Rebecca Rouillard is a school librarian at Kingston Educational Trust, dividing her time across the Trust’s two sites – one secondary and one primary. Rebecca has been involved in the Spark! Book Award since its launch and is currently the chair of the 11+ shortlisting panel. She is also a book reviewer, writer, and is one of the Network Organisers for the London region of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI).

The Spark! Book Award was set up to help schools create a buzz around reading by giving pupils the opportunity to read, discuss and vote for their favourite title from a shortlist selected by a panel of teachers, educators and librarians. The award, now in its 5^th year, introduced a KS3 category for the first time last year. Many secondary librarians are already used to shadowing book awards, and some even run their own, so why sign up for Spark! in particular? Here are five reasons why I think you should get involved.

1. Discover brilliant ‘teen’ books

Before I worked in a secondary library, I remember wondering why the most frequently-read books in KS2 and KS3 overlapped to such an extent. It seemed strange that children’s reading was not progressing once they got to secondary school; that they were still reading the same books and authors that they had been reading in primary. Where were the books for 11-14 year olds? When we launched the new secondary category, I was particularly excited about being able to showcase these ‘teen’ books that fall in between the MG and YA publishing categories and are often difficult to identify.  (I’ve written more about the ‘Missing Teen Category’ on the Spark! blog.)

2. Pupil-focused for maximum engagement

Every book award has its own aims and criteria. Some awards focus on a specific genre, others celebrate literary excellence. From the very start, we were clear that the Spark! Book Award would be specifically focused on reading for pleasure and promoting books that will engage pupils: well-crafted texts that reflect the diversity of our school communities and that young people will actually enjoy reading.

As a secondary librarian, I have run shadowing schemes for awards where it was difficult to get through all the shortlisted books in the allocated time, or where the age range of the titles was so wide that some books were too dark for younger KS3 pupils while others were too young to engage older students. With just four titles that are all specifically aimed at KS3 readers, the Spark! shortlist is both accessible and easy to deliver – no parental permission slips required!

Everything we do at Spark! is based on evidence-based approaches and we are very proud of our partnership with the OU Reading for Pleasure initiative. We know from the research that choice is key when it comes to engaging young readers, which is why we canvas pupil voice every step of the way and why the vote for the winners is entirely up to the students.

3. Access to author visits and supporting resources

As teachers, literacy leads and librarians ourselves, we understand only too well the constraints and pressures of school life, so ensuring that the award was easy to run was always a priority. We provide a range of resources to help you make the award a success, including free online author events that give young judges the chance to put their questions to each of the shortlisted authors and to hear more about their creative process. There are also library display materials available to download, longlist activity sheets, shortlist booklets and competitions to get involved in. You will also find lots of inspiring ideas from fellow practitioners on the Spark! blog.

Every school that signs up receives a free set of the shortlisted books for the relevant category and there are discounts available on any additional copies that you choose to buy. We also run a Spark! Book Fund that provides free copies of the shortlisted books for pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds.

4. Run it your way

Spark! has been designed to be flexible so that you can adapt it to the particular needs of your setting. At The Kingston Academy, I ran the award through the library, where I created a Spark! display and printed some shortlist bookmarks to raise awareness with library users. I focused primarily on Year 7 and 8 pupils, introducing the award in their assemblies and including an entry about the award in our school newsletter so that parents would know about it too.

The award was open to all students and every child that read and reviewed a Spark! book received a house point, but I also started an after-school book club for pupils that were interested in getting more involved. These book club students formed the core of my live studio audience for the online author visits, but the events were open to all and advertised in the library to encourage as many students to participate as possible. I also made full use of the creative writing and reviewing opportunities that the award offers, running a Spark! poetry competition in the spring term and another creative writing/reviewing competition in the summer. As well as showcasing entries in our in-school creative writing newsletter, I also submitted the winning entries for the Spark! national competitions.

This year, I aim to build on the awareness of the award to make it even bigger and better. I am already having discussions with English teachers and form tutors and plan to create some Spark-focused activities for tutors to deliver in form time. I will use Year 7 and 8 reading lessons to discuss and promote this year’s shortlisted titles and will offer parents the opportunity to purchase a set of the shortlisted books for their child. I would also like to make the online award ceremony in June more of an occasion and have some students who are able to watch it live.

5. It works!

What started as a reading for pleasure project for a handful of primary schools in Southwest London is now a nationwide award that involves nearly 200 schools. For many, Spark! is now a regular feature of their literacy planning because they can see the positive impact that it has on their young readers:

• We all know how difficult it can be to convince students to read outside their usual genre. I have found that, with the incentive of being an official judge, pupils are much more willing to give a new book a try and extend their reading repertoire.
• As students start to read the shortlisted titles and talk about them, it creates a buzz that persuades even the more reluctant readers to get involved, while the opportunity to engage directly with the authors at the online events has proved a big hit with my students.
• The competitions offer students the chance to engage with each book on a deeper, more creative level and provide an opportunity for recognition and rewards. I particularly like that the competitions encourage pupils to respond to the text in whatever way they choose – whether that’s through art, music, a piece of writing or by using their IT skills –  as it makes them more accessible to pupils with a range of reading abilities.
• With categories that cover picture books for younger readers to KS3 pupils, the Spark! School Book Award provides a common experience that allows students to engage with different age groups and even different schools if, like me, you are part of a Trust that includes primary and secondary sites.

Will you join us?

I hope I’ve convinced you to join our Spark! community – I’ve met some wonderfully inspiring librarians and teachers through the award. School sign-ups are open until 20^th December and the shortlists will be announced in mid-January, making it a perfect project to kickstart your reading for pleasure plans for the New Year!