Book Week (again) "Minimal Effort, Maximum Literacy" SMH Saturday 22nd August 2026

Book Week should be a 'week' of great joy for me - after all this is my 'industry', my passion, my work, BUT as usual I just sigh and slightly 'die' every time I read about the dressing up and the parades and I especially rage when I read about prizes for costumes and schools who lead kids in parades through suburban streets. Heading 'down the street', as I know happens in one local school, seems pointless to me and of course perpetuates the myth that a book week dress ups or a book week parade has some connection with books and reading. That this trail of kids walking on a footpath somehow relates to  kids loving reading or shows that kids are reading heaps of terrific books or that this is a celebration of Australian book award winners.  

I had actually decided that this year I would work hard to ignore all the dressing up hoopla and that, unlike other years, I would not bother with yet another blog post about this topic - after all who actually reads my 'stuff' - mostly people who live in the world of kids books and probably not any decision makers such as school Principals or other school executive.

When I saw the headline you just read at the top of this post in the Sydney Morning Herald today (it is officially the first day of Book Week here in Australia) I almost skipped reading this opinion piece - in fact my first reaction was to just toss this part of the paper into the recycling.

But then my eye caught a couple of words and I realised that Jenna Guillaume had actually given this topic the right emphasis - books and reading! (note the article from the SMH is behind a paywall).

Here are a few quotes that resonated with me:

"There's no doubt that, as with many other things, the rise of social media has seen the expectations around Book Week costumes soar, with the twin thieves of joy - competition and comparison ... "

My own personal childhood experience of this in the 1960s lingers. My mum found this costume making stressful. She made me two really terrific costumes - the wall with a Humpty Dumpty toy perched on top was one - but at school I was ridiculed - not by the kids - but by some teachers!

"The point of Book Week is, of course, to put books front and centre, and the costume frenzy can sometimes cause this to get lost."

"Book week is (should be) a great opportunity to take a moment to connect with kids if you let books lead the way, rather than the costumes."

The idea that the dress up outfit is from a favourite book seems so far removed now from the actual costume choices that I seem to witness.  It just becomes an easy compromise such as Where's Wally or The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Harry Potter or worse just a Disney outfit from the chain store. I guarantee most kids don't even know the fairy tale character they are portraying - Snow White or Red Riding Hood let alone realise that Frozen has links with the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale The Snow Queen. 

"Going to the library or your home bookshelves and combing through them with your kids, having conversations about their favourite stories and characters, is far more important than any elaborately styled outfit."

Wow! That's a great idea - go to the library, find a real book, dress up (if you must) in a costume that has real meaning to you as a reader! Book Week should be a time to acknowledgment of the importance of a school library and to highlight the importance of staffing your school library with a qualified Teacher-Librarian. A richly stocked library along with a dedicated staff member who READS BOOKS really can set kids up to become avid readers - surely that is a desirable outcome for Book Week.  Make sure you tune into Behind the News (BTN) next week - there will be a segement about school libraries.

Newspapers - I do have one more important thing to say here about the MEDIA. I purchased two major Sydney newspapers today and I have been right through both publications TWICE. Alas there is no mention of the other key part of Book Week - the announcement of the winners of our Australian National Book Award - WHY NOT?

Check out my post from yesterday where you will find three books in each of six categories that have been judged as our best Australian children's books of 2026. And prior to this if you need to seek out other fabulous books back in February the Children's Book Council announced the Notable (long listed) titles for these awards so that's over 100 other books you could look for in your school or local library. 

Image Source: Inside the CBCA 2026 Winners

Paperbark Words by Joy Lawn

Carnival of the Animals by Marianne Dubuc

The title of this book did mislead me but in a good way. I immediately thought of the famous music Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saëns and so I thought this book could be linked to the 2026 CBCA slogan A Symphony of Stories. I do have a small collection of picture books that feature this famous piece of music in a Pinterest collection. 

I picked up this book by Marianne Dubuc at a recent charity book sale. It was published in 2012 and so is long out of print. This book is fun, but it does not readily relate to the famous music or the book week slogan. 

