USJ celebrates Children’s Book Week

JACKSON, Tenn. — For the first time, University School of Jackson Lower School students celebrated Children’s Book Week, which has been around for more than 90 years.

“Our kids love to read, so it’s just taking the time during this week to really celebrate that,” Head of School Stuart Hirstein said.

May 2 is the start of Children’s Book Week, and University School of Jackson students are having their own celebration.

“It’s basically just enjoying reading and getting the kids to enjoy it and share their love of reading with the other students,” Hirstein said.

Students gathered Monday morning for an assembly to watch classmates’ “Book Talks.”

“We started with doing it in writing,” Lower School librarian  Mimi Hirstein said. “Kids would write down a book that they would recommend. I thought, wouldn’t it be fun for them to share it through a video.”

Throughout the week, students will enjoy book-themed events and skits based on their favorite children’s books. One of the highlights of Children’s Book Week at USJ is having author Alison Lassieur take students through an interactive survival adventure of the Titanic.

“Putting the kids in the action and letting them choose their fate, as it were, will get them even more interested not only in that event or that time period but also interested in history as well,” Lassieur said.

Along the halls you can see about 600 book covers drawn by students on display — another way USJ is making reading fun.

“To be a reader is to be an explorer, an adventurer,” Lassieur said. “To learn about the world, there’s no better way to do it than through books.”

The USJ Lower School will be celebrating all week. Wednesday is “Poem in Your Pocket Day,” when students will carry poems in their pockets and share them throughout the day.