Premier's Reading Challenge

I was in the library yesterday, copying the roughs for Sheep, Goat and the Creaking Gate to use in school visits. I always check in the picture book section to see if my books are there. If so, I make sure they are visible. If not, I smile because it means that someone has borrowed it.

Anyhoo, there was a mother madly foraging through the chapter books with a rolled up newspaper beneath her arm. She pulled the newspaper out and checked it. That's when I realised it was the Premier's Reading Challenge list for 2009. I remembered then that the list was to be included in 15 Feb's Sunday Age, and went scurrying home to drag the paper out of the recycle bin. I found the list and checked it for my titles and for those of friends.

It's a great thing for readers this challenge, listing so many books they might like to read. It's a great thing for writers/illustrators to have their titles included on the list. Not sure librarians are so excited by the list, as no list can be completely inclusive and there are plenty of other good books on the shelf. But any initiative that guides a few more children into a longterm reading habit is a good one I reckon.