Reading for pleasure 3 July 2015 - conference notes
Margaret Holborn, Head of the Guardian Education Centre, welcomed everyone to the
conference.
Julia Eccleshare, the Guardian children’s books editor, introduced and chaired the day and
spoke about the Guardian’s commitment to as much discussion of children’s books as possible.
The aim is to get the best possible books to children, teachers and schools. There is a children’s
book prize every year and one of the day’s speakers, author Piers Torday, was last year’s
winner.
Emily Drabble, editor of the Guardian Children’s Books site, explained that the website is for
under 18s and is often written by young readers. Young people can review books and they will
be sent books for free. There are thousands of members of the site and children are sent
encouraging emails to improve their reviews. The website produces galleries, articles and
reviews of books for age 0-18. There are themed book weeks and also live chats with authors.
Children and reading groups can join the site.
Writing for children - Piers Torday
Julia introduced Piers Torday, 2014 winner of the Guardian children’s book prize for his book
The Dark Wild, the sequel to his debut novel The Last Wild and the second book of a trilogy.
Piers explained that he spends time in schools every week and is aware of an upsurge in
strategies, initiatives and schemes for reading.
He talked about the value of children reading. His focus was not just on educational, social or
literary value but also the human value. Through reading children can feel that they are not
alone and they can engage with feelings and experiences that they may not have yet
encountered. They can become aware that there is a space in the world for every kind of person.
Piers asked delegates what they thought were the 100 most influential books according to
Facebook. Data collated shows that 20% are books originally written for children. Harry Potter
was listed as the most influential, with Lord of the Rings, Hunger Games and the Narnia books
also in the top ten.
Piers asked delegates to name their influential books and they recalled Polyanna, Secret Garden,
The Once and Future King, Tom Sawyer and Little Women. Piers loved Charlie and the
Chocolate Factory
Piers felt it was an immense privilege to write for children.
Piers addressed how adult writers set about creating stories which will inspire, excite and move
a younger mind. He told a story about a boy called Jack who lived a happy and conventional life
in Belfast in 1906. His mother died and his response was to lose himself in a fictional world
called Animal Land. He wrote to his brother at boarding school and said that he was going to
write a history about Mouse Land. This boy was CS Lewis. He said that all his happiness and
security went with his mother's death. Piers said that the author seems to be recreating a
personal paradise that existed before his mother died.
Piers tries to create stories that he would have enjoyed as a 13 year old. The environmental
themes in his stories probably have roots in a holiday he took when he was 12. He went to the
tiny Scottish island of Colonsay with his best friend and family. The 12 year old boys trekked
across moors and cliffs and were followed by a cat. On a beach they found a seagull with a
broken wing, which his friend put in his pocket and they took to a vet. They then came across a
mouse interested in their sandwiches and to protect it from the cat Piers put it in his pocket. A
rabbit then joined them and the boys returned to their hotel with the creatures. He later used this
experience as inspiration for his stories. Children's books often come from recognisable
experiences.
Piers said that 40% of his work as an author is reading. He reads to top up his own imaginative
reservoir but also to be aware of the range of styles, tone, voice and different structural
approaches.
Jacqueline Wilson said that she writes with one eye on the market to be imaginatively in tune
with what children are reading. Piers would also add having one eye on history. He is aware that
he is working in a tradition and so wants to be original but learn from past classics. He enjoyed
Aesop's Fables and The Wolves of Willoughby Chase. A book which is pleasurable usually has
resonance beyond its own words and plot and children will respond to that. Piers works as a
volunteer with reluctant readers with the Beanstalk charity and thinks the answer is not to give
them something too simplistic to read. They live in a modern complex world and even the
simplest tale needs depth and context to be convincing.
Characters are at the heart of any story. He approaches characters from the point of view of
function, eg: hero, enemy, liar, trickster and then tries to think of the most original and
appropriate personality to fill the role.
