Best and Worst Evening draws large audience

Gavin Bishop’s best picture books

The Best and Worst Books for Children evening was attended by over 70 book lovers last night. Held at South Library, the audience keenly followed the advice from experts such as local author, Gavin Bishop, to enjoy the delights of picture books. He gave special mention to Grandpa Green by Lane Smith which uses topiary as a metaphor for memory loss to help children understand Alzheimers.

Heather Orman, a teacher from Thorrington school shared what works well in the classroom. One of her favourites for encouraging wonderful visual art and story writing was Tell me a Dragon by Jackie Morris.

Sheila Sinclair of the Children’s Bookshop waxed lyrical about the beauties of Northwood by Brian Falkner and shared her store’s best sellers for the year. No one guessed the Auckland top seller, which was Curly from Shirley by Emma Pullar. Sheila felt this expressed in a very tangible way the positive wishes of other New Zealanders for Christchurch’s recovery.

Louise Easter, children’s literature expert from Christchurch City Libraries shared her selection of books that were perhaps not at the top of her Christmas list and you can read the  full list of the libraries’ recommendations for good holiday reading for children and young adults on the library website.