And so this is Book Week

 

"A good children's book is like a poem; its meaning won't reveal itself immediately. You can return to it throughout your life, and it will always whisper new messages." Cherie Gilmour Sydney Morning Herald 23rd August, 2023

The Sydney Morning Herald yesterday had an opinion piece about Book Week and dressing for parades. The piece covered a range of topics from books and quality literature to reading but as is always the case with pieces like this the author tried to cover too many issues including television franchise books such as Bluey, Disney characters and all the dress up merchandise available everywhere. The author, Cherie Gilmour, did make some good points which are worth deeper thought and I will quote them here but in her world every school has a Teacher-Librarian and here in Australia, in NSW and in Sydney this is not always true or if there is a Teacher-Librarian he or she may not be trained or the library staffing might be so reduced that children cannot visit the school library each week so I have also quoted an important letter sent to the Sydney Morning Herald today. 

Here are some quotes from "An Elsa outfit for Book Week? It's time to let it go".

"The commercialisation of stories across mediums leads to a vicious cycle of never-ending reuse. TV shows become books and multi-installment movie franchises. ... video games, books, cartoon series, ... toys, T-shirts and costumes."

"In the same way that we have a varied diet in what we eat, we should encourage our children to consume a wide range of literature ..."

"a beautifully crafted story that's been purpose made to be read has the power to inspire kids to fall in love with language and the joys of the imagination."

Cherie Gilmour concludes - If your child wants to wear the Disney outfit such as Elsa for the Book Week parade that might be okay but make sure you flood (my word) their world with the best books so they can really go on a reading adventure in Book Week and beyond. 

Perhaps next year your child might have a different idea for their dressing up or better yet (my opinion) the school might think of a much better way to celebrate books and reading and libraries and the CBCA winners - meaningful ways that link back to books not competitions and costumes.

Take a look at this letter from advocate and retired Teacher-Librarian Sharon McGuinness:

Lagging libraries

Another Book Week again sees my social media feed awash with dress-ups and I lament the lost opportunities that children have missed in truly experiencing the real Book Week (“An Elsa outfit for Book Week? It’s time to let it go”, August 23). Is there a correlation between this reliance on the dress-up as the main celebration of Book Week in schools and the decreasing numbers of professional teacher librarians and resourcing of school libraries? In the past, I’ll bet your kids could tell you the titles of many of the books shortlisted for a Book Week award. How familiar are they with this year’s list? 

Cherie Gilmour states we should be encouraging kids to engage with quality children’s literature but that main point of contact, the teacher/librarian, is often missing in their lives. No weekly visits to the school library where the resources have been selected especially for them, no engaging library-focused activities. The need to maintain this profession in all schools is paramount to introduce, engage and foster lifelong reading. Book Week can provide kids with rich experiences of engaging with the best of Australian children’s writing and illustrating. It should be jam-packed with author and illustrator visits and fun, engaging, stimulating activities. Sadly, the annual dress-up parade reflects none of that. Sharon McGuinness, Thirroul

Sea Prayer by Khaled Hosseini illustrated by Dan Williams

"... among the crying babies and the women worrying in tongues we don't speak. Afghans and Somalis and Iraqis and Eritreans and Syrians. All of us impatient for sunrise, all of us in dread of it. All of us in search of home."

This is a deeply moving, important and lyrical book. A father writes a letter to his son describing the past, the present and his hope for their future.

Sea Prayer was inspired by one refugee. In 2015, a Syrian toddler named Alan Kurdi drowned, along with most of his family, while attempting to cross to Greece. The boy's body was memorably photographed face down on a Turkish beach.

Listen to a radio interview with NPR. You can hear Khaled read extracts from this text.

Publisher blurb: On a moonlit beach a father cradles his sleeping son as they wait for dawn to break and a boat to arrive. He speaks to his boy of the long summers of his childhood, recalling his grandfather's house in Syria, the stirring of olive trees in the breeze, the bleating of his grandmother's goat, the clanking of her cooking pots. And he remembers, too, the bustling city of Homs with its crowded lanes, its mosque and grand souk, in the days before the sky spat bombs and they had to flee. When the sun rises they and those around them will gather their possessions and embark on a perilous sea journey in search of a new home.

Who is the audience? I think this is a book best suited to readers aged 13+ up to adults. If you are using this with a class I would begin with the beautiful phrase:

"I look at your profile in the glow of this three-quarter moon, my boy, your eyelashes like calligraphy closed in guileless sleep."

The book reads like an emotional gut-punch…an excruciating one. It is impossible to read without feeling intense compassion for those—and there are thousands—whose lives resemble those of the characters in the book. Kirkus

Sea Prayer is a book that crosses genres and boundaries. It reads like a poem, possessing the rhythm of an old, almost-forgotten song. ...  It will allow adults to walk, for a few moments, in a refugee family’s shoes. It helps us imagine the desperation of a decision to flee home and cross a cold, dark sea. It is a book that should, and will, endure. It’s a book that will break your heart wide open. NY Journal of Books

One of the most striking things about this book is the gentle water colour art. You can see inside Sea Prayer on Dan Williams web site. 

Williams uses sweeping colours to convey both the beauty of Syria but also the dark haunting nature of war and being torn from your country. Waking Brain Cells

The retail price of this book, published in 2018, is $25 but I was lucky to find a brand new copy at a recent charity book fair for just $5. I am so pleased I can now add this book to my collection.