Book Week 2023 celebrates the theme 'Read, Grow, Inspire'

This year's Children's Book Week will take place from August 19-25, centred around the theme 'Read, Grow, Inspire'.

Across the country teachers and librarians will create colourful displays, develop activities, run competitions and tell stories relating to the theme to highlight the importance of reading.

The traditional Book Week parade invites kids to come dressed as their favourite book character.

But there's no need to splash out at the costume shop, the endless magic of fiction provides plenty of ideas for costumes.

Children and pets dressed up as characters from some of the books shortlisted for the Children's Book Council Book of the Year Award provide inspiration below:

Neverlanders by Tom Taylor and Jon Sommariva is a modern reimagining of Peter Pan that combines the fantasy and adventure of the original classic against the backdrop of Neverland, which has become a war zone and requires a new group of lost teens to set things right.

"We enjoyed cobbling the costumes together out of bits and pieces we had lying around the house, in fact it was so much fun that we also ended up with Tink joining the group!," Jon Sommariva said of these Book Week costumes.

"I think you can let your kids imagination go wild with these characters and get creative with how you would make their costumes in real life."

An easy costume idea is to dress as Bev, a giraffe making her way through the African landscape attempting to befriend animals that cannot relate to her due to her size.

"We fell in love with the character of Bev while creating this book. She's gentle yet determined. Bev sets out on her own adventure and in the end, she finds exactly what she's looking for, a true friend to share her travels with," author Katrina Germein and illustrator Mandy Foot said.

Opal and Dart follows two swallows who meet as fledglings learning to fly. Together they travel incredible distances, fend off sparrows, and build their nest for future generations.

"My friend Harper, aged nine, poses from inside a tank similar to the one Opal and Dart nested in, using cupped hands to support Opal and Dart's nest. Now he has a bird's eye view of how to build a nest, lay eggs, and look after a family of swallows," Vianne Brain, author of Opal and Dart said.

An easy and fun costume idea is to grab a wicker basket and fresh supplies and become a marketgoer from Carrie Gallasch's charming story about a girl who is given a coin to spend at the market and is tempted by the towering stacks of fruit, spinning rides and glass jars filled with sweets.

"Anybody can dress up as a market goer. All you need is a basket to fill with goodies and a coat with pockets! In this case, these pockets are filled with chocolate coins, a fun twist for a book week costume," illustrator Hannah Sommerville said.

The dogs from Lionel and Me

Even dogs can get in on the Book Week festivities, with a simple bow tie transforming your pet into the hero of children's story Lionel and Me.

"As you can see from the photos, the characters in Lionel and Me are real dogs. Maverick is the narrator and tells the story of how he felt when Lionel came to live with the family. Maverick and Lionel are part of our broader family and we all love them very much. To celebrate Book Week, they are both dressed up in bow ties to celebrate," author Corinne Fenton said.

IN OTHER NEWS:

Children's Book Week has been running since 1945.

Children's participation in reading for pleasure has dropped from 79 per cent in 2017-18 to 72 per cent in 2021-22, according to a survey by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The survey found children in the Australian Capital Territory had the highest participation rate in reading, while children in Queensland had the lowest.