The Greek team visited the Public Library of Corinth twice and our work and project have been presented extensively with very favourable comments and photos by the Φίλοι Δημοτικής Βιβλιοθήκης Κορίνθου which is the page of the Library on facebook.You can see on

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=828574637296914&id=100004331564193&pnref=story

and on https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=833795283441516&id=100004331564193&pnref=story

The Greek team contacted Express Publishing, which is a very successful publishing house for ELT material with sales all over the world, to thank them for their kind offer of Readers for our outdoor library.They really liked our library and published a post on their facebook page promoting our initiatives and project.Hellenic eTwinning also published Express Publishing's post.We are deeply honoured and happy and we would like to thank both Express Publishing and of course, Hellenic eTwinning for their support !

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Dear friends
 

The Greek team sent our ebook to a good Greek children's book's writer, Giolanda Tsorini-Georgiadi who has written many beautiful books for small children.This is the comment she has written on our facebook page translated in english:

When children, guided by exceptional teachers, realize through such activities that a book does not necessarily end on its last page, but can be the beginning of more creations and inspiration, then, it is certain that these children will be friends with books for the rest of their lives. Congratulations to all of you on opening up new horizons to your students, on cultivating their critical thinking, on giving them the floor and the means to express themselves, to participate , to co-operate, to share ideas and emotions, to write their own superb book. It is absolutely certain that what you did will remain strongly impressed on their memory and your activities may be the cause for a great writer to emerge from the team of your students. I wish you keep on being creative with the same enthusiasm.
 

We also sent our final ebook to Angeliki Darlasi, a famous Greek children's books writer.

Let's see read some information about her.

Angeliki Darlasi was born in Athens in 1973. She studied theatre at Athens University and performance arts at London’s Central School of Speech and Drama. She is a writer, playwright and tutor for adults and children in creative writing and theatre. She has been distinguished many times as a playwright in national competitions. Her first novel, The dream guardians, 2004 was awarded with the Greek National Prize for Children/Youth Literature in 2005. Her second novel Tote pu krypsame enan angelo (When we hid an angel, 2009)was awarded with the IBBY Greece Award for Youth Literature, and was included in the White Ravens selection 2010. Her theatre version of the novel was awarded with the Greek National Prize for Children/Youth Theatre. Her illustrated book The tree that had wings, 2010 and the youth novel My name is … Cloud, 2012 were both shortlisted for Greek literature awards. To paliopedo received the IBBY Greece award for the text and illustrations.

She immediately wrote the following post on our project's facebook page:

This is the English translation of her comment:

Your initiative is exceptional and your work is extremely good.I believe it is useful to other people, too.I think that it is worth it and I wish with all my heart that you go on with similar actions that combine ‘playing’ with creative learning process.Because learning is not necessarily boring and creating, as well as co-creating are so important, yet are unfortunately missing from the mentality of our school education.Therefore, thank you for the beautiful example you have set!May you go on creating similar books!My best wishes to all of you, students and teachers, that you will continue being creative!I am sending you my ‘bravo’ and my love.

Last but not least,we sent our ebook to the great Greek children's books author Eleni Dikaiou.

Let's read some information about Mrs Dikaiou.

Eleni Dikaiou was born (1952) and raised in New Ionia, a small town near Volos, founded by Greek refugees who fled from their historic homeland in Smyrna to escape the war of 1922. Since her early childhood, she was brought up with stories from Asia Minor and Smyrna, the motherland of Homer and her own ancestors. At school, she had an inclination towards writing and the humanities. Her early stories were published in local newspapers and literary journals, including the «Diaplasis ton Paidon», a leading children’s magazine during the 60’s and 70’s. Upon her high school graduation she won a scholarship to continue her studies in the United States. Family circumstances, however, did not allow for her dream to come true. Instead, she took up a job with the Greek Telephone Company in Athens where she had a long successful career as public affairs executive. Her first novel for children and young adults, The Girls in the Sailor Suits, inspired by the violent uprooting of her ancestors and their forced migration, was published in 1991. The book received the literary award of the Smyrna and Asia Minor Cultural Organization, was translated into French and published by L’Ecole de Loisirs with the title Que demain soit un jour de bohneur. In 1994 it was included in the curriculum of the Institut National de Langues et de Cultures Orientales, Sorbonne, Paris. In Greece, the book has been adapted for the theatre and has been staged throughout the country. It has also been included in mandatory reading lists by public and private primary and secondary schools. Since 1991, Eleni Dikaiou has published twenty eight books for children and has contributed numerous stories in anthologies and other collective works. The following titles have received distinctions in Greece and/or abroad: The Gods Do Not Die in Pella: Award from the Children’s Center for the Arts (Kentro Technis Paidiou), under the auspices of the Municipality of Athens; 1992. Could you Please Teach Me How to Smile? Greek IBBY award; 1992. I’ll See You Again, My Little Friend: Nominated for the Janusz Korczak literary prize; 1998. Included in the Department of Special Education List, University of Oslo; 1999. Included in the IBBY List of Outstanding Books for Young People with Disabilities; 1999. Looking for Lost Heroes: Honorary List, European Prize for Youth Literature (Premio Europeo Pier Paolo Vergerio, Padova, Italy; 1999. Odysseus: The Long Voyage: Was honoured with the National Book Award - Children’s Literature; 2004. The Valley of the Butterflies: Was honoured with the Greek IBBY award in 2008 and was included in IBBY’s Honour List the same year. The book was adapted for the theatre and has been staged in the city of Thessaloniki. Inspired by Greek antiquity and the truths told by ancient poets, Eleni Dikaiou has written extensively on Greek myths and heroes including Odysseus, Theseus, Hercules, and Jason. Her historical novel The Gods Do Not Die in Pella traces the life and accomplishments of Alexander the Great and her Looking for Lost Heroes deals with recent Greek history and the Civil War. In her histories, mythologies, and fairy tales, the human aspect of heroism is a recurrent theme, while other writings explore universal themes such as exile and migration, love and friendship, family values, racism and school bullying, special needs and disabilities, environmental challenges and the future of our planet. Many of her titles are presently included in mandatory reading lists for students attending modern Greek literature classes at Lund University, Sweden. Eleni Dikaiou has contributed stories to thematic collective works published by Greek educational institutions as well as local and international organizations with responsibility for promoting, protecting, and defending the rights of children (i.e. the Association for the Psychosocial Health of Children and Adolescents, UNICEF, etc). She has prepared and presented numerous workshops and educational programs for children throughout the country in support of book reading initiatives. Since 2008, she works closely with the charitable cultural foundation «Aikaterini Laskaridi» and the Piraeus-based «Kaiti Laskaridi Library» in developing educational programs for children and young adults. These programs travel to even remote Greek towns providing opportunities for all children to engage in reading activities. In addition, she has appeared on radio and TV cultural programs and has travelled throughout Greece and abroad to participate in literary international events for children and young adults. Indicatively, she has participated in the 2007 International Book Fest in Moscow with the topics «Greek mythology and archeology in books for children and young readers,» and «Everyday reality: a source of inspiration for fiction»; the 2012 International Festival of the Sea Nautilus in Cyprus with the theme «Mediterranean Cultures through Greek Mythology»; the 2014 International Science Festival in Athens on «Les Rencontres de la Terre, Eau, Air, Feu: observer la Planète», the 2015 International Conference «Greece-Turkey: Literary Routes». 

