Children’s Book Weeks
There are two Children’s Book Weeks ~ one in May, the other in November ~ which are among a whole array of book festivals and events around the UK taking place throughout the year. The idea for this one began with the Boy Scouts in the USA in 1913 and it was one of the legacies of contact with American armed forces during WW1. It was established here straight after the War in 1919.
The concept is to celebrate and encourage reading and writing with particular focus on the younger readers. Schools, libraries, bookshops, publishers, authors and families all participate. The current overseeing body, called Every Child A Reader, provides a variety of resources and the Department of Education has found that Children’s Book Weeks make a positive impact on the level of primary schoolchildren’s literary skills.
Children’s Book Week activities include: dressing-up parades of favourite book characters, visits from children’s authors who give workshops and do readings, older children reading to younger ones, setting up book clubs, group=work on plot ideas, listening to audiobooks, writing book reviews and setting goals and competitions. All of this may also rub off on other family members, of course, inspiring and spreading the ‘reading bug’ even further.
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