2021 WORLDBOOK DAY - is March 4th.
All over the World there is that simultaneous cry from excited Children and overly harassed busy parents. Of course, there is always that parent who manages to create the most amazing costume that you really admire. And that super advanced child whose favourite character from literature is someone incredibly clever from a book you've never read....
BUT ! This misses the spirit of WBD... It is intended to garner excitement and interest in reading. In Books. In stories. Or, in fact, FACT. Fact Books is also "reading" .
WBD is about celebrating that we have access to a GAZILLION BOOKS! and there is something for everyone...
Why not take a look at the #worldbookday website?
www.worldbookday.com and see what they are saying? What do they have to offer?
Because 2021 in the UK looks like we are celebrating Reading / Books / Storytelling / Story-hearing in a very different way. This year, we will be Online or at Home or with Keyworker Children in small classrooms or maybe Reading to our loved ones through Zoom / What'sApp ...
My absolute favourite memories of parenting my Child are, curled up on a sofa / a beanbag / a bed / a blanket, with a Cup of Tea and a pile of Colourful Story Books.
Our weekly trip to the local libraries were joyful. It was inspiring and fun and I have a million outstanding Library fines from all the Libraries I've ever joined. SORRY! I am just that sort of scatty person.
Eric Carle's THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR is an absolute legend of a book.
Is it Art? Is it a Story? Its both. It's so captivating. It's timeless. It's beautiful... It has so many actions... when you get to the part where it eats the leaf... and then it's time to sleep... It is pure DRAMA!!
I couldn't help but fashion a PomCrown for this story. It makes my heart sing.
But of course, you don't just have to wear a PomCrown for World Book Day - as a teacher or as a parent you can make it your "Story Telling Crown" and every time you want to make it special, you pop that Crown on. Maybe you have a child who is reluctant to read? Maybe THEY would like to wear the special "StoryTelling Crown" ? To give them confidence to read out loud?
Children love Ritual and tradition - it is ritual, tradition and story telling that has always been at the very heart of education.
Harry Potter - a timeless classic. An entire world of Witchcraft and Wizardry that has education, adventure and the telling of stories, at the very heart of it's own creation. It is a story about Other People's Stories. And a Story about the Magic of Storytelling.
Do you know how many stories there are about Bees? Books about Bees - and so many of those books talk about life and philosophy and pain and suffering and biology... a Book about Bees is never really a Book JUST about Bees!
Books about Space! and Space Travel and Rockets and Planets and Aliens and Time and Science and just allllllll those things that we know very little about. Where else can you travel through Time and Space? Other than in Storytelling...? Books, Plays, Films, Documentaries, Planetariums... telling us stories about Space.
Do you know what I did my Undergrad and Postgrad degrees in??
Theatre Studies. Specialising in Theatre with Offenders and in Education.
I basically took my graduate Degree in Story Telling.
My PostGraduate practical Education element was a piece I created (with friends) called THE DREAMTIME - and it was entirely focused on Aboriginal History and their "Dreamtime" :: the Art of passing down knowledge and education through the medium of telling stories and creating Art.
My heart was captivated by their rich and colourful culture that put "Telling Stories" at the heart of their nation. Not merely as Entertainment, but as Communication.
After graduating, I went on to work with Children "Looked After" by the system.
The broken System (the heartbreaking system)
I qualified as a Playtherapist and worked alongside Children trying to piece together their own Stories. Their "Life Stories" :: most of the Teenagers I worked with had been passing through the "Care System" since they were born. It was hard for them to know themselves at all. They had no idea of who they were. They didn't know their own Stories.
The children I worked with all lived in "Care Home". I cannot tell you the number of nights I spent, sat in the doorways of Teenagers Bedrooms, reading to them from all kinds of Books: Roald Dahl / Jaqueline Wilson / The Rainbow Fish / Cat in the Hat...
They barely went to school. They had barely ever had an adult read to them. Many of those Teenagers had never learned to read for themselves.
Every one of them loved a Story. And every child needs to know their own Story. They need to hear and see Stories because it is the best way for them to see themselves and how they fit.
DIVERSE stories. Stories that reflect ALL OF US. Stories across Race / Gender / Abilities / Colour / Demographics / Age / Time... all People in all Stories for all People from all Stories.
Stories Matter.
World Book Day matters.
People. Matter.
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