Surviving Your First World Book Day as a School Librarian

Today is World Book Day. We'd been planning and organising events at school for months, and today they all happened! These are some things we did:

• Whole school Drop Everything And Read: everyone stops what they are doing and reads for 20 minutes. We normally do this every week, but not the whole school and not at the same time. And this was the first time we'd eaten into lesson time to do it. I don't think I have ever issued so many books in such a short space of time as I did this morning! I was exhausted and somewhat frazzled by trying to issue all the books and answer all the questions and fix the printer and prepare book boxes and keep the library tidy and make the kids behave and finalise everything that needed to be done... But then I got to drop everything and read - and it was bliss! 20 minutes of reading in a quiet library with a handful of lovely students also sitting quietly and reading. The sound of 1400 people sitting and reading is amazing! I felt so calm and relaxed afterwards. Reading is magic!
• The World Book Day Picnic: the kids come into the library and sit on the floor to eat their lunch while the entertainment happens on the stage.
  • Bookbuzz Competition Prize-Giving: before Christmas, I gave all Year 7 students a free (to them) book that they had chosen from a list. I then set them a competition - based on the book they received, they could design a new cover, make a book trailer or write a short story. The winner had made a delightfully creepy trailer for Frances Hardinge's delightfully creepy Cuckoo Song. She could be seen hugging her prize (a box set of the Charlie Bone novels) for the rest of the picnic!
  • Readings: four members of staff (myself included) read passages from books to the picnicking crowd. We regaled them with The Witches (Roald Dahl), Demon Dentist (David Walliams), Magyk (Angie Sage) and Rooftoppers (Katherine Rundell).
  • The Book Jacket Potato competition: dress up a potato¹ as a book character! This was a lot of fun, and got students and teachers excited! I displayed the potatoes² in the library at the start of the picnic, and then at the end, got students to vote for their favourites. The winner was a spectacular Moby Dick.

    

And then it was done, and I could relax once again. There were a couple of minor hiccups along the way - some preventable³, others not. But all in all, it was a smooth process that I will chalk down as a success. Hoorah!

1. there were 2 carrots, as well
2. and 2 carrots
3. Always, ALWAYS triple check with everyone that is meant to be helping. Those I triple checked with turned up and did their thing. Those I did not, did not.