By Kristie Kellahan
Children love stories. Just ask Mitchell Stone, the teacher librarian at Killara Public School, Sydney. The former classroom teacher can thank his students' hunger for stories for his successful sideline gig as a children's book author. Early in his career, Stone took a role teaching primary school sport full-time. The PE storeroom was underneath a classroom, and above an abandoned tunnel.
"I didn't know it at the time, but this started the chain of events that took me into the role of librarianship," Stone says. "I started making up a few tales that this tunnel wound underneath the entire school and that I went down daily to feed the crocodile. I had the students hook, line and sinker, so I kept going with the stories, and they kept wanting daily updates. Soon, the whole school was convinced about a secret tunnel running underneath it, and the resident crocodile." A few years later, Stone published his first book, The Secret Tunnel. It was successful, and he decided that children's literature was the direction he wanted to take.
Teacher librarian Mitchell Stone says a love for literature and reading to children are essential for working successfully in the school library.
While still teaching full-time, Stone went back to university and completed a master of education in teacher librarianship. He also published another book, and began applying for jobs as a teacher librarian.
"Having a love for literature and reading to the children is the most important thing when thinking about a career in the library, although being highly organised is important too, as up to 500 books will need shelving each day," Stone says. "Teacher librarianship is different from the classroom as I specialise in children's stories, literature and reading in general." With the Premier's Reading Challenge (PRC) in full swing until August, Stone is encouraging the students at Killara to read as many books as they can. As a reviewer for the PRC, Stone helps to decide age-appropriate books that should be added to the reading challenge list. A launch event was held in the library to kick off the event, and library shelves have been reorganised to make the PRC books more easily accessible. Stone says it is important to recognise and congratulate students for working towards completion of the challenge.
"Sometimes this is as simple as a congratulation and recognition in front of their class; other times, taking them to the school principal for a handshake and award," he says. Next month, the PRC will launch its inaugural online reading challenge, which will feature renowned Australian authors and illustrators hosting the challenge, along with virtual excursions across NSW.
"The website and online logging of books is extremely user-friendly and simple to use," Stone says. "There are live talks and author interviews, which are streamed online, so schools can watch and listen to authors and illustrators talking about their books. This makes the author more personable to students." For more information on the PRC, see artsunit.nsw.edu.au.