Shrewsbury Children's Bookfest gets pupils to turn over a new leaf
A literacy festival has been credited with getting pupils in Shropshire back into reading - after dozens of schools were tasked with finding their favourite read.
Shrewsbury Children's Bookfest kicked off in style, after 32 schools attended an awards ceremony yesterday to crown their favourite happy ending.
Teachers have reported that pupils are finally getting back into reading thanks to the initiative, which has seen youngsters judge six books in a bid to find the winner.
Workshops and creative story time will be on offer over the bank holiday weekend, and organisers are expecting thousands of book worms to descend on the town after success in previous years.
Organiser Joanna Hughes says the event has already received tremendous support from the community, and she believes the festival has encouraged children to really enjoy their bedtime read again.
She said: "We have had so much positive feedback from teachers, it's been apmazing.
"Yesterday we attended an awards ceremony at St Chad's church, where we crowned the winning book after children had read six books in total.
"They have been encouraged to say what they like and don't like about the book, and that is a really positive thing for schools.
"Teachers have been telling us that children who may not have been quite as enthusiastic about reading are now really enjoying it, we had thousands of visitors to the festival last year.
"It's always been a popular event and this time we have made things slightly smaller but have lots of exciting events planned nonetheless."
From meeting Kipper The Dog to a specially themed We're Going On A Bear Hunt, the festival will run from May 3 to May 5.
All six children's authors attended the awards ceremony yesterday, and The Bomber Dog by Megan Rix was crowned the winner.
The key aim of the awards was to find the book that children aged nine to 11 love the most, and The Bomber Dog took the top slot out of 60 books that were originally on the list.
For more information about Shrewsbury Bookfest, visit http://www.shrewsburybookfest.co.uk/home/4579745787
