Book Week Bonanza!

Published: Thursday, 23 August 2012

Derek Landy was 'hilarious'! A highlight of Book Week was a visit by renowned Irish author Derek Landy.  Derek writes the popular series Skulduggery Pleasant which has sold over a quarter of a million copies in Australia alone. He has been in Australia on a promotional tour for the latest book in the series and we were very fortunate to secure a visit at our School.

Derek spent about an hour with students from Years 5-8 sharing hilarious tales of his life as well as answering questions about his books and the writing process. Feedback from students afterwards indicated that they had thoroughly enjoyed listening to Derek and some were even encouraged to start reading the series.

Students took the opportunity to buy some of his books and have them signed.

Thank you to Cheryl and Andrew Martin from Beaumaris Books who helped organise this event for us, together with Teacher Librarian Alison Barnett.

Mentone Grammar also hosted the announcements of the Children’s Book Council of Australia (Vic) Awards in the Finlay Anderson Junior/Middle Library. We were privileged to have Robert Newton and Mark Jackson, an author and illustrator who both had books nominated in the shortlist, at our event. Year 5 girls and some Year 8 students shared in the celebrations with Years 2-4 students from Eblana. The Year 8 students had been invited to take part in the Junior Judges Project. This entailed reading all six shortlisted books in the Younger Readers Category and deciding which book they believed should be the winner.  It was interesting to discover that the ‘real’ judges agreed with our students’ decision and Crow Country won the award in the Younger Readers’ section.

Book Week also featured a Middle School ‘Champions Read Book Trivia Quiz’. Over 50 students in teams of four battled it out to win a prize of movie passes.  It was lots of fun and a closely fought contest.

The literary fest was rounded off with a book launch in the senior library - George Ivanoff launched his new book, Life, Death and Detention and joined us as Writer in Residence for the week, conducting writing workshops with senior students. We are most grateful to George for giving up his valuable time for the benefit of our students.

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