The Little Bookroom and Lost in Books collaborate on ‘All the Ways to be Smart’ giveaway
Melbourne specialist children’s bookshop The Little Bookroom and Sydney-based multilingual children’s bookshop and social enterprise Lost in Books are collaborating on a picture book giveaway.
Based in the culturally diverse suburb of Fairfield, Sydney, Lost in Books will host a story reading event on 3 May, where children who have recently arrived in Australia—many from Iraq and Syria—will be given a copy of All the Ways to be Smart (Davina Bell & Allison Colpoys, Scribble) as a gift from The Little Bookroom in Melbourne.
At the event, author Davina Bell will read the story to the children while Lost in Books staff member Afaf Al-Shammari will translate into Arabic.
The Little Bookroom owner Leesa Lambert said she was moved to offer something meaningful in support of the children who visit Lost in Books after hearing the shop’s founder Jane Stratton speak at a conference last year. Lambert added that the community around The Little Bookroom is ‘fanatical’ about Bell and Colpoys’ book, which celebrates the individual and different qualities of each child.
‘It’s an empowering book that I think makes our world better,’ said Lambert. ‘I wanted to make an offer to the children in Lost in Books’ community so that the message could get to as many children as possible.’
Stratton said that most of the children receiving a book do not speak English at home with their families. ‘At Lost in Books there are many children in our communities who are going to school in a new country, learning their second or third language. They need the message of this book, that there are many ways to be smart and we value all of them.’
The two shops plan to continue their collaborative work, and have begun working on a list of children’s books promoting radical kindness.
Category: Junior Local news
