It’s completely interactive, so children can select their own stories from a range of 500, and follow the text on the screen as the story is read out to them. It’s a good alternative to Toddler Time if you can’t make it to the library’s sessions on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings at 10.30.

At Toddler Time, library staff read the stories and then engage the children in a simple handicraft – everyone is welcome – the young and the young at heart!  It’s also a good networking opportunity for young mothers – they can meet with others whose children are the same age, and chat after the stories. 

Older children have a chance to engage with Junior Brain Games, an after-school activity held every Wednesday afternoon from 3.30pm until 4.30pm. There’s reading, book discussion, and plenty of activities such as join-the-dots, find the objects, mazes, and other brain-twisting activities to hone mental skills.

If your child needs reading help and/or encouragement, ask about the library’s Bookends program, where seniors are available to be “borrowed” for 20 minutes to listen to young readers and offer help and encouragement. Bookends takes place after school on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, and seniors can be booked on a regular basis or for a special one-off event. 

Plenty of new books have been added to the collection this week. There’s The Woman on the Orient Express, a large print novel by Lindsay Ashford – join Agatha Christie and her cabin mates in an epic voyage towards the Middle East. Set in the Australian mining town of Kalgoorlie, The Secrets We Keep is a debut novel by Shirley Patton, while The Shepherd’s Hut is by multiple prize-winner Tim Winton.

And just for fun, How to Make Trouble and Influence People: Pranks, Protests, Graffiti & Political Mischief-Making from Across Australia by Ian McIntyre has “over 500 tales from the time of colonisation all the way to the present”.

See you soon at the library.