The book club for children

Reading is a “journey of pleasure to destinations unknown”, according to the education department’s director-general, Michael Coutts-Trotter.

He was speaking at a presentation to celebrate the success of the NSW Premier’s Reading Challenge (PRC).

The celebration, at Taronga Zoo last term, was attended by 90 students from 30 of the 1,812 schools that participated in the 2007 challenge.

The challenge is designed to encourage reading for pleasure and is open to students from Kindergarten to Year 9.

Reading lists are prepared for different ages by a panel of experts – teachers, librarians and children’s literature specialists – and this year includes more than 3,000 quality books.

Guest speaker Anna Fienberg, an awardwinning writer of books for children and young adults, described the PRC as the “biggest children’s book club in the world”.

She spoke of being a writer and of her life-long love of books and reading.

“In books I discovered myself and other people.

I saw who I was and how other people felt, and we weren’t that different – but boy, our experiences were,” she said.

The Premier, Morris Iemma, reminded the students that the challenge was “all about you”.

Noting the national and international recognition for the PRC, he said: “It is all about imagination, storytelling and the sheer pleasure and the joy that reading brings.” Cooerwull Public School teacher librarian Liz Lang described a Year 5 student who had never borrowed a book but after joining the challenge went on to read 25 books.

“The benefits flowed on in everything he did – his literacy levels improved,” she said.

Liverpool Boys High School English teacher Helen Sayed said six boys signed up when she started the challenge three years ago but last year 35 students participated.

Mrs Sayed said that boys who participated in the challenge tend to write better than their peers.

“It breaks down barriers – it is a wonderful idea, it is a wonderful program.”

PRC information: https://products.schools.nsw.edu.au/prc/home.html
The PRC’s major sponsors are Dymocks Literacy Foundation, OPSM and The Sun-Herald.

By Nell M, Bronte Public School

“One night I was curled up in bed, comfortable, happy and relaxed.

The only problem was it was too early to go to sleep and I was bored.

I called out to my dad, who had the perfect solution: Huckleberry Finn, an old favourite book of his from when he was a kid.

The cover was ripped, the binding torn and the pages were brown and very thick.

It looked old – very old – and to me, old meant boring.

But as I progressed through the book, hearing about the interesting and humorous characters, and enjoying the gripping storyline, it too became a favourite of mine.

I liked it because its clever language transported me to the scenes of the book until I had escaped from this world and was living in it.

That’s the magical thing about books.

They have the power to transport you to other places, if they are written by talented authors, of course.

But unfortunately for some children they are never exposed to these books, only ones that made you wish you couldn’t read.

This is where the Premier’s Reading Challenge comes in.

It ensures that all students are involved in reading and are exposed to a wide range of books and authors, all types of writing and all very enjoyable.

These books change reading from being a chore into being an enjoyable and ever-lasting entertainment.

The fact it is a challenge brings out the competitive side of people.

It is especially good for me in a grade where it’s not cool to read, because it gives me and other bookworms the opportunity to read all we want without actually looking like bookworms.

But the main reason I think the challenge is more than a good idea is that students never have to read boring pointless books, but instead are introduced to books and authors that are funny, exhilarating, happy and gripping.

Books like Huckleberry Finn because although covers may fade and pages may tear, the best stories never age and wear out, but simply sink and remain in readers’ hearts and minds forever.” *An edited extract of Nell’s speech at the PRC presentation.