NET-WORKING!

Have just been on a two day work trip and got back to an inbox full of potential volunteers! Thanks to Kubatana.net for circulating a call for support this week and for those who have passed on through their own networks. I am overwhelmed! My heart knew it, now my head has to handle it. If you got in touch I WILL reply. Please be patient with me.

In the meantime, the biggest query was how to get involved. So, if you are interested GO DOWN TO YOUR LOCAL LIBRARY , introduce yourself and leave all your contact details there. Name, address, phone numbers and we will need to ask for ID numbers too. It is very important that local librarians are the focal people and we help raise them up in their work and their communities. Go make a new friend :-)

IN FACT, if you are not a library member, think about making a full commitment to your local library and sign up to be a member whilst you are there. It is affordable and I just know you will find a book to fill your quieter moments.

Thank you to those who have subscribed to this site, BIG SMILES, and to those following by email too as it is not always possible to fit in trips to the blog site. I know. This option takes my posts straight to your inbox.

Harare City Libraries also have a Facebook page. Check it out!

More update on what is happening a little later. We are still reading this Friday at Mount Pleasant. See you there.

Let's help Mabel Reign !

Mabelreign has a lovely little library with an internet cafe adjacent to the City Council building. Bet you didn't know that! For only $1 per hour you can surf the net in a quiet atmosphere surrounded by books.  

Levina opens the library at 10am every day except Thursday and Sunday and Public Holidays. To become a member at any of the HCL branches it costs children $5 dollars per quarter (double for adults and there is a concession for the over 60's) or $20 for the whole year if you can pay for your children up front. If you are a tertiary level student you only pay $1 per month!  

The Library has a smashing little children's section. A nook to the right as you go in. At the moment there are three tables and chairs for students to study quietly but on Fridays we hope to convert it into a reading corner with a rug and some cushions. This will be open to all children, members or not, and will also be a first for the Library (in recent history anyways). 

To get geared up for a hopeful second term start, Levina went to visit the schools in the local area. Alfred Beit, Haig Park and Hallingbury Primary Schools are all nearby.  With the help of an official letter to be sent out soon to the school heads, fingers crossed, they will support the programme and spread the word about this community outreach. The library serves Greencroft, Haig Park, Sunridge, Ashdown Park, Meyrick Park, St Andrews Park, Haig Park, Sentosa and Cotswald Hills and reaches beyond to the neighbouring suburbs of Avondale, Belvedere and Marlborough. 

It is no wonder this library gets overlooked. The grass is half as tall as the building!! However, with time, patience and a lot more effort perhaps together we can help this little lady get her dignity back. Come on, spread the word. 

On the reading front, at Mount Pleasant MANY stories were told. Jeannette took the children through their paces with a story from the 1001 Arabian Nights, the Classic, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves and finished up with the Enid Blyton short story The Enchanted Gloves. 

Everyone wanted to read this week so we did a bookshelf sprint and voted for the best 3 choices and read aloud. It took time but this opportunity for interaction and participation by the children is as important as the story telling. I managed to squeeze in The Little Lost Goat from the little library series before socks and shoes were put back on and weekend books were checked out. But two young ladies remained. 

        'Please read us just one more story!' they pleaded, wide eyed, endearing and exactly why I do this. 

So I read them Cockadoodle-do, Mr Sultana! ( a story to read or tell for just £1 by Michael Morpurgo - now there is a challenge for us - can our Zimbabwe writers and publishers produce short read aloud children stories for a dollar or two each...now THAT I am interested in. They don't have to be fancy or robustly bound.)

 We began the story with many empty chairs between and around us from those that had already gone. As we read, we scooted ever closer. By the end of the story my listeners were leaning forward and our knees were touching. 

My Favorite Poem on World Poetry Day

Children just LOVE rhyming! This I know from our readings. But. Just for fun on world poetry day (and my mums birthday..awwwww) here is my favourite poem. 