The elephant dresses up as a parrot

The parrot dresses up as a tortoise

Each double spread in this book shows an animal and then on the next page the animal is seen in fancy dress. Australian children will laugh over the platypus and everyone will enjoy the final party or carnival scene. I have put illustrations here are from the French edition of this book.

Carnical of the Animals was considered for the Governor General's Award for French-language children's illustration. The English version is called Animal Masquerade (2012). It was named an Outstanding International Book by the USBBY.

Marianne Dubuc (born 1980) is a talented Canadian writer and illustrator. She creates wonderful books for children. Marianne lives in Quebec, Canada. She was born in Montreal. She studied graphic design at the Université du Québec à Montréal. This helped her learn how to design and draw. Her very first book was La mer (2006). It was later translated into English as The Sea (2012). Her second book, Devant ma maison, became very popular. It was translated into more than 15 languages! Today, her books are available in 25 different languages around the world.

I previously talked about these books by Marianne Dubuc:

Up the Mountain

The Lion and the Bird

The Bus Ride

Here the CBCA 2026 poster:

And so this is Book Week

 

"A good children's book is like a poem; its meaning won't reveal itself immediately. You can return to it throughout your life, and it will always whisper new messages." Cherie Gilmour Sydney Morning Herald 23rd August, 2023

The Sydney Morning Herald yesterday had an opinion piece about Book Week and dressing for parades. The piece covered a range of topics from books and quality literature to reading but as is always the case with pieces like this the author tried to cover too many issues including television franchise books such as Bluey, Disney characters and all the dress up merchandise available everywhere. The author, Cherie Gilmour, did make some good points which are worth deeper thought and I will quote them here but in her world every school has a Teacher-Librarian and here in Australia, in NSW and in Sydney this is not always true or if there is a Teacher-Librarian he or she may not be trained or the library staffing might be so reduced that children cannot visit the school library each week so I have also quoted an important letter sent to the Sydney Morning Herald today. 

Here are some quotes from "An Elsa outfit for Book Week? It's time to let it go".

"The commercialisation of stories across mediums leads to a vicious cycle of never-ending reuse. TV shows become books and multi-installment movie franchises. ... video games, books, cartoon series, ... toys, T-shirts and costumes."

"In the same way that we have a varied diet in what we eat, we should encourage our children to consume a wide range of literature ..."

"a beautifully crafted story that's been purpose made to be read has the power to inspire kids to fall in love with language and the joys of the imagination."

Cherie Gilmour concludes - If your child wants to wear the Disney outfit such as Elsa for the Book Week parade that might be okay but make sure you flood (my word) their world with the best books so they can really go on a reading adventure in Book Week and beyond. 

Perhaps next year your child might have a different idea for their dressing up or better yet (my opinion) the school might think of a much better way to celebrate books and reading and libraries and the CBCA winners - meaningful ways that link back to books not competitions and costumes.

Take a look at this letter from advocate and retired Teacher-Librarian Sharon McGuinness:

Lagging libraries

Another Book Week again sees my social media feed awash with dress-ups and I lament the lost opportunities that children have missed in truly experiencing the real Book Week (“An Elsa outfit for Book Week? It’s time to let it go”, August 23). Is there a correlation between this reliance on the dress-up as the main celebration of Book Week in schools and the decreasing numbers of professional teacher librarians and resourcing of school libraries? In the past, I’ll bet your kids could tell you the titles of many of the books shortlisted for a Book Week award. How familiar are they with this year’s list? 

Cherie Gilmour states we should be encouraging kids to engage with quality children’s literature but that main point of contact, the teacher/librarian, is often missing in their lives. No weekly visits to the school library where the resources have been selected especially for them, no engaging library-focused activities. The need to maintain this profession in all schools is paramount to introduce, engage and foster lifelong reading. Book Week can provide kids with rich experiences of engaging with the best of Australian children’s writing and illustrating. It should be jam-packed with author and illustrator visits and fun, engaging, stimulating activities. Sadly, the annual dress-up parade reflects none of that. Sharon McGuinness, Thirroul