The Children’s Book Week theme for 2014 is Connect to Reading. Book Week is 16-22 August. I thought I’d share 10 ideas and links to help make it the best Book Week ever.
1) This is my mission statement to connect kids to reading this year. (The pic above is my son and I. Reading is a team sport in our family. I look part werewolf, as though I may devour the book at any moment.)
2) I’m giving away a free author talk (including flights to get to wherever your school might be in Australia) and $250 worth of books from Random House Australia to the class or school who raises the most money towards our 2014 Room to Read World Change Challenge – a bold attempt to raise $20,000 for 20,000 books for kids in the world’s poorest countries.
3) Search for a Young Writer: I want to publish a short story under 1000 words by a 10-14 year-old writer in my next My Life book, out early 2015. If you write weird, funny stories that fit the My Life series, send ’em in. Check the details here.
4) Here are some Book Week activity ideas on the Children’s Book Council of Australia site.
5) Books that will get kids fired up about reading this Book Week: There’s the CBCA Awards shortlist as well as the KOALA, YABBA, BILBY, KROC and COOL lists.
6) If you’re running a writing competition for Book Week, you could try incorporating Story Scrapbook 2.0, the brand new online version of the transmedia brainstorming tool I created with programmer / designer, Benjamin Train.
7) You could book an author (or harass your teacher-librarian to book an author) to speak at your school. Here’s a list of agencies. Most authors are already booked for Book Week but if your celebration falls outside the official Book Week dates, you might get lucky.
8) Want to jump-start writing and creativity? Try some activities in the My Life& Other Stuff I Made Up teachers’ kit and lots of visual / aural creative ideas in the Two Wolves kit.
9) Check out the Teacher-Librarians’ Children’s Book Week wiki. Lots of good ideas for Connect to Reading activities, and a chance for you to share what you are doing.
10) Connect with me on FACEBOOK, TWITTER , INSTAGRAM and YOUTUBE. Let’s talk stories, create things and share the best books we’ve ever read.
