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Alison Lester Book Search Competition Winners

A huge congratulations and thank you to everyone who took on the challenge to read a book in Alison Lester’s extensive collection and searched Penrith City Library’s online catalogue for the hidden answers to our quiz, ahead of Magic Beach – Live On Stage coming to The Joan. We had an amazing response and it was wonderful to see you all engaging with your favourite and some new stories.

All entry forms were put into a barrel. One winner was drawn from the barrel following the daily Magic Beach Readings on Monday 12 and Tuesday 13 April, 2021.

We are pleased to announce the two very lucky winners:

  • Abigail, 11 years old (Pictured in the top banner)
  • Isaiah, 7 years old

Both Abigail and Isaiah were awarded a $50 voucher, redeemable for 2 tickets to a performance in The Joan’s 2021 Kids and Families Season.


As part of the competition, entrants were required to choose an Alison Lester book to read or listen to and tell us what they liked about the story. Our winners said the following:

  • “I like that Noni was nice and she took care of her friends all the time.”  Abigail on Noni the Pony
  • “I liked how Bigsy could talk to the animals in their own language.  The pictures were interesting and fun to look at.” Isaiah on My Dog Bigsy

Discover what our entrants had to say about Magic Beach below:

  • “I like it when they ride on the seashorses.  I also like it when the horses are in the water.”June (3 years old)
  • “It took my mind to the beach and I can relate those to my life. I love going to the beach.”Eva (11 years old)
  • “I like all the fun activities at the beach.”Milla (4 years old)
  • “I liked the part where they were riding seahorses.”Ashleigh (8 years old)
  • “What I liked about it (Magic Beach) was the people’s great imaginations. They made the seahorses, seadragons.”Fajar (11 years old)
  • “What I liked about the story was the people fished at the jetty and they caught a monstrous shark! It made me extremely excited.” Irene (6 years old)
  • “I like when they found the treasure.”Tehan (5 years old)
  • “I liked how the princess charged the dragon and how they built sand castles and they looked in the rock pools.”Frankie (8 years old)
  • “I like page two. I love the illustrations.”Jasmine (9 years old)
  • “I like the magic beach because it’s a good design and for little children.”Elsie (5 years old)
  • ” They play in the sand for hours and build sandcastles.” Taha (8 years old)
  • “I like this story because it’s creative adn has an interesting storyline. It paints a clear picture in my mind by using adjectives and intentional word choice.”Dihan (12 years old)

For the competition, some of our entrants got adventureous and chose a book from Alison Lester’s collection read before. They all provided feedback on their favourite part in the books.

  • “I like when they were at Uluru.”Dharsanaa (12 years old) Are We There Yet?
  • “I liked how it was magical and how they visited people’s houses.”Judah (7 years old) on The Journey Home
  • “I like all the animals in the story. My favourite page is when the Pelicans flap along the Sandy Shore.”Zac (9 years old) on Our Island
  • “They went on a magical adventure.” Emma (3 years old) on The Silver Sea
  • “This story is about 5 characters dressed up as a dinosaur, fairy, robot, cockatoo, cat and Rosie who fell asleep.”Bronte (9 years old) on I’m Green and I’m Grumpy
  • “I liked all the animals and the very cute baby.” Asher (4 years old) on The Very Noisy Baby
  • “It’s repetitive, has lots of animal sounds, it’s funny and the words match the pictures and I like that the baby makes different sounds.” – Ileesha (9 years old) on The Very Noisy Baby
  • I liked when they went swimming in the ocean.”Nate (4 years old) on Noni the Pony Goes to The Beach
  • “Noni the Pony is kind, caring and brave.”Caitlin (9 years old) on Noni the Pony Goes to the Beach
  • “(Noni)’s gentle and kind. He sings when his friends get scared. He cares a lot. He doesn’t leave behind anyone. They play together.”Brian (9 years old) on Noni the Pony Goes to the Beach

Again, thank you to Penrith City Library for teaming up with us to offer our community this great bonus in conjunction with performance of Magic Beach.

Stay tuned for more Kids and Family fun and competitions from The Joan and Penrith City Library!

  • Click here to see what we have coming up at The Joan and to book your tickets now;
  • Click here to subscribe to The Joan’s e-news to stay in the loop;
  • Click here to find out more about the Library’s services and sign up for membership via the catalogue; or
  • Download the Penrith City Library App to your preferred device from the App Store or Google Play.