LIBRARIES ARE SO IMPORTANT

Borrow a book: 'Flick the Page'

12 August 2013 , 7:23 PM by Scott Lamond

There are 256,000 active members with 9,000 visitations each day.

Q: To what?

A: Libraries on the Gold Coast.

For the first time 'Flick the Page' with Scott Lamond and Phil Kettle hit the road and visited the Elanora library which is one of 14 in the region.

Alison Kemp (pictured) is the co-ordinator, customer service with Gold Coast Libraries and she explains there are 1 million books to borrow and loads of free opportunities on offer through the network of libraries on the coast.

GREAT REVIEW TOOCOOL AND MARCY BOOKS

Review of the ‘TooCool’ and ‘Marcy’ Series

Written by Phil Kettle and Susan Halliday

Publisher: Ford Street Publishing

Age Range: 7 years+

Themes:  sports, friendships, outdoors, adventures, action

My name is Toocool, and I’m a legend!

I’m always after books for young readers just starting out on chapter books. The ‘TooCool’ and ‘Marcy’ books have been around for a while now and are perennially popular, but some great new titles have just been released.

The ‘TooCool’ books are squarely aimed at young boys, but I know plenty of sport loving girls who enjoy them as much as they enjoy the companion series, ‘Marcy’. The characters in ‘Marcy’ and ‘TooCool’ are the same so if children enjoy one series, they will enjoy seeing the characters in the other.

Children from around 7 years will feel confident reading the ‘TooCool’ and ‘Marcy’ books; the mix of illustrations and text is great. They can also be read by much older children and are often used with students who are experiencing difficulty with reading. The stories never speak down to the reader and they include topics from surfing to soccer to cowboys and waterslides, so they span a wide interest and age range. Lots of humour, action and sport, and some very likeable characters which children will engage with and want to keep reading about.

Phil Kettle has been writing the ‘TooCool’ books for some time now and he has ensured a mix of text types in the different titles in the series – there is some facts, diagrams, Q&A sections and some excellent jokes. Many other small chapter book series are formulaic and poorly written (even some of the wildly popular series, which I shan’t name!). ‘TooCool’ and ‘Marcy’ are not this – this is clever writing – care has been taken with these books.

The author of the ‘TooCool’ series, Phil Kettle, has some great words of encouragement and advice about young boys and reading here.

Teaching notes are here.  

The latest 'Flick the Page' listen to Meredith Costain... fab author..great interview

http://blogs.abc.net.au/queensland/2013/08/rythm-and-rhyme-flick-the-page-.html?site=goldcoast&program=gold_coast_drive

Rythm and rhyme: 'Flick the page'

05 August 2013 , 2:27 PM by Scott Lamond

Rythm and rhyme, life on the farm and riding her bike to school.

Al of these things inspired renowned childrens picture book author, Meredith Costain.

Today on 'Flick the Page' she shares her story with Scott Lamond and Phil Kettle. She also has some tips on picture books and how you and your children can get involved.

Download audio

Great news 'Flick the Page' is going to be pod cast.... 

A book fit for a king: 'Flick the Page'

29 July 2013 , 6:42 PM by Scott Lamond

Flick the Page got all inspired by the PM Kevin Rudd's decision to send the new royal baby, Prince George of Cambridge, a Mem Fox book, titled Ten Little Fingers And Ten Little Toes.

Here's a an excerpt from the book:

"There was one little baby who was born far away,

and another who was born on the very next day.

And both of these babies-as everyone knows-

had ten little fingers and ten little toes.

There was one little baby who was born in a town,

and another who was wrapped in an eiderdown.

And both of these babies-as everyone knows-

had ten little fingers and ten little toes."

Author Phil Kettle and ABC Gold Coast's Scott Lamond discussed why books make such good presents but also explore the value of books that are part of a series and also the breaking down of stereotypes in contemporary story telling.

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Kids get into art: 'Flick the Page'

15 July 2013 , 2:37 PM by Scott Lamond

There's more to books than words.

Infact drawing and expression through art is proving to be of great benefit to children's learning, particularly those that easily get distracted.

Today on 'Flick the Page' Phil Kettle visits the Gold Coast's Susy Boyer (pictured), a freelance illustrator and painter who passes on her skills to young people through special workshops.

Susy has illustrated many books and admits she was often easily distracted in her school days.

"Not being great at maths, I always got quite bored and I think I escaped by drawing and making that class more fun for myself."

Meanwhile, Phil's tip of the week: "Try to write in a simple way and express your views with the most appropriate words."

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Flick the Page ...ABC 91.7

Don’t despair, plenty of hope and answers regarding both the above questions this week on ‘Flick the Page’ as ABC Gold Coast’s Scott Lamond and author Phil Kettle chat to some experts.

The illustrator of the famous Deltora Quest books Marc McBride joins us to talk about making a living drawing monsters and dragons and Kristina Purcell who is the Children and Youth Services Coordinator at the Kingston Library talks about trendy libraries. Kristina also explains ‘virtual story time’ and you can actually click on some examples of authors reading their books below.

You can listen to Flick the Page on ABC 91.7..... Catch me on the ABC here

            Big Read AMBASSADOR     PHIL KETTLE

  On 10 APRIL 2011 the Children's Book Council of Australia - Victorian Branch, in association with The    City of Melbourne, the State Library of Victoria, Zart Art, And the Cities of Geelong and Ballarat had Victorian families all reading together for the BIG READ  !

Well done to all those who came along to the Big read. I hope you continue to enjoy reading. remember reading will open your mind and expand your knowledge. apart from that it is a whole lot of fun. imagine all of the places you can go by simply opening up a book !  There are over 50 million books in australian government libraries ... how many of them have you read so far ?  It was good to meet lots of reading families.