Children from the Gunnedah Preschool were excited to be a part of the annual Australian reading hour at the Gunnedah Shire Library last Thursday.

The Australian reading hour was an initiative by Australia Reads in which people were encouraged to dedicate an hour to reading Australian literature.

The hour had initially been restricted to a particular hour of the day causing school aged children to miss out.

Australia Reads had recently allowed participants to choose their hour to become more inclusive.

The library invited the preschool children to attend as staff member, Gina Torrens, read the children’s story book, Family Tree by Josh Pyke.

It told a story of a child growing up alongside a gumnut tree.

The library also took the opportunity to discuss different countries.

Gina taught the children about her life in England and read an accompanied book Peppa Meets The Queen featuring the character Peppa Pig.

The children had moved to the craft table, after story time was finshed, where the library staff had drawn a tree to be decorated.

The preschoolers worked together to colour in the pictures of animals, gumnut leaves and people to help fill in the tree.

The tree is now on display at the library.

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