Scaffolding

Masons, when they start upon a building,

Are careful to test out the scaffolding;

Make sure that planks won’t slip at busy points,

Secure all ladders, tighten bolted joints.

And yet all this comes down when the job’s done;

Showing off walls of sure and solid stone.

So if my dear there sometimes seem to be,

Old bridges breaking between you and me.

Never fear. We may let the scaffolds fall

Confident that we have built our wall.

by Seamus Heaney

Tanya Tells a Tale

Let me get straight to today’s highlight. One of our small and lovely listeners became a story teller today. In fact, it became really quite an infectious condition! Tanya from Groombridge Primary School volunteered the quickest [lightening fast and there was a good deal of sighing and heavy breaths out after she was selected] when I asked if someone would like to read me a story for a change. She chose a local story by college press, much worn and much used, about a young girl called Sibitho who lived with her grandmother in a rural village and then had to move to town to finish her schooling. It was very touching and gave us so much to talk about afterwards. Amazing Grandma stories were shared.

In the general reading session there were 3 main books shared.  Jeanette read to 18 rapt children Roald Dahl’s The Enormous Crocodile. It is ALWAYS a winner. Quentin Blake’s illustrations are just fabulous.

Then we had a change over and I read the wonderful Mama Mabena’s Magic (I only have a few left from the Cambridge University Press Little Library Series). In this one we learned to mix colour. Mama Mabena provides to be both a creative and compassionate character and when things go wrong for the two little girls in the story, Mama Mabena helps then see the wonder in it all. This led to a hugely entertaining set of stories from the children about some of the mistakes they have made. First we hear of a broken dining room window (crikey), then a broken TV (Amaiwe!!). One tiny little boy got quite excited and with sparkly eyes stuck his hand up and grinned at me toothlessly and announced,

‘I have broken things too.’

‘What?’ said I.

‘My toys!' he announced so proudly. 

'and what do you do when you break them? I ask incredulously. 

'I run and run and run' came the reply.  They say a destructive child is a happy child……..

Finally we brought the reading to a close with Gregory Cool. A tale about experienceing new places, making friends and fitting in. Gregory visits the Caribbean island of Tobago, which is far away from his native England. It takes him time to adjust and to make friends with his cousin Lennox, but he does and they have a lot of fun. 

We still need help!

We have more children than ever attending and have doubled our story teller numbers from 2 to 4 this week. Wish there were more boys attending the sessions though!

We are also hoping to go LARGE and move to another Harare City Branch Library before the end of the term. Jeanette Quinlan and myself are joined by Chipo Nzonzo (the art of possibility) and Rose Bhowa (trained teacher and mother of 3 young children, all under 8 years old). Thuthani Moyo is still reading at the main  library in town. 

I have heard it said that if you want to be an effective social entrepreneur then focus on the good people who are doing good things. Good advice and well taken as I have approached my Body and Soul Gym class and am hoping this fabulous bunch will also expand the programme a little further by calling through their network for volunteers.

Oh, before I forget, the library has some awesome merchandise for sale, great gifts to give and very, very affordable. To support the cause and keep these libraries OPEN I purchased 2 beautiful drinking mugs at $3 each. There are still some in stock. Visit your local library today as each branch has some.

There are t-shirts and hats as well. Groovy!

Together Each Achieves More (a TEAM effort)

Another afternoon spent reading to children. Here is how it went. Well, the bones of it at least. 


As I approached the library today I noticed the car park had many cars, and there was even a bus parked sideways across the parking bays at the far end. Many people seemed to be milling about! Good lord I thought, just as well my friend Jeanette is joining me in reading and storytelling today, looks like some crowd. But, alas, it was only a political rally at the adjacent community hall, the loitering groups were made up mostly of young men holding brown bottles and not parents as I had thought? hoped? Ah well. Such must be my story telling ambitions……

Inside, our smaller and much less noisy rally of readers were 10 strong and my co-opted friend (yay, we are two now) was already earnestly reading her own copy of the Fantastic Mr Fox, definitely a favourite of mine. The children were engrossed. Pupils from Northwood Adventist Primary School, Grange Christian College and Mount Pleasant Primary School were in attendance, but no boys this week! As I joined the listeners I recorded this conversation when attention waned:

‘Are you all tired?’ asked Jeanette, sensing an energy dip.

