Bookaholics Story Sack DIY Guide & Giveaway!

It’s September and so it’s back to school for all the children, teachers, teaching assistances and back to routine for parents, grandparents and other child careers. So here at Space on the Bookshelf we thought we’d celebrate by breaking our routine and instead of doing a 3D review this month that we’d treat you to a going back to school special feature on story sacks! So we’re going to look at what story sack are, give you a DIY guide to making them and if that's not enough we’re giving away a story sack we've made just for you!

What’s a story sack? 

Story sacks are another way of getting children excited about reading. A story sack is a bag and inside there is a good quality fiction book (usually a picture book) and a non-fiction book which is related. There are also soft toys a game and sometimes an activity sheet. All the contents of the sack relates to the story in the fiction book, and are designed to explore the story in other ways, and to ignite the childs imagination.

Tips to make best use out of your story sacks...

Teaching assistance and story sack creator Janice Markey (whose been making story sacks for ten years) shares some tips for making story sacks and how to use them best to excite children about reading.

• Don’t forget the toys -There MUST be a soft toy and a game in the sack!

• Fewer are better - We keep four to five story sacks in the class room at any one time allowing the children to borrow them on a rota system. A child can take them home for a week and read them together with their families. The rota system means they look forward to their turn the children often ask when their turn is to take home a story sack

• Keep them Fresh- I’m always keeping them fresh and making news ones and keeping up with trends. I did an Olympic one and a queen’s jubilee one last year. If they get tired I take them out of circulation and remake them. Keeping them fresh means they are always exciting for the children. 

• Scrounge – Story sacks cost to compile, so scrounge funds wherever you can!

DIY - making the giveaway story sack!

Picking the story book…

We thought long and hard about what story book to put in the story sack, because this is the key, getting the
right story which will dictate what else going into the sack. We wanted to put in a story which share the ethos of story sack, so we choose ‘ The Little White Owl’ by Tracey Corderoy and Jane Chapman. The Little White Owl is a charming story which is beautifully illustrated about a lonely little white owl with got a big imagination, which he uses to win the friendship of the more colourful owls.

The Non-Fiction book…

So this was trickier; do we try to find a book about story telling of owls. Owl won (because they’re owls and who doesn’t like owls!) Soto accompany ‘The Little White Owl’ book we have a lovely illustrated factual picture book called ‘I Love Owls’ which has pages about different species of owls. This got the thumb up from my seven year old!

Soft Toys…

Just feast your eyes on these beauties! As I couldn't find any soft toy owls colourful of otherwise, I commissioned these lovely little fellas to be crocheted especially. We have Little White Owl, and some of his colourful friends!

Game…

As this story sack is all about storytelling we have managed to find a story game. Three story telling wheels, where you spin the arrow to give you a places and characters in which you them make up a story about. You can use them individually or as a group to make up to make up stories.

Activity Sheet…

I’ve made a special activity sheet which to help children use their imagination, by asking them what colour owl they would be and to colour the owl in. Then what stories they would tell other owls, and to draw these stories, which can be completely from their own imaginations or helped along with the story wheels!

So there we are one completed and very colourful story sack! 

If you would like to win this Little White Owl Story Sack for you or for your school please email SpaceOnTheBookshelf@yahoo.com and tell us your name and address what colour owl you would be!

The Giveaway is open until the Monday 30th September to please share, tweet and facebook about this, because we'd love this to go to an good home.

Good Luck!

Bookaholic Interview: Book-Crosser Janice Markey

Have you ever found a book where you least expect it? Lying on a bench, or on a bus, or in a shop or office? Janice Markey did, and now she's a prolific book-crosser. Book-crossers the world over are busy leaving books in strange places for passers-by to find. When they do, they can register its location at www.bookcrossing.com, and so its journey around the world can be followed by anyone, at any time.

But Janice Markey took things one step further. In a small village in Oxfordshire, there is a tree. Every now and then, the tree can be found decorated with books, and the even better news is that they are there for anybody who wants one: especially children.

Here at Space on the Bookshelf we don’t just celebrate children’s literature, but the people who celebrate children’s literature too. There are many passionate and hardworking people who promote children’s books, helping children foster a love of reading: librarians, book groups, teachers and bloggers.  These Bookoholics move around unnoticed and are rarely celebrated, so we thought we’d do just that: celebrate the remarkable work they do in a series of interviews, starting with Janice.


Can you tell me what book crossing is?
Book crossing is a world wide community that does wide release and exchange of books. I started when I found a book on my allotment that someone had put there just for me. It was ‘The Piano’ by Jane Campion. I didn’t know who had left it there for me, as people in the book-crossing community use code names, but months later I found out it was friend and librarian Lorraine Moore, who thought I’d like it. I didn’t have a computer at the time, so I didn’t really embrace book-crossing until two or three years later.What is it about book-crossing that inspired you to become a book-crosser?

The whole ethos of the site is about giving away books, but as much for me to get books to read as well as to give. I like that you can track the books you release, as each book has a unique code so you can see it moving. One book I found, I released in Venice after I’d read it, and its now in Australia doing the rounds!

Tell me about the Village Book Tree  - why that tree? How often you hang books from it? 
It’s a suitably shaped and positioned tree. How often I hang books from it varies, but on average it’s once a month. I got the idea from an New Zealand book-crosser who does it on a tree in Christchurch Park every New Year’s Eve.

Do you ever leave book-crossing books at other locations?
I do another book-crossing tree outside my school, this one I do weekly. The book trees are my two static locations; the others are random wild releases.

Where do you get the books from?
Library sales, charity shops, donations, book sales, left over books from the school fete, or books that are cleared out from my school or the local libraries. I mostly concentrate on kid’s books and I never spend more than 20p on a book.

In February last year when the village book tree was adorned with book-crossing books, there was also a sign saying, ‘Becky’s Book Tree’. Who is Becky and why was the book tree dedicated to her?
I glad you asked about Becky. Becky is the daughter of a book-crosser in Washington who I met at a book-crossing convention there. Becky, who was also a book-crosser, was killed on her bicycle when she was nine and half years old.  Her Dad asked the book-crossing community to release a book on her behalf on her birthday: 14th  February, Valentine’s Day. So I do a whole tree and post photos on the book-crossing site. It provides a lot of support to her family.

Book crossing is a really caring community; the whole world was offering the family support.  Every year, on her birthday, people release books for her across the world.

Lastly, Why do you book cross?
I book-cross to get children excited about reading. Finding a book on a tree is exciting to a child!


And finally: the questions that we ask everyone!

What was your favourite children’s book as a child?
The Enid Blyton different mysteries, first the ‘Mallory Towers’ and then the ‘Secret Seven’ and ‘Famous Five’ books.

What is your favourite children’s book as an adult?
Six Dinner Sid by Inga Moore about the cat who gets six meals and ‘Avocado Baby’ by John Burningham, about a baby that is fed avocado and becomes super strong.

What makes Children’s books so inspirational?
Primarily the illustrations, and a good front cover, that is what sells it to me.

According to the Book Crossing website, there are currently 1,671,209 Book Crossers worldwide and 9,546,013 books travelling throughout 132 countries.  To find out more about Book Crossing Press Here.