Numbers are not the most important thing when it comes to books and reading, but it is interesting to note that BWYR last week reached between 7 000 and 8 000 young readers and potential readers from pre-school to Matric in the Franschhoek valley. That took 60 volunteer book people – storytellers, writers, illustrators, poets […]
Franschhoek: Book week for Young Readers (BWYR) Read More »
The final programme is in and the excitement is building for the week when book people meet children in Franschhoek before the festival begins. This year we have over fifty visitors confirmed and we will begin with the pre-readers and early readers on Monday 15th and work our way steadily through until a programme for
Franschhoek Book Week for Young Readers 15-18 May Read More »
Our theme for the next three months will be Local Heroes and we got off to a heroic start on Saturday where we introduced the idea of reading heroes and the fact that – whatever kind of hero you want to be – you have to read. The team was a large one. We were
Stanford Heroes Workshop April 22 Read More »
On Saturday 22 April at 10.30 we will assemble once again at the Butterfly Centre, this time for a celebration of Local Heroes. Inspirational singer-songwriter Blaq Pearl will be with us again and the children will be writing, and performing, their own song: ‘We can do it!’ Sports heroes will also be represented, with Shane
Stanford Local Heroes Read More »
Eggzactly as eggspected, 21 children arrived at the Butterfly Centre for a pre-holiday weekend workshop that promised fun stories, fun books … and also fun. This time we began (after some stretching and tummy-rubbing to warm up) with a longer story than usual, the charming tale narrated by the Number One Car Spotter from his
The Stanford Fun Workshop 13 April Read More »
We will be exploring some design ideas around the shape of eggs, decorating real eggs and – most importantly – hearing some stories that are mostly for fun this time. There is a faint possibility that we might have some chocolate eggs to take home as well. The children will be meeting at 10.00 at
Eggs-actly! A fun workshop in Stanford 13 April Read More »
We took an exceptionally well behaved group of children to Overberg Honey on 10th April, accompanied by community helper Akona and volunteer Anne Mckeag. Overberg Honey is beautifully thought out for groups of visiting children – and not everywhere can claim that! The two guides (Nauthaando and Aaron), who took us through the process of
CBN was there! Lesley Beake visited Good Hope Seminary Junior in Cape Town and shared books with a marathon number of children (well, she did offer!). This school has a very active chapter of Shine Literacy – http://www.shineliteracy.org.za/ – and we were very glad to make contact with this wonderful organization that does such a
World Book Day 2 February Read More »
Today – 16th February – is a big day in the reading calendar. It might not attract as much attention as the better publicized St Valentine’s Day, but it has more meaning for the many children around the world who have stories read aloud to them on this date. Long before they can read themselves,
World read Aloud Day! Read More »
Franschhoek 15 to 18 May 2017: Encouraging a culture of reading in the Franschhoek valley and raising funds for a new community library and local school libraries were important reasons for establishing the Franschhoek Literary Festival in 2007. The FLF Library Fund has invested extensively in four primary school libraries and continuing book donations to
Franschhoek 6th Book Week for Young Readers Read More »
Day Two and a different set of children – and expectations. We foregathered for games to let off steam and then separated for different activities. De Bron Primary School kindly provided the venue. The First Camps Bay Scouts once more obliged by helping. This time we worked more on the idea of description filling out
CBN and Stanford Creative Works workshop Two Read More »
We were delighted to be asked to be involved in an annual initiative to give children in Stanford something to do in the holidays. In the first of two morning workshops, we tackled the topic of Family with around 25 children from different grades, speaking different languages and from different backgrounds – and all getting
CBN and Stanford Creative Works workshop One Read More »
The Stanford creative works initiative is a community based project that offers after school creative workshops as well as school based skills development groups and a school readiness program for children from impoverished communities in Stanford. The workshops accommodate children from 3 to 13 year of age and the activities that we offer are art
Stanford Creative Works – holiday workshops Read More »
CBN’s core purpose is to encourage a love of reading among children who can read, but don’t. We began this through workshops, and this has been the prime testing ground for ideas that potentially can carry the purpose forward. It has always been clear that a small (however dedicated) team cannot make a difference to
Toolboxes: Future development and current activities Read More »
Our thanks to our Chairman of the Board of CBN, Roy Zazeraj When we begin a workshop, we always tell the children that they are now part of a network of friends, a network that extends throughout the world of people and deep into the world of books. Without our friends, CBN would not exist;
Friends, friends … and even better friends Read More »
Mike Fisher wrote the following extract in The Guardian newspaper (quoted from Jay Heale’s Bookchat, with thanks.) He’s right! ‘Bored out of their skulls by real life,’ is an interesting concept, but when your daily round consists, as it must, of pretty dull events (school springs to mind), what can we expect? If even adults
The competition for books and reading Read More »
Ten librarians from five schools gathered on a Saturday 10 September at Groendal Primary in Franschhoek to listen with interest to a presentation – and then demonstration – of the new CBN toolboxes. Their reaction was heart-warming. Plans are afoot to start a network in Franschhoek to use the toolboxes as a team with children
Lively Librarians Workshop Report Read More »
Today is the day when the world should be focussing on literacy. We SHOULD be. It is the single best chance for a way forward in a troubled world. One school celebrating out of doors in the crisp Drakensberg air is Goxhill Primary School, which sent us this photograph of Mrs Dlamini reading a Zulu
World Literacy Day Read More »
Franschhoek Toolbox Workshop: 10 September This workshop is an invitation to explore ideas about bringing books to children – and children to books, Background: CBN has had the toolboxes in its sights for three years now, and we have tested all the books and activities during our workshops. What you will see today is the
A workshop for teacher-librarians and readers Read More »
‘It Wasn’t Me!’ by Lesley Beake, Gwendoline van der Merwe, and Alexandria Mackinnon has been published online by Book Dash and is available for download. You can view it here: http://bookdash.org/wasnt-lesley-beake-gwendoline-van-der-merwe-alexandria-mackinnon/ Please share the link online, and tag Book Dash if you like. You can also encourage friends and family to download our Android app
‘It wasn’t me’: Published online! Read More »
