Wycombe Abbey Celebrates World Book Day 2023
7 March 2023 - All
During the week of 27 February, World Book Day Celebrations took over the School. This year, we had a mystery theme, with displays in the libraries of beloved mystery classics as well as newly published books. Even the Catering Team got involved and did a fantastic job of decorating the Main School Dining Room (MSDR) on World Book Day itself with crime scene tape, as well as providing delicious cupcakes with World Book Day toppers!
The Scholastic Book Fair came back for another visit and pupils really enjoyed being able to visit an onsite book shop and browse exciting titles. There was a fantastic range of books on offer from classics such as Jane Austen’s Persuasion to the recently published The Davenports by Krystal Marquis. Like last year, we managed to raise over £2000 in sales, and we will again be donating our 60% commission to a local primary school so that they can buy new books for their school library. It was wonderful to see pupils excitedly browsing the shelves throughout the week and it proves that reading really is still valued.
On World Book Day itself, pupils and staff dressed up as a literary character of their choice. The costumes were all fantastic and it was brilliant to see everyone, staff included, making such an effort. The UV made a particularly wonderful effort this year, with the whole year group dressing up as characters from Louis Sacher’s novel Holes. Other notable costumes included characters from Twilight, the Sherlock Holmes series, Peter Pan and Winnie the Pooh. Our prizes for best costume this year go to Beatrice and Natalie in LIV, for their costumes of Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong from Murder Most Unladylike by Robin Stevens.
A new initiative this year was the Book Giveaway. The Library, along with members of staff, donated books that they no longer wanted and these were placed in the Courtyard Cafe and outside MSDR for pupils to browse and take. This was a huge success and nearly all of the books have gone to a new home! It was wonderful to see how enthusiastic pupils were at being able to find a new book to read. The Library also ran some exciting competitions: a writing competition where the story was to be set at Wycombe Abbey and a poster competition to advertise World Book Day. The winning story was by Ava in UIII and the poster competition was won by Amelie (UIII); the runner-up was Ayomide (UIII). The World Book Day tutor time quiz was also a success, with LIV Rubens, UV Cloister and UVI Wendover all winning treats for their form.
The English Department organised a treasure hunt, with clues to titles of books being spread across the School and held a creative writing competition where pupils wrote a description of a library or other reading space. We were thrilled with the quantity and quality of the entries, from a range of year groups. There were not only some beautiful descriptions of the physical spaces, but also some thoughtful and emotive descriptions of what reading and libraries mean to the pupils. Many described them as a place of escapism, wonder, and safety, and the English Department staff really enjoyed reading them all. The Lower School winner was Sanvi (UIII), for her evocative description of a snowy day spent reading her favourite book, Private Peaceful, and the Upper School winner was Alice (UV), for her inventive take on the task, a description of an idyllic train journey spent reading a novel.
It was another fantastic World Book Day and I hope that it has reminded everyone of the joy that reading can bring!
Mrs Hannah Rogers-Green
Head of Libraries