Book Week 2018: Find Your Treasure

Tonight I will be presenting a webinar for Eduwebinar with lots of ideas for Book Week 2018. My notes from this event are below and may be of help in your own Book Week planning. That and Panadol, chocolate and wine. I really do love Book Week…but glory me it’s a production and I always need a good lie down at the end of it!

Online Book Week Resources

Tristan Bancks always does a great Book Week post, and this years ‘Top Ten Tips for Children’s Book Week’ post is wonderful.  I love his comment: An incredible story can feel like treasure when it speaks to you and understands the way you think and feel. But not every book is perfect for everyone. I put down just as many books as I finish, but I never give up the hunt for my next great read. (read more here). What I particularly like about Tristan’s post is the ideas he gives for ‘giving the treasure of reading’ because it is just so important to stop and remind our students that basic skills like reading and writing are not as accessible to all children worldwide. He encourages us to think deeply about the best way we can make a difference in the reading lives of others.  Tristan is an ambassador for Room to Read, a global non-profit organisation working to transform the lives of millions of children throughout Asia and Africa by improving literacy and gender equality in education (more here).

Susan Stephenson of The Book Chook is a one woman wonder when it comes to Book Week theming – I am in total awe of her ability to pull together and create a huge amount of free Book Week ideas and this year is no exception. I’ve got her clues for working out the CBCA shortlisted titles ready to go for my Year Three – Six students – see here.

Sharon McGuinness of Mrs Mac’s Library always does a great job of gathering resources about each of the shortlisted books and I wait each year for her links – she does all the hard work for us – see here.

My own Book Week ideas are shaped by my work as an editor on the Ipswich District Teacher Librarian Network Book Week book, which can be ordered here. There are a number of Book Week publications but this is the one I use myself, and this is the one I now help to edit, as a member of the most wonderful TL network in the country (in my opinion!). Our book is a book of ideas & activities covering the theme, reading promotion and selected books from the Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Awards. The Book contains BLM’s, activities and ideas including displays, ideas suitable for libraries and classrooms to help celebrate Book Week. There is also a huge amount of online support material on our IDTL Network page here.

Thinking About the Theme

Discussion starters:

Treasure – what do you consider as treasure? (valuable, precious, jewels and gemstones)

What other things do we treasure? (the answer you want is books okay?!)

Where do we find bookish treasure? Inside the pages of a book (book as treasure chest) or on library shelves (library shelves as treasure chests)

Hunting for treasure requires a journey or adventure – think maps, discovery, adventure books.

Costume Ideas for Book Week

I’ve done a round up of 30 ideas for Book Week costumes for kids here, which I’m sharing in my school newsletter this week and you are very welcome to do the same. Teacher costume ideas are coming!

Competitions

The two competitions below, ideas shamelessly stolen from Michelle Witheyman-Crump  (thanks again lovely!), have been advertised in our school newsletter and on posters in classrooms. These competitions are ones to be completed at home and are a fun way to promote Book Week in homes. I created the posters on Canva, a program I use extensively for my blog and for school. Many of the templates and elements are free, but I do often opt to use paid elements as I use them for my blog. Use of Canva in schools is a great way to encourage an understanding of graphic design; this year one of our student activities for Book Week is to use Canva to create posters which promote the theme, such as the one below created by PudStar.

During the week of Book Week, I always have a ‘finding’ competition running each lunch hour. We hide objects related to the theme (this year mini treasure chests) and when these are found they can be exchanged at the library for a book prize. Slightly chaotic but enormous fun. 

CBCA Short List 2018: Find Your Treasure

Every year I use the mini-books templates from the IDTL Network Book Week book to explore the shortlist. ChickPea is pictured below with her Eve Pownall mini-book – really should have brushed her hair before I took this photo…

Book of the Year: Older Readers

Entries in this category may be fiction, drama or poetry and should be appropriate in style and content for readers in their secondary years of schooling. Ages 13-18 years (NB: These books are for mature readers).

