Literary Elixirs - Emma White

This episode I am joined by Emma White, Children and Youth Coordinator at Hobsons Bay Libraries and the current Convenor of the Public Libraries Victoria, Children’s and Youth Services Special Interest Group! Emma has worked in public libraries for over 10 years, and is a passionate advocate for children and young people in library spaces. Emma has spent lockdown moving her cat off her keyboard during Zoom meetings, continuing home renovations with her partner and learning to make her own polymer clay earrings. This episode we are talking about finding the best resources for kids in lockdown, plugging local libraries (of course!), our favourite children's books and just what we would pair with them for a fabulous reading experience! The Babysitters Club series by Ann M. Martin Kristy's Great Idea Book #1 Kristy thinks the Baby-sitters Club is a great idea. She and her friends Claudia, Stacey, and Mary Anne all love taking care of kids. A club will give them the chance to have lots of fun - and make tons of money. But nobody counted on crank calls, uncontrollable two-year-olds, wild pets, and parents who don't always tell the truth. And then there's Stacey, who's acting more and more mysterious. Having a baby-sitters club isn't easy, but Kristy and her friends aren't giving up until they get it right! Emma loves this series for its wonderful portrayal of young girls beginning to find their way as young women, its focus on friendship and community and for how good the tv series adaptation has been! She pairs this series with a Jellybean cocktail - a nostalgic classic, sweet but not too sweet, with enough colour, brightness and freshness and oomph for the whole club! Jellybeans only for the tweens of course ;) Amazing Australian Women: Twelve Women Who Shaped History by Pamela Freeman and Sophie Beer Meet twelve amazing Australian women who have changed the world, in small ways and large. Some of them are world famous, like Annette Kellerman and Nellie Melba. Some of them are famous in Australia, like Mary Reibey and Edith Cowan. All of them deserve to be famous and admired. These women are the warriors who paved the way for the artists, business owners, scientists, singers, politicians, actors, sports champions, adventurers, activists and innovators of Australia today. Emma loves how inspiring and informative this book is. Whilst it is a junior non fiction book it is told in a wonderfully readable narrative way which makes you want to find out more about each of these amazing women. She paired this amazing Australian book with an amazing Australian gin! The Kangaroo Island Spirits Mulberry Gin makes for a pretty darn delicious gin and tonic, punchy, sweet and tart and quintessentially Australian.