Reading Club: Children’s Literature | Mary Poppins

In June, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center welcomes young book lovers for the first time to the meeting of the Reading Club, hosted by the author Tasoula Eptakoili.

The book that will inspire this month’s meeting is Mary Poppins by Pamela L. Travers. 

Each month, thirty members between 7 and 10 years old get together to discover a new book! Our little readers will have the chance to share their impressions, feelings and thoughts, as well as to travel, using their imagination as the vehicle and the book of the month as their launch pad, into the exciting worlds that spring up from its pages. 

The book and its author

When English nanny Mary Poppins arrives at the home of the Banks family to look after their children, Jane and Michael, their lives change forever: magically and unexpectedly, everything is turned upside down…

One of the most beloved characters of children’s literature is reintroduced in a new, luxurious edition, wonderfully illustrated by the award-winning Lauren Child. 

Pamela L. Travers was an Australian author and journalist, best known for her Mary Poppins book series. She published her first poems at a teenager, and also worked as an actor. In 1924, she moved to England and took up writing full-time. Her greatest success was her book series starring Mary Poppins (six books in total, published between 1934 and 1988), but she also wrote several other novels and poetry collections. 

The Reading Club hostess: 

Tasoula Eptakoili was born in 1968 in Samos, and grew up in Piraeus. She graduated from the Faculty of Classics of the University of Athens, but chose journalism over teaching. She has worked on the radio (Melodia FM and now ATHINA 9.84), newspapers and magazines. From 2003, she has worked as a writer for "Kathimerini" newspaper. She has authored the books: My other whole (Patakis, 2016), a personal account of loss, the poetry collection The woman in the elevator (Kastaniotis, 2018), as well as Gourgouris (Patakis, 2017), Garis (Patakis, 2019) and The Flowering Teapot (Kastaniotis, 2019) – stories for children, but not only. She recently released another book, Do you see me? (Kastaniotis, 2020), which she co-authored with Psychology professor Foteini Tsalikoglou. She also curates and presents the TV show "Shots with tails", stories of animal love and human kindness, on ERT2. She lives in Athens. 

Reading Club: Children’s Literature
Saturday 19/06, 18.30

MEDITERRANEAN GARDEN

For children aged 7 to 10 years old
Up to 22 children
Free participation by online pre-registration

Pre-registration starts on Friday 04/06 at 12.00

Coordinator: Tasoula Eptakoili

To take part in the Reading Club, all registered participants are required to read the book of the month. 

Mary Poppins, in a new illustrated edition by Lauren Child, is available in Greek translation by Psichogios Publications. 
 

Prepare for the Reading Club:

1. ”Everybody's got a Fairyland of their own”, Mary Poppins tells the children. If you could, in a magical way, "get inside" and spend a day in one of the fairy tales you have read, which one would you choose and why? (With the title of the fairy tale and a few words.)
2. Mary Poppins flies. What superpower would you like to have and how would you use it for the good of the people? Write a short text (up to 10 sentences) to read to the moderator and members of the Reading Club.
3. Paint Mary Poppins in your own home, with your family. What would the heroine of the book be like today?
    

Children should always be accompanied by parents or adult chaperones, who should stay outside the activity area for as long as the activity lasts.

The use of face mask and social distancing measures are mandatory in indoor and outdoor areas of the SNFCC, in accordance with Hellenic National Public Health Organization regulations.

Due to public health measures, there may be changes regarding either the staging of the event, or the maximum number of participants.