Scotch College

Literature with the lot – and yes, there will be chips with that!

The meticulously planned 2007 Literature Club dinner was an outstanding success.

Words: ANGELA MORRIS AND NICHOLAS CHAN PHOTOGRAPHY: SAM MYERS AND ANGELA MORRIS

If you can smell hot fish and chips and you see a steady stream of boys rushing to classroom south in the library, then you know it must be a Literature Club meeting.

It was in many such meetings that the details of the 2007 Literature Club Dinner were nutted out, and planned with a precision not seen since the launch of the Apollo 11 mission to the moon!

Club members organised every aspect of the night down to the finest detail. Small working parties each focused on different areas, such as menu and program design, Powerpoint presentation, display boards, name tags for guests, photography, quiz questions and technology.

Those not afraid of the spotlight took on roles such as introducing and thanking guest speakers, meeting and greeting guests as they arrived, speaking about the Literature Club, and acting as master of ceremonies. This year we were lucky enough to have two masters of ceremonies. Both Rob Marsh and Stephen Moore injected a note of humour into the proceedings, as well as impressing with their sartorial elegance in the form of matching bow-ties.

Every year a guest author is invited to speak after the mouth-watering meal, and this year Markus Zusak, whose titles include ‘The Book Thief’, ‘The Messenger’ and ‘When Dogs Cry’, did a fabulous job.

Markus captivated the audience with the poignant tale of his parents’ lives growing up during World War II and the impact their stories had on him, leading him to write ‘The Book Thief’. Minutes later, howls of laughter erupted as Markus told of how while working at his Saturday job with his painter father, he finally gained revenge on his older brother by tricking him into cracking a raw egg on his forehead.

A major feature of the dinner is the annual Literature Club Children’s Book Council of Australia review committee, who make it their job to read and then critique (or in rare cases, compliment) the books selected by the council as the best titles for older readers published in the previous year, and then compare the official results to those of the committee.

This year proved to be rather disappointing, as the official CBCA winners were considered the worst books by our committee! Comprising Rob Marsh, Stephen Moore, Sam Myers, Allan Quanchie, Matthew Nichol, Daniel Tram, Ed Cliff, Josh Tram, James Dawson-Smith and Dawson Xu, the committee completed the mammoth task of reading all six books with dedication and enthusiasm, and gave thoroughly enjoyable reviews on the night.

Another highlight of the night was the performance by two of our finest musical talents, Richard Hu on piano and Byron White on guitar and vocals, performing a number of popular classics. The crowd was impressed with just how polished and versatile the pair was.

Congratulations and well done to all who made the night such a wonderful success. GS