Christmas came early to Brooke Weston Academy as all students in Year 7 received a free book from the Library as part of the Bookbuzz programme. Bookbuzz, a reading programme from Book Trust, supports schools to encourage reading for pleasure and develop a whole school reading culture.

Students were given the opportunity to choose their own book, from 17 titles, to take home and keep. The books were all selected by a panel of experts to ensure quality, suitability and to encourage reading for pleasure and were designed to appeal to all students, regardless of their reading level.

Titles available this year included ‘D-Day Dog’ by Tom Palmer which was voted the overall winner at the 2020 Children’s Book Awards, ‘Rat’ nominated for the CILIP Carnegie medal 2022, by award-winning author Patrice Lawrence, ‘When Life Gives You Mangoes’ another Carnegie nominated title by debut author Kereen Getten and ‘The Middler’ a Times Children’s Book Of The Week by Kirsty Applebaum.

The most popular title this year was ‘The Haunting of Aveline Jones’ by Phil Hickes, a spine-tingling ghost story with a bleak, stormy setting and the first in a compelling series of ghostly mysteries.

The scheme, which has been running for several years at Brooke Weston, was co-ordinated by Librarian Wendy McCabe, she said ‘The Bookbuzz programme introduces the students to different genres of books they might not have read before. Also, as it’s their choice, they are more likely to enjoy reading the book and perhaps go on to read other books by the same author or in the same genre. Being able to give the book as a Christmas gift to all the Year 7 students is really something special and it helps to encourage a positive attitude towards reading.’

All of the Bookbuzz books are available to borrow from the Library and in the New Year, a competition will be launched for Year 7 students to write a review on their chosen title and be in with a chance of winning more Bookbuzz titles.