By Kat Kats
As a community, we all know when book week has descended upon us. Seventeen Harry Potters greet us on our morning commute to Yarraville station, usually in the presence of his friends Spiderman and Random Fairy.
What happens, however, when a small local school thinks big and goes beyond the parades and pageantry to create their own book for book week? The answer is Potrick the Caterpillar.
Matthew Stead, principal of St Augustine’s Catholic Primary School, where the book was created, reflects on how organic the decision to create a whole school book was. “We wanted to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the Children’s Book Council of Australia’s book week with an activity that honoured that humble object that sits at the heart of book week – the book – and so that’s exactly what we did. In the most literal way possible. And each and every student made a contribution.”
Students came together over four 45 minute sessions to make the joyous picture story book that will sit on the shelves of the Sun Bookshop. Natalie Librizzi, head of literacy at St Augustine’s, still marvels at just how collaborative and engaged the students were during the entire process.
“We randomly grouped children so that a senior class (3-6) worked with a junior class (P-2) and then they did absolutely EVERYTHING else. They came up with the concept, did all the illustrations, wrote all the text (including the blurb!) and even cut out the teeny tiny bits of paper and fabric used to create the beautiful collages that give Potrick the Caterpillar its unique textures and colours. The process really affirmed for me, and the rest of the teaching staff, that books are certainly not dead, reading is well and truly alive and that, despite devices, technology and AI […] the basics still speak to children.”
And story-tell the students of St Augustine’s most certainly did. Without giving too much away, Potrick the Caterpillar is the story of a caterpillar named Potrick (not Patrick) and the fun-loving adventures he goes on. Hospital visits, motorbike wheelies, sheep shearers, and bananas may or may not feature in this one-of-a-kind book that owes its action and excitement to the unconventional method with which it was written.
Each of the four groups of children was only exposed to the text that had been written up to its arrival. For example, group four had access to the first three sections of the story whereas group two only had knowledge of what group one had written in the first section. They still, to this day, don’t know how the book will end, and won’t until its launch on the 28th of November!
Deputy Mayor of Maribyrnong Cr Bernadette Thomas will join the children of St Augustine’s Catholic Primary School at a special school assembly to commemorate their efforts and launch the book. Children from each class will have an opportunity to proudly read the book aloud for the very first time.
Oscar from Grade 3/4LP can’t wait to share the story with his parents and peers, “It means a lot to me that I wrote some of the words myself and for the book to be stocked at The Sun Bookshop. I’m just very grateful.”
The students of St Augustine’s will also be presenting Cr Thomas with a copy of the book for each public library in the City of Maribyrnong.
Sophia from grade 1/2RS is particularly excited about this, “I love that people want to read what we wrote.”
When asked what’s next for Potrick and the spirited illustrators and scribes of St Augustine’s, principal Matthew Stead says, “Potrick the Caterpillar may be the first book we have published as a school but it most definitely won’t be the last. St Augustine’s aspires to launch its very own publishing house in the not-so-distant future. Watch this space.”
A limited print run of 150 copies of the book is available now for $25 at
sayarraville.catholic.edu.au/our-community/the-story-of-potrick.
Alternatively, you can wander over to
The Sun Bookshop in Yarraville.
