In the Know

Kilvington Reads

Kathryn Schravemade, Head of Library and Digital Resourcing

 

This week, we celebrated Kilvington Reads through a range of author visits, competitions and our first parent event. Each class had a session with a visiting author, and we were grateful that our guests were able to transition online with the news of lockdown.  

Prep to Year 2 heard from Davina Bell; Years 3 and 4 and Years 7 and 8 boys heard from Amie Kaufman; and Years 5 to 8 girls heard from Nova Weetman. Students were incredibly engaged as they learnt a bit more about the authors and gathered tips on creating characters, choosing the right books and developing a love of reading. 

 

Two moments that stood out for me in our student sessions this week were:

 

A prep student asked Davina Bell, ‘Why do you really love books a lot?’ and her answer was, “I love books because even though the words all look the same for everyone, we all imagine something different in our head as we are reading, and that is just magic!”

 

Nova Weetman’s advice to a student wanting a career as an author was, “If you want to be a writer, reading and reading widely is the most important thing you can do."

 

It was exciting to be able to involve our Junior School parents in Kilvington Reads this year, with a parent-only event presented by literary agent and young adult author Danielle Binks and children’s publisher and author Davina Bell on ‘Engaging Children in Reading for Pleasure’.  

I asked Danielle and Davina to present this session because of their expertise, of not only children’s literature, but their involvement in the industry behind the books and knowledge of how and why children’s books are published.  They had a wealth of valuable of advice to share with parents.  We had just over 75 parents gather online via Zoom as Danielle and Davina discussed their top tips for encouraging children to read. 

 

SUMMARY OF AUTHOR SESSION: ENGAGING CHILDREN IN READING FOR PLEASURE

I have included a summary of their advice for those parents unable to attend below:

 

Danielle opened by discussing her struggle when she discovered, as an academically high achieving student in secondary school, she wasn’t a very good reader and definitely not a recreational reader. Her exposure to texts on school syllabi and the canonical novels her parents had read, meant that she had developed a sense of aspirational reading, but wasn’t reading about things she enjoyed or could completely comprehend. 

Danielle found herself about to embark on tertiary education in a course that demanded critical thinking, reading and writing skills. Developing a love of reading allowed her to go past her ‘one-dimensional’ engagement with reading and connect more broadly and critically to the world around her. 

Davina discussed the science behind the benefits of reading for pleasure, making reference to recent publications by the University of Edinburgh and the University of Maryland, which indicated that being an engaged reader was one of the biggest determiners of future life success (over socio-economic success or parents' educational level). 

 

TOP 10 TIPS TO ASSIST CHILDREN IN READING FOR LEISURE

So, what can we do to assist our children develop a love of reading for leisure? Here are 10 top tips as discussed by Danielle and Davina:

  1. There is no such thing as a ‘reader’ or a ‘non-reader’; there are just those who read and those who haven’t found the right book yet. Work with your Teacher-Librarian or local bookseller to find the right book for your child.
  2. Reading picture books is important in developing literacy skills, especially visual literacy.  Encourage your children to consider picture books in their repertoire at every age to develop these skills and revisit picture books often.
  3. It’s important for students to read through the phases in their primary years of schooling. These include shorter early-years novels,  middle-grade fiction, young-adult novels and non-fiction.
  4. Make visiting the library or bookstore something that is valued, cherished and a shared experience in your family.  For example, make a special visit to the bookstore with your children in the school holidays and let them pick their own book to purchase.
  5. Keep books in your home. Recent research suggests that the number of books present in our childhood home has a direct link to how proficient we are as an adult in the areas of literacy, math and technology.
  6. Let go of the reader that you wish your child was, and embrace the reader that they want to be, guided by their interests. Even terrible books can be good discussion starters.
  7. Integrate graphic novels and comic books into your child’s reading repertoire. This trend continues to grow in Australia, and is incredibly valuable in building visual literacy skills. Students are also engaging more and more with these on a VCE and higher education level.
  8. Gender stereotypes will always be prevalent in children’s fiction. Provide a range of options for your children but don’t worry if they tend to favour books aimed at their gender. These are great to use as a discussion point to engage with your children and their reading.
  9. Harder does not always mean better.  Allow your children to read books that they can establish emotional connections with, regardless of whether this means they are reading books that are ‘easy’ or not. When they are ready, allow them to push the boundaries as they begin to read more mature titles.
  10. Peer recommendations have a great influence on what your child will read.  Allow your children to explore what other people their age are reading through social media platforms like Goodreads, BookTok and Instagram.

