Happy Book Week! If you are someone who is not into children's books though, you might not know that it is Book Week!
The winners in each category were announced on Friday, 15th at 12.00 noon, yet I have not read anything in the newspapers, there was nothing to indicate it was Book Week at the local library I visited today or at either of the bookshops at my local shopping mall. One of the cheaper department stores had a sale on dress ups for Book Week. Not so long ago there would have been much more fanfare. The newspapers ran an article about the merit of Australian books for children, an author may have spoken on the radio ... but now?
How disappointing! It is the Children's Book Council's 80th birthday this year and it still didn't rate a mention. Most schools will have a dress up parade for Book Week sometime this week, but really will it make children or teachers read more books? Yes, it might provide some fun, but given the falling statistics on reading in schools and reading for pleasure in particular, will it address this need. I do hope so!
Unfortunately in my experience, everyone at school has an opinion about how Book Week should be celebrated. Often those with the loudest voices and the most power are not readers themselves and the Teacher Librarian(s) who should be running a week that focusses on books are not consulted about best practice. As long as we have an author visit and a dress up parade we can tick the Book Week box.
Do I sound cynical? I sure do, because for quite some time now this is what has been happening at my school. The Book Week we were home with Covid and couldn't dress up and parade was amazing because the teacher librarian (me) was left to plan it all and we had a book grid with a choice of activities every day. The students posted photos of the things they were doing and the feedback was so positive. When the library reopened many students and parents borrowed books they were introduced to during Book Week.
I find it easy to enthuse the students when sharing the shortlisted books or books by the visiting author, but I do find it hard to get the teachers involved in activities unless I do all the planning, provide the books and give them a run sheet. They are just so busy and feel very time-poor. The curriculum and timetable are just so jam-packed and there is the feeling that everything suggested in a unit of work must be done, even though they are suggestions only, and there is wriggle-room and the outcomes could just as easily be met by reading other titles.
Enough! The shortlisted books for Early Childhood this year were a very good collection to share with my young audience. I have written about each of them elsewhere in this blog: The Wobbly Bike; How to Move a Zoo; One Little Dung Beetle; Everything You Wanted to Know About the Tooth Fairy; Spiro; and Don't Worry Felix. And, the author illustrator who is visiting is Cate James who will be perfect for 5 to 8 year olds.
Now to get ready for a dress up parade... think outside the box...put on your safari suit and go adventuring just like Lollipop and her Grandfather series of books by Penelope Harper and Cate James. I've got hiking boots, shorts, a vest and a tie. I could be a grandparent. I just need Lollipop!
To finish on a more positive note I did spy this book in the bookshops.
Dear Bookstore, I remember
the first time I ever visited you...
For one little girl, the local bookstore is not only the beginning of her reading journey, it’s a world that’s always there for her—one that allows her imagination to soar, provides any answers she needs, and sparks her curiosity. It’s a place of wishes and dreams, where everybody and every book fits in. There’s always someone there who is happy to see her and help find her next exciting read. Dear Bookstore is an ode to bookstores, the people who love them, and the books that fill them with magic and it could just as easily be a library as a bookshop.
You can hear Emily sing her song here. This is certainly a book to share the joy of books and reading!
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