School Librarian of Aotearoa: Esther Casey

The Sapling has published an article on 1 Oct 2019 titled 'School Librarian of Aotearoa: Esther Casey' available here, who teaches in Te Puna Ngoi, the library at Sylvia Park School, Auckland.

Quoting Esther Casey from the article:

The books that work best with kids are, of course, those they can relate to - characters that look like them, do the things they do, or that they connect with in some way. But I think good books need to do more by challenging students with fresh perspectives, vocabulary or content.

If we want kids to read, we need to make sure that every child has joyful access to a huge variety of literature. A targeted school library collection that is promoted and used and accessible is so important! We know that reading for pleasure has a positive impact on many aspects of their lives, and our best opportunity to build the reading habit is at school.

When we work well as a team of teachers, librarians and whānau, we have the best chance of getting kids finding reading material that they will love.

One of our favourite collections in Te Puna Ngoi is displayed on our Writers' Wall. These are all books or book inspired art made by our students or classes. We wanted to give students an authentic audience for their writing and we really celebrate it when a student makes a book that we can add to this collection. All their books are catalogued so the authors can find their names and their books alongside other, perhaps more well known, writers.