Get ready to break out Alison Lester’s Are We There Yet, Mem Fox’s Possum Magic and Enid Blyton’s The Magic Faraway Tree as Book Week 2023 fast approaches.
Book Week, a long-standing tradition introduced by the Children’s Book Council of Australia in 1945, is one of the most highly anticipated occasions on the school calendar.
Students dress as their favourite book characters to mark the week-long literary celebration of books, Australian children’s authors and illustrators, which has been bringing children and books together for more than 75 years.
To emphasise the importance of reading, schools and public libraries across Australia are festooned with bright, colourful displays, with teachers and librarians devising activities, facilitating competitions, and telling stories relevant to the chosen Book Week topic.
This week’s theme is ‘Read, Grow, Inspire’.
There is no shortage of Book Week events in the Wellington Shire this year, with libraries and schools across the region staging celebrations of all things literary.
Guthridge Primary School students and teachers will dress as their favourite book characters for their annual Book Week Parade on Friday, August 25.
On Saturday, August 26, Wellington libraries invite the community’s youngest readers to dress up as their favourite book characters and join their library team for a morning of reading and songs.
Wellington libraries will host Storytime sessions – suitable for kids aged three to nine – at all six branches in Heyfield, Maffra, Rosedale, Sale, Stratford and Yarram from 10.30am.
The announcement of this year’s CBCA Book of the Year Awards will launch Book Week 2023 with local children’s book author Vikki Conley named The Book of the Year: Early Childhood finalist for her latest publication, Where the Lyrebird Lives, illustrated by Max Hamilton and Windy Hollow.
Ms Conley was awarded honours in last year’s CBCA Book of the Year Awards for her title, Amira’s Suitcase, illustrated by Nicky Johnston.
The CBCA Book of the Year Awards are among the most prestigious literary awards in the country, which showcase books of high literary and artistic quality.
“This year, we celebrate stories for our young people created by a diverse range of artists, including many new voices who display confidence with fresh approaches to storytelling,” CBCA national chair Wendy Rapee said.
“Recently, the media carried an outpouring of opinions and emotions around how stories for our children should reflect the values we share.
“We acknowledge the power of and the ever-changing nature of language.
“Our awards for 77 years have always celebrated stories of relevance; we value highly stories that speak directly to the reader of their time.”
The 2023 CBCA Book of the Year Awards winners will be announced at noon on August 18.
This year young readers from across the nation will be shadow-judging to choose their own winners, with shadow-judged winners to be announced at 10am on August 25.
