The magic of reading
Thinking beyond the costume for CBCA Book Week
It’s the most wonderful time of the year for children’s books! Yes, CBCA Book Week is coming soon to a school near you, whether within the official dates (17-23 August) or at a random point in term three.
Megan refers to it as Book Term, and children’s authors across the country pull out their suitcases at the end of July knowing they won’t put them away again until September.
There’s no doubt that households can have a love/hate relationship with Book Week. In the plus column, there’s the CELEBRATION OF READING AND BOOKS that is at the heart of CBCA Book Week. In the other column, depending on the household in question, there may be a hint of Costume Fatigue.
The three of us have experienced ALL of the feelings over the years, and Allison T has always been open about the challenges she’s faced as a non-crafty parent staring down the Book Week Parade. (She shares some of her best tips for ‘low-maintenance costume ideas’ in episode 165 of the podcast.)
Which is one reason we laugh when, every single year without fail, there’s an Opinion piece in the national media about the HORRORS OF BOOK WEEK. You can almost set your watch by it.
For us, any ‘horror’ is completely outweighed by the plus column reference to the CELEBRATION OF READING AND BOOKS. With Australian literacy levels nose-diving and adults desperate to get kids off screens, any opportunity to raise the profile of the joys of diving into a book needs to be embraced.
Experts encourage us to role model reading at home for our children, and this is part of what it looks like. Embracing Book Week, rather than seeing it as a chore. Getting excited about finding a costume (if your school has a parade or ‘walk’), even if you actively encourage a soccer outfit like the kids in Kristin Darell’s Football Fever series (go here for more books about sports) or shorts and a t-shirt like Callie McGee.
To get you started, we’ve got a list of 21 Book Week costume ideas from Australian authors here.
In episode 167 of the Your Kid’s Next Read podcast, Megan shares new tips and tricks for educators to make the most of CBCA Book Week in schools – from what she’s doing in her lessons to adult costume ideas and a wonderful new collaboration putting the magic into wearable art. Find it here.
With the CBCA Book of the Year Awards to be announced on 16 August, kicking off a brilliant week of Australian children’s literature, we hope you’ll take the opportunity to immerse yourself and your kids in the magic of reading. (If your young reader or students are taking part in the CBCA Shadow Judging Program, see our top tips for young judges here.)
Explore a new book with your young readers, visit your local library, get to know your local bookseller, and say hello to your school’s teacher-librarian if you’re lucky enough to still have one.
No costumes required!
BONUS CBCA BOOK WEEK GIVEAWAY
In the spirit of CBCA Book Week, we’ve decided to give our newsletter subscribers the chance to win a new book for their young readers (on top of the BIG BOOKMAIL GIVEAWAY, which closes our newsletter each month).
In fact, we have FIVE COPIES of KEV AND TREV, the brand-new graphic novel from YKNR community favourite Kylie Howarth to give away. It’s perfect for readers aged 5+, and you can find out more and watch the book trailer here in YKNR .
COMPETITION ENDED 5pm 9th August. Winners in the comments.
*ENTRIES CLOSE AT 5pm (AEST) on Friday 9th August. Australian mailing addresses only. The prize consists of five books to be shared between five winners, selected once all eligible entries are received. No contents of the prize may be exchanged for cash. This is a game of skill with entries judged on originality. The winners will be contacted by email and announced in the next YKNR newsletter. If a winner is unable to be contacted or does not claim their prize within 14 days, the prize will be forfeited. In the event of forfeiture a new winner will be selected.
UPDATES FROM TEAM YKNR
Our Raising Wild Readers event with Australian Children’s Laureate Sally Rippin was a huge success, with 350+ registered attendees settling in for a lively discussion led by the wonderful Megan Daley. You can watch the replay here.
On top of that, the very next day the team got together in Brisbane to plot and plan the year ahead. Fun times!
HELLO FROM MEGAN DALEY
Megan is an award-winning teacher-librarian working in Brisbane, the author of Raising Readers: How to nurture a child’s love of books, and co-host of the Your Kid’s Next Read podcast. Her debut picture book THE BEEHIVE is out now! More about Megan here.
Having just settled into our new home (yay!), we have become the designated ‘party house’ for extended family who are keen to see the house for themselves and enjoy us hosting family Sunday lunches for a change. We also ‘owe’ the four kids a birthday party year, having said, ‘no you can’t have a friends party, we have no space’ for three years straight now.
And so – with July to September being the birthday months in our families – we are knee deep in hosting friend and family occasions, which is lovely but also means a LOT of smoked brisket, salad making and cake baking. The Beekeeper looked at his smoker today and said ‘even the poor smoker looks exhausted’.
So my genre of the moment is ‘cookbooks’, but I’ve also really enjoyed the two books below over the last month.
MEGAN’S BOOKMARK REVIEWS
Each month, I share full reviews of two outstanding books that have crossed my desk. Bookmark these for your young readers.
‘Where the Heart Should Be’ by Sarah Crossan
The potatoes are black, people are dying and in the midst of it all Nell must do everything she can to keep her family together, and everyone she loves alive. Even if it means giving up her every want, dream and desire. From multi-award-winning author Sarah Crossan comes a stirring, heart-wrenching novel that explores the value we place on humanity and asks can you survive on love alone?
Set during a dark period of Irish history, this YA verse novel is authentic in its portrayal of what was a terrible time. As in all terrible times, however, there are still sparkles of lightness and hope and, in this case, a young and hopeful romance – between a servant girl and a young Englishman set to inherit his uncle’s wealth.
