As I’m nearing my 13th birthday, I look back on my primary years and the thing I remember most vividly is Warwick Academy’s Book Week.

For a book nerd like me, it was a dream come true. It traditionally concluded with Pyjama Day which all students looked forward to and explored a different theme every year. The purpose of the 2014 Book Week on storytelling is clear: to promote oral literary traditions from various cultures, to facilitate cross-generational encounters and to give students an opportunity to practice their speaking and listening skills.

This year, beginning on November 10, Warwick Academy primary students were treated to a week of literature-based activities that are interspersed throughout the curriculum.

During Library times, Year1 and 2 students will participate in a retelling of famous tales with puppets. These performances will show them just one of the many ways to communicate stories. Year 3 and 4 students will be regaled by stories of old Bermuda, told by senior citizens and local storytellers. This is to facilitate cross-generational encounters; presumably, everyone will know what cross-generational means!

One event that is sure to be popular is telling story through Rap Singing, where Year 5 and 6 students write a story in a collective rap, which will be performed by Warwick Academy’s rapper, secondary student Treasure Tannock.

As well as those activities during Library Times, students will have lessons on storytelling throughout the week. For example, students will discover Viking stories named sagas or learn mathematics through Fairy Tales. Other activities include creating True and False tales for a Game Show, creating story quilts and telling tales with instruments. All of these activities are to make Book Week a vivid experience for the students.

The power of legends, myths and stories is to enchant, amuse and even educate. There is something to be taken away from every story, something that each of us needs to understand. The author’s message may not always be obvious, but Book Week is here to help us find it. Now in its 12th year, Warwick Academy’s Book Week is fast becoming a classic.

Chiara is a Year 9 student at Warwick Academy.