‘Yes’ several listeners chimed.

‘Shall I stop reading now?’ returned my anxious co-storyteller.

‘No, we want to hear it all!’

Classic.

It must have been an exhausting week. One young lady fell asleep, and when our snotty nosed toddler turned up a little late with his sister, he also ended up zonked out on the carpet (a boy, finally, but a sleeping boy). The young man sadly did not wake up and had to be carted off by the librarian. The young lady did awaken and she joined us in the series of short stories I read after Jeanette departed. The main highlight was Grace and Family. This went down well with the girls.  

What I noted today in my change to an observer role, was the very restless nature of smaller children. Time tested educators of course know this, but as story tellers we also need to get our heads around these lovely little listeners. Just because I enjoy reading to them doesn’t mean it is going to go swimmingly! But I learned today that they are notorious multi-taskers. Quite criminal really. They may be perusing the shelves, wandering around the room and fidgeting, but they know where you are in the story and when you near the end, they do return.

To end this lovely afternoon a representative from the main library in Harare, Roger, popped in to see us. Wouldn’t it be great if this story telling at libraries could go large and happen in all the libraries in Harare, Bulawayo..beyond...? Institutionalising this small effort of mine is exactly why I am setting up this blog and sharing it widely. Just one small strategy of many needed. Thanks to this visit, a team effort now begins.  How odd that my afternoon seems to have come full circle……well, in my head at least for now! 

Let’s Get Children Reading!

To share with you the current situation at Mount Pleasant Library, I took a few photographs. Before we go inside, here is the Library entrance...

When you go inside, the children's section is on the left. There are a lot of old books that need repair, and more honestly, passed on or retired from the shelf.

Up to date tales for children are few, there are only a handful of worn modern readers. Our children today read differently, and the books of 20/30 years ago are not ideal for the less than avid reader.

African stories are few and even fewer in local languages. If we want to encourage children to read, we need to give them reading materials that are exciting and relevant.

Can you help repair or donate a book? 

Perhaps local publishers or distributers of books could donate a copy or two of any children’s books that they have? And with all the Christian book stores blooming across Harare, perhaps they have a few story books to give away? The more readers we cultivate the more books we buy. 

The space where we read. 

Old fashioned books our parents read!

Tired and torn! 

DailyGood: In Africa, the Art of Listening, by Henning Mankell

DailyGood: In Africa, the Art of Listening, by Henning Mankell

Making Friends With Young Readers

The children were all there by 2.45pm on Friday 2^nd March, on the carpet, with books. Yippee! They were actually waiting for me, repeat clients. Nice.

Five more children had joined. We had three boys now, a snotty nosed toddler, the boy in grey khakis and an older, worldly wise young man who was all swagged out in his civvies, coolness personified (he had dashed home first…). There was an effervescent young lady in pink, information just bubbling out about all the books she has read as well as shy wide eyed Molly sitting with little Sylvia. We were making friends and sharing names.

So, we finished the butterfly lion, the Adonis blue butterfly’s at the end went down a treat.

          ‘What do you want to read now’ I asked. There was a moment’s uncertainty. ‘Why don’t we each go find a book from the shelf and decide together’ I continued. Like an Olympic starting block, they were off. Fabulous.

We moved onto a short story by Enid Blyton. A crazy story about a bad wizard who makes a spell tht back fires. There was a lot of giggles. But the childrens choices were dominated by picture books, well below their reading ages. The group seemed hungry for conversation an wanted to look and talk more than listen today. We were making friends, I obliged. 

