Book Week 2024: stories, style, and spellbinding fun
By Yannis Ng, Colin Ho and Alaina Hayes
Did you know it was Book Week? Did you read any interesting books? RCHK’s Book Week just wrapped up last week, and it was spectacular. The events hosted to celebrate Book Week were overall quite fun, and the highlights of the weeks were the Quidditch games and the performances on the catwalk. Everybody put so much effort into their costumes for the runway, and the department did very well with its themes for different performances.
If you have noticed, this year’s Book Week lasted 2 weeks instead of one, and it was decided that way because Book Week was initially cut short due to the Swimming gala and the holiday. Readers didn’t fear, though! They extended the event to 2 weeks so that we could have more fun.
During Book Week, there were many fun and interactive activities over the 2 weeks, such as the photo booth in the library, which brought many different recommendations for different books, most of which we found interesting. One that stood out for me was a book with a giant, flaming letter Z on the cover page, and it is about a battle between zombies and unicorns. There were other books, too, that teach you how to make potions, fantasy novels, and many more!
There was also Quidditch, which the librarians hosted. For those who don’t know, Quidditch is a fictional game originating from the fantasy novel Harry Potter, where each player has a different role and plays the game on magical flying brooms. Alas, we didn’t have brooms, so whose idea was it to host the game and simplify the rules so we could play on the ground instead of flying brooms?
“So Miss Kim and I were talking about different fun games we could play that fit the fantasy magic thing, so we were trying to think of which books had fun games. Harry Potter being so popular, we immediately thought of quidditch, and found that people do play it, so it gave us some ideas for rules and how we play quidditch,” said librarian Miss Mel, who was the event organiser.
The objects and equipment in the game were easy to find, such as a softball replacing the bulger (one of the flying balls), but where did the three giant hoops come from, and where did they find a small, magical flying ball?
“One of the biggest things, and we have to thank Mr Costa [for this]: he made us the hoops so it [seemed] more like the real game. We also brought some brooms, which made it more fun, and having a human snitch we thought was another good element to make it entertaining,” said Ms. Mel.
Thanks to Ms Mel, Ms. Kim, and Mr. Costa’s organisation and production, we now have a fun and exciting game that came straight out of fantasy and brought into our world where we can enjoy an equally immersive fantasy game.
Friday marked the last day of Book Week and the day of the glorious catwalk. It was really fun to see everybody dressed as their favourite characters.
Photo of the Maths Department dressed as characters from the Wizard of Oz. Credits: Ashleigh Leung
Before the catwalk, we interviewed different people to ask them about their thoughts and feelings about the catwalk.
“Excited: it’s a fun way to express myself as an art teacher, and it's always interesting to see what other departments have done,” Miss Chuah said.
She is a very enthusiastic art teacher, fond of the arts, and curious about what others offer. She deliberately made her costume a surprise so it could only be revealed on the day. The only thing she hinted about about her costume was its eco-friendliness. “I deliberately made it more eco-friendly, because I like the idea of using what I have.”
It was finally revealed that she and the other art teachers were dressed up as hobbits from the book series “The Lord of the Rings”, as the art department walked on their knees, emphasizing the fact that the Hobbits are short.
Photo of the teachers before the catwalk. Credits: Ashleigh Leung
“Well, we wanted to emphasize the fact that hobbits are quite small, so we walked down the runway trying to look a bit short, so we did it on our knees. I thought it was funny and thought it added to the effect, but it did hurt a little bit,” claimed Ms Austin.
The teachers were all super great with their themes, but the students pulled off and stole the show.
“[I’m feeling] fine. I have a science test later. But I guess I’m feeling normal,” Year 9 student Stefan Donahue said, as he dressed up as Hansel from the classic German tale “Hansel and Gretel”.
Everybody who participated in Books Week’s fun was so engaged, and with the wrap-up of Book Week comes the mid-term break. The course of Book Week was an overall success, and we can’t wait to see what they have in store for next year!