Book Week 2019 - Reading is My Secret Power

This year’s Book Week was filled with lots of school visits, story-telling, writing workshops, the CBCA Book of the Year Award ceremony, a radio interview and coffee with the former Prime Minister of Australia, Mr Kevin Rudd.

This year’s Book Week theme was Reading is My Secret Power.

And so I spent the week, doing what I love- inspiring students with a love for literature.

The question I often get asked when I visit schools is- “How can I become a writer?”

And my answer is always the same…Read, Read, Read and Read some more.

The more we read, the more words we gain exposure to. The more we read, the more we learn the many different ways we can use the English language. The more we read, the more we build a massive bank of different words in our heads that we can draw from at any time.

Books can make you laugh. Books can make you cry. They can carry you into different worlds of the imagination. They can help us escape. They can cure loneliness. Books can improve our focus and concentration. Books can educate us and books are a free source of entertainment.

As well visiting schools, I was invited to meet the former Prime Minister of Australia, Mr Kevin Rudd, in Melbourne. We had a great talk about Australia's history, truth-telling, Sorry Day, the National Apology, the Stolen Generations, Constitutional Recognition and acknowledging our First Nation's People, of which I am very passionate about. I was also inspired to hear more about the wonderful work of the National Apology Foundation for Indigenous Australians.

My hope is that Book Week 2019, has inspired more children across this country to love literature just that bit more. My hope is that they are encourage to read just that bit more and my hope is children can realise the enormous power there is in books.

Books are for living, lessons and truth. And reading really can be our secret power, if we let it.