Our reading champions love to read and may be able to visit some schools during the challenge!
Jodi Upton and Maxi Bear
Tell us a little bit about you:
Maxi and I work for the Department for Education, Children and Young People. We help support schools to run their Launching into Learning programs and we also love helping families with ideas of how they can support their child’s learning and development.
Why do you think reading is important?
Reading is such a great skill, because it can help you find out about things, and it can also take you to places and situations that you might not experience in your everyday life.
My favourite book/s:
As an adult: Jodi – The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
As a child: Jodi – The Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton,
Maxi – We Love Country by Kylie Dickson, Leanne Pelikan and Nicole Smith
My guilty reading pleasure:
I love reading young adult fiction, tucked up in front of the fire with a cup of tea and a Tim Tam.
If I wasn’t doing my current job, I would like to be:
A presenter on Play School (but my job is a bit like that anyway!)
My Reading Tip:
Reading to babies and toddlers is a great opportunity to snuggle up and enjoy time together. You don’t need to finish the whole book in one sitting, just make it a fun time together. And looking at the pictures, talking about what you see and wonder, can be just as valuable as reading the words on the page. Time together looking at books helps young children associate reading with love and feeling safe and sets them up for a lifetime of reading enjoyment.
Where can we find out more about you?
Visit Maxi and I on the Great Start website, Facebook and Instagram.
Andrew Harris
Tell us a little bit about you:
I have been a teacher with the department for over 30 years, working predominantly in the primary schools across the north and northeast. Since 2015, I have been working in curriculum and program support for food and fibre – agricultural education. Originally this role was closely associated with the Hagley Farm School Agricultural learning Centre, but in recent years has been based within Development and Support – Teaching and Learning unit.
My current role, Statewide Coordinator for Primary Schools to Primary Industries & Revitalising School Farms, is both incredibly challenging and rewarding. Along with the co-development of curriculum and program support resources for schools, the role involves developing and maintaining strong collaborations with universities, TasTAFE, educators, industry and industry representative bodies, both locally and nationally.
In 2016, along with my former colleague Mick Davy, I was fortunate to receive and complete an eight-week Hardie Fellowship study tour of the USA, specifically to look at agricultural education. This amazing opportunity was career defining and continues to shape my thinking and ongoing efforts towards improving food and fibre – agricultural education in Tasmanian schools.
One very special experience during the USA tour involved learning about a national ‘Ag Literacy’ program which is aimed at elementary schools across many states. As a direct result, and through Revitalising School Farms funding, we have now created the ‘Bale of Books’ resource for years Prep to six. The ‘Bale of Books’ is based on a set of contemporary high quality children’s picture books, mostly Australian, and each supported by a contextually relevant learning sequence. The aim of the resource is to engage younger students in food and fibre education through reading and wonderful books.
The Bale of books suite of resources will soon be available on the Teaching and Learning Centre. In the meantime, the complete book list and set of supporting learning sequences can be accessed by contacting andrew.harris@decyp.tas.gov.au
Why do you think reading is important?
Reading is a fundamental skill that enables anyone and everyone to engage with society, learn new things, reduce their stress through enjoyment and relaxation, and to access and succeed in career and employment choices.
My favourite book/s:
As an adult: the fantasy/sci fi genre – Tolkien, Le Guin, Feist
As a child: the Little Golden Book range
My guilty reading pleasure:
Gardening Australia Magazine, the BomberBlitz fan blog
If I wasn’t doing my current job, I would like to be:
A primary producer (farmer of some sort)
My Reading Tip:
When reading for enjoyment, read what you enjoy!
Where can we find out more about you?
Via email andrew.harris@decyp.tas.gov.au
Dr Lucy Christopher
Tell us a little bit about you:
I am a writer of stories, a reader of stories, and a teacher of how to write stories. Basically, I love books and all the many stories they contain! I even have a PhD in Creative Writing, making me technically a Doctor of Books! I have written lots of different types of books, ranging from picture books for the early years, to Young Adult fiction, to psychological thrillers for adults. I have won lots of awards for my stories too, including the Branford Boase in the UK, the Prix Farniente in Belgium, and the Printz Honor Award in America. Here in Australia, I have been shortlisted for the Australian Prime Minister’s Awards (twice) and won the Gold Inky Award and the CBCA Shadowers’ Choice Award. Previously I worked in the UK as a Course Director on a prestigious Masters Program in Writing for Young People at Bath Spa University, but now I work as Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Tasmania. I am also on the working group for the bid for Hobart to become a UNESCO City of Literature.
Why do you think reading is important?
Reading is important for so many reasons! It enables relaxation time and space away from screens, it helps improve your imagination, as well as increase your vocabulary, and reading even strengthens neurological pathways to help build empathy. In short, reading helps you to be kinder! You ever heard the expression “You never know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk about in them” (which is also from a book)? Well, books let you do just that – reading helps you to experience and empathise with so many different points of view and ways of life. And if that isn’t a kind of magic, I don’t know what is!
My favourite book/s:
As an adult: The Wolf Hall trilogy by Hilary Mantel
As a child: The Silver Brumby by Elyne Mitchell
My guilty reading pleasure:
Racing through picture books while sat on the floor of bookshops!
If I wasn’t doing my current job, I would like to be:
Working somewhere deep in nature, perhaps as a researcher or even on a David Attenborough nature documentary.
My Reading Tip:
Give the book you are reading 100 pages. If you still don’t like it by then, put it down – it’s just not for you. But make sure you get to 100 first. I thought the first 99 pages of Captain Corelli’s Mandolin (by Louis de Bernieres) were really boring but then … who knew … I suddenly got hooked and then loved the rest!
Where can we find out more about you?
