Ah, Book Week. I LOVE Book Week. It brings back many memories of dressing up, reading/ listening to the books and the scramble to borrow them after the week is over. Funny enough these memories are all primary school memories. Book Week, as I have seen, is only really celebrated in primary schools, although there is awards for young reader texts. I observed both the high school and primary school libraries over Book Week and found great differences in how it was celebrated. The primary school library was much more involved in the celebration, with the school holding a fete and selling books all week. The high school, on the other hand, did not mention it at all, except for a small note on the library door. No stand with the nominated books, no judgement of the books, not even a mention in the daily notices. I was quite disappointed with this and when I spoke to the Teacher Librarian about this, she said that there was not enough time to be able to set up the same celebrations as on the primary campus and in other schools she worked in, many students were not interested in Book Week by the time they reached high school.

I was quite disappointed with this and decided to ask some students about Book Week. What I found out confirms what the Teacher Librarian said; students were not interested in Book Week and many did not know that it was happening during that week. This made me rethink how could I as a Teacher Librarian promote Book Week in a high school setting. Firstly, it has got to be publicised earlier in the term, so students will know when it is happening. Secondly, students love prizes, so one way to get students involved is to maybe to have a quiz on all of the books for the more enthusiastic students or to hold a reading of all of the books over the week, where students can come and listen to part of or a chapter of all of the books to introduce students to the books. Another prize, especially for the more artistic students, is to hold a cover design competition. Lastly, to get the teachers on side and to promote the week across the school. It would probably be best to start with the English teachers and work on it over a few years to develop a program for that week.

Book Week is probably one of the longest running Australian based literacy appreciation week and if the promotion of Book Week is not promoted more fully in high schools, I believe that the childhood joys of Book Week will be lost.