March reading madness: 6 ways to go crazy.

Written by Ema Poposka

March is the month of reading and literature in Hong Kong. It is the month of the annual Young Readers Festival. The week of March 18th to 22nd marked the 2019 Book Week at RCHK, organized by the library.

The Library organized many events this year. For ideas on the process of writing and publishing, there were some first-hand experiences from two guest-authors visiting our school, Kate Beasley and Liz Million. Beasley is the author of Gertie’s Leap to Greatness, which is one of the titles on the Hong Kong 2019 Battle of the Books competition list. Million is the illustrator and author of Little Fred Riding Hood and many other picture books. Other fun activities included a disco lunch, where students dressed up as their favourite character.

The library motto this year is ‘Passport to Reading’. Reading is the best way to travel without leaving your room, to meet people from many different countries, and to have the adventures of your dreams. If you would like some recommendations for books you can read next here are several ideas to get you inspired:

You can read the books nominated for the Golden Dragon Award, the only children's choice book award in Hong Kong. After reading you can vote for your favourite in several different categories open for all age groups. Voting is open until the end of March at https://www.hkgoldendragonawards.org.

Even if you are not part of the RCHK Battle of the Books team, you can still read some of the books on the list, available on their website. There are some great books that present a variety of diverse characters. For an idea about each of the books, you may read my review blog, where you can also leave your comments. And don’t forget to cheer for our BoB team on May 2nd.
I really like that the BoB list always includes at least one book in translation. This year that’s Adventures with Waffles by the Norwegian author Maria Parr, translated into English by Guy Puzey. I love reading books in translation because they offer a look into the life, values and customs of other cultures around the world looked through the eyes of their own people. They offer new stories and new writing styles, and new perspectives. All in all, I think they make me a better person.
If you are more into Asian literature you can join the Year of Asian Reading Challenge . They share awesome prompts and recommendations every month that celebrate Asian authors and new books being published.
For books that inspire to take action to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals join the SDG Book Club. Their reading list will be published during the first week of every month for seventeen months covering all 17 SDGs. If you are interested please contact me.
Finally, you can get your passport from the RCHK primary library and start reading books borrowed from the school library of the Public Library. After you read 20 books from different collections and collect 20 stamps you can get the Golden Ticket and be a candidate for the grand prize to be presented in June.

And don’t forget to share your reading experience with other children who are not as lucky as you. Make some space on your shelves for new books by giving away the books you’ve already read to a literacy charity, or bring them to our library by April 8th. The library will donate all of the collected books to the Mobile Library Project in South Africa.

Happy reading!