IN PICTURES: Mermaids, monsters and fantastic characters mark Book Week 2023

Schools across the Great Southern were filled with children in colourful costumes as Australia celebrated Book Week from August 19-25. A diverse range of characters were brought to life by imaginative kids and caregivers with monsters and mermaids taking part in parades alongside teddy bears and animals of all sorts. The theme of Book Week 2023, Read, Grow, Inspire, saw classrooms and libraries brightened with displays, activities and competitions designed to instil the importance of reading and literacy in children. This year’s feature artist was Australian illustrator, author and composer Matt Ottley whose Requiem for a Beast won the Children’s Book Council of Australia’s Picture Book of the Year Award in 2009.