There can be something magical about committing your stories to the page, not just for your own benefit but for those who read them.
Recently I spoke with Dr Lara Cain Gray (pictured), who knows a lot about stories. She is the head of acquisitions at Library For All (LFA – libraryforall.org), a social enterprise of Save the Children Australia. In less than 15 years, LFA has developed a collection of more than 4000 picture books – fiction and non-fiction – in 36 languages. That collection is currently being used in community learning settings in at least 16 countries.
GLOBAL LITERACY
The aim of LFA, through this library collection, is to support global literacy by ensuring access to engaging and culturally relevant books and learning materials for those least served by formal education.
Dr Cain Gray says, ‘Children must learn to read, so they can read to learn’. She explains how stories can work like ‘mirrors’ or ‘windows’. ‘Mirrors’ reflect our daily life, our culture, local environment, and our language. People in the stories look like us. We can relate to them. In contrast, ‘windows’ allow us to look outwards, to glimpse other worlds or to experience imaginary ones.
Ideally, young readers need a mix of story books: ‘mirrors’ and ‘windows’. The difficulty in many parts of the world, particularly where resources are severely limited, is that young learners are often taught using story books that come from faraway places and other cultures – ‘window’ books.
Yet higher levels of literacy are reached when children have access to a combination of ‘mirror’ books and ‘window’ books. LFA ensures that the majority of books it makes available, in the countries where it has community programs, are written by local people. Those community programs are spread across the globe, from Ukraine and Zambia to Bhutan and Kiribati. As a result, young readers learn to read in a relevant language, and sometimes at the request of the community the books are bilingual.
OUR YARNING
LFA is also active in Australia, with the Our Yarning series of First Nations’ stories. The publisher says, ‘The Our Yarning stories grew out of concerns about the lack of diversity in children’s reading, particularly books written by the community. We began work on the collection in 2021, with the goal of 500 books written by experienced and emerging Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, reflecting culture, Country, connections, community, and family.’
The purpose of the Our Yarning books was to supply ‘mirror’ books for First Nations children to help boost literacy. ‘Of course, these books are equally valuable for cultural learning and discussion with non-Aboriginal people,’ she adds.
About 70 per cent of the stories published by LFA are written by local community members during workshops in their community. Those authors, most of whom have never written a book before, could be teachers, emerging writers or interested adults.
Consequently, the books developed by LFA are part of a much bigger process of community involvement. This ensures that the stories are responsive to specific cultural and community needs, and that there is a celebration of local culture. Bringing stories to the page the LFA way is a participatory process that gives voice to communities and often brings joy.
APPEALING TO CHILDREN
Dr Cain Gray says, ‘While the books are educational, and yes, there might be decodable words in the stories, basically we produce books that appeal to children, with bright colours and illustrations of kids who look like them!’
She also adds that through having access to books, the youngsters learn they can be a reader and a writer. ‘Once they become literate, there’s a sense that they can tell their own story on the page.’ There’s real power in having a voice, and a belief that your story, whether as a community or as an individual, is worthy of being published.
Sometimes instead of giving communities printed books, educators are given a Spark Box, which is a tough box containing Android tablets, pre-loaded with LFA books. Each tablet can be used offline and off-grid. All the tablets are charged together with one cable. (As the Spark Box is built specifically for LFA programs, it does not provide access to the internet.)
Each Spark Box is tailored to the needs of that community. However, the strategy of each library is 70 per cent ‘mirrors’ and 30 per cent ‘windows’.
The books range from beginner readers to level 6 – adventurous readers. There are also questions at the end of each book to assist educators and parents.
In some countries where children are learning with LFA resources, the teachers might not have had a lot of training, so the Spark Box, like the packs of printed books, are valuable resources. Working in so many countries, partnerships are vital for LFA.
RELATIONSHIPS
‘Relationships are key to our work,’ Dr Cain Gray remarks. She adds that LFA and their partners can’t just go into a community with books. They need to take time. Build relationships. Really listen. See what arises.
‘The pathway to peace is to understand other people and give them time so we can listen to their stories,’ she says. It is only after listening that the process of developing the stories and turning them into books can take shape.
This publisher is keen to hear from any teachers who identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders who would like to write for the Our Yarning series. Periodically LFA runs workshops for the wider Australian community to participate in too.
Finally, Dr Cain Gray would like to encourage schools and communities across Australia to use the LFA app or stock their books, and dive into this unique collection of stories – a true library for all.
Michele Gierck, author of children’s picture book Gladys and Stripey: Two little fish on one BIG adventure.
Authentic storytelling
The Our Yarning collection of First Nations Stories, written by First Nations authors from a range of communities, are published by Library For All (LFA). At heart, it is authentic storytelling.
Many of the topics are drawn from daily life experiences of the authors and include nature play, Australian animals, bush food, sustainability, sport and games. This makes them ideal as home readers or conversation starters.
According to Dr Cain Gray, head of acquisitions at LFA, ‘The collection supports teachers to provide culturally diverse resources in the classroom. These books address the Australian Curriculum’s cross-curriculum priority of delivering learning area content at the same time as developing knowledge, understanding and skills relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures.’
Library For All is in the process of developing teaching notes for this collection.
For more information, or to purchase individual books or class sets, refer to the Our Yarning Shop.
The Grown-Up’s Guide to Picture Books
Head of acquisitions at Library For All, Dr Lara Cain Gray, is author of the recently released book The Grown-Up’s Guide to Picture Books. It’s an A-to-Z of picture books, with topics from covers, illustrations and magic, to language, titles and narrative structure.
‘The seed for this project was firmly planted the day a Year 4 teacher told my daughter she was too old to bring a picture book for Show and Tell! It helped me realise how many people think the only purpose of a picture book is to entertain pre- and early readers. Of course, picture books are wonderful additions to a child’s early literacy journey, but the belief that to progress we must leave them behind and move on to “proper” books is unfortunate.’
She hopes her book will encourage adults ‘to take a fresh look at how we remember, understand and reflect on picture books – grown-up style’.
REFLECTION QUESTIONS AND ACTIVITIES
Comparing celebrations and blessings in world religions and cultures
Younger students will compare Advent and the Catholic liturgical calendar with Chinese New Year, while older students will use the mirror and window strategy to develop understanding of different faith traditions and their own beliefs.