PUKU.co.za

A Visit to The Bookery on Mandela Day

by Bontle on 19 Jul 2010   |   

In the spirit of the Mandela Day celebrations, I went to Equal Education’s Bookery on Sunday to donate some children’s picture books. The Bookery will be opened for most of the day to accept book donations and when I arrived, I found many members of the organisation, accepting and covering books.

For those who wanted to donate but were not in Cape Town yesterday, EE also had drop off points the North West, Gauteng, and Kwa-Zulu Natal. The organisation urged companies, publishers, and all South Africans to donate and also give few hours covering books that will be delivered in schools.

Fiona Ingram on Writing Children's Books

by Bontle on 12 Jul 2010   |   

Fiona Ingram is the author of award-winning children’s book The Secret of the Sacred Scarab in the Chronicles of the Stone series. Ingram is a journalist and lives in South Africa. In the interview, Ingram talks about the inspiration behind her children’s books and gives advice about writing for children.

The Secret of the Sacred Scarab is a thrilling adventure of two young boys, whose fun trip to Egypt turns into a dangerously exciting quest to uncover an ancient and mysterious secret.

A 5000-year-old mystery comes to life when a scruffy peddler gives Adam and Justin Sinclair an old Egyptian scarab on their very first day in Egypt. The boys embark upon the adventure of a lifetime, taking them down the Nile and across the harsh desert in their search for the legendary tomb of the Scarab King, an ancient Egyptian ruler. With just their wits, courage, and each other, the boys manage to survive … only to find that the end of one journey is the beginning of another!

• Listen to the Podcast

Book details

• The Secret of the Sacred Scarab by Fiona Ingram
  EAN: 9780595719778
  Find this book with BOOK Finder!

Join Gruffalo and Spot, the Dog at Boekehuis

by Bontle on 06 Jul 2010   |   

Boekehuis celebrates Spot’s 30th birthday tomorrow on Wednesday, July 7. Everyone can bring a gift for Spot: Boekehuis is collecting dog food for Spot’s friends at the SPCA. While 2 year olds are celebrating with Spot, 4 year olds have a story-time with Gruffalo. The event starts at 10:30am.

Boekehuis Bookshop is at 34 Fawley Street, corner Lothbury, Auckland Park, Johannesburg.

• Visit the Jozikids Website for More Holiday Events

Book details

• Spot Goes to The Park by Eric Hill
  EAN: 9780723264590
  Find this book with BOOK Finder!

• Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson
  EAN: 9780330507417
  Find this book with BOOK Finder!

Rosebank Mall's Exclusive Books Presents Story-time

by Bontle on 30 Jun 2010   |   

The Exclusive Books at Rosebank Mall has a whole section devoted to children’s and young adult literature that takes up almost half the store. It’s well-worth a visit by itself but now children and parents can join Exclusive Books every Wednesday and Saturday for story-time. Themes vary and the fun starts at 10am.

PUKU Visits Love Books in Melville

by Bontle on 09 Jun 2010   |   

Melville’s Love Books is a surprise. Tucked away in Bamboo Square, at Cnr 9th Street and 53 Rustenburg Road, walking passed you could miss it altogether among the restaurants and antique stores on that short strip. That would definately be any passer-bys loss.

The children’s section of Love Books is visually exciting and full of new books. I was told that many new books have just arrived and previewed some of the new arrivals. The selection on offer is diverse with everything from young adult to art books to books that allow young readers to create their own super heroes or animals. Along with old favourites like Dr Seuss, many South African picture books are also on offer with some available in Afrikaans as well.

Love Books has a themed story-time every Saturday at 10am and it’s definitely worth a visit for children and adults alike.

• Read here for more on Love Books and other similar spots in Jnb

A Visit to Cape Town's BookWorld Jnr

by Bontle on 02 Jun 2010   |   

Tucked away in Rondebosch’s Riverside Mall, BookWorld Jnr. carries a wide range of books to suit children of all ages and tastes. This bookshop has sections dedicated to young adult fiction, non-fiction, picture books, and classics as well as the more unusual reference, manga and comic books.

The store opened 2 years ago as an offshoot of BookWorld, a book store geared towards adult readers. BookWorld has branches in Knysna, Lake Side and Sea Point.

Sunday Times Promotes Literacy Through its Storybook Campaign at the Franschoek Literary Festival

by Nonikiwe - Editor on 10 May 2010   |   

Here’s more of a reason to make your way to the Fraschoek Literary Festival this weekend. Read more here.

The Franschhoek Literary Festival takes place next weekend, from May 14 to 16, and the Sunday Times, as part of its sponsorship of the festival, will be hard at work promoting literacy through its Storybook campaign.
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Aside from the range of excellent events that form part of the main festival programme, the Sunday Times is hosting dinners on Friday and Saturday nights.

Guests at the dinners will be donating R100 to storybooks for schools from the R250 cover price.

Though Saturday’s event, at Reuben’s, is sold out, there are still places available for the first event, on Friday May 14 at Le Brasserie, at which Sunday Times books editor Tymon Smith will be in conversation with John van der Ruit, author of the Spud novels and director and producer of Spud, the movie.

Visitors to the festival will be able to buy two storybooks in either English, isiZulu, isiXhosa, Sesotho or Afrikaans for R30, and four books will be given to a school on their behalf.

Visitors who buy a subscription to the Sunday Times at the festival will get a book voucher from Exclusive Books and they will have four books given on their behalf to a school.

The Sunday Times will donate more than 2000 storybooks to Grade R to Grade 6 pupils at Groendal Primary, and Avusa Education will hold teacher workshops in the Franschhoek area during the weekend on how to use newspapers as a resource in the classroom.

