Is it just me or is this generation’s apathy for reading disheartening? Short attention spans (thanks Tik Tok!) and teachers beating books to death in class (oops, yes, this used to be me!) have resulted in a seriously lackluster relationship with reading in our newest generations.
As an absolutely voracious reader myself, it’s hard reconciling with the fact that many, if not most, of my students simply “don’t like reading”. We might say this isn’t true, they simply haven’t found the right book yet, but I’m not too sure.
Hot take? I really think some of my students DO despise reading. But I don’t think it’s permanent. Like coffee or mushy peas, I think reading is an acquired taste. We learn to love it. We learn to enjoy being whisked off to another dimension. We learn to enjoy being in the mind of someone else.
But, how do we get there? How do we guide and nudge without forcing them? Especially when we’ve already got little doom-scrolling addicts and self-proclaimed reading “haters” already fully fledged?
I think step one is simply making reading and books visible. And, taking every opportunity we can to celebrate reading! Banned Books Week? Check. Year in Books? Check. Valentine’s Day? Make it bookish. This year, I’ve been working closely with my school’s librarian to make sure we are constantly celebrating books and whatever reading we see, no matter what!
One of my favorite ways to keep books front and center is through dedicated book events. And what better opportunity than World Book Day? My school is a British international school, so we celebrate a bit earlier than other countries on 6 March. But this works out great for all of you who celebrate just over a month later for UNESCO’s World Book Day 23 April!
1. Book Fair
We’ve been fortunate enough to be able to schedule a Book Fair with Megabooks for the same day as World Book Day! What better way to celebrate reading and make books visible than that?
We’ve made sure to request a variety of genres and some of our students’ most loved novels and series. Graphic novels have been extremely popular with our students lately, so we’ve made sure to request a healthy selection of those. We’ve also selected YA classics and those that are topping current YA charts.
2. Dress Up
Even Middle School and High School love a good dress up day!
I know a lot of school’s treat World Book Day as more of a celebration of reading and allow students to come in comfy clothing or pajamas. While I appreciate this initiative and think every school should do what is best for its culture and student body, for my school specifically, this is not an option.
We want to curate excitement and creativity around books, not give students another excuse to sleep in class! (Just kidding…mostly). But really, I want students to think about their favorite book or character and dive head first into the process of bringing them to life.
Even we teachers love to get involved! I’ve seen high school teachers even borrow red graduation gowns for The Handmaid’s Tale or come in fully decked out as their favorite book character.
3. Morning Registration Activities
Our students meet each morning in their homeroom for about 10 minutes for morning registration. This is a great opportunity to spread the word about World Book Day in the lead up before and the days after.
Therefore, for the week of World Book Day we’ve created a quick activity for each day! Here’s our plan:
Monday: Book Trivia
Students will have the opportunity to participate in trivia questions about popular YA novels.
Tuesday: Guess Your Teachers’ Favorite Book
Students will match the teacher to their favorite book.
Wednesday: Graphic Novel Panels Activity
Students will participate in a competition to turn their personal favorite novel into a graphic novel panel.
Thursday: Guess the Teacher Behind the Book
We’ll have a few photos prepared of different teachers covering their faces with a book. Students will guess the teacher.
Friday: World Book Day Fun Facts!
We’ll finish off World Book Day with a few fun facts about students’ favorite books!
4. Book Speed Date
During English class, break or lunch students can participate in a book speed date. Students will spend 3-5 minutes with different books and rate their compatibility based on the books cover, genre, quick read comprehension, etc. It’s a great way to get students face-to-face with genres or text types they may not have taken the opportunity to explore before. Hopefully, they walk away with a few new books under their arm!
5. Book to Film Viewing
During our morning break and lunch, we’ll have a few rooms open to students showing films based on books! While choosing well-known book-to-film works like Harry Potter or Hunger Games can be a great way to increase engagement. We are also choosing some lesser-known book-to-film features like The Princess Diaries, Holes, Freaky Friday and The Lovely Bones to (hopefully!) create some excitement about books they may not have read before or even known existed.
6. Conclusion
What about you? How is your school celebrating World Book Day? Drop your plans in the comments— I’d love to hear them!