Last week, YCIS Shanghai campuses in Pudong held their Primary Book Week. The week-long celebration encouraged students to get swept away by the simple joys of reading. In the month prior to Primary Book Week, all Years 1 to 6 students were challenged to reach a goal of reading 20 stories or for 20 hours. “Read 20!” was chosen as a way to help celebrate this year’s 20th anniversary of YCIS Shanghai and encouraged children to self-select the stories they wanted from range of genres including adventures, mysteries, fantasies, and school stories.

During Book Week, the school hosted several presentations and workshops from children’s authors. In addition to several student authors, Ms Margriet Ruurs, an award winning Canadian children’s author, and Mr Eric Liao, a children’s author and YCIS parent, joined the week’s activities. Ruurs, who has published several books, visited the school over the course of the week, and worked personally with students and parents in workshops. Liao, who wrote the book Grace Said Focus to help parents explain the concept of focus to their children, spoke to several groups of students. All proceeds for his books go to the Shanghai charity Heart to Heart’s School Library Book Project, and he aims to raise RMB 15,000 yuan to build a library in a rural Chinese school.

In addition to the workshop and presentations from the authors, one of the highlights of Book Week was a large Book Fair, and other fun Book Week activities included a Pyjama Day with students coming to school in their favorite pajamas for a cosy classroom reading session, and a door decoration contest, themed around book covers. However, the week finished with a huge splash, as students came together for a costume parade at the Regency Park Campus. Students were encouraged to come dressed to school as their favourite book character, bringing stories to life on campus!

Ms Tania McPhillamy, Primary Teacher Librarian, organised the Book Week, and later shared, “Our Book Week 2014 was all about ‘Catching the Reading Bug’. No matter if children were listening to one of our visiting authors, planning their book character costume, or simply reading independently or with others, we wanted children to be immersed in the joys of books, and of course, reaping the lifelong benefits of reading. It's contagious!”

In addition to Book Week, YCIS encourages reading all year round. All of the spotlight books highlighted during the week are available in the libraries on campus. To learn more about the campuses, click here.