How to… keep the interest going

Getting started in a school bookshop is one thing; keeping going is quite another. What is the secret of the thriving bookshop? There’s no one simple answer to that – but in this issue there are some clues.

A big event like Wyedean’s (see page 22) gets everyone involved and excited (though it may leave the organiser temporarily exhausted and wondering if it was all worth while). Even a small event reminds everyone that the bookshop exists.

2nd April is Hans Andersen’s birthday and International Children’s Book Day. Why not have a party’? Read some Andersen stories’? Put up a special display of Stories Round the World? The first week in May is National Tell a Story Week. Invite a storyteller. Have a joke telling festival. (Details of NTSW from Federation of Children’s Book Groups, 22 Beacon Brow, Bradford BD6 3DE.)

Or try a competition We’ve got three for you here…

The Great Olympics 1980 Competition

30 copies of Piccolo’s Olympics 1980 to be won

This competition is for children only. Olympics 1980 is quite superb (see our review on page 11) and all we want adults to do is pass on the details of the competition to any children who might like to enter. It’s easy, really…

First these questions must be answered:

1. In what town and country did the Olympic Games begin?

2. How often are the Olympic Games held?

3. In which stadium and in which city will the Olympic Games be held this year’?

4. Which Soviet gymnast won the Gold Medal for floor exercises in 1976?

5. Which man has won the most medals for swimming?

6. Name two heavyweight boxers who went on to win the world professional heavyweight titles.

Then make up a suitable name for the symbol of this year’s games – the Olympic Bear.

Now send the entries, complete with name, age, address and school, to:

Piccolo Olympics Competition The School Bookshop Association

1 Effingham Road Lee London SE12 8NZ

by 30th April 1980. No entries can be returned but winners will be notified by post, and the results will be published in the July issue of Books for Keeps -just in time for the Olympics themselves. Only one entry per person is allowed and the judges’ decision is final.

Or what about a Colouring Competition?

The second chapter of The Wind in the Willows has been illustrated by Beverley Gooding and issued as a picture book, The Open Road. Methuen have reproduced the jacket illustration in black and white and invited children to colour it in.

Prize: A copy of The Open Road

Closing dates: 31st March and 30th June

Copies of the picture (rules and instructions on the back) from the SBA or John Mason, Methuen Children’s Books, 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4.

Or Make a Dragon or Monster Costume or Mask

You can enter individually or as a class.

Prize: A visit to your school by Gail Haley for a special dressing up session, and signed copies of her books.

Details from: The Publicity Department, Magnet Books, Associated Book Publishers, North Way, Andover, Hampshire.

If you want some ideas for this competition, Dress Up and Play and Dress Up and Have Fun both by Gail Haley (Magnet, 65p) are highly recommended. They are full of genuinely simple, practical ways for children, teachers or parents to improvise costumes and make masks. A real invitation to let’s pretend.

TOP-20

This list is taken from Books for Students’ sales during the Christmas term.