We were delighted to see so many of you on Saturday, October 12 for Love Your Bookshop Day 2024. It was a bustling day in the shop, with many people travelling long distances to receive their Personal Penguin (a real collector’s item, it turns out!) and we had lots of gorgeous bookish chats as people perused the shelves.
One of our lucky customers, Kirsty Creek, went home with the Libro.fm Golden Ticket, giving her 12 audiobook credits to use over the next year!
And we are excited to share below the wonderful winners of our #LYBD2024 Story Competition. We expected no less from our talented community but it was a real joy to read through all of the entries, and genuinely difficult to pick the finalists! Thank you to everyone who entered and a hearty congratulations to the writers below.
Adult’s Category
Fruzsi Kenez
As I was walking into the bookshop one day,
a remarkable person rushed past me.
“Have you seen my billy-goat?”
The strange man had turned to ask me.
I surveyed him slowly, not once but twice,
To find reason for this odd behavior,
Wild bushy hair like a ginger cat,
And perhaps need of a new tailor.
The man was dressed in a purple robe,
A monocle upon his gaze,
His eyes a most searching blue,
And within them, what’s that? A blaze!
I leaned in closer, this can’t be true.
There was a fire in his eyes!
With our noses almost touching,
This much, I could surmise:
That he must be a wizard,
This test is tried and true,
“If a flame licks a man’s pupils,
He is magic through and through.”
I was breathless, what a shock
My mind was totally ensnared.
What to say? What should I ask him?
I was woefully unprepared.
“Excuse me sir, just one question,
What’s the elixir of life?
..Or just next week’s lotto numbers,
Would totally suffice!”
But instead I stood there staring,
My mind a total blank.
Next I blinked the man was gone,
Deflated, my heart sank.
Now I hear my boss’ voice,
“How’s that errand coming?”
Working in a bookshop,
Is anything but boring.
Annette Flanagan
As I was walking into the bookshop one day, a remarkable person rushed past me.
My body froze like a pretzel.
My heart started pounding like an elephant marching through the bush.
My head started thinking about why the elephant was even in the bush, clearly it doesn’t belong there…
“Shh!” said my brain “Don’t worry about that now! Look”
And I stared again.
She was almost out the door
Could I reach her?
Would I reach her?
Should I even try to reach her?
“Shh” again my brain said to me kindly, “Stop thinking and run after her!”
Perhaps I would never get to see her again, and there she was leaving this very bookstore.
I took a deep breath, down to my belly, and started to run after her.
But she had gone.
Disappeared into the crowd.
How could I have been so slow worrying about elephants and their appropriate habitat?
I had missed her. I might never see her again.
I rushed out the door
“Hello there” said a kind voice, sounding like honey you put on your toast when the vegemite has run out, “what’s the matter?”
“Oh mum” I said
“I thought you had left!”
Children’s Category:
Eve Drabsch, age 11
I had been going to this bookshop ever since I was born, but never had I seen anything as extremely strange or shocking as this. As I walked into the bookshop one day (a very normal day, I might add), a most remarkable person rushed past me. Of course, I knew who it was instantly. In her long skirt and blue overcoat, it couldn’t have been anyone else. Mary Poppins, in my bookshop?! But she’s just a fictional character, isn’t she?
I turned around expecting to find confused and delighted faces staring back at me but instead, all I saw were more and more characters from her book. There were Jane and Michael over by the mysteries, Mr Banks by the humour and Mrs Banks by the comics. There were many more but I couldn’t name them all on this page. I was exceedingly confused. I felt like my brain was being twisted into knots!
It was at that moment where I felt my brain might explode that I turned around and saw the red and blue sign next to the door: “Mary Poppins Dress-Up Day!” it read. Anyway, that was my terribly unusual day, Diary.
Love Miranda ❤️
And our runner up, Joseph Carbone, age 3 (pictured below with his prize!)
As I was walking into the bookshop one day, a remarkable person rushed past me. There were lots of toys and I spelled my name with the letters. There were numbers 24 and 25. In the bookstore there were lots of people. I brought some paper and there were four little pieces of paper on the top of the nose. And then we went home and that’s the end of the book shop story.