You can look at my website at www.lucychristopher.com or follow me on Twitter @LucyCAuthor, Facebook @LucyChristopherAuthor or Insta @christopher.lucy, or you could even find my research profile at the University of Tasmania!
Find out a little bit more about Lucy by watching the below video! In this video Lucy discusses her love of reading and how it can help you become kinder and more empathetic, and how nature has influenced her writing.
Lyndon Riggall
Tell us a little bit about you:
I am an English teacher at Launceston College and a writer. I wrote a picture book called Becoming Ellie about a racing greyhound, and another picture book called Tamar the Thief that can be read online for free. Now, I am writing a novel about a wombat who has to travel across the Overland Track near Cradle Mountain to take a lost joey home.
I am also co-president of the Tamar Valley Writers Festival, which means that in my free time I get to chat to great writers and to try and get them to come and visit us!
Why do you think reading is important?
Most of us only get to live one life. What would you think if I told you I could transport you into someone else’s head… maybe someone from a long time ago, or the future? What about the head of someone who exists in a world that is completely made up? Wouldn’t that sound like magic?
In reading, anything is possible, and we learn more about ourselves by reading the stories of other people. To me, that’s both the coolest and most important thing in the world!
My favourite book/s:
As an adult: My favourite writer is Neil Gaiman, and my favourite book of his would have to be The Graveyard Book, which has been my favourite book since I read it the last week of school. The books I have loved most in the last five years would be The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab and Babel by R.F. Kuang, but I love Tasmanian stories too, and a few of my favourite Tasmanian writers would be Robbie Arnott (Limberlost, The Rain Heron) and Adam Thompson (Born Into This).
As a child: I loved Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, and of course anything by Andy Griffiths, but particularly Just Annoying!
My guilty reading pleasure:
I love cosy fiction! These are stories that aren’t designed to be too scary or frightening, they just make you feel good to read them. Travis Baldree’s Legends and Lattes is about an orc barbarian who quits fighting to run a coffee shop in a fantasy world, and A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers is the story of a monk and a robot who travel from town-to-town listening to people’s problems and making them cups of tea. I loved them both, and I think it’s okay sometimes for a book just to feel like a big warm hug.
If I wasn’t doing my current job, I would like to be:
Writing stories and working in a bookshop. I love teaching, but if I wasn’t in the classroom, one dream of mine would be to drive from town-to-town with a big car of books and just read and tell stories to students all around the state!
My reading tip:
If you want to get into reading (or back into reading!), start small. Instead of trying to read for three hours and maybe finding you can’t focus to begin with, why not put your phone on the charger and just start with ten minutes, or ten pages, before you go to bed? I’d also really recommend any apps that allow you to read or listen to books on your devices for moments where you have a second of time to yourself during the day. Students will have access to Sora through their school, and adults can use Sora too, or Libby and BorrowBox, which have so much to offer!
Where can we find out more about you?
As a writer I’m on most social media platforms @lyndonriggall, or on my blog.
Hawthorn Football Club
Hawthorn Football Club (HFC) has been playing games in Tasmanian for over 20 years. We’ve watched our community here grow, looked on as children become adolescents, then move into adulthood and embraced the world. We take pride in having created a really special connection with the people of Tasmania, and wherever possible we’ve tried to encourage and inspire, to nurture and support. What we do off the field in Tasmania is as important as what we do on the field. Our support of young Tasmanians’ reading journeys has become an extremely important aspect to our special relationship, and we’re thrilled once again to be partnering with the Premier’s Reading Challenge to encourage young Tasmanians to be the best readers they can be.
To find out more about Hawthorn’s community programs and partnerships, please visit Hawks Community Foundation | Charity & Community Australia
Watch HFC player, Karl Amon, talk about why he loves to jump into a good book in the video below. Also hear about the prizes the Hawks are providing as part of their support for the challenge.
Leanne Pelikan
Tell us a little bit about you:
My name is Leanne Pelikan (nee Briggs) and my mob is from NSW and Tasmania. I work for the Department for Education, Children and Young People with Aboriginal Education Services. As a long-term employee, I have spent many years enjoying creating activities and watching little people learn. I have loved reading to them and listening to them read to me.
Why do you think reading is important?
Reading is important to me because it has helped me to learn lots of different things about how I can better support our little people. I mostly read for a purpose, and this purpose is to better educate myself and help me in my job.
My favourite book/s:
As an adult: I don’t have a favourite book. My reading is mostly about different things that interest me and are mainly non-fiction. A lot of my reading is information that supports my work.
As a child: I loved reading Dr Seuss books
My guilty reading pleasure:
Mystery Thrillers
If I wasn’t doing my current job, I would like to be:
Fishing!
My Reading Tip:
Reading opens the doors to many things. Read for enjoyment, to learn and to share. All the why’s and how’s are answered through reading.
Where can we find out more about you?
Kylie Dickson
Tell us a little bit about you:
I am an Aboriginal woman with connections to Tasmania and Victoria. I can’t remember a time when I didn’t have a book in my hand and my nose buried in it. I am forever grateful to my Nan for teaching me about libraries and value of books.
Why do you think reading is important?
Reading is important because it introduces you to words and worlds that you will never know about unless you open a book. Sharing a book with a little person lets you learn and imagine together. Sharing a book with a big person creates conversation.
My favourite book/s:
As an adult: The Mists of Avalon
As a child: The Magic Pudding
My guilty reading pleasure:
Are a mixture of witches, wizards, and murder.
If I wasn’t doing my current job, I would like to be:
A full time Nanna.
My Reading Tip:
To remember that reading is fun. It is not a chore. It doesn’t matter if it is a book, magazine, comic or the back of a cereal box you are reading, find the joy reading creates for you!
Where can we find out more about you?
Great Start – Thanking Country