Mitchelton Library display of Anzac Stories Exhibition

Mitchelton Library is hosting the Anzac Stories: Behind the Pages Exhibition for all of April and May. They have had a few schools look at the exhibition and have also taken it “on the road” to a school where 600 children got to see it.

Here's some pictures of the exhibition. More to come.

ANZAC Day book commemorations

We celebrate April 25th every year to commemorate the soldiers, medical and support staff who sacrificed their lives on our behalf during the world wars and subsequent wars. Writers have shared their experiences and stories so that we can learn from history. Ideally all writers would like readers to take from their books that war is not the answer.

Melinda Szymanik wrote about why writers feel compelled to write war stories, here. The Sapling, an online children's book magazine recommends great New Zealand Anzac Stories here and Children's Book Daily recommends these top 20 Australian Anzac picture books here.

You can also see an exhibition about the research that authors and illustrators do when creating war stories for children at the Anzac Stories: Behind the Pages Exhibition presently being hosted by the following libraries:

Mitchelton Library, Brisbane, Queensland: April – May

Broome Library, Western Australia, April - May

Nundah Library, Brisbane, Queensland: June – July

Albany Library, Western Australia - August

Holland Park Library, Brisbane, Queensland: August – September

Wynnum library, Brisbane, Queensland: October – November

Will post more libraries that are hosting the exhibition when they confirm dates.

There's also another exhibition in New Zealand called What Lies Beneath and Napier and Taradale Libraries are presently hosting it.

Please find below some posters to help you bring awareness to the children's ANZAC books available in Australia and New Zealand.

Here's an A3 poster you can download with all the books in the exhibition to date.

Schools and Libraries can download this Scholastic poster from here.

Here's my contribution:

Feature Author Pamela Rushby

The Anzac Stories: Behind the Pages exhibition has many fabulous Australian and New Zealand authors and illustrators in it. Go to Authors/Illustrators/Books to see the full list.

This week we have well-known author Pamela Rushby and her book 'The Horses Didn't Come Home'. 

A boy, his horse – a war far from home
The last great cavalry charge in history took place at Beersheba in the Sinai Desert in 1917. It was Australian soldiers and horses that took part in, and won, this amazing, unexpected, unorthodox victory. The men proudly proclaimed it was their great-hearted horses that won the day. But, in the end, the horses didn’t come home …

OLMC Library blog says, "The Horses Didn’t Come Home by Pamela Rushby is a beautiful story of loyalty and courage that highlights the bond between the Australian Light Horse soldiers and their horses. This Australian novel tells the story of the victorious cavalry charge at Beersheba in the Sinai Desert in 1917 during World War I, which is in contrast to the horrific events at Gallipoli."

Exciting news from Pamela: "Well, I’ll be off to Israel in October to attend the special commemorations of the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Beersheba, which features in ‘The Horses Didn’t Come Home’. This will take place in Beersheba and they plan to recreate the 2-day route the Light Horse took across the desert, and then the Charge itself.   (If anyone is interested in going along, the Israel Travel Centre in Rose Bay, Sydney, is running a special tour that takes it in.)"

Here's Pamela talking about the 'The Horses Didn't Come Home': 

Congratulations to Pamela Rushby for her book 'Lizzie & Margaret Rose' being selected as a CBCA Notable Book.

Read more about Pamela Rushby and her book on her Anzac Stories blog page. And in the Courier Mail.