Billy Booksie is back from his summer retreat. Billy Booksie is the mascot for the Blue Mountains early literacy project Paint the Blue REaD.
Booksies are mythical creatures that exist only in the Blue Mountains. They love reading, but they don’t like hot weather. So, during the summer heat Billy Booksie and his sister Billie retreat to the cool of their secret Booksie cave deep in the bush of the Blue Mountains. There, they spend the summer reading new books, ready to share with boys and girls during the coming year.
Billy Booksie will be making his first appearance for the year as a special guest at Stories at Heatherbrae, 1 Benang Street, Lawson on Wednesday, March 8 from 10.30-11am. Billy is looking forward to sharing a story and some rhymes with girls and boys under school age – everyone is welcome.
Now that the cooler weather is on its way, Billy is excitedly getting ready to have Paint the Town REaD mascots from all over Australia come to visit him in May as part of Early Literacy National Conference being held at The Carrington Hotel, Katoomba from May 3-5. The theme for the conference is “Climb Every Mountain: Songlines and Singing” and the mascots will be bringing with them workers and volunteers from early childhood, child and family services, libraries and government planning and policy positions.
If you would like to have Billy Booksie visit your group or service, or would like to find out more about the conference, contact Billy’s friends at Mountains Outreach Community Service (MOCS) at cdw@mocs.org.au or 4758 6811.