When writing The Last Wild Piers wanted to write a book about climate change and the
relationship with the natural world. Children have lost about 60% of their playing space during
the last 50 years and spend more time playing with computers. Before writing The Last Wild
Piers had decided he wanted the story to include a whale and a polar bear. Whilst wondering
how to write his story he spotted a large pigeon outside his window. He thought it was a boring
animal but he researched them and found they had an interesting history, they had been useful
during the second world war and one had won a medal. Piers was also surprised to learn that the
passenger pigeon, an extinct North American bird, numbered over a million in the 19th century
and the last one died in 1914. The Last Wild was written about pigeons
Piers concluded by saying that what most children want is to be older and freer. A good book
will grant that wish. For an hour or two young readers can also be wiser and braver, happier,
sadder and angrier. The gradual awakening of the imagination can be a passport to a lifetime's
journey of self-discovery that is the central pleasure of reading that children's writers have all
discovered in their own way and try to return for generations following them.
Creating a community of readers – Martin Cooper, deputy headteacher, Mile Oak School,
Brighton
Martin talked through a huge number of ideas that he uses to encourage reading for pleasure at
his school, with an emphasis on ownership by the children, entering the 21st century, innovation
and reinvention, including:
The Library (called the Hub) is run by the children. There is a space for writing as well as
reading. Children write letters applying to be a librarian. Everybody also joins Mile Oak library
Reading champions: At Mile Oak they wear black shirts so everyone knows who you are.
Writing champions wear purple shirts, maths wear red. There is no jealousy; it is about
aspiration. The youngest children start as reading stars and then it goes right up to silver and
gold champions for the older pupils. Children have said things such as: “Every time I put on my
shirt I feel a tingle of power in my brain” and “I can write a lot better when I put the shirt on.”
Accelerated reader: The scheme helps children read entire books. Children do a star reading
test and then the book quizzes are based on their level. There are currently around 30,000 books
on the system. It develops reading stamina. Children are motivated by quizzes and recommend
books to each other. Michaela Morgan took part in a mastermind quiz on her own books in
assembly and was beaten by children. Parents are also involved via Home connect. Children get
treats for targets being met – for example taking to them to the cinema. It is also useful as
diagnostic tool as lots of data is collected.
Reading millionaires: Accelerated reading counts the words read. Children who have read a
million words get a certificate and book tokens. Martin hired a Hummer and took the first 12 on
a trip as a reward. This year they have over 30 millionaires – he is taking them on a boat.
Words on wheels: A book trolley selling books - run by 16 year 4 children, who invested £5 of
their own money to invest in the company and sell the books to other children.
Book buses: Miniature buses full of books go up and down the corridors of Mile Oak. Book
busketeers wearing hats deliver books – including on the field in summer. Brighton & Hove
buses renovated the buses and made a new one that lights up. Busketeers give up lunchtimes to
work with younger children. Teachers train the children on managing groups "we put the kids
who weren't paying attention at the front...".
Community reading champions: Children visit local nurseries and volunteer with them. To
become a champion they have to write to Martin and give good reasons why they should do it.
Reading pavement: A Reading Walk of Fame - children who reach beyond the gold standard
get a paving slab inscribed with their name on the walk of fame. A very special honour – only 2
or 3 a year. Mile Oak also now have a Writing Walk of Fame.
Reading in different places: Outside of school grounds – While working at a school in
Croydon, Martin took children to the courts – they were reading I Was a Rat. At the court they
all got out their books and read in the courtroom instead of the classroom. The judge put him on
trial.
Buddy reading: How to be a buddy instructions are always available. They have stickers for
buddies, a buddy of the day – participation can be occasional, does not have to be all the time.
Book hunters: Children find the missing copies of a book hidden around school – to increase
the complexity, have 'bad guys' trying to find the hunters.
Super dads workshops: To get dads more involved in children's reading.
Football and reading: Premier League Reading Stars is a football scheme where the children
read football related texts and then finish with football related activities.
Quick ideas: Raffle tickets are given to children who are caught reading/writing/calculating
(including at home and in the library); Keep Calm and Keep Reading posters; shelfies; speed
dating with books; reading on line with a Kobo; blackout poetry using newspapers; recreate a
cover for World Book Day (pose a photo like a book cover); beach read (crank up the heating,
give out choc ices, children read); pets as reading champions competition (the best photos of
pets reading). The hamster won.
Workshops
Bringing books alive in your school….for free! Guardian Children’s books and Puffin Live
Alexandra Taylor introduced Penguin Schools and discussed how they work with schools and
how schools can engage with their authors. They have a schools mailing list and free teaching
resources.
Emily Drabble introduced the Guardian Children's books site and showed a video of children
interviewing authors. She talked about how the website is written for children and by them.
They have been running for four years and the number of children reviewing books has grown.
