Twice Upon a Time is planning to resume its free bookstores in communities throughout Ottawa this fall, but we need your help! If you or someone you know is passionate about books, children’s literature, and community, please visit our Volunteer page to learn more about available volunteer opportunities and send your resume to volunteers@twiceuponatime.ca.
The Twice Upon a Time 2021 Annual Report is now available. Click here to access the report.
During last month’s Great Canadian Giving Challenge, more than 190,000 Canadians supported over 16,000 charities across the nation.
We would like to say a BIG thank you to everyone who donated to Twice Upon a Time – with your help, we raised a total of $3,000! These funds will help support our ReconciliAction Campaign, as well as our other initiatives such as Kids Today! Special Covid Project. Be sure to check this website regularly to learn more about our upcoming activities this fall.
Fostering a love of reading and supporting literacy is at the centre of what we do. We were thrilled to receive a donation from local Ottawa teacher, Mme. Rachel, on behalf of her Grade 1 class in celebration of their reading this year. Mme. Rachel’s French Immersion class at Broadview Public School read a remarkable total of 2880 French books from November to June!
The twenty students read all kinds of books about animals, science, transportation, and much more. Students received a certificate and prize after reading 100 books. Eli Mallach read a grand total of 500 French books this school year after learning that another student had read 500 books a few years prior.
Following Mme. Rachel’s generous donation, parents of the Grade 1 class decided to match her donation as a “thank you” for her marvelous teaching this year. We are so thankful to have received over $500 in donations from Mme. Rachel and her class!
Twice Upon a Time would like to offer a big CONGRATULATIONS to Mme. Rachel’s class! Well done on reading 2880 books (that’s like, a lot of books!!), and thank you for sharing your love of reading with us. Thank you to Mme. Rachel for inspiring your students to reach such an amazing accomplishment and for supporting our mission to develop children’s literacy in Ottawa.
Like several of the people involved with Twice Upon a Time, I am a librarian. When I was six years old, my public library branch in my hometown of St. Catharines, Ontario had a visit from Polkaroo. This was the '80s, and I don't think anyone was more popular with the six-year-old set than Polkaroo. Not only did I see him in the library, but when he and his handler (yes, he had a handler) left, I caught a glimpse of them outside the library walking away. No one else was around and I felt like I had had a special audience with Polkaroo. I like to say I became a librarian because - obviously! - a library was where you could have Polkaroo at your job. (more…)
We came to Ottawa in 2006 when Alexandra became the librarian at Rideau Branch of the Ottawa Public Library. We chose to live just north of the Market area downtown. Living and working in the Lowertown neighbourhood meant that we were around a lot of different kinds of communities all the time: we gave directions to many lost tourists, ran into diplomats and local politicians, saw many students, admired the homes of Sandy Hill, and nodded at the nuns living on our street frequently. We also quickly came to know by face, if not always by name, many of the marginalised populations living in or near our neighbourhood: lower-income families in high-rise housing, clients of the Ottawa Mission or other supportive initiatives, drug users (recovering and not) and the homeless. Kris began volunteering at the Mission.Our hearts went out to our community, and we tried to find as many ways to help, small or large, as we could.
At work, Alexandra worked with her team at the library to ensure access to library resources for as many people as possible. Working to reduce barriers for customers is crucial, but even these efforts aren’t always successful. Some people will never get a library card, whether it is because they are afraid of potential future fines, afraid of losing material, or afraid for another reason in their past that is a perceived barrier, if not a real one (bad credit, negative experience with municipalities or governments in Canada or elsewhere, lack of proper identification or a permanent address). We noticed that sometimes parents weren’t even able to purchase a paperback for their children from even the inexpensive “for sale” shelves. Working at Rideau Branch was also the first time that Alexandra read a story to a child who had never been read aloud to before: an absolutely magical, but also heartbreaking, experience (he was enthralled).
As our lives in Ottawa expanded and changed, (more…)