Mercedes students spent Week 6 celebrating Book Week, Australia’s annual celebration of books and Australian children’s authors and illustrators. The theme for this year was “Dreaming with Eyes Open“, reflecting not only the way books can open up our imaginations, but acknowledging the long histories and tradition of story-telling in Australia.
Students participated in a variety of activities and contests throughout the week to bring this theme to life!
Microfiction Competition
Students were challenged to write a story in less than 50 words (very handy for those who say they have too much to write in English!). Congratulations to Bridget (Year 7) and Kaia (Year 8), whose stories won the contest.
“Didn’t Make the Cut” Book Titles Competition
This competition invited students to submit their most creative “alternative” titles to their favourite books, such as “Mister Zhivago” by Boris Pasternak, or “The Taker” by Lois Lowry.
Congratulations to winner Mikayla (Year 7) as well as Amanda (Year 7), who received a special mention.
Write a Book in a Day Challenge
A fundraising effort for the Kid’s Cancer Project, Write a Book in a Day is a creative and collaborative challenging teams of up to ten students to write and illustrate a book from start to finish in under 12 hours. Three teams represented Mercedes this year; Year 9s Beatrice, Olivia, Olive, Jiya, Billie-Rose, Imani, Sophia, Lucy, Lucie and Holly; Year 10s Ciara, Marysia, Kayla, Olivia, Ella, and Eve; and Year 11s Lottie, Kira, Hannah, Jimena, Tahlia, Poppy and Emily.
Teams received specific parameters in the morning detailing the characters, setting and issue they had to include in their stories, as well as five random words. The morning began with furious planning and incredible ideas involving aliens, dolphins and space stations, but soon things calmed down as teams broke into writing and illustrating groups.
The afternoon passed in a furious pace of writing and drawing. Snacks, cupcakes and laughs were slightly more muted at the end of the day as the deadline loomed near and editing frenzy took over. In the end, students produced three great stories; “Saving Coral”, “The Intergalactic Shearer” and “Code to Koolark” all have strong morals about friendship, fairness and family. It was a superb effort to write a book in a day, complete with illustrations. Copies of these fabulous little reads will be available in the library for everyone to view shortly.
Costume Competition
On Friday came the grand denouement; the Book Week Costume Competition!
Students’ costumes were wide-ranging, genre-bending and spanned the history of written word. From Dr Seuss to L. Frank Baum to Hiyao Miyazaki, students brought all manner of characters to life, introducing their character’s personality, story, and some of their favourite quotes.
For many students, the highlight of the show was the appearance of the “Gangsta Grannies”, complete with rap verse and breakdance number. It was great to see so much enthusiasm, with a packed house in the library and so many students taking part!
After conferring, the judges decided on this year’s winners. Congratulations to:
First Place: Sophia (Year 7) as Anne of Green Gables.
Second Place: Anaya, Annabel and Jocelyn (Year 8) as No-Face, Chuhiro and Lin from ‘Spirited Away’.
Third Place: Kyla, Scarlett and Chloe as the Three Little Pigs.
Special Mention: Aoife (Year 7) as Gamache from ‘Don Quixote’.
Thank you to all the students who participated in the week’s activities, and the Library and English staff who helped to make the week such a success!
