Children’s Book Week is the highlight of school library, schools, public libraries and bookshop literacy celebrations in Australia. It’s a way to recognise and highlight reading for pleasure, Australian literature and the talented people behind these fabulous books . The Children’s Book Council of Australia have announced their theme for the 2027, along with the official illustrator.
The Theme
The theme for Children’s Book Week 2027 is Catch the Reading Bug.
Danny Snell, illustrator of The Truck Cat, has been named as the official illustrator for the theme artwork and merchanise. You’ll find the official artwork and resources on the Children’s Book Council of Australia website.
Exploring the Theme
You can learn more about the artwork and the theme in the below video. Danny talks about the reasons behind the design choices in the video.
The artwork is delightfully whimsical and the theme is open to many possibilities for celebrating reading, Australian literature and the enjoyment of finding a good book.
Some ideas
- Lean into science, bugs, nature, things that fly and investigating micro worlds.
- The collaborative side of reading, how the joy of reading is shared, book recommendations, peer and family recommended lists, sharing books, mini lending libraries, little free libraries and passing on loved books.
- Catching and finding things. Treasure hunts and scavenger hunts.
- Got to catch them all. Turn books and characters into Pokémon cards, where readers have to catch them all.
- Reading habits and how to build them into our daily routines.
- Bees, bugs and things that fly.
- Gardens that support our beautiful wildlife and give us places to read.
- Collecting and collections, including books might might also include comics, coins, stamps and other collectables that tell a story.
The official Book Week dates and how to celebrate
The official Children’s Book Week runs from the 21st to the 27th of August 2027, but of course some schools celebrate during different weeks.
Celebrations might include author and illustrators visits (my guide on how to organise that here), displays, creative activities, library lesson activities, shadow judging of the Book of the Year Awards or book character costume parades (costume ideas here).
Resources
You’ll find the official merchandise and free resources for the theme on the CBCA website.
Finding more ideas
If you’d love to start sharing ideas for the Book Week 2027 theme, why don’t you join our Aussie Book Week Facebook group or Pinterest page?
You can also check out my Pinterest board, Library – Book Week, which I will be updating to reflect the 2026 theme.
Want more Book Week ideas? Check out these activity and display ideas.