She showed an article where two site members interviewed Jacqueline Wilson and how this
engaged children with reading.
Andrea Bowie and Tash Collie introduced Puffin Virtually Live. It is a free live author show
that schools can sign up for and the children ask questions in advance of a show. During the
shows there are live Q&As with authors and draw alongs with illustrators. The shows also star
special guests and reveal exciting news such as book cover reveals. Puffin Virtually Live has
been running since 2012 and over five million children have been involved.
The Puffin Live team showed an example of a draw along with Quentin Blake as well as Jeff
Kinney and Jacqueline Wilson examples. They also do shows that feature stories by authors
who are no longer with us such as the annual Roal Dahl Day show. The 2014 show featured
performances from the West End production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
They also have lesson plans that schools can use before or after watching a show. They showed
an example of a Virtually Live show with Jacqueline Wilson and her Hetty Feather book and
they used a draw along with her illustrator Nick Sharratt as part of the show. The teachers got a
chance to take part in that draw along.
Alex explained how visual literacy got children got into books and how this links to Chris
Riddell's, the new children's laureate, aim to get children to access books through illustration.
The teachers talked about how you could use the draw alongs as a lesson starter.
Emily then showed some how to draw galleries from the series that the site does once a week
and explained how schools teachers and children can use them and be inspired to draw.
The Puffin team talked about a Steven Butler and The Diary of Dennis the Menace inspired
show that was anarchic and chaotic but the children loved it.
Emily then explained how she got the site reading groups to engage with authors – they did a
call out to book members asking them to pitch a review of the Diary of Dennis the Menace and
then picked the school to interview them. The St Andrew's Reading Group came up with some
brilliant questions for the author that resulted in a lovely interview. Emily encouraged the
teachers to join with book groups and how using the site and taking part in such activities can
really engage children with reading.
The teachers asked Emily what makes a good review from a child. She suggested that when
children start writing reviews they think they need to be formulaic but actually they need to be
chatty and fun. She suggested the children talk with a friend first. They should ask each other
questions such as why do you love this book and give examples. The answers to these are what
need to be in a review. When children send in reviews Emily and her team will give them advice
and encouragement.
Emily showed an example of the review of the Dennis the Menace diary from a book group that
was chatty, informative and fun and really engaged with the book. The group realised that they
were recommending it to all the site members throughout the world.
The next Puffin Virtually Live show is a Roal Dahl Twits spectacular on the 25 September, for
which you can sign up for free. You can find out about Puffin Virtually Live shows via the
monthly newsletter and the Penguin Schools newsletter. The Penguin Schools newsletter also
contains news and updates about other events, competitions and books from Penguin Random
House Children’s. You can watch all of the Puffin Virtually Live shows on demand. This web
page contains every Puffin Virtually Live show plus the accompanying resources.
The teachers then got a chance to review the Puffin Live site and Guardian Children's book site.
Play on words – Shelagh McCarthy, British Library learning team
The workshop is part of the British Library's learning programme. It is designed to stimulate the
senses and aims to increase confidence in using language playfully and creatively, using the
collection at the British Library as inspiration.
Shelagh began by asking the questions ‘what is creative writing?’, 'where to authors get
inspiration from?' and 'what if you don't have any inspiration?' and challenged the group to think
experimentally about it. The workshop aims to create something out of nothing - a springboard
to creative writing.
The group gathered words from around the room (letters framed on the wall, signs around the
building, words suggested by our surroundings) and recorded them on a worksheet which asked
for nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs.
Using the collected words, they created an imaginative text, first individually and then in
groups.
Individually, delegates selected an adjective and a noun followed by an adverb and verb and
then another adjective and noun - so the six words in a row to resemble a sentence, but it makes
no sense – at this point with children, you could change the words, add to it, bring in grammar
and so on.
Next, the groups read their sentences aloud – the first group whispered altogether, the next
group shouted theirs and the final group sang.
The group explored what whispered words would look like; small, faint and spidery, fragile.
Shouts would be in capitals, big, bold, red and black. The sung words were golden, moving,
dancing.
Shelagh showed a video of the Jabberwocky which highlights the visual impact of the words in
the poem, and the group then physically put their own words onto paper, using stamps, stencils
and lettraset.
Finally, the groups produced a piece of creative writing to be performed at the end – Shelagh
gave examples that children had come up with in the past, including a broken telephone
conversation, a rap, and the historical mash ups and collisions that happen when using words in
the Library.
