“To learn to read is to light a fire, every syllable that is spelled out is a spark”- Victor Hugo

Bishopstown Community School has a new book club called Treat Your Shelf and their aim is to get students, teachers and parents reading for pleasure. The club is made up of First year, Second year and Transition year students. Reading is important in the school because of the Well Read award the school has earned and the practice of Drop Everything and Read but there was no student book club. Students learned about the Renaissance in History and wanted to bring a revival of reading to Bishopstown Community School, a reading revolution, to turn creative sparks into a literacy initiative and in the words of William Fawlkner to “read, read, read”.

Treat Your Shelf take a themed approach to reading because it is the most inclusive. It allows students of any age and any year to participate. It allows students and teachers to become a community of readers.  It allows students the most choice, so that everyone has the best chance of finding the right book. Themes are chosen collaboratively and so far they have read fantasy books, favourite childhood stories, nonfiction texts and novels on love and friendship. All suggestions are welcome.

It is important to BCS that the club is student led. To develop oral literacy, Treat Your Shelf invited local authors to talk to their peers. Daniel Heaphy, author of ‘Breanne 1975’ and Lara Holland, author of  ‘Redeemed’, spoke to students about their own creative processes. Lara is a first year student in a nearby school. Daniel Heaphy left students with the important quote of “Make Plans and Create”. At Christmas the club hosted the school’s first ever book swap. Students enjoyed making it Christmas themed, drawing attention to the library with elf on the shelf ideas and decorating books as Christmas trees. They brought in books they wanted to share and sourced extra material from the local libraries, to ensure a variety of authors, perspectives and genres.

The clubs main aims are to promote reading for pleasure, to increase vocabulary and to enhance literacy skills. A reading recommendation board is in the library for everyone to view. Members meet up once a month in the library for discussion and informal debate.

Reading can be seen as a solitary activity so the club is a great way for like- minded students to get together.  The reading renaissance is only just beginning and ideas for Literacy Week are growing. Treat Your Shelf will bring back World Book Day in March and encourage everyone to dress as a character and bring stories to life. Spelling bees are organised for First years with History keywords. A reading relay is organised where students will read together and then calculate the total. For Valentine’s Day, students did blind dates with books, revealing only the first line of the story they were wrapped in brown paper to encourage reading other genres.

Literacy comes in all its forms and the book club hopes to do more themes with audiobooks and include podcasts, poets and digital literacy. Stephen King, “books are uniquely portable magic”. We want magic in every classroom and every school bag. This is your chance to join the renaissance of reading and if you haven’t picked up a book in a while, join us with the next theme, Irish Writers, or any book with a green cover to mark St Patricks Day. Be a part of the Treat Your Shelf narrative because their story is only just beginning.

Mrs White and Ms Donnelly.