Library News | Book Week is on!
- justinsayson
- Jul 30, 2025
- 5 min read
Book Week 2025: “Book an Adventure”
Book Week is just around the corner in week 6, and this year’s theme is “Book an Adventure” — a wonderful reminder that every story is a journey! Whether your child wants to become a swashbuckling pirate, a curious explorer, or a curious creature, there are endless characters waiting to be brought to life. Book Parade is on Wednesday 20th August for Primary students.
Here are some simple tips to help you and your child create a memorable and meaningful costume:
1. Choose a Favourite Book
Encourage your child to think about stories they love — from picture books to chapter books. They might pick a character who goes on an exciting journey, or simply one they connect with deeply. The theme “Book an Adventure” can be a fun starting point, but any book-based character is perfect.
2. Discover the Character’s Traits
Re-read the book together and talk about what makes the character special. What do they wear? What tools or items do they carry? How do they act? These details can help shape the costume.
3. Keep It Simple and Creative
You don’t need to spend a lot! Try:
Repurposing items from home (hats, scarves, backpacks, etc.)
Making props from cardboard or recyclables (e.g. wands, maps, animal ears)
Dressing in character colours or patterns
4. Involve Your Child
Let your child take the lead in planning and creating. Whether they help glue, paint, or choose clothes, it builds excitement and pride in their costume.
5. Focus on Fun and Imagination
Book Week is all about celebrating stories and creativity — not costume perfection. The most memorable outfits often come from simple ideas and a child’s imagination.
6. Celebrate the Story
Encourage your child to bring their book to school to share a little about their chosen book or character on the day in their class. It helps connect the costume back to reading, which is the heart of Book Week!
Let’s make this Book Week an adventure to remember — filled with creativity, stories, and fun! Happy reading, and happy costume-making!
Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) 2025 Shortlisted books
Every year the CBCA decide which children’s books written by Australian authors are the best across 6 categories:
Early Childhood
Picture Books
Older Readers
Younger Readers
Eve Pownall - Books sharing factual information
New Illustrator
The winners are announced during Book Week. This year is a special year as CBCA is celebrating 80 years! If you are interested in finding out more about the shortlisted books for this year head to CBCA’s website.
Primary Library
StoryBox
We are delighted to share that Australia’s most celebrated education resource is available to your child at home as part of our school subscription – StoryBox. A digital library designed to help inspire reading in kids of all ages, your child can now watch their favourite stories, read aloud by fun storytellers at home as well as in the classroom. There are even many of the 2025 CBCA shortlisted books available to listen to! Reading aloud to children, in particular by diverse and engaging storytellers, greatly improves language and literacy skills, especially in the early years of a child’s development. Let StoryBox be the gateway to creativity, imagination, and a world where stories come to life!
Secondary Library
State Library of Queensland
In this newsletter, I would like to highlight the benefits of joining the State Library of Queensland - an opportunity that offers valuable resources for both our senior On-Campus and Distance Education students.
If you live in Queensland, you can become a member of the State Library at no cost. Membership gives you access to a wide variety of online resources, including ebooks, research databases, newspapers, journals, and creative tools. These are excellent for school projects, personal interest, and extending your learning.
If you’re able to visit the State Library in Brisbane, you can also make use of study spaces, computers, printers, lockers, and request physical items from the collection. However, you don’t need to visit in person to benefit. As a Queensland resident, you can access most online resources and services from home—anytime.
Navigating the State Library website can be a bit overwhelming at first, so I have highlighted the most important pages to make things easier for you.
Getting Started with the State Library of Queensland
While the State Library of Queensland has a wide range of excellent online resources, it can take time to learn how to navigate the website. To help you find what you need more quickly, I have selected a few key pages that are especially helpful for students.
🔑 Step 1: Become a Member
To access most online resources, you need to sign up for your free membership.
Home page
While the homepage has many resources, it’s not the easiest place to start. Use the links below to go straight to the most useful sections.
Recommended: Online Course – Student Research with the State Library
I highly recommend taking 15–20 minutes to complete this interactive guide. It is designed to help you use the State Library effectively. The section on Research Strategies is especially helpful, explaining how to choose search terms and structure your search. The Academic Databases section also gives a great overview of using high-quality sources.
Need help using the catalogue?
This guide shows you how to search the catalogue and find the most relevant resources for your topic.
Catalogue help
Spotlight on two Key Databases for Students
Here are two of the databases available to students through the State Library:
1. IBISWorld – Ideal for Business students
This is a powerful industry research database, normally very expensive, but available for free with your membership.
What it includes:
Industry research reports, market size and trends, forecasts, risks, opportunities, and competitor insights. Useful for assignments related to business, marketing, and economics.
2. Lexis Advance – Best for Legal Studies
What it includes:
Access to Australian legal cases, statutes, journals, and news sources. Topics include family law, immigration law, building regulations, and more. This is a reliable and professional resource for Legal Studies students.
Two Final Tools Worth Bookmarking
A collection of short videos to help you learn how to use different features of the State Library.
Watch the videos here
An alphabetical list of all online databases and websites the State Library provides access to, with descriptions of what each resource contains.
Browse the list
One final tip: use your personal email address when signing up to become a member, so you can keep access to your account when you move on to university.
Happy reading and researching.
Sonja Potgieter
Librarian I sonjapotgieter@acc.edu.au
Happy reading.
Maija Kohler
Teacher Librarian | maijakohler@acc.edu.au
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