Bookaburras Ambassador brings books to the regions
Author Renae Hayward will visit three kindergartens for the regional celebration of the 2025 Books for Little Bookaburras program this week.
Starting at Beachlands KindiLink, on Wednesday 28 May, Renae will hand out mini-libraries to the students before running an interactive storytime session.
Renae said she was looking forward to meeting the children in person. She said, ‘Sharing a book with a favourite grown-up is one of the best ways to develop literacy in kids. Reading together lets children explore and experiment with language and build an understanding of how sounds, structures and words work.’
Renae is part of a growing group of sponsors and creatives helping share a mini-library of local books with more than 4500 Western Australian children.
CEO of Fremantle Press Alex Allan said, ‘Last year over a third of our participants were based in regional areas. Some two hundred of the total number of children had no other access to books, and others didn’t have homes to take them to at all. The program is providing a much-needed permanent resource for families – a set of books for the kids to treasure and a valuable resource for carers to use to build literacy and a life-long love of stories.’
She said Renae’s visit was made possible thanks to an extended partnership with the Premier’s Reading Challenge and KindiLinks. Alex said, ‘We’re excited to have the opportunity to engage more directly with regional families and to celebrate the amazing work of our dedicated regional teachers.’
This mini-library is designed to encourage a love of stories, by including new books from local authors, including First Nations storytellers, which can be shared and enjoyed by families.
Each Little Bookaburra participant will receive a copy of the board books Say Hello or Say Goodnight by Renae Hayward and Rebecca Mills, an Indigenous title: Crow and The Water Hole by Ambelin Kwaymullina or In Your Dreams by Sally Morgan and Bronwyn Bancroft, and a more advanced story to be read aloud: Shine by Danny Parker and Ruth de Vos, or Where Do the Stars Go? or When I Can Fly by Katie Stewart. All the creators of the 2025 books have donated their royalites back to the program, adding to the growing support for this initiative.
The Books for Little Bookaburras program is sponsored by the Stan Perron Charitable Foundation, Wright Burt Foundation, Hesperia Group, Paul Jones in memory of Allan and Wendy Jones, Louise Jones in memory of Beverley Jones, the Barton Family Foundation, and Hartree and Associates Architects.
The children at Beachlands KindiLink will be the very first to receive their mini-libraries on Wednesday 28 May, with the official launch of the program to take place in early June.
