On Monday afternoon, Golda Mowe and I were welcomed by about 100 enthusiastic 13-14-year-old students of SMK Batu Lintang.
Golda certainly lived up to the title of her talk – ‘Book Traveller’s Guide to Stories’. It was a hot, steamy afternoon in the school’s auditorium but Golda took their young minds away from the heat and challenged them all to think about the books they’ve read and loved and to share their favourite titles with one another.
We were reminded of wonderful classics like ‘Gulliver’s Travels’, ‘Peter Pan’ and ‘The Jungle Book’ and what they made us think of. We discovered that some of these students enjoyed reading fantasy and science fiction and many enjoyed contemporary books like the ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid’ and of course, the Harry Potter books.
Golda reminded the students that books help us to learn about people and their culture and history and she recommended several distinctly Sarawakian books. Audience participation was invited and students came to the microphone to nominate their favourite books. I am glad to say that I now have a new list of exciting books I will be buying as gifts for my young nephews and nieces.
By Rosemary Giles
