What a pleasure to visit a beautiful library in Grassy Park, full of books and interest and, above all, READERS!
Library Week in South Africa is celebrated in libraries all over the country and it was a great honour for CBN to be invited to join the party in the most impressively resourced library at Grassy Park. About sixty children from Grades 6 and 7 were waiting expectantly – and were a most marvellously attentive audience. About eight librarians and teachers from local schools added to the festive spirit.
Lesley Beake, Director of CBN, spoke about the importance of libraries and about how reading can change your life and open up new worlds. There were excellent questions about the way books come into being and how the process of writing happens. This is how she summed up the morning:
‘Why don’t we have good news in every newspaper edition? I would nominate libraries as places to go and look for them first. Going into this one in Grassy Park is like going home for any book lover. It is beautifully designed and set out, amazingly well filled with books, with a very comfortable set up for a speaker and for the audience of children. Clearly, a lot of thought went into preparing for this day and it was very humbling to be asked to speak to the children.
‘And what children! They were attentive and interested, respectful and polite. They smiled at the right places … they listened! Please ask me back! When the Grade Sevens start on Strollers, I’d love to come and listen to their impressions. (I also have some really funny books to share next time!)’
In addition to the book talk, some serious networking went on afterwards. CBN is really hoping to work with this community in our Toolbox and Train the Champions project that will be launched later this year. It would be a fine place to begin. We are talking …