Thanks for supporting the library program as we work to build our reading culture at Kilvington. As Library Staff, we make a great effort to read and know the books in our collection, so don’t hesitate to contact us if you have questions about what your child is or wants to be reading. 

REFLECTIONS FROM STUDENTS ON THEIR AUTHOR SESSIONS: 

 

Simon Huang, Year 7

On our author visit, the talented author Amie Kaufman passed her wise ideas onto us of how to find our ‘perfect’ book, and also gave helpful book suggestions. These inspired me to immediately search for books as soon as the session ended. 

 

One tip that has influenced me was the ‘Shut Up and Give Me Money’ idea – a list of topics based on your personal interests that immediately grab your attention. Overall, I found the author visit truly engaging and thought-provoking.

 

Farees Huda-Rahman, Year 4

I recently had the pleasure of meeting author Amie Kauffman alongside the Year 3s and 4s. I was inspired by her. We learnt about her books and her dog assistant! 

 

We asked Amie lots of questions including, 'how does your assistant help you?' and 'how do you come up with these books?' I personally asked her who inspired her to take up a career as an author. 

 

She also told us about this book - The World Between Blinks, and this got me invested in the story so much, I just had to borrow an eBook of it online!

 

I enjoyed listening to her opinion of the book and what she would do in the world between blinks, so I barely hesitated to tell almost my whole family about it. I learned about being creative and imaginative. All of this inspires me to create books, and it might even be a future career option! Amie is a great author, in my perspective at least.

 

Marcus McGloughlin, Year 5 

In this session, I enjoyed making up a character with author Nova and my class. 

I learnt that we can create a character by first making a mindmap - starting with the name and then adding all these points to the character - and that can really help with the story as well as with the character. I also learnt it sometimes can be a bit easier to write longer stories than short ones because you can get more ideas in.

 

Milta Lu, Year 5

I loved how Nova included The Jelly People in her presentation because many people enjoy looking at a funny front cover.  I learnt that you can actually generate ideas from the domain you are currently in or from other books. There are surprisingly multiple ways to find an idea. 

I learnt that when you create characters, you have to make sure the character is always good with bad or bad with good. Otherwise it won’t be realistic. Nova Weetman’s presentation has inspired me to do more creative writing. 

Lachlan Griplas, Year 5 

Year 5 students had the honour of meeting Nova Weetman virtually. She taught us how to get ideas for books or characters, such as if you like action movies you can add action to your story, or if you like soccer your character could play soccer.

 

I enjoyed making a character with the class. Her name is Ellie. She has ginger hair and she is 12 years old. She has a stepsister and a dad, and her mum lives overseas for work.

 

I loved hearing Nova’s fun life story. I was very inspired by her; she taught me that you don’t need to be good at something to succeed. It’s hard work that pays off. Nova also inspired me to become more confident with my writing!

 

Nina Seuret-Batterham, Year 5

I enjoyed learning about Nova’s journey of becoming an author and how she gets her ideas. I learnt that when you create a character, you need to incorporate the main parts of the character’s personality, like their fears and wants. 

 

Also, ideas can come from anywhere, from food to people to places! Nova’s presentation has inspired me to start creating better characters, and I have learnt that there are more parts to a character than just their hair colour and name. 

 

Jack Wiesner, Year  5

What I really enjoyed about Nova’s presentation was coming up with our own book character at the end, and her explanations about her books. I learnt how to generate ideas from her explanation of how to plan for different types of stories. Her presentation has inspired me to become an author.

 

Areti Kolivas, Year 5

I enjoyed having Nova talk to us. She helped us with great strategies to help us create engaging characters and ways to think of ideas when we are stuck. This was a great experience and will definitely help my writing in the future.

 

Charley Sanderson, Year 6

During this presentation, I learned that you can get ideas for books from anywhere or anything. Nova’s presentation has inspired in me the message that anything is possible. If you persist, you can be an amazing author. On behalf of all Year 6s, thank you Nova for visiting us, even though it wasn’t in person. Everyone really enjoyed it!

 

Archie Fifoot, Year 6

On Wednesday 9 June, we had the chance to meet Nova Weetman, an amazing author. She told us where she came up with some of her ideas, and how she loves including people she has met in her own life in her stories. 

 

We then created our own character together by creating their character strengths, traits, fears, wants and other behaviours. Nova has inspired me to read more of her entertaining and thrilling books, and to write more about what we love.