Characters and places could be found in the lists of nouns, and actions and descriptions in the
verbs, adjectives and adverbs. The results involved interpretive dance, choral kennings and
promenade theatre.
The folded sheets each person had been working on also created a bookform when tied together,
which could be used as inspiration for new stories, or to illustrate, collage etc back in the
classroom.
Engaging parents in reading for pleasure with Julie Westrop – Cafés for All lead trainer
and Senior school advisor Norfolk County Council
Julie introduced the workshop by explaining she would be looking at:
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Research.
How to engage parents in schools and supporting learning and the barriers and obstacles.
How to engage parents in supporting reading for pleasure.
Sharing success – key ingredients.
An approach – Cafés for All.
Julie asked the group why engaging parents in reading is important. The response was that
children spend more time with parents and parents supporting children at home makes a
minimum of 10% difference to pupils’ achievement. Parents also shape children’s attitudes to
reading, especially their reading for pleasure.
The group was asked to describe events they used to engage parents in reading:
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Book Week.
Dads reading in school.
Parents making books for children activity.
Book swap day for parents.
Julie asked the group working in pairs to divide a sheet of paper into three sections: A, B and C.
Under A they listed which parents would not engage with reading for pleasure. Under B they
gave reasons for lack of engagement and under C suggested what the solution could be.
One suggestion for parents who may have work commitments was to vary times for parents to
come into school or ask parents to encourage other family members to join in reading activity
sessions.
Other obstacles to parental engagement could be negative school experiences which meant
finding schools intimidating places. Suggestions to overcoming this included using a neutral
venue and also involving parents in other ways in school before asking them to get involved in
reading activities. Dual language books may also be appropriate for overcoming obstacles to
engagement.
Julie also suggested schools should be conscious of the reading age of material sent to parents.
SMOG (Simple Measure of Gobbledegook) tests may be a useful guide to appropriate levels.
Also sometimes a poster can be used instead of a letter as a quick and effective means of
communicating with parents.
Cafés for All
This programme is based upon the idea of creating an informal pop up Café in the school
setting. The aim is to invite parents into a comfortable environment and help them develop their
skills, knowledge and confidence in supporting their children’s learning and development across
the curriculum. The Café can be set up economically using inexpensive tablecloths, comics,
books from classrooms etc. Teachers decide how often and how long they open the Café. To be
a proper Café school it should open at least once every half term for one and a half hours.
Children can make invitations for grandparents and child minders as well as for parents.
For the first fifteen minutes of the Café session the teacher always reads a book. It is an
opportunity to model how to share a book, including for example books without words such as
Sylvia Van Ommen’s The Surprise. Schools are encouraged to involve the community library
and also to invite guest readers. In Wales for example politician Carwyn Jones and actress Ruth
Jones have participated in Cafés for All sessions. It is also suggested that in the early stages of
engaging parents and families, an art and craft activity is involved as this involves no pressure
and can be great fun.
As parents become more relaxed and confident they can take away for instance a dice activity
based on 365 Penguins book. It’s essential that enough time is given on every occasion for
refreshments and the chance for parents and children to enjoy time with one another, look at and
explore resources and socialise with other families.
It’s important that at the end of each session it is pulled together so that parents know what has
been achieved. Some schools have a bank of Café parents who will come in and support the
Café activity. Children can also take part in Cafés as leaders. Positive feedback from schools has
shown that it has been appreciated as part of their reading culture.
Recommended reading:
Promoting Reading for Pleasure in the Primary School by Michael Lockwood
Who Next?: A Guide to Children’s Authors edited by Vivian Warren and Mary Yardley
Are You Sitting Comfortably? Then I’ll Begin: Exploring the Role of Storytime and its Impact
on Young Children by Neil Griffiths
Cafés for All training for early years settings and primary schools is available at a discounted
rate for Reading For Pleasure attendees. For more information contact julie.a2e2@gmail.com,
0746 795 0523, follow twitter @a2e2Cafesforall and look at the website Cafes for All.
Afternoon speakers
Creating and illustrating stories for young readers: author and illustrator Mini Grey
Mini enthusiastically described the secret power of picture books.
It’s possible for children to build imaginative worlds and build empathy by imagining from
someone else’s point of view. Books have the dangerous power of putting ideas into your head –
are books a survival vehicle for ideas?