‘Mallee Boys’ by Charlie Archbold, Wakefield Press

‘In the Dark Spaces’ by Cally Black, Hardie Grant Egmont

‘Take Three Girls’ by Cath Crowley, Simmone Howell and Fiona Wood, Pan Macmillian Australia

‘Because of You’ by Pip Harry, UQP

‘The Secret Science of Magic’ by Melissa Keil, Hardie Grant Egmont

‘Ballad for a Mad Girl’ by Vikki Wakefield, Text Publishing

Book of the Year: Younger Readers

Entries in this category may be fiction, drama or poetry and should be appropriate in style and content for readers from the middle to upper primary years. Ages 8-12 years.

‘The Elephant’ by Peter Carnavas, UQP

‘How to Bee’ by Bren MacDibble, Allen and Unwin

‘Henrietta and the Perfect Night’ by Martine Murray, Text Publishing

‘The Shop at Hoopers Bend’ by Emily Rodda, Harper Collins Publishers

‘Marsh and Me’ by Martine Murray, Text Publishing

‘The Grand, Genius Summer of Henry Hoobler’ by Lisa Shanahan, Allen and Unwin

Book of the Year: Early Childhood

Entries in this category may be fiction, drama or poetry and should be appropriate in style and content for children who are at pre-reading or early stages of reading. Ages 0-7 years.

‘Rodney Loses it!’ by Michael Gerard Bauer and Chrissie Krebs, Omnibus Books

‘Boy’ by Phil Cummings and Shane Devries, Scholastic Australia

I’m Australian Too’ by Mem Fox and Ronojoy Ghosh, Omnibus Books

‘The Second Sky’ by Patrick Guest and Jonathan Bentley, Little Hare

‘The Very Noisy Baby’ by Alison Lester, Affirm Press

‘Hark, It’s Me, Ruby Lee!’ by Lisa Shanahan and Binny, Hachette Australia

Picture Book of the Year

Entries in this category should be outstanding books of the Picture Book genre in which the author and illustrator achieve artistic and literary unity or, in wordless picture books, where the story, theme or concept is unified through illustrations. Ages 0-18 years (NB. Some of these books may be for mature readers).

‘Ten Pound Pom’ by Liz Anelli (Text by Carole Wilkinson), Walker Books

‘The Great Rabbit Chase’ by Freya Blackwood, Scholastic Australia

‘Mopoke’ by Philip Bunting, Omnibus Books

‘A Walk in the Park’ by Gwyn Perkins, Affirm Press

‘Swan Lake’ by Anne Spudvilas, Allen and Unwin

‘Florette’ by Anna Walker, Penguin Random House

Eve Pownall Award

Entries in this category should be books which have the prime intention of documenting factual material with consideration given to imaginative presentation, interpretation and variation of style. Ages 0-18 years.

‘Do Not Lick this Book’ by Idan Ben-Barak (Illus. by Julian Frost), Allen and Unwin

‘M is for Mutiny!’ by John Dickon (Illus. by Bern Emmerichs), Berbay Publishing

‘Left and Right’ by Lorna Hendry, Wild Dog Books

‘The Big Book of Antartica’ by Charles Hope, Wild Dog Books

‘Amazing Australians in their Flying Machines’ by Prue and Kerry Mason (Illus. by Tom Jellet), Walker Books Australia

‘Koala’ by Claire Saxby (Illus. by Julie Vivas), Walker Books Australia 

Crichton Award for New Illustrators

The Crichton Award aims to recognise and encourage new talent in the field of Australian children’s book illustration. Ages 0-18 years.

‘Can You Find Me?’ by Patrick Shirvington, New Frontier Publishing

‘I Just Ate my Friend’ by Heidi McKinnon, Allen and Unwin

‘Mopoke’ by Philip Bunting, Omnibus Books

‘Once Upon an ABC’ by Christopher Nielsen, Little Hare

‘The Sloth Who Came to Stay’ by Vivienne To, Allen and Unwin

‘Tintinnabula’ by Rovina Cai, Little Hare

To purchase any of these books click on title links or cover images. To purchase from local Brisbane independent bookstore, ‘Where the Wild Things Are’, click on the ad below.

Support the CBCA by purchasing Book Week products from CBCA Branches or at store.cbca.org.au