Heaps of gorgeous books, an epic Monster Doodle, and extraordinary art skills on display! Our Bookbag event at Christ the King Senior Girls' School was a roaring success and marked a very special 10th rollout for us with our partners at Children's Books Ireland.

Bookbag is a children’s book-gifting initiative established by picturebook maker and creator of the Henry Hugglemonster series, Niamh Sharkey, during her term as Laureate na nÓg (2012–2014). The project is delivered in partnership with Children’s Books Ireland and aimed at schools in areas of disadvantage, which may not have the necessary resources to fund author or illustrator visits or books for a school library.

The Bookbag initiative builds excitement around reading and encourages a whole-school reading culture, that we hope remains long after the launch. Bookbag ensures that every child in the school has access to at least one book in their home. The books gifted are carefully curated by the amazing Children's Books Ireland team: they are visually striking, entertaining, funny and engaging—the type of book that we hope will draw in a child who does not already think of themselves as a reader.

This year, the chosen school was Christ the King Senior Girls' School in Cabra, Dublin. With 88 students from second to sixth class, the school library was in need of an infusion of exciting new titles to cater to the varied interests of their students.

The Children's Books Ireland team arranged an eye-catching display of all the brand new books being gifted to the school's library. The selection included a stunning assortment of over 200 books from various artists and illustrators.

The students were then welcomed into the school hall to take part in a Monster Doodle activity which was led by our Emmy-Award winning Episodic Director Mårten Jönmark (Peter Rabbit, Octonauts). To kick things off, Mårten provided a quick tutorial with some key pointers for designing a monster, and then the students scooped up some pastels to get started.

We saw some amazing art skills on display as the students jumped straight into drawing their own unique monster creatures, with support and encouragement from our Bookbag team, the Children's Books Ireland gang and their teachers.

The result was an epic Monster Doodle masterpiece which showed off some incredibly imaginative monsters of all shapes and sizes!

Following the Monster Doodle session, each student was gifted a Bookbag which contained bookmarks, stickers, a Brown Bag Films notebook and pencil, reading guides curated by Children's Books Ireland, and a book for them to keep and bring home. The selected books were a mix, with each class receiving a different, age-appropriate title:

• 2nd Class received Juniper Mae: Knight of Tykotech City by Sarah Soh
• 3rd Class received Milly McCarthy is a Complete Catastrophe by Leona Forde and illustrated by Karen Harte
• 4th Class received Nina Peanut is Amazing by Sarah Bowie
• 5th Class received The Faerie Isle: Tales and Traditions of Ireland's Forgotten Folklore by Síne Quinn and illustrated by Dermot Flynn
• 6th Class received Fia and the Last Snow Deer by Eilish Fisher and illustrated by Dermot Flynn

The bookgifting was then followed by some terrific in-person interactive workshops with several of the authors and illustrators from the selection of Bookbag books.

Author Síne Quinn did a reading from her book The Faerie Isle: Tales and Traditions of Ireland's Forgotten Folklore and gave the students an in-depth look into her writing process.

Illustrator Karen Harte showed students her creative process for designing the character of Milly from the Milly McCarthy book series.

Author Eilish Fisher led the students in a writing workshop sharing some terrific insights from her process for Fia and the Last Snow Deer, with the students coming up with their own versed stories.

The students will also receive a visit from Sarah Bowie, author and illustrator of Nina Peanut is Amazing, in May to deliver a creative writing workshop.

This year, in celebration of our 10th rollout, we'll also be inviting the 5th and 6th classes into our Seomra Glas space in our Dublin studio in April to meet some of our creatives and get an insight into the animation pipeline and what's involved in bringing some of their favourite characters to life on screen.

'This opportunity has truly made a significant impact on our school and on the children. The joy and the inspiration that your contributions have brought our budding younger readers, writers and illustrators are immeasurable. It has ignited their passion for reading and writing, encouraging them to explore their creativity and imagination.'

—Eimear Monaghan, Principal of Christ the King Senior Girls' School

Christ the King Senior Girls' School received over 280 books in total: 88 for students to keep at home and 200 for their school library. The Children's Books Ireland team selected books across the Free To Be Me, Picture This and Reading Matters reading guides to have books that reflected a wide range of interests and genres for all students.

It was such a special rollout for us, our team thoroughly enjoyed seeing the infectious enthusiasm from all the students and we were EXTRA thrilled to reveal to the 5th and 6th classes that we'll be inviting them into our studio for a special studio tour where we'll give them a behind-the-scenes peek at the process of making animation.

We would like to extend a HUGE thank you to the incredible team at Children's Books Ireland, our wonderful Bookbag team and volunteers, school principal Ms. Monaghan and all the teachers and students of Christ the King Senior Girls' School!

We hope their new library collection will continue to inspire them to dive into reading and art, and help them in pursuing their passions.

Bookbag was the winner of the €5,000 DAA Arts Award at the 2014 Allianz Business to Arts Awards and was shortlisted both in 2015 and 2017 for the Best Small Sponsorship category.