Best Book Week Costume: Winner, Texas Flynn sees his costume come to life
Best Book Week Costume winner Texas Flynn has celebrated his win alongside his firefighting heroes.
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Flashing lights, a water hose and plenty of red paint transformed eleven year old Texas and his wheelchair into a fire truck for this year’s Book Week, thanks to the creativity of mum, Jeanette Flynn.
After suffering a stroke at birth, Texas was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, hydrocephalus and epilepsy.
“He’s had seizures his whole life and we have a lot of lot of physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy, because he uses a wheelchair,” Ms Flynn said.
“He can stand, he just needs strength in his legs.
“So maybe in a few years he will be walking with the assistance of a frame.”
Book Week is always an exciting time for the Port Pirie family, with Texas’ 2024 costume impressing not only his school mates but the people of South Australia who have voted it as the best Book Week costume of the year.
To celebrate his win, Texas was treated to a meet and greet with firefighters at the Adelaide Fire Station and even got a chance to hop into one of the fire trucks and test out the horn.
“He just loves emergency services so fire trucks are right at the top at the moment, closely followed by police and ambulance,” Ms Flynn said.
“He was very, very very happy today … especially with the lights and beeping the horn, he just absolutely loved it.
“He has a sort of a limited understanding that he’s won a competition, but he knows what the trophy is, so he’s very happy with his trophy.”
From those handmade weeks in advance to those purchased in a last minute desperate Facebook Marketplace scroll Book Week costumes always put a smile on kids’ faces.
No matter what the lead up looks like in your home, watching students trot off to school in their special outfit is priceless compared to the glue gunning, money spent, sweat and tears that may have happened behind the scenes.
In The Advertiser’s search for South Australia’s best costume of 2024 we received more than 200 nominations.
Check out some of the finalists below.
THE ULTIMATE BOOK WEEK MUM
From a papier-mâché Minion, basketball and taco to hand twisting a balloon artist costume, this South Australian mum knows she must get to work in the winter school holidays to be prepared in time for Book Week.
For mum of three Melissa LaVista, the annual school tradition is an important event on the family calendar.
Over the years she has handmade multiple intricate costumes for daughters, Isabella, 19, Daniela, 17, and Bianca, 14, and also splashed out on store bought inflatable dinosaurs and aliens.
In the weeks leading up, the LaVista’s Dernancourt home is transformed into a worksite with plastic covering the dining table and art smocks becoming a common addition to outfits.
“We used to plan during the school holidays before Book Week, so the July school holidays we would need to work on it,” Ms LaVista said.
“It was a group effort, it wasn’t just put on me to do it but the girls were happy to work with me as they got older and help design the costumes … cutting it out, painting, gluing.
“It is really good to bring the family together; it’s a real family affair.
“When (my daughters) have kids, hopefully I’m around and I can help them create costumes for my grandkids.”
When asked about the cost, Ms LaVista said reselling costumes had been the secret to topping her performance every year.
“Most of the projects were not that expensive, the stapler is your best friend because it tends to hold everything together,” she said.
“I think the end result, when they go to school and everyone wow-ing over their costume just makes them feel really special and when they’ve had competitions for best dressed and when they get recognised for that, for their hard work, I think that makes them feel really good too.
“I think it’s something that the kids, most kids, look forward to every year. I mean, who doesn’t like dressing up?”
The LaVistas have been perfecting their costumes for more than a decade but mum said a lot had changed over the years.
“It really started in 2011 when I reckon I started getting a bit more creative,” Ms LaVista said.
“At the beginning we used to research what the theme was, and we used to follow the theme but as the kids got older, I think they just used to pick what they wanted to do and then try and find a book that relates to what their costumes were.
“When it came to buying costumes, we had to plan ahead as well, because if some costumes came from overseas, especially after Covid when things were taking forever to come, we had to think about it.”
While her older sisters have graduated, high-schooler Bianca is ready for Book Week 2024, which runs from August 17 to 23, and The Advertiser is on the search for the state’s best costume.
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