The St Benedict's Junior School librarian, Mrs Sweetman, writes:

Wow, what a Book Week! The Junior School was buzzing. Children fizzed with excitement inspired by visiting authors, by new books they had been introduced to, by a week of sharing books and reading experiences with others, all culminating on the final day with dressing up as a favourite book character and parade before parents. Tens of Harry Potters jostled with Spidermen, Robin Hoods, Cruella De Villes, detectives such as Harrison Beck, Valkyrie Cain and Skulduggery Pleasant, and even a giant book! Staff too were replaced for the day by the Blue Crayon, Juliet, the Cat in the Hat and others!

The week flew by, starting and ending with assemblies which brought the whole school together in celebration of reading and books.

Popular visiting authors covered the gamut of detective, fantasy, comical and picture book genres. Sam Sedgman, author of the mystery Adventures on Train series, captivated audiences with his passion for trains and detective stories, the inspiration for his books. He then taught Year 5 how to write their own mystery tales. Ross Welford, author of The Thousand-Year-Old Boy, left audiences gasping “How did he do that?” as he performed magic tricks. He showed how his passion for magic and getting people to believe in what isn’t there had combined with his interest in science to inspire him to write books on immortality, time travel and parallel worlds. Teresa Heapy, making a welcome return, entertained the Pre-Prep children with her Very Little stories and her stories of friendship between Mouse and Bear. She showed the children how the lovely colourful books in their hands first started out with a blank piece of paper, then a scribbled idea followed by lots of writes and re-writes! Finally, Sam Copeland, local author of the humorous Charlie Changes into a Chicken books and Greta and The Ghost Hunters, had his audiences roaring with laughter at his tales of and quizzes on disgusting things and curious facts, all sources of wonder and possible humour!

Outside of these talks, children engaged in creating their own amazing Book Week posters or poems, colouring in the Book Week poster, sharing stories with other classes, answering a daily Book Quiz and so on. Many teachers from the Senior and Junior School also chose and read favourite pieces to individual classes, enjoying that as much as the children. A Book Fair on Wednesday was a great success earning over £700 in commission which will facilitate the updating of Library stock in school. And on Thursday the School Read In had all children and staff scattered throughout the school and immersed in their books. You could have heard a pin drop!

It was a great week, bringing the whole school together in a celebration and love of reading.