Rachel and Katie, set off on an adventure with our book buddies, Penny the Platypus, Franklin the Fairy Penguin, and Wesley the Wombat. Bringing some beautiful Australian authored and illustrated books supplied by Red Parka, a Hobart small business. We were heading to the East Coast, ready for deluges of rain, frantic winds, cheerful school children’s faces, and some sunshine.

Our first stop was Orford Primary School; we skipped through puddles and protected our swag of goodies. The lovely library person, Kathy chatted to us about reading aloud, sharing new books and using Sora and Story Box Library. Orford Primary School has around 90 students, and the classes regularly listen to a story and choose books in the library.

Back into the car we carefully made our way in the rain to Triabunna District School. The school has about 170 students from kindergarten to grade 12. In the school library we spoke with the principal Erica, the business manager Noelene, teacher April, and Kate the library staff member, and the student representatives Aria and Amelia. We loved the large library and the outlook to the vegetable gardens and playground.

Our last stop for the day was Swansea Primary School, where we met Beth the library technician and Anna, the principal. Gosh their library is fresh, with new furniture and bright displays. It is a joint library model, with the public library co-located at the school. The school website lists the library as being part of the specialist classes and is open at break times twice a week.

Day two we got up early to beautiful views of Swansea. It was a clear day at St Helens District High School it has a large school library, lots of books for young people to enjoy, Rachel and I had fun posing in front of the reading chair, and the flamingo wall. The library team of Louise and Jo cater to over 530 students, from kindergarten to Grade 12.

Our next stop was St Marys District School, wow, a large school with 2 library spaces, a senior collection and a middle school library space. Meg the assistant principal and Sarah library staff member talked to us about refreshing the collection and were keen to learn more about the Sora app.

Bicheno Primary School was our last school. We had an around the table chat about Story Box Library and the Sora app with the enthusiastic staff, and talked about alternative ways of purchasing popular titles, due to their isolation. The students loved their book buddy Franklin the Fairy Penguin.

Thank you to the schools for making time and sharing the joy of books in school libraries.