Educational research clearly highlights the accrued benefits of reading for pleasure. Reading for pleasure matters because it supports literacy; enables young people to develop their own informed perspective on life; is a safe and inexpensive way to spend time; allows young people to understand and empathise with those in different situations, times, and cultures; and improves educational outcomes and employment opportunities.

Australian writer Jackie French – prolific author of books such as Hitler’s Daughter, Fire, and A Rose for the Anzac Boys – suggests that it is the ‘make or break’ task of adults to attentively guide, model and support the development of students’ sustained reading engagement, enjoyment, and confidence. French captures the important elements of reading success in the following equation: ‘young person + the right book + the adult who can teach them how to find it’. This ‘winning equation’ depends on the often-neglected factors of individual taste, motivations, and purposes for reading.

One of the crucial roles of the adult – parent, carer, or teacher – when it comes to reading, is modelling: modelling reading habits, attitudes and importantly, enthusiasm. This Wednesday evening’s Parent Library event provided an opportunity to do just that. Over fifty enthusiastic people gathered in the College library to talk about books and the power and critical importance of reading. Parents, carers, grandparents, and teachers perused with interest the huge number of books donated by the Mount Carmel community. Over three hundred of these managed to find new homes on this one evening. The selection included a wide range of children’s books, adult fiction and nonfiction, classic literature, contemporary texts and secondary school textbooks. Authors such as Anh Do, C.S. Lewis, Maeve Binchy, Jane Austen, Morris Gleitzman and J.K.Rowling were very popular on the night. Genres such as fantasy, crime fiction, life writing texts and historical fiction tended to attract the most attention.

This Parent Library initiative is part of the Mount Carmel Home-School Literacy Partnership program – a program which invites and supports parent engagement in the education of their children in order to improve the learning and wellbeing outcomes for all of our young people. This rich collaboration between home and school is already seeing positive and beneficial outcomes for students, parents, and teachers alike. What I appreciated more than anything about the Parent Library endeavour the other evening was the community spirit it engendered. The weeks leading up to the event saw excited Mount Carmel staff carrying in boxes of reading material to be made available on the night. I was humbled by their passion for the venture and their care of our students and their families. On the actual day I was heartened by the contribution of several people behind the scenes who worked tirelessly to set the library space up for the evening as well as the English and library staff who attended on the night. The joy generated by the encounter in this situation was palpable.

Clare Murphy

English Coordinator and Literacy Instructional Coach