IBBY Silent Book Workshop

IBBY - The International Board on Books for Young People instigated a program called SILENT BOOKS. As they say on their website:

In response to the waves of refugees from Africa and the Middle East arriving in the Italian island, Lampedusa, IBBY launched the project “Silent Books, from the world to Lampedusa and back” in 2012. The project involved creating the first library on Lampedusa to be used by local and immigrant children.
      The second part required creating a collection of silent books (wordless picture books) that could be understood and enjoyed by children regardless of language. These books were collected from IBBY National Sections, over one hundred books from over twenty countries. This set of books was deposited at the documentation and research archive in Rome (Palazzo della Esposizioni), a set delivered to the library in Lampedusa and a further set was part of a travelling exhibition.

Happily, one of the collections visited the University of Glasgow where all of us Children's Literature folks got a chance to enjoy them! There were tables worth of these lovely books.

The head of children's lit at the UoG, Evelyn Arizpe gave us the background on the collection, then we DOVE in! Here is my office-mate Rebecca with one of her faves. (Mine too!) Once we'd had a good look, we got to share our faves on the overhead explaining what we found special about them. I can't believe this is school work! This one was about a couple desperately trying to get some bramble jam and a dog who keeps ruining it all for them. It was hilarious!Evelyn and my awesome supervisor Maureen Farrell shared an amazing accordion book. Some of my faves were Loup Noir...with it's Molly Bang inspired artwork.La Suprise, which shared the world through a cat's view - delightful.Mirror, Mirror by the creator of The Wave, Suzy Lee. And this lovely book about a cat chasing a fish - Il Mare. Truly, we could have stayed there for days we were having so much fun! So am I enjoyed my PhD? OH YEAH!