To help children read more at home Big W has partnered with the Australian Literacy and Numeracy Foundation to support its innovative Breakfast Library program.
The program is currently offered in 20 schools in under-served communities across the country, supporting more than 1200 students per week with healthy breakfasts, alongside reading sessions and a book to take home each week to further develop literacy skills.
To date, BIG W has helped provide 135,000 breakfasts and donated more than 42,000 age-appropriate books for children, to encourage their love of reading and to set them up for success in life.
Echuca’s Isaiah Firebrace is supporting the program as ALNF ambassador.
Having recently published his own book, Come Together — Things Every Aussie Kid should know about the First People, Isaiah absolutely loved reading as a kid.
“I loved visiting the school library and could sit in there for hours,” Isaiah told the Riv.
“I grew up loving all the years of my education and especially loved subjects like sports, science and maths.
“School is where I started to get a lot of confidence in my music too, so without school and having a love for education, I wouldn’t have had a big start in my career.”
To Isaiah, literacy means power, and when put to good use it can achieve amazing things.
“Literacy and education give us the tools to explore opportunities in life,” he said.
“I find that having strong literacy skills supports overall learning and with the ability to learn, comes the ability to grow.”
Inspired by his petition to the Australian Government calling for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history to be taught in every classroom, his book was heavily inspired by his experience growing up in the region.
“I grew up always listening to stories about my culture and people, but didn’t realise how many other Aussie kids didn’t have those opportunities,” Isaiah said.
“My culture has so many stories to teach but I thought these topics were a great place to start!
“From Songlines, traditional food and even the story of how football originated, anyone at any age will find something new to learn about when reading it.
“I just really want people to learn more about the culture and I’m so passionate about making that more accessible for the generations to come.
“I really hope my book can help kids learn and understand more about their country and First Nations people and the magic that they hold.”
Come Together is focused on 20 things that every Aussie kid should know about First Nations people. and the topics were chosen as a good starting point for educating others.
The book is part of the ALNF Breakfast Library and can be purchased at Big W stores.
