Students relish book challenge

Horsham Ss Michael and John’s grade-six students relished an opportunity to become published authors by participating in a Write a Book in a Day competition.

The school has participated in the ‘fun, creative and collaborative’ project for several years, with teams given 12 hours to write and illustrate a book from start to finish.

Teacher Jess Martin said the Horsham students were split into two teams, with each given unique parameters to include in their story.

“Each team has different characters and settings to include,” she said.

“They also both had five random words they needed to include. The words are generated and are usually the favourite subjects of a cancer patient.”

The Write a Book in a Day competition raises money for The Kids’ Cancer Project, funding childhood cancer research.

Miss Martin said the students enjoyed the experience of creating a book from start to finish.

“They started at 7.45am and finished about 7pm, so it’s a big day,” she said.

“They stuck to a schedule and they worked really hard, designating roles and sticking to them to get done what they needed to get done.”

Miss Martin said each student would receive a digital copy of their book.

Digital copies are also made available on the competition’s online library and shared with hospitals throughout Australia.

Picture: PAUL CARRACHER PUBLISHED AUTHORS: Dayne Finn and Elke Sparke work on a Write a Book in a Day project at Ss Michael and John’s Primary School in Horsham. Two groups of students each wrote and illustrated a book in a 12-hour period.