Countdown to CBCA Book Week!
Book Week is one glorious week in August to celebrate reading, Australian literature, school libraries and the people who bring books to children – booksellers, library staff, parents, teachers and beyond.
This year’s Book Week is 19th-25th August and the theme is Read, Grow, Inspire.
In the fortnight leading up to Book Week, I’ll be sharing new activities from fourteen different books I’ve worked on. I hope this helps out hardworking teachers and parents during a busy time! From colouring sheets and word-searches (for those wind-down times) to more challenging craft and creative activities, there should be something for everyone.
FRIDAY 18 AUGUST
1 DAY to THE START OF Book Week!
Big Dog Little Dog
COLOUR, NAME AND DRAW
Big Dog Little Dog is an adorable book written by Sally Rippin and illustrated by me. And soon there is to be another in the series ‘Big Dog is a Big Help’!
Explore doggie emotions and draw doggie companions with these two activity sheets and… HAPPY BOOK WEEK!!!!
THURSDAY 17 AUGUST
2 days to THE START OF Book Week!
Duck, Duck Moose
ACTIVITY SHEETS
Incase you missed them first time around, here are some very AMOOSING activities from my picture book Duck Duck Moose.
Duck Duck Moose is a picture book about Gooses and Mooses – or is it Geese and Meese?
Anyway, it features a friendly moose and some not-so-friendly ducks. Duck Duck Moose has only three words, but the pictures say the rest.
Click on any picture below to download a pdf.
You can find out more about how I made the book here.
WEDNESDAY 16 AUGUST
3 days to THE START OF Book Week!
BORiS IN SWITZERLAND
BOOKMARK AND MAP ACTIVITY
Keep track of your reading and design a fancy school! Hoping these activities keep kids busy in the days surrounding Book Week.
Click on images to download pdfs.
Tuesday 15 August
4 DAYS TILL BOOK WEEK!
MONTY’S ISLAND - BEADY BOLD AND THE YUM YAMS
BY EMILY RODDA
Here’s MORE Monty activity sheets - to encourage inventive colouring and a bit of drawing too. Just click to download.
I’ve described my work on this book (and the other two in the series) here in GREAT detail. Also - the yum yams in this book are SUPER scary!
MONDAY 14 AUGUST
5 days to THE START OF Book Week!
DOGASAURUS
MYSTERIOUS FOREST COLOUR AND DRAW
Dogasaurus is one of my favourite books (that I’ve worked on). It’s about a dinosaur who is brought up like a dog. But really, he’s not the right kind of creature to be ANYONE’s pet!
Here is two simple activity sheets. You can add your own mysterious creatures hiding in the forest, or you can just colour the trees in - or you can do both!
You can find out more about how I made this book here.
Sunday 13 August
5 DAYS TILL BOOK WEEK!
MONTY’S ISLAND - SCARY MARY AND THE STRIPE SPELL
BY EMILY RODDA
Here’s a selection of activity sheets - to encourage inventive colouring and a bit of drawing too. Just click to download.
I’ve described my work on this book (and the other two in the series) here in GREAT detail.
Also - here are some ‘how to draws’ for the main characters. I love drawing pirate parrots!
Saturday 12 August
7 DAYS TILL THE START OF BOOK WEEK
THE ADVENTURES OF PRINCESS PEONY BY Nette Hilton
I had great fun making these sheets. It helps that Princess Peony author, Nette Hilton, is hilarious and regal and full of inspiring ideas. There are quite a lot of sheets! Click on an image to download.
FRIDAY 11 AUGUST
8 days to THE START OF Book Week!
NEIL THE AMAZING SEA CUCUMBER
ACTIVITY SHEETS
Ah Neil… I LOVED drawing this cute little sea cucumber and all his expressions. Here are a couple of new activity sheets! After doing these, you might want to try drawing expressions on lots of things - like carrots, bananas and prawn dumplings. Or you can look in the fridge for a salad cucumber and stick some googly eyes on it (if you do, please send me a photo).
Click on the images to download the sheets as pdfs.
And if you want to see more of Neil’s expressions, watch this marvellous book trailer by Affirm Press!
ThURSDAY 10 AUGUST
9 days to THE START OF Book Week!
The Cat Wants CUSTARD (and Cuddles! AND KITTENS!)
door hanger and how-to-draw
Need a bit of quiet time? Keep visitors away and take a break!
Kevin the grumpy cat would love to share some grumpy door hangers to colour, cut out and hang outside the room you’re in. If you don’t have your own bedroom, you can always put the hanger outside a nice cupboard, or the loo.
You can add your own message to the second one. Personally, I like the message “If you must come in - bring cake.”
And... if you want to know how I draw a grumpy cat, frown and all, why not watch the video below?
WEDNESDAY 9 AUGUST
10 days to THE START OF Book Week!
WHITNEY AND BRITNEY CHICKEN DIVAS
ACTIVITY SHEETS
Here are two puzzle sheets, as well as, FOUR FABULOUS ACTIVITY SHEETS from my Chook Care Pack (the entire pack, with facts on chicken care, coops and food, can be downloaded here if you’re interested!)
TUESDAY 8 AUGUST
11 days to THE START OF Book Week!
THE WOLVES OF GREYCOAT HALL
PRINTABLE MINI-BOOK
Here is a ‘HOT DOG’ TRAVEL GUIDE to accompany The Wolves of Greycoat Hall. Anyone can make this little booklet at home if they have a printer. If you don’t have a printer, just get a blank sheet of paper and follow the instructions on ‘Making a Hot Dog Booklet’ below.
Those with printer access can also make their own TRAVEL GUIDE with fancy frames from the blank template.
Click on any image to view and download the PDF.
NOTE: Print at 100% print size (not ‘fit to page’) so that the folds are in the right place!
And if you just want to do some colouring in instead - here are some sheets below :-)
MONDAY 7 AUGUST
12 days to THE START OF Book Week!
Today The Matildas take on Denmark in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup!
Today’s activity sheet comes from Goal!!! by amazing Matildas goalkeeper Lydia Williams and published by Allen and Unwin.
I really love Goal!! Lydia has written a wise and warm-hearted story about teamwork and the learning curve. Whether you’re into sport or not, Goal!! captures how it feels to dive into a ‘bigger pond’ - to realise you have loads to learn, and that you need to recognise the skills of your team-mates.
There’s a good article on Goal!! here on the SBS site.
I’ve got some process drawings here. And a cover colouring sheet below. Just click on the image to download.
And remember (from Goal!!) : “…even the greatest goalkeeper can’t stop every shot against the best players in the game.”
SUNDAY 6 AUGUST
13 days to THE START OF Book Week!
And only ONE DAY until The Matildas take on Denmark in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup!
Today’s wiggly, wind-down activities come from Saved!!! by amazing Matildas goalkeeper Lydia Williams and published by Allen and Unwin.
Saved!!! is a lively and empowering book about self belief, persistence and the joy of sport.
There is an interesting background article about Lydia and why she wrote this book here. And, of all the readings of this book, my favourite is this cute one by Lydia herself.
Finally, see how I created the illustrations for Saved!!! with the help of my son Joe (then 9 years old!)
Click on any image below to download the pdf.
SATURDAY 5 AUGUST
14 days to THE START OF Book Week!
Today’s activity comes from Too Many Cats written by Maura Finn and published by Affirm Press.
Too Many Cats is a fun, rhyming picture book about poor, put-upon beagle Percy – and a multitude of kitties who do NOT respect Percy’s personal space! Click on the graphics below to download pdfs of these catty colouring sheets.
