kids book writer. You’ll enjoy the discussion for sure!
By Michael Barker, Editor, Fremantle Shipping News
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Here’s the PODCAST. Enjoy!