Empathy and imagination
The thing about picture books is that you can explore what it would feel like to be an egg, or a
biscuit or a spoon. Imagination is a really powerful ability humans have to run through whole
scenarios in the mind without actually having to do it. Mini thinks the test of a good story is
whether at the end you feel like you have been somewhere else. She talked about the process of
creating picture books for young readers.
The Gap
A picture book is not like a film. It is a three-way collaboration between child, adult and book.
There are gaps that ask imaginative work of you unlike in a film. Words and pictures are
working together.
Mini is very fond of maps. One of her favourites is the Isles of Forgetfulness from the Atlas of
Experience. She finds that with a picture of an island she can make a list of words and put them
together and create something new.
The great thing about making picture books is that you are all powerful – you can make
anything you want happen. Mini has often made food run around. One of the pleasures in
introducing book characters and small objects is the chance to see things from the point of view
of the small character and to animate things.
In Traction Man the action hero enters the imagination of the boy owner. Action packed
adventures are played out by the boy and his new toy and they can overcome all sorts of villains
lurking around the home. Children can imagine their own homes and gardens being transformed
into adventurous settings. In Traction Man and the Beach Odyssey the action figure finally
leaves the house and is swept out to sea and the dilemma was that the boy in the story is
Traction Man’s animator and what would he do separated from the boy?
In Toys in Space, toys are accidentally left outside one summer’s night and the dilemma is what
could happen to them.
Hermelin is the inside story of a street. It begins with a cheese box from Prague with the name
Hermelín on the front, and a lost pet. Mini had noticed that lots of local cats seemed to be going
missing, including her own, Bonzo, and wondered if something strange was going on. Unable to
solve the mystery of the lost cats Mini introduced a mouse detective. The great thing about a
mouse is that it can get anywhere and so find clues. There is also the interesting existential
problem that although the mouse was incredibly clever people regard mice as pests. So the
ingredients for the story were: lost things, a mouse with a special ability and everything
happening on one street.
In Space Dog Mini was inspired by the idea of dogs in space and adventure and also thought
about Laika, the Soviet dog sent into space in 1957. Fascinated by moon rations and a toy rocket
owned by her son Herbie, she made a map of outer space and planets complete with toilets,
hoovers and duvets. Mini has to limit her stories to 32 pages and therefore has to ditch lots of
ideas in the writing process.
Mini reflected that when people talk about “illustrations” in books, it often sounds like the
words are in charge and the pictures are just following orders. But in picture books it’s different.
In picture books words and pictures are a double act, each doing a different job, but you need
both of them to have the whole story. Even the youngest children are expert readers of pictures.
In pictures you can say complex things that would take an enormous number of words to
explain.
When words and pictures come together something magical happens that is made by the
reader’s imagination.
Strategies to get children reading, learning and achieving - Prue Goodwin, lecturer
in literacy and children’s books
Prue’s talk focused on the joy of reading and how teachers can help promote this with their
pupils. She began by reading aloud to the delegates, first with a quote from Terry Pratchett’s
Truckers, the First Book of the Nomes, for the joy of its words, and how he plays with grammar:
“The sky rained dismal. It rained humdrum.”
She also read from BJ Novak’s The Book with No Pictures, to show how much fun reading with
children can be, especially when a teacher has to read out, "Also, I am a robot Monkey. What?!
And my head is made out of blueberry pizza".
Then, to illustrate how teaching children to read for pleasure is an act of love, she used Carol
Ann Duffy’s poem, Teacher, which begins:
When you teach me,
your hands bless the air
where chalk dust sparkles.
And ends:
I bow my head again
to this tattered, doodled book
and learn what love is.
Prue gave some examples of books that are brilliant at helping to create the reading bug,
including: Claude, Welcome to the family, Dreams of freedom, Shh! We Have a Plan, How a
Library (Not the Prince) Saved Rapunzel, ABC UK , How Tom Beat Captain Najork and His
Hired Sportsmen
She gave us suggestions of why reading for pleasure is vital, and how schools can help to make
this happen:
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Children improve as readers when they read for pleasure.
All children should experience the pleasures of reading in school.
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There should be compulsory modules on children’s books in all ITE courses.
There should be libraries equipped with best texts for children in every school (fiction,
picture books, digital texts, non-fiction, comics) plus a librarian.