‘Where the Heart Should Be’ is captivating, sparse in text but not in heart and soul – the most beautiful YA verse novel I’ve read in some time.
Every single minute, of every single day, a child somewhere loses a baby tooth.
But what happens to all those teeth?
They are collected by the tooth fairy, of course! Or the tooth fairies – because there is more than just one tooth fairy. In fact, there are millions! Like us, they are all different.
And now there is an informative and fully illustrated guide that's jam-packed with answers to every child's tooth fairy questions, like: What do tooth fairies eat? Where do they live? How do they collect your tooth - and what on earth do they do with it?
Find out everything there is to know about the magical (and sometimes just a little bit gross) world of the tooth fairy!
I love nothing more than a nonfiction book about fairies, and this one has gone straight to the top of my favourites pile, which also includes ‘Imagine You’re a Fairy’ by Magic Meg and ‘April Underhill Tooth Fairy’ by Bob Graham.
Briony Stewart has woven her magic once again and created the ultimate guide to tooth fairies, cavities and what happens when the tooth fairy forgets to visit. Gorgeous from endpaper to endpaper.
HELLO FROM ALLISON RUSHBY
The award-winning, bestselling author of many, many books for children and adults, Allison Rushby’s novels are firm favourites in the Your Kid’s Next Read community. Her latest illustrated junior fiction series, The Wish Sisters, is fast gaining fans. More about Allison R here.
I believe my dog has a reading injury! I’ve now finished my absolutely gigantic structural edit and am thus taking it easy for a week or two before diving into my next project.
Harry the bordoodle and I have been walking long and hard since finishing up the edit because I’ve been reading some absolutely amazing audiobooks and simply can’t wait for the next instalment. Poor Harry has been giving me some serious side-eye when I suggest yet ANOTHER walk (which is saying something considering he is half border collie).
Unfortunately, during one of our many reading walks, he began to do a little skip and it seems he has pulled a muscle! A dog reading injury! Who knew? Or maybe he’s faking it because he wants his own fabulous audiobook? Hmmm…
THREAD OF THE MONTH
I’m not even going to apologise for choosing my own post, because this was SO MUCH FUN and I now have an amazing list of books to buy to annoy my gym friend even more. I totally think the bear in Jon Klassen’s I Want My Hat Back would approve of such behaviour.
HELLO FROM ALLISON TAIT
Writing as A. L. Tait, Allison is the internationally published, bestselling author of three middle-grade series: The Mapmaker Chronicles, The Ateban Cipher and the Maven & Reeve Mysteries. She is an in-demand speaker, a writing teacher for kids and adults, and co-host of the YKNR podcast. Her latest novel THE FIRST SUMMER OF CALLIE McGEE is out now. More about Allison here.
In a turn up for the books, July has proven to be busier for me than August is looking. I had the pleasure of joining a terrific line-up of authors at the Whitsunday Voices Youth Literature Festival, as well as some school visits in Brisbane.
In very exciting news, I also discovered that The First Summer Of Callie McGee was longlisted for the prestigious 2024 Margaret and Colin Roderick Literary Award. It’s an indescribable honour to see my novel on this list of 14 books that ‘showcase the very best of current Australian writing and publishing’.
I will endeavour to hold onto this feeling during August as I tackled the structural edit of my next novel, due out in 2025. Such is an author’s life.
SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST
Recently we reached 35,000 members of the YKNR Facebook community and ran a little competition to win one of our fabulous branded tote bags (Megan-approved for school library use). To win, we asked our members to tell us what they love most about Your Kid’s Next Read.
Words like ‘positivity’, ‘inclusion’, ‘friendliness’, ‘helpful’, and ‘discovery’ came up over and over, but so did our podcast!
For instance:
“I love the YKNR podcasts! Perfect to keep up to date with all that is new and wonderful in children’s book land. The author interviews are informative and entertaining and provide great background information to share with my multitude of students!”
“The YKNR podcast & community help me stay on top of which books are good to recommend to students who like XYZ.”
Did you know that if you use Apple Podcasts or Spotify, you can subscribe so that you never miss an episode?
Hit the buttons below to subscribe.
AUGUST BOOKMAIL WINNER
Each month, we give away a prize pack consisting of some of the brilliant bookmail sent to us for the Your Kid’s Next Read podcast. One winner* is chosen from our full subscriber list by random draw and announced here!
There are SEVEN books in the AUGUST prize pack.
The AUGUST bookmail giveaway winner is … S. Mason
Congrats! We’ll be in touch by email.
Want a chance to win next month? All you have to do is subscribe.
Here’s to CBCA BOOK WEEK!
We’ll see you in September when the dust has settled. And thanks for your patience as we update all the links for our book lists and show notes. Like everyone else, we were caught out by the collapse of Booktopia and we have a lot of work to do! At present, you’ll find a mix of links to different suppliers, depending on availability of titles but we hope for a clear way forward soon.
Allison T, Allison R and Megan
*Australian mailing addresses only. Prize consists of one copy of each book pictured, sent as a pack to the winner by Australia Post. Winner will be contacted by email and prize must be claimed within 14 days or a redraw will take place. You must be subscribed to the YKNR newsletter by midnight (AEDST) the night before publication each month to be eligible to win. No correspondence will be entered into.
Would definitely be Budapest. A houseboat cruise at my own pace in Europe would be a unique way to explore the scenic waterways, charming towns, and stunning landscapes Europe has to offer.
I would anchor my houseboat in Venice, Italy, where the enchanting canals and historic architecture inspire a sense of wonder. I'm channelling the romance and mystery found in Shakespeare's 'The Merchant of Venice', offering a backdrop rich with history and culture!