Escape to everywhere: ideas and activities for book week and beyond
1. ESCAPE TO
EVERYWHERE: IDEAS
AND ACTIVITIES FOR
BOOK WEEK AND
BEYOND
S U S A N S T E P H E N S O N – T H E B O O K C H O O K
S U E J O H N S T O N – A S L A B O A R D D I R E C T O R
Australian School Library
Association Inc.
2. Housekeeping
Australian School Library Association Inc.
Sue Johnston
ASLA Board Director
Chair ASLA Professional
Learning Project Team
Facilitator for this webinar
Housekeeping:
Participation options
Attendee control panel
Question facility
Post-webinar
information
Future PL events
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3. Housekeeping
Australian School Library Association Inc.
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Housekeeping:
Participation options
Attendee control panel
Question facility
Post-webinar information
Future PL events
Type your questions here
4. On with the webinar
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Now it is over to Susan Stephenson ….. The Book
Chook
5. Escape to Everywhere
R E S O U R C E S F O R C H I L D R E N ’ S B O O K W E E K A U S T R A L I A
2 0 1 7
B Y S U S A N S T E P H E N S O N , W W W . T H E B O O K C H O O K . C O M
A N D
W W W . S U S A N S T E P H E N S O N . C O M . A U
6. Susan Stephenson
An Australian reader, writer and teacher with two
websites, www.thebookchook.com and
www.susanstephenson.com.au
Creates and freely shares activities
to guide children’s learning.
Values what libraries and librarians offer.
Loves and reviews children’s books.
7. Escape to Everywhere
What does Escape to Everywhere mean to you? What does it mean to
the students you teach?
As a reader, I’ve been to Hogwarts,
Outer Suburbia, The Land of Take
What You Want, jungles, the bottom
of the sea and outer space. When
I’m reading, it feels like I actually
AM some place else - I can hear the
mournful hoot of an owl, smell
gunpowder or feel the thunder of
hooves approaching. I can escape to
real worlds too, and learn about
everything from creating code to
decorating cupcakes.
8. Exploring the theme
The idea of an escape as a change, a holiday,
something different
An opportunity to look at escapes in life and via
media, particularly in children’s books
Specific books that feature escape scenes, exploring
different environments, settings different to our own
lives
The power of books and reading to transport us, to
allow us to experience other places, other realities,
other lives than our own
9. Book Week Scenario - Escape Focus
This is a suggestion for a whole class or group activity that involves kids
in thinking, planning, responding, creating, communicating and
writing.
Find more information at (The Book Chook, Ideas for Children’s Book Week 2017.)
10. Media Comparison: Escape Focus
Compare The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr Morris Lessmore book with the short
film, and the app.
All your school’s library books have developed the ability to fly. One escapes
through an open window, and you must get it back or face the Wrath of the
terrifying Mrs Liberry. You decide to get it back. What happens next? Make a
storyboard about this adventure from your point of view. Create a series of
images, text excerpts and sound files you can use to make a short video about it.
Find more information at (The Book Chook, Ideas for Children’s Book Week 2017.)
11. Escape Room - Escape Focus
Create an “escape room” for another group of kids. Could be part of a room,
could be made from cardboard boxes, could actually be a smaller box that
must be opened.
A theme is unifying but – lots of work!
The idea is to have a puzzle or puzzles to be solved and escape from a
room, or solve the riddle of a box. Draw on elements of theatre, maths, tech,
literature, literacy. Misdirection can also be fun!
Find more information at (The Book Chook, Ideas for Children’s Book Week 2017.)
12. Display Ideas - Escape Focus -1
Students’ self portraits with top of head missing, add book bits.
Find more information at (The Book Chook, Ideas for Children’s Book Week 2017.)
13. Display Ideas - Escape Focus - 2
Big wall map of a
simple journey,
add book characters
and scenes,
brief reviews,
photos of student
reading escapes.
My Review
By Ty, 2G
You should
read this book!
By Melanie and
Todd D.
My Reading Escape
15. Activities for Students - 1
So far, ideas have come from Ideas for Children’s Book Week 2017, at The
Book Chook, and are aimed at teachers, TLs.
These next examples of activities are more specific and address students.
These activities can be found in Activities for Kids - Children’s Book Week 2017
at The Book Chook.
You’ll find a range of activities and opportunities for critical and creative
thinking, communicating, self-expression and collaboration.
16. Activities for Students - 2
🙀 An evil overlord has taken over your country and banned books and reading. How does that make you
feel? What effect does it have on the population generally? What can you do about the problem?
📹 Choose one book from the 2017 CBCA short list, read it and make a 60 second video, reflecting on that
book. OR Create a short video about your favourite book for kids.
🌃 Choose your favourite scene from a short-listed or other book for kids and re-create it in LEGOs.
Find more ideas at The Book Chook: Activities for Kids - Children’s Book Week 2017
17. Activities for Students - 3
🌳 Draw and label the tree house you would like to live in some day. Include some
kind of escape hatch so you can grab your magic book and get away if you need to.
