Readers' Challenge Certificate Ceremony 2006

The Australian Readers' Challenge in association with The Fred Hollows Foundation and Ian Thorpe's Fountain for Youth Trust is pleased to invite you to the ARC Certificate Day Ceremony with Certificate Presentation by Her Excellency Professor Marie Bashir AC Governor of New South Wales, Monday 23 October, 10-11am, Customs House Library, Barnet Long Room, Circular Quay.

Eight of the twenty-nine boys who completed the Readers' Challenge this year had the opportunity to attend this special ceremony, along with two teachers. Jordan, Moseley, Navin, Elias, Kane, Joshua Z, Luke and Joshua O were the lucky ones, with Mrs Ghikas and Mrs Thomson. Some of their thoughts and a few pictures from the day are featured here.

"We were happy to hear that our contribution was worth it and that over all the schools raised $80,000." - Navin
Australian publishers give a generous discount on books purchased with this money, so resources to an even greater value can be provided to those remote Indigenous communities which have access to very few books. Learn more about ARC here.

"We got to see an interesting library and a model of the city." - Moseley.
The City of Sydney model is visible through the glass floor of the ground floor. You can take a virtual tour here. Customs House Library is the latest addition to the City of Sydney library system.

As well as The Governor, Professor Marie Bashir, there were two special guests who spoke at the ceremony.

Gabi Hollows represented the Fred Hollows Foundation and welcomed the money raised as she knows the value that reading brings to individuals and communities who have grown up without access to such resources.

Tara June Winch is a young writer of Wiradjuri, Afghan and English heritage. She has already won awards for her first novel, Swallow the Air, which we have at Patrician Brothers library.

Now we can all look forward to our fourth year of the Readers' Challenge in 2007.

Doppelganger

by Michael Parker

This is an exciting time slip thriller, set in Sydney. Partly it is in our Sydney and partly in a quite different Sydney which is a scary place and one which is strange and nightmarish yet proves to be dangerously real. Andrew thought he had a few problems, but nothing he couldn't handle. Never quite sure that supporting his bullying mate Josh is the right right thing to do, but too weak to do anything else, he suddenly finds himself lost in a world out of his control and faced with a seemingly twin Josh. But this version is even more worrying. Can Andrew take control and survive as well? Find out in this gripping read. There is also a website which gives lots of background to the ideas in the book, suggests a soundtrack and lists other books which inspired the author to write Doppelganger, like Heart of Darkness and Lord of the Flies.