Laureate – “Read For Your Life”

Ursula Dubosarsky was welcomed as the new Australian Children’s Laureate for 2020/21 at the National Library of Australia today.

In keeping with previous laureates, Ursula is renowned and well-revered as an author of children’s books, across many age groups; as well as being one driven to promote reading among the youth of Australian for many years.

If children learn to love to read—not just to be able to read—then they will be readers their whole life long. It’s about human motivation. A child has to want to read for themselves, not be told to read,’ said Dubosarsky.

‘Joining the library gives them access to an unbounded wealth of reading material, where slowly they can start to find what they really want to read. A child becomes a lifelong reader not by chance, but by opportunity. That’s how you make a reader for life.’ (Quote from Ursula via Books+Publishing website)

From all (Twitter) accounts, her selection was greatly applauded today – by those present at the National Library of Australia today, and in online spaces too.

Certainly deserving for an author of more than 60 books (which are listed here). In addition to this are the many hours she has dedicated to workshops and presentations for students, teacher librarians, teachers and other professional associations over many many years.

Australian Children’s Laureate theme 2020/21

And so begins her new mission to encourage:

… a generation of readers that would continue to read their whole life long and to do that, children need access to all kinds of books, and “more books than any one family or even school can every provide”. (From SMH article: New children’s laureate worries for teen readers)

Congratulations, Ursula. We are right behind you!