Key takeaways
- CBCA Children's Book Week 2026 runs Saturday 22 to Friday 28 August, with the theme 'Symphony of Stories'.
- Plan a mix: one big event (a parade or author visit) plus five to ten small, low-prep classroom activities.
- Anchor activities to the six CBCA shortlists so reading — not just costumes — stays at the centre.
- Turn any picture book into a word search, comprehension sheet or writing prompt in a couple of minutes.
- Start planning three to four weeks out so costume notes and book orders reach families in time.
Book Week is the biggest celebration of reading on the Australian school calendar. Run by the Children's Book Council of Australia (CBCA), the 2026 event runs from Saturday 22 August to Friday 28 August, and the theme is 'Symphony of Stories', illustrated by award-winning author-illustrator Briony Stewart. It's also a milestone year: the CBCA Book of the Year Awards turn 80 in 2026.
The trap every year is letting the costume parade swallow the whole week. The activities below keep books at the centre. They're sorted from quick, no-prep fillers to bigger sessions worth the setup, and most work across Foundation to Year 6 with small tweaks.
Quick wins: low-prep Book Week activities
1. Book character word search. Build a word search from the names of characters in this year's shortlisted books (aim for 12–15 words for Years 3–6, 8–10 for younger classes). It's a five-minute settler when students arrive and a painless way to preview the titles.
2. Guess the opening line. Read the first two sentences of five different books aloud and have students vote on which one they'd keep reading. It takes ten minutes and quietly teaches how authors 'hook' a reader.
3. Blackout poetry. Photocopy a page from an old, discarded novel and have students circle 8–12 words that make a short poem, then black out the rest with a marker. Ties straight into the 'Symphony of Stories' idea of finding new music in old pages.
4. Book character 'would you rather'. Pose three quick choices — would you rather be brave like one character or clever like another? Students justify each pick in one sentence. Great for oral language and for lower-prep days.
5. Reading passport. Give each student a folded A5 'passport' with six boxes. They collect a stamp or signature for each Book Week reading task they finish — read to a buddy, read outside, read a book you'd never normally pick, and so on.
Bigger Book Week activities worth the setup
6. Book tasting. Set up six 'tables' around the room, each with three or four books and a short menu card. Students rotate every five minutes, sampling the first page of each book and rating it, then borrow the one that tempted them most. A single 40-minute session gets a whole class into new titles.
7. Buddy reading with a younger class. Pair your students with a Foundation or Year 1 class. Older students choose and rehearse a picture book in advance, which turns a fun event into genuine fluency and expression practice.
8. Design a book cover. After reading a shortlisted title, students redesign its front cover — title, author, one image and a one-line 'blurb'. It checks comprehension of theme and mood without a worksheet full of questions.
9. Author or illustrator study. Spend a session on one creator — read two of their books, watch a short interview clip, and list what makes their style recognisable. Briony Stewart, the 2026 theme illustrator, is a natural choice.
10. Class read-aloud vote. In the week before, shortlist four chapter books and let students vote for the one you'll read a chapter of each day during Book Week. Ownership drives engagement, and daily read-aloud models fluent reading.
11. 'Symphony of Stories' mural
Each student contributes one 'instrument' cut-out with a favourite book title on it, building a shared class artwork around this year's theme.
12. Character crossword
Clues describe characters or plot events; answers are their names. A calm independent task for early finishers.
13. Book trailer
Small groups script and film a 30-second 'trailer' for a shortlisted book, then screen them for the class.
14. Vocabulary word scramble
Scramble ten interesting words pulled straight from a shared text; students unscramble and use three in a sentence.
15. Write the next chapter
Stop a read-aloud on a cliffhanger and have students draft what happens next, then compare with the real page.
In 2026 the CBCA Book of the Year Awards reach their 80th year — a good hook for talking about how long these books have shaped Aussie reading.
Source: Children's Book Council of Australia
How to plan your Book Week in five steps
- 1
Get the shortlists early
Order or reserve a few CBCA shortlisted titles from the library three to four weeks out so they're in the room before the week begins.
- 2
Pick one big event
Choose a single anchor — a parade, an author visit or a whole-school book tasting — so the week has a highlight without overloading you.
- 3
Slot in five small activities
Add one low-prep activity a day from the list above. Small and consistent beats one exhausting mega-day.
- 4
Send the costume note home
Give families at least two weeks' notice, and always offer a no-cost option: a favourite book character made from clothes they already own.
- 5
Prep your printables in advance
Batch the word searches, comprehension sheets and writing prompts the week before so Book Week itself is low-stress.
Turn any Book Week title into a ready-to-print resource
Paste in a book or topic and generate word searches, comprehension questions and activity sheets in a couple of minutes — differentiated for your year level.
Make Book Week worksheets with AIFrequently asked questions
CBCA Children's Book Week 2026 runs from Saturday 22 August to Friday 28 August. Some schools hold their parade or main event on a nearby weekday that suits their timetable.
The 2026 theme is 'Symphony of Stories', illustrated by Briony Stewart. It invites classes to explore how many different stories and voices come together — a handy hook for murals, music links and reading celebrations.
Lean on low-prep options: a character word search as a morning settler, a ten-minute 'guess the opening line' vote, blackout poetry from a discarded book, or a reading passport students fill in across the week.
Always offer a free option. Students can come as a character they can build from clothes at home, decorate a paper 'book badge', or simply bring their current favourite book. Keep the focus on reading, not spending.