World Book Week
Guildford College LRC – 2-6 March 2015
World Book Week
is a chance to celebrate reading. Reading
is one of our most popular hobbies and libraries are the UK’s most significant
provider of the reading experience.
Join in our
three activities to celebrate World Book Week:
·
Book wall: recommend a book of your choice
·
Micro story: write a 50-word story
·
Location, location, location quiz: relating to books
Get a £1 World
Book Day voucher for taking part. Win a
£10 Amazon voucher for the best story or quiz result.
Upward mobility
Literacy and life
chances are strongly linked. Reading
develops literacy skills and helps break the cycle of disadvantage. The habit of reading for pleasure has more
impact than parental income and status on a young person’s academic
achievement.
Sign of a strong economy
UNESCO (United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) monitors both the
number and types of books published per country per year. It is an important index of standard of
living, and of a country’s self-awareness.
The UK is number
three in the league tables, reflecting a high interest in education. It is only overtaken by China and the
USA. It is followed by the Russian
Federation, Germany and Spain.
Live Statistics
There are live
statistics on titles published this year.
It literally changes as you look at it!
Spoilt for choice
According to
Google 130 million books have been published in modern history. No one can possibly read all of them.
Many of us will
fall into our ‘comfort zone’ of finding a few favourite authors and sticking to
them.
To learn
effectively, it is to read broadly, picking out authors from different
countries and cultures. Some amazing
books have been published by authors who have lived in far-flung corners of the
globe. Examples include The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga (India)
and The Famished Road by Ben Okri
(Nigeria).
Literary prizes
and reviews point us to up-and-coming authors.
Man Booker Prize
The
Man Booker Prize for Fiction is a literary prize awarded each year for the best
original novel, written in the English language, and published in the UK. Prize winners have come from all over
the world.
It is announced every November and the
2014 winner was The Narrow Road to the
Deep North by Richard Flanagan, an Australian author.
Many titles that have won, or been short-listed, have been made into films.
Examples include The English Patient, Schindler’s List and The Life of
Pi.
Next Blog
This will give you details of the World Book Week activities we have at the LRC. Please
contribute and take this opportunity to showcase your literacy skills.
