Reading Club: Children's Book (7-9 years old) | The Book of Mistakes

In May, the SNFCC Reading Club is dedicated to the memory of Filippos Tsimpoglou, Director General of the National Library of Greece (NLG).

Ιn May, the Children’s Reading Club for our young booklovers resumes facilitated by Sofianna Theofanous. Actress and writer Sofianna Theofanous has written operas and picture books for children, and has been honored with the Greek National Award for a Theatrical Play for Children and Teenagers for her play Merry Christmas, My Dear Charlie.

This month’s Reading Club will be discussing Corinna Luyken’s The Book of Mistakes. 

Our young readers will meet to share impressions, feelings and thoughts, and to embark on an imaginary journey, sparked by the book of the month, into the fascinating worlds emerging from its pages.

The book

What happens when you make a mistake? Do you freeze? Do you get mad at yourself? Do you feel like crumpling the page into a ball and tossing it in the bin? We all make mistakes. But what if our biggest blunders sparked our brightest imagination? The Book of Mistakes is a journey that starts with a single mistake. Corinna Luyken employs her explosive creative temperament and style to help us gain a new perspective – one in which our mistakes may be gifts that help us grow up delightfully.

A mistake appears like a terrifying monster! But is it one? 

Everything starts with an attempt and a mistake. And from there on, the predetermined course changes, the destination changes, the mistake opens up new perspectives and turns the original plan into something completely different from what we had originally came up with. Adding something else to the mistake, we see that things are not as bad as we thought. They may actually be much better. Much, much better. Because everything is a matter of perspective.

The author

The Book of Mistakes is American illustrator Corinna Luyken’s debut as a writer too. 

The facilitator



Sofianna Theofanous was born in Athens and graduated with honors from the Department of Communication, Media and Culture of Panteion University, and the Greek Art Theatre Karolos Koun. She was a member of the Experimental Stage of the National Theater of Greece, to then serve as an actor for 12 years at the National Theater and later the Free Theater. She has written two operas for children, commissioned by the Greek National Opera and the Municipal and Regional Theatre of Patras, two children’s picture books, and step outlines for television. Among other things, when she is not acting in theater, she illustrates and organizes productions of the Athens Festival. In 2022, she was honored with the Greek National Award for a Theatrical Play for Children and Teenagers for her play Merry Christmas, My Dear Charlie.

Activities for children before the Reading Club meeting:

1.    If a mistake were a monster, what would it look like? Would it have sharp teeth and a pointy nose? Would it cast fire from its mouth? And how would you calm it down? How would you tame it like a puppy? Write a text of ten lines describing what your Monster looks like, when it appears, what its name is, and how you make it become friendly!
2.    Write a text of three lines about how you feel when you make a mistake. What color is the feeling you get?

Sunday 28/05



18.00-19.15 

Mediterranean Garden 

Up to 22 participants 
For children aged 7 to 9 



Free admission with online pre-registration

Preregistration starts on 03/05 at 12.00

A key prerequisite for participating in the Book Club is to have read the book and wish to share your opinion of it.

Corinna Luyken’s Book of Mistakes is available in Greek from Fourfouri Publications.

As part of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center's collaboration with the National Library of Greece, the book for the Reading Club has been chosen by NLG staff members.