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Books come to life at St Leo's

 

When students visited the library at St Leo's Catholic College, Wahroonga recently they were able to open the chapter of a "living book".

The books were in fact real people. The Living Library works exactly like a normal library, allowing Year 8 students to borrow a "book" - in this case a real live "book". The books and readers then entered into a personal dialogue.

Books included:-
• Heather Gleeson, accompanied by her guide dog Persia, shared her life experience of marrying a fellow blind person and raising two children.
• Kevin Murphy who lives with haemophilia.
• Jason Yeung, a firefighter based in northern Sydney.
• Stephen Papadopoulos, who developed symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis at 16 and was diagnosed at 22. At 32 he is living with MS.
• Riana Head-Toussaint, a year 12 student who spoke about her life as a paraplegic as a result of a car accident when she was only 10 months old.
• John Biffin, who spent 20 years working on passenger ships and in the Merchant Navy, and now chairs the Sydney Harbour Australia Day Committee. The event was an opportunity for students to meet people who they would not generally encounter in their everyday life. The students were able to interview the “books” and learn from real life stories. They are studying In the News for English and will write a news article about their living book.