Friday Recap: Week 1

Hello everyone

I’m Linda, the website moderator (though I’m not entirely sure what that entails).

Have a look around and, if you're minded, tell us what you are reading, comment on what others are reading and on the author posts. Kick off your shoes and make yourselves at home. See the tab “Kids’ Contributions” if you'd like to participate.

Each Friday, I’ll be posting a recap of the week’s events in case you missed them and invite you to tell us what you’re reading. If you’d like a recommendation for new books to read, send a comment telling us what sorts of books you like and other readers may be able to give you some suggestions.

And, to kick us off – this is about books, after all – today we have a couple of book reviews from James and Sam, both 12 years old, from Canberra. Check them out here and here .

It is with more than a touch of disbelief that I sit down today, on a beautiful autumn morning in Canberra, to welcome you to our site.

It was a mere three weeks ago that a few of us sat around our kitchen table, discussing how to best support the Kids’ Lit Quiz in Australia, arrived at the idea of giving it an online presence and decided to give it a whirl.

Some extraordinarily ambitious plans can be hatched in quite ordinary surroundings.

If you’re ever in Shanghai, go and see where the Chinese Communist Party was formed in 1921. Check out the size of the house, look at the fairly flimsy table Mao Zedong and his comrades sat around, and ignore the glitzy mall that now houses the birthplace of the Party.

If Mao and his mates could decide to reform China (China!) in a swampy, malaria-ridden part of Shanghai, our plan to set up a meeting place for book lovers within three weeks seemed positively modest. And here we are, three weeks later, welcoming you all and hoping that you will join us on this reading adventure.

Essential to this project are the many authors, illustrators and other creators who know and care about children’s literature who have supported this initiative so generously. Busy people, all, many have also written, or promised to write, guest posts aimed at the reading interests of children aged 10 to 13. I cannot thank you all enough.

Our hope was to find enough contributors to provide a discussion platform during May. We now have offers that continue into June and I would be delighted to hear from other authors if they also wish to support us. Information about the types of contributions we are seeking is contained at the tab, “Authors’ Contributions”.

Although we aim to address the reading interests of children aged 10 to 13, we warmly invite book lovers of all ages, including adults, to participate in the discussions.

You can either comment through the comments section at the end of each post (comments to be moderated) or, if what you want to say doesn’t work as a comment (say, it’s an a/v clip or a longer response with photos and text), send it to us at readingforaustralia@gmail.com.au and we’ll add it to the post on which you wish to comment.

OK, that’s enough from me for now. Check out our first guest author post on Monday, when we should also have a new look.

Happy reading!

PS If you’re interested in the Australian final of the Kids’ Lit Quiz, look here: Canberra Times article


About the Author

Linda De Silva is a novice website administrator, parent and Essendon fan who still gets lost driving around Canberra where she and her family have lived for two years.

Linda updated the copyright chapter of the 12th edition of The Law Handbook (Redfern Legal Centre Publishing, 2012) which technically makes her a published author though that is a bit of a stretch. She has no plans to start a political party.

At 12, Linda loved the Trixie Belden series.

The best book she's read recently was A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness. While she recommends the book to everyone - it is brilliant! - she cautions against finishing it in a doctor's waiting room. The ending is sad and people will worry that you've received terrible medical news if you sit there with tears running down your face.