• Read complete articel at Timeslive

Celebrating Books and Reading for Kids at Centre for the Book

by Nonikiwe - Editor on 03 May 2010   |   

On Thursday 29th April exactly about a week after World Book Day, Centre for the Book Celebrated World Book Day with four schools from Cape Town, they had been closed on the 23rd hence celebrating some days later.
The four schools, Kensington Creche, Pikkieland, Bambi Educare and Goodhope Primary each brought their Grade R students for a day of stories, singing, movement, books and picnics. Programme Co-ordinator Rochelle Fleshman spoke to the children about World Book Day and the importance of books and reading. After the brief talk the kids sang some songs with Jos Worwitz, head of Herzlia Pre-Primary who then introduced another teacher from Herzlia to do some storytelling with the children.
After the storytelling the kids all got books to take home with guidelines that had a particular emphasis on ‘Caring for Books’. Teachers also got books to add to their library stock. After all the formalities, the kids got to unwind and play games, get gifts and have a nutritious picnic.
For more view live session below.

Edual Education Asks Government for One School One Library and One Librarian

by Nonikiwe - Editor on 12 Apr 2010   |   

One pupil who was part of the March on Human Rights Day 21st March summed it up beautifully when saying, “Having a library is not a favour that the government gives us, it is our right. My parents voted. I want their vote to be heard. We are marching, but we have done this before. Why must we shout for what we need?”. Graeme Bloch and Njabulo Ndebele Marched along-side the many students that day and this is what they had to say about this worthy campaign.

As Equal Education says: “The provision of a school library is not a luxury, but a necessity … a school library on its own remains insufficient – for a school library to be at its most productive, its resources must be managed by a qualified librarian.”

Among all the other needs in teaching, a school library can help improve performance by between 10% and 20%.

sThis campaign deserves our support. We should all raise an angry, but focused, voice. There are two reasons: the first is the impact of libraries on reading; the second is giving pupils access to a safe space to study, given a hectic township and home life.

Inequalities in access to books resound across the system, reinforce social inequalities and hold us back as a developing nation from achieving outcomes or utilising the human talents with which we are blessed.

Books and a love of reading are key drivers of successful education. For this reason alone, the campaign for one school, one library, one librarian must get our active support.

Perhaps more importantly is that young people themselves are making this demand.

On the same day the pupils marched, Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe called on South Africans not to burn libraries to get attention.

Yet, in one service protest last year in Siyathemba, Mpumulanga, young people destroyed the municipal library, where many students spend their time. The next day, the government was there to ask what could be done.

Outside the Jub Jub bail hearing, angry students demonstrated for four days during school time, and Cosas, the high school organisation, threatened to meet police with rocks and petrol bombs. Only a strong community response and the rallying of parents calmed them down.

The Equal Education students, by contrast, had to fight to be heard and still do not have a plan from the government on how their needs will be addressed.

The march was a peaceful mass demonstration. Its discipline and the lack of any aggression were a tribute to the pupils of Cape Town. Young people are learning to take their lives into their own hands and to act for their goals. In an inspiring message, they are telling us that they will not stand by while an education system fails them.

With thousands of marshals to keep the peace, with the government present, led by basic education director-general Bobby Soobrayan, they announced that principled activism is not dead among young people. They are concerned about their future. By coming to town, they showed that they will not be confined to ghettoes of inequality or hide away unseen, but will claim the streets of the city as the stage on which to act.

Led in an inclusive and engaging way, they called on the citizens of the city and country to hear their pleas. They have run an entirely sophisticated campaign. They have written articles in newspapers based on extensive research. They have come to meetings of academics at the University of the Western Cape to argue their case. They have drawn professional librarians to their cause and have called on middle classes, black and white, to join them.

On Thursday, the Development Bank of Southern Africa had a meeting with Yoliswa Dwane of Equal Education, government officials and business to discuss a response. This is a campaign not only for those who do not have, but for all of us.

The students have mobilised and have shown in a disciplined and huge march that their cause has support and that they are prepared to act to achieve their goals.

It is not hard to begin to address their needs. Firstly, there is the goodwill of corporates and ordinary citizens. Equal Education (like other organisations such as Biblionef or Rotary) has been collecting books from the public and asking us to help stock libraries with our old books. They have organised read-ins and thus asked for older citizens, for experienced grannies with skills, to help inspire our young, helping them to know the pleasure of the book.

• Read Complete Article at Times Live

Story-Time at Libraries in Johannesburg

by Bontle on 07 Apr 2010   |   

Bedfordview Library has story-time on Tuesdays. Every Tuesday at 10am, preschoolers are invited to the Kids’ Corner for storytelling and colouring. Story-time is also on the last Wednesday of the month from 3pm to 4pm.

Linden Library has story-times from 3pm on Wednesdays. Linden Library is at Cnr 4th and 6th Streets, Linden.

Rivonia Library presents story-time and a fun activity for children aged 3 and up every Thursday at 3pm.

Melville Library brings children World Cup Soccer Fever with games, activities, coulouring and stories from April 1 -17. On April 8th, the library will have an information session on the World Cup that includes discussions on the beautiful game and its history, their favourite team and getting into the World Cup spirit. The event kicks off at 10am. Melvlille Library is at Cnr Main and Ayr Streets, Melville.

Olivedale Library presents story-time for children aged 3 and above on Friday mornings at 10am. Olivedale Library is on President Fouche drive next to Olivedale Clinic.

Phiri Library has stories and a fun activity every Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoon from 2pm- 3pm. Phiri Library is at 448 Mabalane Street, Soweto.

• Read About More Library Story-Times