News

Why you should host an ILF book swap

Do you fancy a virtual visit from Australian author Andy Griffiths?

<p>The <em>Great Book Swap<&sol;em> is an effortless way to get books into the hands of readers while also raising funds for remote Communities&period; The concept is simple – invite your community to exchange a book in return for a donation&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;school-news&period;com&period;au&sol;latest-print-issue&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener"><strong>Read the latest print edition of <em>School News<&sol;em> HERE<&sol;strong><&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Author Andy Griffiths&comma; Indigenous Literacy Foundation’s &lpar;ILF&rpar; Lifetime Ambassador&comma; said&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The <em>Great Book Swap<&sol;em> is a really fun way to swap one of your pre-loved books for another book that you might end up loving even more&period; And&comma; even better&comma; for the price of a gold coin&comma; you’ll be raising funds to ensure that kids in remote Communities have the chance to fall in love with books and reading as well&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Schools&comma; early learning centres&comma; individuals and organisations can hold Great Book Swaps&period; Last year&comma; more than 500 Book Swaps took place across Australia&comma; raising over &dollar;170&comma;000&period;  This year&comma; the ILF hopes even more schools and organisations will participate with the aim of raising &dollar;180&comma;000 to gift 18&comma;000 culturally relevant books to remote Indigenous Communities across Australia&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Indigenous Literacy Foundation is a national&comma; community-led charity that works with remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities across Australia&period; The ILF responds to requests from remote Communities for culturally relevant books and resources as well as programs that help Communities create and publish their stories in their own language&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h4><strong>School Book Swaps<&sol;strong><&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p>Schools and Early Learning Centres that host a <em>Great Book Swap<&sol;em> and submit their funds by the November 1 2024&comma; automatically receive a virtual visit from ILF Lifetime Ambassador Andy Griffiths via a digital livestream with all participating schools&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In addition&comma; any school or ELC that hosts a swap and submits their funds by June 30 2024 will also automatically go in the draw to win a special Early Bird prize&comma; a book pack consisting of ten ILF titles&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>ILF Head of Programs Zoe Cassim said&colon; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Great Book Swap is not only a great opportunity to raise money for ILF&comma; but to also connect with each other&period; Seeing people’s face light up when they start sharing how much they love a book&comma; character or author&comma; and why someone else may like it is so heartwarming&period; It becomes a shared experience&comma; and that deep connection we so often miss out on&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;22931" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-22931" style&equals;"width&colon; 1024px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignnone"><img class&equals;"size-large wp-image-22931" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;school-news&period;com&period;au&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2023&sol;01&sol;AdobeStock-By-WavebreakMediaMicro-1024x683&period;jpeg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"1024" height&equals;"683" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-22931" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">AdobeStock By WavebreakMediaMicro<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<h4><strong>Tips for holding a Book Swap<&sol;strong><&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p>Visit your local independent grocer and ask for empty fruit trays – they are great for storing books&comma; and they’re strong and easy to carry&period; Stack the books neatly&comma; spine up&period; They are more like to sell if people don’t have to move books around to see what is under&sol;behind&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Find a covered space in your school – a shed&comma; an empty classroom – where donated books can be stored&period; Create signs to help people put their books in the correct box&comma; for example Picture Books – Children’s Non-Fiction – Middle Grade – YA – Adult etc&period; Volunteers can then further sort the books into crime&comma; cookbooks&comma; fiction&comma; autobiography etc&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Keep an eye out for unusual donations – a brand new book still with price tags attached&comma; a rare edition&period; Use these as raffle prizes or door prizes&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>If you are holding a Book Swap for your entire school community &lpar;teachers and parents as well as children&rpar;&comma; don’t use tiny school desks if you can avoid it&period; People don’t like bending over&period; Borrow some taller trestle tables&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Make your layout logical&comma; keeping similar items together&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Have a plan to dispose of unsold items&period; Consider BOGOF &lpar;Buy one get one free&rpar; for the last hour of the Swap Meet&comma; or &OpenCurlyQuote;Fill a Box for &dollar;5’&period; Will your local charity shop accept the leftover books&quest;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>For donations that might not be in the best condition&comma; consider a &OpenCurlyQuote;Freebie box’ – it won’t affect your income and people might be willing to buy a few extra books if they feel good about getting a freebie&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Registrations are open now and schools will have access to learning resources including fact sheets&comma; maps&comma; videos and classroom activities&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>For more information visit <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;greatbookswap&period;org&period;au&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener">The Great Book Swap &vert; Indigenous Literacy Foundation<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;

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Shannon Meyerkort

Shannon Meyerkort is a freelance writer and the author of "Brilliant Minds: 30 Dyslexic Heroes Who Changed our World", now available in all good bookstores.

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