Mrs Dikaiou sent us the following moving message on facebook:

This is the English translation of it:

The work of the children unfolded an adventure before me.What makes it special is that it has the structure of the endless quest for the golden chalice, an immaterial object, which according to legend, many people persistently searched for but only the unblemished and pure-hearted Sir Galahad achieved to behold.In other words, this adventure has a symbolic value.It shows the great journey of students towards their goal, by creating something tangible on every step of the way; their own sacred object,their book or else, the golden glass of their endless quest.Because reading, the knowledge which is included in books, never ends and for the people who lived the adventure, the next adventures inevitably arise shortly after.This applies both to readers and to creators.Therefore, I hope both students and their teacher continue their noble quest.

Finally, we contacted Mrs Marina Michaelidou-Kadi, a distinguished Greek-Cypriot children's books author .

Here is some information about her:

Marina Michaelidou-Kadi was born and grew up in Cyprus. She studied psychology at Boston University and natural resources management at Cornell University, USA. Since 2002 she has lived in Nicosia, where she writes stories for children about social and environmental issues. Her book To kokkino phorema tes Sabel (Sabel’s red dress, 2014), about a young refugee girl, was selected for the 2014 White Ravens catalogue and was shortlisted for the Greek IBBY book awards. Her book Semeli’s smile, 2011 received the children’s book award from the Cyprus Bibliographical Society. In 2015 she co-authored the first bilingual (Greek and Turkish) children’s book in Cyprus, From the earth to the stars. O Nikolas kai Elli received the Cyprus Literature Award for Young Children and was shortlisted for the Greek IBBY book awards.

Mrs Kadi read our eBook and sent us the following message: 

Dear READ AND SHARE eTwinning students,

I really enjoyed your project! Especially pizza :) I am glad that in today's digital world children find time not only for computers, but also for reading books, and more importantly for creativity. Because the creativity makes us human. I wish you a good full of fantasy stories!

All my best wishes
Lina Žutautė

p.s. If you have nothing against, I will propose to Lithuanian children to create such a pizza in their libraries :)

We would like to thank her for her great words about our project and for encouraging us to go on !

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And this is his answer:



I also thanked him and  asked for permission to publish his comments on our school's site

and this is his answer:


Thank you so much!
It's really a pleasure to have contacted you AND IT IS OUR GREATEST HONOUR TO HAVE RECEIVED SUCH GREAT WORDS FROM YOU!You encourage us to keep going in the world of books!

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Dear friends,

On June, 23 the End of the Year Celebration took place at the Third Junior High School of Corinth.Students, parents and teachers celebrated the end of the school year.There was an impressive READ AND SHARE eTwinning exhibition which presented the activities we did for our project and which got really favourable comments by everybody.READ AND SHARE eTwinners had fun and received their eTwinning Certificates of Participation. Iliana also received the Best Reader's Award which was the outstanding book, Momo by Michael Ende along with a card from her English teacher, C.Kasinti.ETwinners also did some original End of the School year activities for our READ AND SHARE project, like signing our photo, writing A MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE to send to future eTwinners and finally, writing what they will mostly miss about our project.Finally, everybody tasted the delicious food, danced and enjoyed themselves!

These are some images from this magical evening!