We talked our way through books about sleeping and bedtime and readers about different animals around the world. Animals are a favourite. So I told them my own tale of Fudge the Hedgehog Thrower. Here is an excerpt from my story:

        'Fudge is a chocolate coloured Labrador with a lot of energy, infact, Fudge doesn't walk, she boings! Yes, boing, boing boing! Fudge has amber eyes and a very waggy tail and she REALLY really loves squeaky toys and cricket balls. When she is not going boing boing boing, she goes squeek squeek squeek. 

        One morning, as the sun broke free across the tree tops, Fudge was snuffling along the hedges in the fields next to home. Fudge stopped suddenly and would not move. Beneath the hedgerow there was a small brown spiky bundle. As it slowly unraveled Fudge's eyes lit up. Fudge quivered a little, and shivered a little. Everything was very, very still. Suddenly, and without warning Fudge took a leap forward, stuck her long nose under the creatures' soft tummy and tossed it high in the air....'


It was 4.30pm, where did the time go. 

First date at the library

Friday 24^th February was a wet and drizzly afternoon. There was soft thunder and I needed my cardigan and a shawl. As I entered the library I asked Lazarus the library assistant for a comfortable chair. He duly obliged.  

I walked with him into the children’s section, a large rectangular space, with the walls four shelves deep on all sides. The books, however, looked dusty and dry. I worried they would disintegrate if I disturbed them.

In the near left corner a toddlers table and a few chairs had been set up and seven little faces, aged across the primary grades, looked up. A little anxious? I was. The children were busy with some building blocks and number cards. Where were the books? A library come afterschool club?? Two adult school desks and 2 hard chairs were also in the room. One against a wall, the other in the middle of the chipped linoleum floor. Both were occupied by college students.

I invited the children to join me. Chairs and feet shuffled and scraped towards the slice of maroon carpet on which the chair was placed. We were tucked nicely into the far left corner. There was one small shy boy in a grey khakis school uniform, five girls in blue checked dresses and red cardigans and one fidgety girl in a green and gold polyester tracksuit. Later on a small girl with big round eyes in a black summer dress with colourful flowers arrived. She sat on the floor looking up at me with her plastic umbrella at her side. She had hurried over, she said, when she had heard there was a story. The fidgety girl was in and out her seat. Putting her tracksuit jacket over the back of her chair. Wandering the shelves and returning to sit and then sigh. We took no mind and carried on.

Of the girls, two sat eyes wide and leaning in. One girl sat back in her chair, tight lipped, arms folded. Despite the lack of eye contact her body seemed tense with concentration as I read from Michael Morpungo’s The Butterfly Lion.

The Butterfly Lion is a young reader that tells the tale of a  boy and a white lion cub and tracks both the boy’s and the lion cub’s travels out of Africa to Europe; one to England and the other to a circus in France. The ending sees the characters meet again, later in life when they are grown. A series of happy and sad events take us there.

But time moved and concentration waned. So, some 45 minutes from meeting, we all decide to call it quits for the day. We agree we would finish the story next time.

The little boy in the grey khaki shorts came over to me, stood very close and whispered ‘thank you’ whilst looking at his feet. My smile lasted all the way home. 

Hello World

Hello World! This is my first ever blog and the reason for starting it is to share with you my new story telling adventures. Big deal, huh! Well, having completed a formal fiction writing course I now have a lot more to say on the subject of story telling. Having also revisited my local library after a long absence, I have a lot to say about local library support. I have been reticent. They need our support.  

I am a story teller at heart, you see. This was passed on to me by my marvellous mum. Her best stories were always told in supermarkets when a curious character would be spotted. When we asked her 'whosezat?' (as all children think their parents must know everyone) we would be given great madeuponthespot details of their interesting names, strange habits, wierd ways  and scary tendencies!!!! My father was no stranger to storytelling either, and authored forever in our heart the story of both the empty barn and the beast with five fingers (but those are for another time). No wonder I am an avid reader today!

So, finally, after nearly half of an average life lived, I have a blog to which I aim to share tales and tells about reading to children and story telling in libraries. I hope they can inspire you to also get involved. Enjoy.