BY TAMARA BELKOV
St-Jean-Baptiste Day is about celebrating French-Canadian
culture. And so is Centre FORA.
Centre FORA is a not-for-profit publisher that promotes French
literacy and education across the country. Founded in Sudbury
in 1989, it expanded to include an educational book store five
years ago.
Parents and teachers, as well as members of the public, drop
in Monday to Saturday for advice on how to encourage children
to read and to pick-up a book or two for themselves.
The small store sells everything educational from around the
world and all of it produced in French. It is located on
Westmount St. in New Sudbury.
There are popular paperback titles for teens and adults, interactive fun and educational computer games, reference books, music CDs, videos, DVDs, computer software, and educational toys and games for all ages. Some are made in Canada and others are from France such as the classic Tin Tin.
"People think learning to read is all about books, but
with technology we've learned there is so much more."
Returning to Sudbury after working in Toronto, Romain says
she is enjoying her job at Centre FORA.
"We get to encourage people to read everyday. Just look
at these books, they just make you want to read them to a
child, or to yourself, just for the sheer fun of it."
Parents looking for some tips on what books are out there
for their children, should pick up a copy of the Centre
FORA's reading guide entitled, Parents premiers éducateurs.
It lists all the popular titles for young readers from Amos
Daragon, Le Monde de Narnia and Pourquoi je dois...
If something is not in stock, it can be ordered, says
Romain.
"For example, there was a movie that came out last year
- Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. It's very popular, and
now there is a French book. We often get requests for
that."
Another aspect to Romain's job is giving books away.
"This project is fun. It was started during the Salon
du livre. It's called Chasse aux livres or the book chase.
The idea is to leave a book for someone else to find and to
read. People leave them on the bus or at work."
Anyone can pick out one of a selection of new books for
free, then register it online, and after reading it, leave the
book behind in a public place for others to discover, pick-up,
register and read. Then, the chase is on.
If you're more into movies, Les Boys I, II and III are available on video at the Centre FORA and while your there, join in the Chasse aux livres.
If you'd like to win a copy of La Laineuse, the marvelous story of a young women and her magical sheep, written by local children's author Rachel Desaulniers, visit NorthernLife.ca and search out this story. Scroll down to the end of the story and tell us what reading means to you or your family. Or write to us, at Northern Life, 158 Elgin St., Sudbury, ON, P3E 3N5. One entry will be selected and published in a future issue of Northern Life.
