Newbridge, Co Kildare, school celebrates World Book Day with book tasting

World Book Day was celebrated on Thursday, March 3, and this event has become firmly established as Ireland’s biggest annual event promoting the enjoyment of books and reading for children.

The main focus is to encourage children to explore the world of books and realise the pleasure of books and reading. The pupils of Scoil Mhuire Senior School in Newbridge have been preparing to savour their menu of books prior to the event.

A novel event, namely a ‘Book Tasting’ was organised for all the classes , third class to sixth class, by Rachael Burke, a fourth class teacher.

Each class was scheduled to visit the ‘Book Tasting’ event where books were arranged in place settings in the cookery kitchen, an appropriate location, in light of the title of this innovative approach to the promotion of reading as a worthwhile pastime and a lifetime skill.

The room featured some comfortable seats and the children enjoyed the relaxing atmosphere as they relished a feast of books.

The children were encouraged to sample books which were on display and make note of the titles and authors so that they could read the books at a later date.

There was a variety of books — fiction, adventure factual , to name but a few — but the ‘Book Tasting’ event catered for all tastes!

This introductory event was very well received by all the children and staff and provided the children with an invaluable gift; the love of reading. It allows the children to inhabit other worlds, real or imaginative and ultimately enriches their lives.

Scoil Mhuire Senior School had been invited to complete a survey about inclusivity and diversity in our schools. This survey was co-ordinated by Children’s Books Ireland and it was entitled ‘Free to be Me’.

The aim of this competition was to encourage schools to cultivate and nourish the idea of inclusivity and diversity.

Their entry was rewarded with a presentation of one hundred books to the school, written in English and Irish, to the third and fifth classes in the school. The books were sponsored by William Fry, a partner in one of Ireland’s leading corporate law firms.

The pupils in these classes enjoyed reading these books whose characters represented a wide range of diverse personalities who demonstrated ways of being inclusive and ultimately contributing to a positive and outward reaching energy in our school and general community.

The pupils will also enjoy a Zoom Workshop featuring one of the authors of the books and this promises to generate interesting discussion and thought provoking ideas.

The Scoil Mhuire pupils prepared very thoroughly for World Book Day and they continue to explore the exciting world of books, sharing their favourite books with their peers and discovering the pleasure of reading a book .

Reading is the passport to many worlds and helps to ignite the imagination and introduce many interesting characters and story scenarios to all the children.

The statement by Richard Steele, ‘reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body’ is so true and Book Tasting and other such initiatives fuel the children’s motivation to delve into this wonderful world of reading and give them a gift for life! ‘

Book Tasting was a resounding success!

— Stephanie Bergin