AIMING to help the literacy of young people through storytelling, the Little Bookaburras program kicked off at Moorditj Noongar Kindilink in Middle Swan last Monday.

Little Bookaburras ambassador and author Renae Hayward said there were many excited kids who attended the June 9 event who enjoyed the animal farm and a visit from Dewey Dex, the mascot for the Premier’s reading challenge.

Ms Hayward said she’s always had a love for books but after she had kids, she became drawn to picture books.

“I really loved the way that picture books can have such a beautiful rhythm and cadence to them.

“Having my own kids really got me writing picture books and particularly the books I’ve got with Fremantle Press, they’re books for quite little kids – sort of the zero to two age bracket.”

A Fremantle Press spokesperson said they started the program three years ago and since then, more than 4500 WA children aged three to four had been given a mini library of local books by local storytellers.

This year, the book packs included Say Hello or Say Goodnight by Renae Hayward and Rebecca Mills, an Indigenous title Crow and The Water Hole by Ambelin Kwaymullina, In your Dreams by Sally Morgan and Bronwyn Bancroft, and a more advanced story to be read aloud Shine by Danny Parker and Ruth de Vos, or Where Do the Stars Go? Or When I Can Fly by Katie Stewart.

Ms Hayward said stories had a significant impact on a child’s future, in and out of school.

“I believe stories really do give kids the power to fly by sparking imagination, creating a sense of connection and expanding awareness, empathy and compassion,” Ms Hayward said.

According to the Grattan Institute’s 2024 reading guarantee report, one in three Australian school students weren’t mastering the reading skills they needed.

“Students from poor families, from regional and rural areas, and Indigenous students tend to face bigger barriers to reading success,” the report said.

“But about one in four students from well-off families struggle too.

“Every child we fail to teach to read misses out on a core life skill and Australia misses out on their potential too.”

Ms Hayward hoped to see the program expand which would allow for more kids to have access to books.

“For some children who are receiving the Bookaburra book packs, they are experiencing things like homelessness and the only books they own are the ones that have been given to them in these packs.

“The great thing is they’re local stories too.

“That’s a huge positive, to be able to read about things that you experience in your own life and hear stories from local people.”