It was an expletive-laden and hysterical message thread from my mum-friends about Book Week. One even declared it a parent-shaming emergency.
Is it time to bring Book Week and its dress-ups to book?Chris Lane
“My daughter insists on going as Elsa again. Will the teachers think I’m a bad parent?”
“I don’t have time to go to the shops. I feel so bad for asking,but can you grab me something?”
“I guess they have now made books about Bluey,so that counts,right?”
“Is it that time of the year again?”
“Any tips for sewing a tail onto leather?”
“What’s the bloody theme again?”
No,I can’t sew,but I do know this year’s paradoxical theme for Book Week:“Dreaming with eyes open”. I prefer to call it “the-annual-parent’s-nightmare-rush-to-purchase-an-overpriced -highly-flammable-costume”. One of the most Googled queries this week was “last-minute Book Week costumes”.
I hate Book Week. Passionately. Categorically. Unreservedly.
I love books – this year I even became a published author – but I don’t love the needless angst and cost pressure it puts on already time-poor parents.
Before librarians and parents who enjoy social media brag posts about their clever and cute DIY costumes throw sequined eye-patches at me,hear me out. I’m all for finding ways to help our kids fall in love with books. I’m just not convinced that these costumes and the consternation do much to encourage reading or improve literacy.
Book Week is run by the Children’s Book Council of Australia,which encourages libraries,schools and even childcare centres to put on events to mark the week. It’s the longest-running national literacy initiative in the country.
In recent years,thanks to social media competitiveness and retailers capitalising on parental guilt,I’ve observed the week become far more about trying to keep up with the Joneses’ kids outfits which are of Met Gala quality and far less about actual books.
I know many kids love to play dress-ups and any excuse to not wear school uniform,but there is no shortage of other days to do this. Cue Wear It Purple Day,Harmony Day,Pyjama Day,Winter Woolies and various other fundraising mufti days at a school’s discretion.
You may be thinking,this rant is just because I can’t sew,and I send my kids to school in crap outfits with a warning to stay away from heaters. You’re only partially correct.
Two things can be true at the same time. As the burden on parents intensifies and costume standards rise,our children’s literacy levels are going in the opposite direction. There’s a heap of research (probably about as large as most children’s rarely touched costume box) that points to Australia’s waning literacy rates.
A found a quarter of Australian children aged 11 to 12 did not have the literacy skills they needed to be successful lifelong learners. The of the school performance of 15-year-olds in OECD countries shows Australia has steadily fallen from the top group of nations to the middle of the pack. We have dropped from fourth to 16th in reading.
Ten years’ worth of NAPLAN show improvements in years 3,5 and 9 but that reading progress has significantly stalled between years 5 and 7. The literacy markers for Indigenous children or those with low socioeconomic backgrounds or those living in rural and remote parts areas are even more dire.
Children at daycare centres in more disadvantaged areas receive as those in more affluent areas. We are also yet to feel the full impact of lockdowns and remote learning on students’ literacy.
Of course,scrapping Book Week isn’t going to single-handedly resolve all of these issues. This isn’t a fairytale,after all.
Perhaps it’s time to start a new national literary tradition. Many traditions start with a legitimate purpose,but we need to ask whether they are still valuable and have the desired impact.
The time and energy parents exert scrambling and conferring would be better spent discussing ways to cultivate their children’s love of books and characters,or volunteering for classroom reading groups.
I’d much rather WhatsApp discussions about creative ways to read with our children in their younger years and to swap ideas about how to maintain their interest as they become independent readers.
Let’s leave the outlandish costumes to the Met Gala red carpet.
Antoinette Lattouf is a journalist,author,the co-host of The Briefing podcast and the co-founder of Media Diversity Australia.
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