21 years of Book Week

For the last twenty years, the Schools’ Library Service (SLS) in Guernsey has run a very successful Book Week. We have had many interesting authors over the years, including  Ian Whybrow, Tanya Landman, Brian Moses, Tim Bowler, Beverly Naidoo, Tony Mitton,The Two Steves, Bali Rai, Nicola Davies, Ann Bryant, Linda Newbery and Alan Gibbons, to name but a few. We usually pick one author suitable for Infants, one for Juniors and one for secondary school readers.So how can you get the best out of your book week experience?

Planning your February Book Week

Book your author

We start to plan for the next year as soon as our current Book Week is finished.  We have found that it is important to get the authors booked well in advance. We start by thinking about authors that are well known and send out emails. I can honestly say that many of these authors have either not been able to do our Book Week due to time or we have not been able to take them due to cost. We do have a budget but I am unwilling to spend it all on one author. Maybe one day… J.K Rowling!

We look at authors who have been nominated for current book awards. Sometimes we can get some really interesting up and coming authors. Finally, we look to Authors Abroad and Authors Aloud, both of whom have found us some very exciting authors in the past.

Once we have three authors in mind, we then do some digging. Just because an author has written some amazing books does not make them natural speakers. We ask for references and phone schools that they have previously visited. People are very willing to let you know if an author has done well or not.  This is by no means foolproof, and we have been caught out once or twice by authors who were just not up to the full week that we had planned for them, or they were overwhelmed by the numbers and weren’t able to engage the children. Having said that, the majority of our authors have been brilliant and have not only engaged our children but really enjoyed the week themselves.

We also check out how many books they have published, as it is more difficult to engage the schools if they only have one book published.

Once the author is booked, what next?

Travel and hotels

As we are on an Island it is essential to get the flights and hotels booked well in advance. We need to check which is the author’s closest airport.  Hotels usually have deals if they know they are going to get repeat bookings, so it is worth phoning around to check if a better deal is available.

Order books

We then order a selection of the authors’ books and create a list for our schools so that this is ready to go out when we announce the authors in September.

Create author packs

This year we decided to try and encourage the schools to take more of an interest in Book Week by creating an author pack filled with activities, information and competition. We gave the author packs out to the schools that booked just before Christmas so they could use it in their planning. We were lucky this year that our authors have great websites, from which we were able to get some great ideas. Generally, the authors agree to judge the competition and are happy to give signed books as prizes.

Create Book Week Posters 

We also decided to update our posters this year, and due to narrowing budgets we decided to do these ourselves using Canva. This takes time as you need to make sure you are happy with the designs, check the spelling and look for any missing words! but you can make some amazing posters for free using these types of tools. These were also put into the packs so that schools could use them around the classroom/library/corridors.

Create timetables and inform schools

We generally allow every primary school the option of seeing both the infant and junior author throughout the week for an hour-long session. A secondary school is encouraged to have their author for a full day. An email is sent to every school telling them about the authors we have chosen, giving them a list of books they can order for their library collections and invite them to book their sessions. We tend to get full very quickly for the primary schools, but it can take the secondary schools a little longer to get organised, given that they often have a full day to book.

Schools order authors’ books and receive activity packs

Once the schools have booked their session, they can place an order of the authors’ books. Every school that has booked is sent an activity pack just before Christmas.

The fun begins in January

A meeting is held at the beginning of January with all the SLS staff in order to decide how we will engage the schools and create an exciting build-up to our Book Week event. Our SLS librarians normally offer assemblies for the Junior children and run story sessions with the Infants, whilst promoting the competitions at the same time.  Emails go out to secondary schools offering support there too.

Organising Secondary Schools

As each school has individual needs, it is important that we make sure that they are aware of planning. We ensure that we know which year group has been selected and, if there is an option of different workshops, that they have decided which one they would like. Timetabling is also essential because each school has slightly different length of lessons and lunchtimes, and it is important that we can tell the authors as much information as possible before they arrive.

Send the authors their timetables

Arrangements are then made to meet the authors on arrival at the airport, and it is also decided who will accompany which author on each day.

Book Week commences

One of the team meets each author at the airport and takes them to their hotel on Sunday evening. We arrange for all the library staff involved to meet at the hotel for a drink in order to make sure everyone knows who is picking them up the next day and at what time.

We are very excited about our 21st Book Week. At last, we have now come of age 🙂