Last week, our team had a particularly special day, as the invite to order our 2020 Book Supply packs was sent to remote communities across the country!
For our biggest year yet, we couldn’t just send out any books, and planning began way back in October last year for this year’s packs. Since then, our team has been hard at work, picking out interesting, colourful and dynamic books for all communities to enjoy.
With expert advice from our Program staff, Board members, educators and publishing industry contacts, and, of course, feedback from the communities we work with, we finally settled on fantastic 166 books to pack in our kits!
And the best part? Over 40 per cent of the books are by an Indigenous author or illustrator!
“It’s an incredible process,” says Program Coordinator Cindy, “We deliberate for weeks on the books that we think communities will want and enjoy, working hard to make sure that kids in remote communities can see themselves and their cultures reflected in these books.”
Featuring culturally relevant titles such as Bruce Pascoe’s Young Dark Emu, Sally’s Story by Sally Morgan, and a number of our titles published with community like I Saw, We Saw, (Nhulunbuy) Hello, Hello (Spinifex Countries) and Ngiya Yintaga Japarrika, (Tiwi) we’re sure the Book Supply packs will be a sure-fire hit with readers of all ages!
With an aim to gift out almost 100,000 new books throughout 2020, we could not be prouder of how our Book Supply program has been embraced by so many communities across Australia.
“It’s amazing to see adults and kids in remote communities so engaged with our books,” says Cindy, “they just can’t wait to unpack the boxes and choose their books to take home. That’s the great thing about this program – it really helps to create a love of reading.”
Remote communities can register for Book Supply here.