CHILDREN'S LIBRARY PROGRAMS 

About Book Week

For one week in August each year, CBCA Children's Book Week celebrates books and Australian children's authors and illustrators. With themed displays in the kids areas of the public library, dress-up competitions, author visits, and much more, CBCA Book Week should be marked on your calendar well in advance!

In 2024, CBCA Book Week will be held Saturday 17 August to Friday 23 August 2024.

With the 2024 Children's Book Week theme; Reading is Magic, we're celebrating reading stories and their amazing power to transport minds. We are encouraging kids to be curious about the wonders in our world. It is a positive and affirming message for our young people. The magic of reading also lies in its power of enticement; a good story provokes conversations. Talking about the stories with others connects the reader with other readers. Wrapped around all of this are the "tricks" and skills of our amazing writers and illustrators, as they use all their powers of language and illustration to engage the reader in this world they are building.

Special Guest: Glenn B. Swift

Carnarvon Library & Art Gallery is delighted to welcome storyteller extraordinaire Glenn B. Swift to Carnarvon! Glenn has been performing professionally in schools, libraries, festivals, theatres and other public events around the city and WA since 1988. He tells many stories of his own creation, loves to get large groups of children screaming on cue and introduces teenagers to the joy of reading through the experience of a gripping narrative. His book The Ghost in the Bell Tower can be found on the shelves of Carnarvon Library, and several of his short stories can be read for free on his website.

Join the celebrations

Glenn will be appearing at schools around Carnarvon during Book Week, but you can find him at Carnarvon Library & Art Gallery from 3-4pm on Thursday 22 August and Friday 23 August for Jukebox Storytime! This is your chance to try to muddle a master storyteller: select a storybook at random from our magic hat and challenge Glenn to bring it to life! This is a free event aimed at children ages 6 and up. There is no need to book in advance, just turn up at the library after school - Book Week costumes welcome! 

Glenn will also be making three special appearances for Magic Markets Storytime at the Saturday Markets at the Carnarvon Civic Centre at 9am, 10am and 11am on Saturday 24 August! These half-hour performances will let you re-discover the magic of reading with a journey into your own imagination. Master storyteller Glenn B Swift conjures words and pictures from the page and charms them into life in this all-ages, full immersion, family sized event. You will be amazed, inspired and enchanted. We will be reading funny stories straight from the pages, reinventing classic stories to put you in the action, and inspiring you to scream, growl and sing on cue to help tell stories from Australia and around the world! Spellbound participation for the whole family means active learning with a gaggle of giggles for ages two to two hundred. This is a free event and families are welcome. There is no need to book in advance, simply head to the Woolshed before the start time and find a seat!

Enter our competitions for your chance to win!

Colour-in Competition

Collect an official Colour-in Poster from the library from Tuesday 13 August and return it during Book Week and show us your colouring skills! Drop your artwork off at the library or the Saturday Markets on Saturday 24 August to enter. Ages 0-18

Costume Competition

Bring your favourite book character to life: visit the library in costume anytime during Book Week, take your photo in the Kids Zone and email it to the library using the form below! Ages 0-18

Do you live on a station and so can't make it into the library during Book Week? Don't worry, you can still participate in our competitions! Email the library and we can send you a  Colour-In entry, and you can dress-up in costume out on station, take your photo, and enter the competition using the form below.

Held at 10am on Thursday mornings during school terms, Baby Rhyme Time is your opportunity to meet other parents, and bounce and sing along with your baby to some fun tunes while introducing your child to the world of reading. Sessions are free and are about half an hour in length. There is no need to book - just turn up on the day.

Baby Rhyme Time is followed by Snuggles - a free educational parenting group for expectant mums and parents with infants up to 8 months old, who would like to learn information on their child's development and be part of a supportive network of new parents. Organized in partnership with Centacare and other local family support organizations, Snuggles is completely free and normally runs for an additional hour to an hour and a half after Baby Rhyme Time.

Held at 10am on Tuesday mornings during school term, Storytime is a great way to encourage your toddler to continue along the path of reading! A fun combination of songs, rhymes, and a craft activity each week, Storytime is a great way for your child to socialize with others and experience the library.

Sessions are free and normally last half an hour or a little longer on craft days. There is no need to book - just turn up on the day.

Better Beginnings is a Western Australian family literacy program that connects families with books through free reading packs. The goal of Better Beginnings is to inspire a love of literacy and learning for all Western Australian children by encouraging families to read, talk, sing, write and play with their child every day.

The program has been developed by The State Library of Western Australia and is funded by the State Government of Western Australia, Royalties for Regions, Rio Tinto and Western Australian Local Governments.

The program delivers free reading packs to young children and consists of three stages;

Yellow Better Beginnings Reading Pack - ages 0-2 and are delivered through child health nurses and available from the Library. 

Orange 'Sing to Me' Better Beginnings Reading Pack - ages 2-3 years are delivered through child health nurses and available from the Library.

Green Better Beginnings Kindy Reading Pack - ages 3-4 years and delivered through local schools.

These packs contain a quality Australian picture book and information and resources for parents and carers. 

If your child has not yet received their appropriate reading pack please contact the library on (08) 9941 3727 or email the library.

Looking Back at CBCA Book Week 2023

The official dates for CBCA Book Week 2023 were Saturday 19 August to Friday 25 August 2023, with the official theme READ, GROW, INSPIRE. We were honoured to host author/illustrator KELLY CANBY who visited local schools and held a writing workshop at Carnarvon Library! 

We also held a Colouring Competition, Costume Competition and Scavenger Hunt Competitions, with winning entries displayed in the library in September and uploaded to the Shire of Carnarvon October 2023 newsletter.

LEGO Club at the Library

Are you aged 6-12 years and hope to become a LEGO master? You may be interested in being part of our LEGO Club!

Held on a Thursday afternoon during school terms from 3-4pm, children sign up for an 8-week program of solo and group build challenges that will put their imagination to the test!

Places are limited, so email the library team to register.

LEGO Club Online

Are you aged 5-17 and are unable to attend LEGO Club at the library?

Don't worry! If you have a LEGO collection at home, complete our monthly challenge and your Build will be featured online. Simply email us your Name, Age, a photo, and a short description of your Build!

Donating LEGO to the library

Every school holidays, the Shire of Carnarvon, including the library, and in partnership with other agencies, puts together the School Holiday Program to keep kids entertained over the break!

Keep an eye on our Facebook page for updates during the lead-up to each school holidays.

Are you 6+ years and feel like going on an adventure?

Every year over the December/January school holidays, keep track of how much you read each day to go into the draw to win great prizes! With bonus challenges to complete to increase your chance to win, this is a fun way to encourage kids aged 6-17 to engage with reading.

We also hold craft activities and other events over the summer as part of the School Holiday program (see above), so keep an eye on our Events page and follow us on Facebook.

National Simultaneous Storytime (NSS) is held annually in May.  Every year, a picture book that is both written and illustrated by an Australian is read simultaneously in libraries, schools, pre-schools, childcare centres, and many more places all around the country!

In 2024, the picture book chosen is Bowerbird Blues by Aura Parker.

About the author
Aura Parker is an award-winning illustrator, writer and designer. Her picture books are joyful with a playful sense of humour, brimming with details to explore. Aura Parker’s storytelling though words and pictures inspires imagination, courage and confidence in young readers as well as a love, curiosity and passion for nature.