Geraldine Giraffe on a “Book Safari”

To help celebrate Children’s Book Week this year the team here at CMIS Evaluation- (really it was clever Jean),  decided to decorate a book trolley so we can enter a competition in the USA held through Unshelved, the Library Comic Strip website. We plan to take our trolley – “Geraldine Giraffe” on Safari through our building to promote Book Week.

Why don’t you “Dress up Your Book Trolley” and let us know about it – a great T&E exercise and book promotion at the same time. With the help of a post tube, some sponge packaging and some animal print material – Geraldine was created. We have thought about an elephant too – it may yet eventuate.

We’ve uploaded Geraldine onto the CMIS Eval Flickr page where there are other photos available to view and use.

On the CMIS Evaluation page there’s information about how you can really make an impact during Book Week.

June 14 – 20 is International Refugee Week.

What is a Refugee?

Today, 42 million people around the world have fled armed conflicts and are searching for safety . They are children, women, and men living in temporary shelters, camps, or shanty towns, struggling to survive in new and often hostile environments. Those who have sought refuge in another country are refugees, a status which entitles them to certain rights under international law.

Those who are seeking refuge within their own countries are officially called internally displaced persons (IDPs). They have fewer rights than refugees, yet make up almost two-thirds of the people around the world today who are seeking safety from armed conflict and violence. [MSF Website]

With the numerous incidences of conflict around the world, and the increasing effect of climate change forcing people from their homes, raising awareness about the displacement of people is a key element of Medicins Sans Frontieres – Doctors Without Borders. This organisation works in Refugee Camps around the world tending to those people who have sort refuge. The website includes an interactive Refugee Camp game and video about the Refugee Camp in the City project.

The Oxfam website Refugee Realities has a learning space where students can not only learn about refugees but also play online games such as Against All Odds – from UNHCR, which includes teacher resources.

Print resources such as The Arrival, My Dog, Home and Away, Ziba Came on a Boat and Refugees are all useful additions to any work on this topic. For further Fiction titles the CMIS Resource Bank is a useful source

	The John Marsden Prize for Young Australian Writers is a national competition open to young writers under 25 years of age.
What to do: Write an original poem or short story/first chapter of a novel under 3000 words long and submit it!

Entry is free for all applicants under 18.
For 18 -24 year olds, the $10 entry fee includes free Express Media Membership and a monthly newsletter on events, grants and competitions.

Entries close 5pm Friday 28th August, 2009. Entry forms are now available using the link below.

John Marsden Entry Form 2009.pdf

First place winners will be printed in the December issue of Voiceworks.
Second and third place winners, and those with honourable mention will be published on the Express Media website.

The CMIS Resource Bank contains reviews of many of John Marsden’s works.

Visit the CMIS Authors & Illustrators page for extensive links to both Australian and International authors and illustrators including John Marsden.