Australia Children's Laureate: Morris-Gleitzman

Morris Gleitzman, best-selling and award-winning author of books such as the Once series, has been appointed as Australia’s latest Children’s Laureate. The role of the laureate is to champion and promote literacy, the love of reading, the role of books in a child’s life and the work of Australian authors. You can read more about the role of the laureate here http://www.childrenslaureate.org.au/ where you can also sign up for a newsletter with monthly resources to promote reading. In an article about his role as laureate, Morris wrote the following about the importance of stories:

“When we plunge into a story, not only do we have spills and thrills, horror and hilarity, ideas and insights, all from the comfort of our own reading pillow. We also get to see what individuals like us are capable of. And it doesn’t stop there. The more we read, the more we develop our creativity, empathy, bravery, honesty, curiosity, resilience, cheekiness, emotional intelligence, manipulation-spotting ability and problem-solving skills almost without realizing it. And when we finish our reading and turn back to the real world and notice the size of some of the problems there, we flinch but in a resolute sort of way because we know we have stories on our side.”

Miss Nell Keen, Teacher Librarian