Teachers are in good company when it comes to running campaigns about reading for pleasure:
Dolly Parton, Sir Quentin Blake then all the Children’s Laureates that followed him, school
librarians, The Fonze, Geri Halliwell, Meatloaf and many other individuals and groups have all
made the point that children make progress with reading when they read for pleasure.
Prue discussed the pleasures of reading, such as:
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Getting lost in a book.
Becoming emotionally engaged.
Being absorbed in unfolding narrative.
However, what can very easily happen in schools is often what makes anyone not enjoy reading:
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Being told what to read.
Struggling with language because it is beyond your abilities.
Having to write a book report.
Being tested.
Reading ability measured by the perceived level of the text.
She went on to discuss how children develop as readers: little children get pleasure from
performance and being praised for reading aloud correctly. In year 2-4 most children reach
'pivotal plateau' when they can use decoding strategies without direct support. In order to
progress from here to begin to enjoy the content of the books they read, they need lots of
practise. The language must be below limit of their skills in order to encourage deepening levels
of understanding, breadth and reading stamina, and to elicit a personal response.
Progress comes when pupils are regularly reading for pleasure. When they are reading with
ease, pleasure shifts from praise at performance to enjoying content. They develop
understanding beyond the literal as decoding becomes automatic. They experience being lost in
a book. Language and texts will gradually increase in complexity.
Strategies to get children reading, learning, achieving:
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BE a reader yourself - specifically be a reader of children's books.
Celebrate readers and books.
Use librarians and libraries.
Make reading for pleasure a priority in your school/classroom.
Run a campaign or book award - give kids an opportunity to read, enjoy books and make
a choice.
Being a reader is nothing to do with:
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The colour, level, or shelf a book has come from.
Being able to answer questions about the text.
More words fewer images.
Getting level 5.
Prue concluded by emphasising how reading for pleasure is an essential part of learning to read.
Afternoon workshops
Literature into literacy – Mathew Tobin, Senior Lecturer in English and Children’s
Literature, Oxford Brookes School of Education
The teachers went straight into reading David Weisner’s Flotsam as they arrived.
Mat then introduced himself. Has been in teaching for 16 years and is now a Senior Lecturer of
Children's Literature at Oxford Brookes having gained his Masters at Roehampton University.
Mat said he had a very arrogant view of children’s books when he first started his four year
teaching degree at Westminster College (now Brookes) but it didn’t take long for a very
influential lecturer, Mary Sutcliffe, to change his mind. She showed him that there was a
diverse, brave and challenging world of reading out there that was far more complex and
exciting than he had even imagined. Whilst on the course, he was also fortunate to be taught
about the power of stories by Aidan Chambers and Philip Pullman, the former was a repeating
guest speaker and the latter as his lecturer in traditional tales.
He encountered hundreds of books on the course but the ones that influenced him were:
A Bridge to Terabithia (Katherine Paterson) – Taught him that children’s books can make you
cry and that it’s fine to do so.
Tuck Everlasting (Natalie Babbitt) – Children’s books touch on the philosophical and ask big
questions.
Where the Wild Things Are (Maurice Sendak) – Picture-books are powerful literary devices.
John Brown, Rose and the Midnight Cat (Jenny Wagner & Illustrated by Ron Brooks) – Shows
that picture books can reveal different things with every new read.
Red Shift (Alan Garner) – Sometimes you have to work to get the most out of a reading
experience.
He then talked about cross-curricular planning in using a novel and how it can bring a more
meaningful context to teaching. When he was assistant head, he found a fellow Harry Potter
obsessive and managed to cajole her into trying some creative planning. She agreed and they
had the best fun planning and this immediately fed the children’s enthusiasm too. They taught
across all curriculum subjects using Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. The final activity
they did with the children lead to turning the school into the great hall from Hogwarts with a
sleepover. They also tried a similar small-scale approach with Anthony Browne’s books across
the whole school.
In the workshop, the teachers were then given an image from Flotsam and were encouraged to
write around anything that they could see and infer and then they fed this back to the group. He
talked about the wealth of creative discussion that can come from just one image in a book and
level of conversation you can have with the children.
He recommended inspirational books to get teachers thinking about the power of picture books Looking at picture books by Jane Doonan, How texts teach what readers learn by Margaret
Meek and Tell me: Children, reading and Talk with The Reading environment by Aidan
Chambers.
