Haberfield Public School librarian Michael Fraser oversees a library with 22,000 books, with titles for every age and interest, including Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in Latin.
The school has embedded books into its daily rhythm, with lunchtime reading circles where library monitors from Years 3 to 6 read to younger students. The library is open to parents and carers before and after school so they can read with their children or help select a new book to borrow.
“Once kids love reading, they will be readers for life,” Mr Fraser said.
“We see it in our reading circles, with students sitting around at lunchtime chatting about books. It’s wonderful.”
“Most kids today have never been in a bookshop and busy parents often don’t have time to take them to the local library, so the role of the school and the school library is even more important.”
Both boys and girls at Haberfield Public School enjoy Enid Blyton’s The Famous Five, the Treehouse series by Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton, the Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Harry Potter titles.
“Girls like books about relationships so series like The Baby-Sitters Club are popular. Boys often go for graphic novels. They like reading the text in chunks and they love the illustrations,” Mr Fraser said.
A librarian for 26 years, Mr Fraser encourages students to read the classics, like the timeless Paddington Bear, the relatable characters in Enid Blyton’s catalogue, the Asterix graphic novels and Tintin.
What’s in the library bag?
An analysis by the NSW Department of Education of borrowing patterns in public primary school libraries shows clusters of popular authors across different year levels.
Australian author Aaron Blabey is phenomenally popular with students in their first two years of school.
Blabey’s Pig the Pug series – picture books about a rude and mean little dog – dominates library borrowing lists in Kindergarten and Year 1, with Pig the Pug, Pig the Star, Pig the Blob, Pig the Tourist and Pig the Monster, competing with another Blabey title, Thelma the Unicorn.
In Year 2, Dav Pilkey – the American comic book writer of children’s fiction – takes line honours with the Dogman series, a graphic novel spinoff of his Captain Underpants franchise. Popular titles are Dog Man, Dog Man: Unleashed and Dog Man: A Tale of Two Kitties.
By Year 3, Dogman is still featuring in the top books borrowed, joined by Roald Dahl’s classic Fantastic Mr Fox.
From Year 4 to Year 6 American cartoonist and author Raina Telgemeier cleans up with her autobiographical webcomic Smile, and graphic novels Ghosts (about a girl who can see ghosts), Guts (about the author’s stomach problems and adventures at school) and Sisters (growing up with her younger sister).
Haberfield Public School Year 6 student Cecilia Cowell loves reading Roald Dahl and graphic novels – “and all the Harry Potter books” – as well as non-fiction titles about cooking, animals and countries.
“Reading teaches me a lot about the world and connects me all around the world,” she said. “If I’m enjoying a book, I’m in my own world.”
School captain Cecilia has these words of wisdom for kids who may not enjoy reading: “Just start with something easy and work up from there. If you start with something hard or boring, you will just give up.”