Books, authors, illustrators and plenty of reading were served up as Innisfail's glorious recipe for locals to celebrate this year's Family Literacy Day.
The national event is celebrated every year on Jan. 27 and the Innisfail Public Library/Learning Centre hosted a wide range of events and activities to promote family literacy.
“We've had very good attendance in the early morning for our adult tech session. We had more people than we anticipated,” said Matt Barabash, library manager. “For our author displays we had more than we anticipated as well.”
About 150 to 200 citizens, including children and families, came out for the day that included a book club session, senior tech session on reading with mobile devices, ebooks and library apps, local author displays, resume writing and job search assistance, a children's literacy hour and award- winning author Marina Endicott.
“We had lots of kids. We probably had 40 to 50 kids here today,” said Barabash, noting the feedback from the public. “It's been very positive. We learned that the main focus (in Innisfail) is really older adult populations and families and we've really seen that today, especially with the targeted audiences,” he added. “Those sessions targeted at those two groups (older adults and families) were our most heavily attended events.”
Barbash said he was pleased to see the message of Family Literacy Day and the importance of literacy highlighted in each of the events and activities presented.
“I did feel that our older adults and our children really benefited from today,” he said.
One of the local authors participating in Family Literacy Day was 13-year-old Innisfail author Jase Nelson.
“I started writing since I started home-schooling, when I was 11 years old,” said Nelson, pointing to his first published book, Jake and the Snowman. “I wrote the entire story in this little book about Jake and a snowman. It's definitely encouraged me to write more.
“It's taught me that you can write (about) anything and there'll be someone who will be interested in that. It's so cool,” added the young author.
Illustrator James Grasdal from Edmonton was also a part of the event and shared his book series about agriculture.
“We're here today meeting some young readers and authors as well, and people enjoying literacy and great books,” said Grasdal. “The books are for grades 4 to 6 and each book has a different message -- from climate change to nutrition,” he added, noting there are 13 books in the series that were completed over the past five years.
Grasdal's books are co-authored by Dawn Ius, are produced by the Canola Producers of Alberta and are based on the provincial schools curriculum.
“The (Canola producers) wanted to make sure that it was something that would help with education for children in grades 4 to 6,” he said.
“For children (and literacy) right now it's like a golden age,” he added. “There's just so much available. Alberta is such a great community full of great authors and illustrators and wonderful readers too. Literacy is a big deal in Alberta and it shows.”
James Grasdal
"Alberta is such a great community full of great authors and illustrators and wonderful readers too."
