World Book day was created by UNESCO on 23rd April 1995 to celebrate books and authors, and encourage young people to discover the pleasure of reading. The first World Book Day in the UK and Ireland took place in 1997 to promote reading for fun. The founder of World Book Day, Baroness Gail Rebuck, recalls, “Our message is the same today as it was then – that reading is fun, relevant, accessible, exciting, and has the power to transform lives.” Mrs Volioti, our librarian, who was instrumental in planning and coordinating the events of our celebrations at Edge Grove, has written this special report: Last week Edge Grove celebrated World Book Day in all its glory. It was a day filled with reading, dressing up, author visits and book-related workshops. The day began with dressing up parades. Children and staff came to school as their favourite book character and took part in parades showcasing their costumes. These were a huge success and the highlight of the day, and we had some clear winners who stood out with their innovative and unique costumes. Everyone had immense fun talking about their chosen books and characters. Miss McDonald was the wicked Cruella de Vil from Dodie Smith's 1956 novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians and she spent some time trying to capture a rather large puppy (Mr Craxton).
I loved world book day because I love reading books and I even got to dress up. When I did the parade, I was a ‘Teacher Favourite’ and got a bookmark and a well done card. Another part that was fun was when I got to tell people about a book that I read.
There were two winners in Pre-School, Oscar who came as Wobbly Bob from the story ‘The Cook and the King’, and Sophie who came as Sophie from ‘The Tiger Who Came to Tea’. Mrs Chalmers said, "The staff had a fantastic and exhausting day! We loved seeing how excited the children were, and were so impressed by the effort everyone had put into their costumes. The children loved taking part in the parade, being able to really show off their outfits to the cheers of their friends and teachers!"
Author visits and book workshops took place after the parades. All author visits promoted the idea of Empathy, central to this year’s celebrations.
In Pre Prep, some classes enjoyed a virtual visit by award-winning writer and illustrator, Steve Antony, talking about his new book You Can (the rest will attend his sessions this week, so no one will miss out). The cast of You Can characters is truly diverse and in his presentation, Steve Antony unfolds their different interests, identities, friendships and futures for our young pupils to see.
Year 3 enjoyed a virtual visit by bestselling and multi-award winning author and illustrator Rob Biddulph, reading his book Odd Dog Out and engaging in a #DrawWithRob workshop. This was a thoroughly enjoyable event that combined books and art and touched on the theme of being different: it certainly brought forth our young artists in the making.
Year 4s were very lucky to enjoy an in-person visit by our very own children’s author, publishing consultant, founder of Storymix and mum at Edge Grove, Jasmine Richards. Jasmine talked to the children about her journey of becoming a writer, by sharing a presentation full of pictures and fun facts about her life, and delivered thoroughly engaging creative writing workshops around magical objects, which the children loved! We are looking forward to reading Jasmine’s new book which is published in May.
Year 5 and 6 had a virtual visit by multi award-winning writer of both non-fiction and fiction A.M.Dassu on her book Boy, Everywhere. The children listened to the refugee experience of the book’s main character and his family, who endured hardship and incarceration on the journey to beginning a new life – a story that is very relevant in today’s world. They then took part in a workshop and some groups presented their workshop entries to the rest of their classmates.
I liked World Book Day because I really enjoyed the author talk which helped me learn about the refugees.
Year 7 and 8 enjoyed an engaging, fast paced talk by internationally acclaimed author Robert Muchamore. Robert Muchamore shared his journey of becoming a writer and talked about his new book series, Robin Hood, a modern take on the Robin Hood legend. The success of this event was evident by the Robin Hood’s books that were subsequently sold at Mrs Broadis’ book sale in the main library, a sale that was well supported by families and which raised over £500 to purchase books for Edge Grove libraries. Thank you!
Lunchtime was a delight as Chef John and his team prepared a food bonanza inspired by Roald Dahl books.
Our favourite bit of this day is the lunch. They decorated the whole of the lunch room and customised the food. They called the spaghetti, ‘Mrs Twits squiggly worm spaghetti’! After lunch, our final activity - DEAR time (Drop Everything And Read) - was announced over the school tannoy by Miss McDonald and peace reigned in Edge Grove’s classrooms as everyone got out their books to enjoy some time reading for pleasure.
We know reading is important here at Edge Grove and World Book Day 2022 gave us a fabulous moment to celebrate books and reading across the whole school.
Reading helps me to go on magical adventures.
Thank you to Mrs Volioti for all her efforts in promoting reading for pleasure through an exciting and activity-filled World Book Day. Thank you too to all families who donated pre-loved books. I have sorted them for The Children’s Book Project https://childrensbookproject.co.uk/ and we have five boxes filled to the brim of lovely titles. The Children’s Book Project works closely with women’s groups, children’s centres and schools to gift gently-used books to children across London and Oxfordshire, forging links with settings whose communities may benefit most from access to free books. I will continue to collect books for disadvantaged children so we can help tackle the attainment gap that arises from low book ownership. Please email me if you have donations to drop into school: jbroadis@edgegrove.com Thank you very much for your support!