Write out directions for using the escape hatch.
🚵 Which famous real or fictional people have escaped from somewhere or
something? Choose one to find out more about and collaboratively present your
information with some classmates. You might consider Zorro, Doctor Who, Bilbo
Baggins, Harry Potter, Aslan, Harry Houdini, the children in The Silver Sword,
Rapunzel, the Three Little Pigs, or Hansel and Gretel.
📺 Design an advertising campaign to tell others about, and persuade them to buy,
one of the short-listed books. You might include posters or full page magazine
ads, radio and TV ads, banners and stickers or other ideas.
🎎 Think about a character you would like to escape from. Create a picture of that
character - if you’re using paper, take a photo of your picture/structure so you get
a digital version. Use a video/audio app like YakiT Kids or Shadow Puppet to
bring your character image to life.
Find more ideas at The Book Chook: Activities for Kids - Children’s Book Week 2017
19. More Resources
Book Week Wiki
Mrs Mac’s Library
A list of all my Children’s Book Week articles
Book reviews: Barbra Braxton’s The Bottom Shelf, Just So Stories,
Children’s Books Daily, Liz Derouet, Read Plus, Momo Time to Read, The
Book Chook, Kids Book Review
Specific urls found in separate document
Find more information at (The Book Chook, Ideas for Children’s Book Week 2017.)
20. Book Curator
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ASLA has teamed up with The Book Curator to provide our
members with a great offer on their time-saving service.
Members of The Book Curator receive:
Eight issues of The Book Curator magazine per calendar year.
This full colour 44 page publication includes more than 40
detailed book reviews each issue, plus author interviews,
articles and useful information of interest to school librarians.
A special supplement in May reviewing all notables in the
CBCA Awards
Regular discounts and special offers on books and resources
Access to a searchable database of reviews
Access to past issues of the magazine online and more!
21. Book Curator
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Join The Book Curator as a new member for the 2017
calendar year and you’ll receive a 10% discount on
the membership fee.
Membership form and other details at:
https://www.bookcurator.com.au/page/homepage
Book Week resource available soon.
https://www.bookcurator.com.au/page/2017-book-
week-ideas-and-activities
22. Book Curator and Book Week
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23. Other resources
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Children’s Book Council of Australia
http://cbca.org.au/
(and state based groups)
Syba Signs
http://sybasigns.com.au/events-and-themes/book-week
Zart Art http://zartart.com.au/
Ipswich Distict TL Network
http://idtl.net.au/book-week/show-all.php
24. Booktopia
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ASLA has a partnership with Booktopia through which
ASLA benefits from your purchase of resources.
Buy resources from Booktopia and maximise your
membership benefits. You can purchase resources
including Book Week titles, Australian Curriculum
resources and more from Booktopia.
Click on the Booktopia link on the ASLA website
http://www.asla.org.au/advocacy/news/resource
s-for-the-Australian-Curriculum.aspx
25. Bookshops to go …
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Bookshops galore, eg:
Pegi Williams
http://www.pegiwilliams.com.au/home.asp
Riverbend Books http://riverbendbooks.com.au/
St Georges Books http://sgbooks.com.au/
Kinokuniya Books http://www.kinokuniya.com.au/
The Children’s Bookshop
http://www.indies.com.au/thechildrensbookshop/
The Kids’Bookshop
http://www.thekidsbookshop.com.au/
26. Escape with a book
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Let’s escape by Mike Dumbleton (1997)
Grandpa’s great escape by David Walliams (2015)
The great shark escape by Jennifer Johnston (2000)
Escape from mr. Lemoncello’s library by Chris
Grabenstein (2015)
My Australian story: escape from Cockatoo Island by
Yvette Poshoglian (2013)
Skydancer’s escape by Deborah Kelly (2016)
Escape from the overworld: an unofficial
Minecrafter’s adventure by Danica Davidson (2014)
27. Movies
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The great escape (1963)
Escape from Sobibor (2001)
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008)
Free Willy: Escape from the pirate’s cove (2009)
Ferris Bueller’’s Day Off (1986)
Chicken Run (2000)
My little pony: escape from Catrina and other
adventures (2014)
The swan princess II: escape from castle mountain
(1997)
28. Makerspace and more
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Escape room in the library
https://au.pinterest.com/pin/251638697908458273/
29. Makerspace and more
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Parachute Stem Challenges
applefortheteach.blogspot.com
Breakout games
https://au.pinterest.com/explore/breakout-game/
The true adventures of a high school
librarian
http://www.nikkidrobertson.com/2016/04/
breakout-edu-jchs-library.html
30. Clutching at straws
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Straws
http://www.teachersareterrific.com/2015/09/its-all-
about-those-straws.html
31. Your ideas and suggestions?
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32. Post-webinar information
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will be emailed soon.
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http://www.asla.org.au/professional-learning/asla-conference-2017.aspx
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