With his PGCE students, he tries to dispel the idea that picture books are for younger
students/beginner readers. He showed the teachers some of the plans students did on picture
books as examples of how to use them throughout the curriculum.
He gave the teachers a planning framework using Flotsam as a guide and they then picked a
picture book relating to a year group, then worked and discussed in small groups how they
might use it in a cross curricular way.
They had to think about the characters, settings and themes and then drama and literature
opportunities. In the grids there are links to opportunities that help with planning.
Drama opportunities: http://www.educationumbrella.com/storyteller/cpd,
http://dramaresource.com/drama-strategies
Literacy opportunities: https://michaelt1979.wordpress.com/freeresources/
Cross-curricular activities: https://michaelt1979.wordpress.com/freeresources/
Receptive context (how you can use the room to excite and engage the children into wanting to
explore the book and anything related to it more):
http://www.readingrockets.org/article/103-things-do-beforeduringafter-reading
In the last five minutes he shared this Padlet on using picture books from foundation stage to
year 6 and discussed how these books can be used in inspire critical thinking, drama and crosscurricular planning.
Additional resources
Drama resource: http://dramaresource.com/drama-strategies/
Drama Resource 2: http://www.educationumbrella.com/storyteller/cpd
Curriculum Overview: https://michaelt1979.wordpress.com/freeresources/
Before, During & After Reading: http://www.readingrockets.org/article/103-things-dobeforeduringafter-reading
Link to Exemplar Planning and all of the
handouts: https://app.box.com/s/337z83xygrtb91usayrjsm05phg94qv4
mtobin@brookes.ac.uk (email)
@Mat_at_Brookes (Twitter)
http://mattobin.blogspot.co.uk/ (blog)
Make a book! Shelagh McCarthy - artist/educator, the Learning team, British Library
The British Library Learning Centre offers the practical Make a book! workshop to primary
schools for years 3-6.
During this session, teachers had the opportunity to try out the workshop. They developed
teaching ideas to use back in the classroom and also discovered what their students would do if
they came for a visit.
The session helped show how teachers can promote excitement about books by exploring them
as physical objects.
Shelagh led a general discussion based upon the following questions:
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What do books look like?
What is a book for?
Which senses do we use when encountering books?
What's inside a book?
Teachers were introduced to the history of the book. They looked at a variety of images and
discussed different types of books including a codex, scroll, ebook and a fan-fold book. Shelagh
underlined the physicality of books when explaining the terms for different parts of a codex
book - the head, the foot, the body. Teachers handled different types of books including an old
codex book that they were encouraged to smell and a braille book.
Teachers then went on to create their own book using basic bookbinding techniques and
decorating the cover, taking inspiration from the British Library's collections.
Building a Buzz about Books
Sophie Peach - Chair of Shrewsbury Children's Bookfest
Joanna Hughes - Festival Co-ordinator for Shrewsbury Children's Bookfest
Shrewsbury Children’s Bookfest was established in 1999. It is a registered charity based in
Shropshire and is run by a group of mainly volunteers. Its aim is to bring the world of books
alive and inspire children with a genuine love of reading. In 2009, the organisation was given
the Queens Award for Excellence in the Voluntary Sector.
The organisation started 16 years ago with an annual four-day literary festival for families. 13
years ago they began an annual week-long programme of bringing authors and illustrators into
schools.
The workshop focused on the Shrewsbury Children's Bookfest Book Award, a reading
development project that they have been running for schools since 2010.
The aim of the project is to find the book published in the last 12 months that children like the
most. In 2014, the project involved over 1,000 pupils from 33 Shropshire primary schools.
The project beings in July (ie for Book Award 2016 this is July 2015). They begin by asking all
the leading children’s publishers to submit around five titles each for the longlist. By the end of
August they have around 60 titles. They distribute these books amongst groups of pupils
considered good readers from eight schools.
The children create the shortlist: they help select the six titles that they feel other children of
their age in other schools will enjoy the most. They have until end of November to read their set
of books and evaluate them.
Joanna and Sophie have found that the children really rise to the challenge of choosing a
shortlist for their peers across the community; it is this element that makes this Book Award
project different from many others. The adults on the steering group must respect the feedback
from the children, even if it means giving up a book they feel has more literary merit for one the
children feel will have stronger appeal.
