Book Week is always an exciting time in the life of a Primary school student and at St Mary’s Malvern East, it is no different. Celebrated each year in August, Book Week marks the Childrens’ Book Council Awards (CBCA). These annual awards, which were established in 1946, recognise and promote children’s books of high literary and artistic quality. Each year, St Mary’s marks the occasion with a number of special events.
Book Week Parade
Each year, students (and staff!) dress to impress, selecting a costume which represents one of their favourite characters from a book they have read recently or fondly remember. Whilst it can be an annoyance for busy, time poor parents, no one really wants to miss out on the fun. This year, St Mary’s combined our traditional Book Week parade with Grandparents and Special Friends Day. This meant a bumper crowd witnessed the many and varied costumes. Luckily, the weather was kind and we were able to gather on the playground with some seating for special visitors as each class paraded around to show off their finery. As always, there were some interviews with students who told us their reasoning for selecting the character they had chosen. All in all, a fun time was had. Following the Book Parade, our Grandparents and Special Friends visited classrooms and enjoyed a sumptuous morning tea.
Classroom Activities
St Mary’s always purchases two copies of each of the CBCA shortlisted books in the various categories. These are catalogued and, following Book Week, are available for students to borrow from our well-stocked library. Year Four students take the books home over the second term holidays and write amazing book reviews which are then presented to the school at a dedicated assembly before Book Week. Students throughout the school have an opportunity to vote for their favourite short listed book during their weekly Library time.
On the day of our parade, students are divided into multi-age groups to go to a classroom for a literary experience. Typically, a teacher will read a chosen book to the students, discuss an aspect of the text and students will participate in a craft activity related to the text. Students really enjoy working with children from various year levels and there is always a ‘big kid’ to help with anything too tricky for a ‘little kid’.
Visiting Authors and Performers
Over the years, St Mary’s has had some ‘big names’ in the literary world visit us to share their secrets of writing craft. Jackie French author of ‘Wombat Diary’ amongst other books, Sofie Laguna author of ‘Where are you Banana?’ and ‘Grace and Glory’ and Anna Cidor author of ‘The Boy who stepped through Time’ have all visited during Book Week. We also host Illustrators and Poets, including Marc McBride who has illustrated the Deltora Quest series and Kylie Dunstan, author and illustrator of “Nanny Loves” amongst other books.
This year, Joel Mckerrow, author of ‘Urban Legend Hunters’ ran a writer’s workshop with Years 3 – 6. This engaging presentation had the students planning and drafting their own character outlines for a graphic novel.
In addition to various visiting authors and illustrators, St Mary’s also plays host to a drama workshop company, Perform Education, during Book Week. Their performance centres around a narrative story written to include three of the CBCA shortlisted texts. Our Foundation – Year 3 students have the opportunity to be an audience with some lucky students chosen to participate in the narrative. Teachers regularly join in the dancing and singing which forms part of the show.
Book Fair or Book Swap
As part of this year’s Book Week celebrations, St Mary’s hosted a Lamont Book Fair for the whole of Book Week. This fair offered students, parents, Grandparents and special visitors an opportunity to purchase quality children’s books for a reduced price and with twenty percent of profits returned to the school. With sales of just over $5000, St Mary’s raised $1000 which will go towards the purchase of Decodable texts for our junior classes. The stall had a $5 stand which was popular with students able to spend their pocket money on something they chose. And as Grandparents love to spend money on books for their Grandchildren, it is no wonder the Fair was a hit.
In 2022 and 2023, St Mary’s hosted the Great Indigenous Book Swap during book week. Students each donated a book to the swap meet and then for a gold coin donation were able to select a book to take home. All monies raised went to the Indigenous Literacy Foundation.
Benefits of Book Week
Whilst there is always discussion around in the media during Book Week of the stresses placed upon parents to come up with a costume at short notice, there is no doubt that there are many benefits to highlighting quality children’s literary and artistic excellence.
Book Week exists to promote quality literature for Australians by Australians, to support and encourage a wide range of children’s authors and illustrators and to recognise the importance of quality literature to the teaching of reading in Australian schools. Whilst much of the emphasis in reading has rightly been on the importance of teaching phonics, it is in quality literature and stories which are beautifully illustrated that children’s imaginations will be ignited and their vocabularies expanded. St Mary’s always embraces Book Week with enthusiasm as one of the ‘tent pole’ events that mark the Primary calendar. Long may it continue.