The shortlisted books are given to teachers in time for them to plan lessons beginning in
January, when the project is launched to the children in participating schools. Children are asked
to read as many of the books as they can before the end of March when they will vote for their
favourite. They don’t need to read all six, but they do need to read more than one.
A range of competitions are launched as part of the project, including: an art competition to
illustrate a scene from one of the shortlist titles; a competition to create a piece of poetry based
on any character or element from one of the books; a competition to produce a short film trailer
inspired by one of the books. Bomber Dog, by Megan Rix, won the Book Award 2014 and the
trailer that the children produced can be viewed on the Bookfest website.
In March all pupils are invited to cast their votes for their favourite books – the voting system is
weighted according to how many books have been read by the pupil.
The project culminates in an Awards Ceremony. The three main objectives of this are:
1. For the children to showcase their work.
2. For the children to meet the shortlisted author(s).
3. To find out who has been voted winner of the Book Award.
For Bookfest in 2014, 31 out of the 33 participating schools attended the Awards Ceremony at a
central venue. Around 900 pupils came to this event. The remainder who were unable to attend
had the whole event live-streamed via the internet direct into their classrooms.
Feedback from teachers about what makes this project so engaging for pupils:
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Non-competitive, inclusive reading initiative that is led by pupils (Beanstalk volunteers
work in schools to support more reluctant readers with the project).
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A number of creative mediums are given that pupils enjoy working with – a good
platform to showcase their work.
Reading has a sense of purpose with a common goal in sight – community of young
pupils vote for their favourite book title.
Huge levels of discussion generated among pupils – spontaneous, unprompted by
teachers, pupil-led (though can be guided by teachers an used as good classroom
discussion activities too)”
Teachers don’t have to take part in all the extra activities – it is not prescriptive.
Individual schools included the book award in their teaching in different ways:
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One school invited Piers Torday to come in and speak with their pupils as soon as the
shortlist was announced. All work that term was referenced back to The Last Wild.
Another set up a classroom blog, which led onto the development of the
review/comments area on the Bookfest website.
Another school invited players from the Shrewsbury Town Football team to come in and
read alongside some of the boys who were more reluctant readers. This school also used
the ESB (English Speaking Board) framework for six pupils to prepare a talk about the
shortlist which was delivered to the Minister for Schools on his visit to Shropshire.
A short film about Book Award can be seen on the Book Award webpage.
Ideas generated by delegates in the workshop, inspired by the book award, included:
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Using the existing library as long list - track lending history to discover most popular
title, collate responses to books over period of time, annual prize etc as result.
Children choosing books that go into collections at school.
Topic for whole school generated by themes of a book.
Mini book fest as a cluster of schools.
Older children create a long list for the rest of the school.
Postcard small ads - read this book...
Word list wall in the library.
How you can take part in Book Award 2016:
In an ideal world, Shrewsbury Children’s Bookfest would love to be able to extend the
engagement in their project to all those who wish to join, nationwide. However, while this is not
yet possible, Shrewsbury Children’s Bookfest would very much welcome other schools,
libraries, bookshops etc to follow the organisation as it rolls out the Book Award 2016 project in
order to deliver a book award project of their own.
This could be done simply by using the Shrewsbury Children’s Bookfest shortlist for Book
Award 2016 (which will be confirmed in December 2015) as the basis for running their own
Book Award. The shortlist titles can be obtained by purchasing the necessary copies via their
own sources and applying the classroom activities and extra-curricular projects alongside, that
would most suit their own children/pupils/audience.
In order to ensure that all necessary information is received by those wishing to map or replicate
Book Award 2016, contact Joanna Hughes at Shrewsbury Children’s Bookfest via email:
joanna@shrewsburybookfest.co.uk
Guardian Teacher Network – Kerry Eustace
Kerry introduced the work of one of the Guardian newspaper’s professional networks. Much of
the content is user generated and Kerry highlighted the popular Secret Teacher feature. One of
the many community projects was asking teachers what they would be reading over the summer.
There is also some fantastic literacy and reading content which may be of interest to delegates:
http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network
Live chat with Michael Morpurgo
Teachers tips on boys and reading for pleasure.
Bit of fun with teachers sharing their top summer reads
How reading teaches empathy
The Children’s Bookshop, Muswell Hill sold books throughout the day. Kate Agnew from the
bookshop also took part in the final panel discussion.