GALLERY: Characters come to life at Toowoomba schools for Book Week
Several Toowoomba schools have taken part in Book Week to celebrate literature as well as Australian authors and illustrators. Check out all the impressive costumes in our photo gallery here.
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Students across the region are bringing their favourite characters to life for Book Week 2023 – an annual celebration of literature, as well as Australian authors and illustrators.
From Harry Potter and The Little Pigs, to giant cupcakes and piranhas, scroll down below to see our photo gallery of all the incredible costumes this year.
Rangeville State School
Students from Rangeville State School substituted uniforms for flowing princess gowns and caterpillar legs when they took part in their Book Week parade.
The annual festivities came to an end on Friday for another year with Piper Davies, 8, dressing up as Snow White.
“Mum bought it (the costume) for me, but it wasn’t cheap at all,” she said.
Young Piper said she loved her choice in character because she was “the only Snow White” and liked how her dress puffed out.
Jensen Lee, 8, said he decided to go as The Very Hungry Caterpillar because at the end of the book it turned into a colourful moth and he loved moths.
But Jensen was already brewing new costume ideas with plans to dress up as Peppa Pig next year.
Dressing up as “Cloud Guy” from Trolls, Eddie Jarroush, 8, made her costume with her mum.
“I love him because he invented the moon walk,” she said.
“My mum put extra fluff in the back to make a butt and that’s my favourite part.”
Students with winning costumes received sunflower seeds and a book as a special prize.
Toowoomba Grammar School
From Smurfs and ‘Very Cranky’ Bears to giant peaches and chess pieces, Toowoomba Grammar School students certainly thought outside the ‘costume’ box for their Book Week outfits this year.
Jackson Cooke, Wil Maker and Hugo Seaby who are all aged 10, dressed up as The Smurfs – specifically Papa, Brainy and Sleepy.
While Wil said it took ‘about 30 minutes’ to put their costumes together, his two friends reminded him it actually took a whole day to source the entire ensemble.
“We really love the book but we wanted a costume not many people have had before,” Jackson said.
Meanwhile Edward Cook dressed up as Pete the Cat – a book written and illustrated by American artist James Dean, his wife Kimberly Dean and Eric Litwin.
The prep student said his aunt made his costume by hand, while his peer Finn Kropp who went as ‘The Very Cranky Bear’ from the Nick Bland children’s book, gave all the creative credit to his mum.
Staff members also made a lasting impression with standout ideas including Miss Trunchbull from Roald Dahl’s Matilda, a letter addressed to Mr and Mrs Bear from Allan and Janet Ahlberg’s The Jolly Postman and of course Lord Voldemort and Dobby from the Harry Potter series.
Sacred Heart Primary School
Students and teachers at Sacred Heart Primary School brought out their finest, and craziest costumes for this year’s Book Week on Thursday morning.
The school hall was filled with vibrant colours, feathers, glitter and plenty of face paint, students were excited to dress up as their favourite book characters.
Minions, Harry Potters and Hermione Grangers, Where’s Wallys, and Disney princesses were the clear favourites at this year’s parade.
Year six student, Amber de Chastel went all out for her last Book Week, dressing up as Finn from Adventure Time.
“I have been watching Adventure Time since I was little, so I really wanted to dress up as Finn.”
“I started creating my costume on Saturday. My mum helped me with my white hat, and it just progressed from there,” Amber said.
For prep students Jack Long and Neveah Hadley, their first Book week was a success.
“I’ve had lots of fun, and I am really excited that I got to dress up as Captain America,” Jack said.
“I dressed up as Angelina Ballerina, I think it’s my favourite costume at Book Week,” Neveah said.
Of course, it wouldn’t be Book Week without the teachers joining in on the fun, dressing up as llamas from the book ‘Llamas in Pyjamas’.
Toowoomba East State School
Whether it was the prep kids modelling their costume in their inaugural parade or the seniors celebrating their last Book Week event, the students and staff of Toowoomba East State School were dressed to impress.
Best friends Piper Cooke, 11, Harper Magarey, 12, and Hannah Lee, 11, teamed up to dress up as The Little Pigs, with each one portrayed as the straw, stick and brick house.
“Because we’re best friends and this is our last Book Week, we really wanted to wear matching costumes,” Piper said.
“We made tails out of pipe cleaners, we cut up egg cartons, painted them and turned them into snouts and we sourced (the natural fibres) from our backyards.”
Taking a week to complete their costumes, the trio said it was their best effort to date as the process involved a lot of craft and shared fun.
Sophie White and Vera Holmes also opted to dress as a pair – plumbers Mario and Luigi from the classic video game, but when asked if they would consider the profession themselves, the pair were not as enthusiastic.
“I’ve never fixed a toilet before,” Sophie said.
Eleven-year-old Isabelle Jurd made her costume by hand with her mum and based it off the book Stewie and the Claw Machine.
Authored by Kareem and Salaam Marashli and illustrated by Jameel Marashli, the story follows the character of Stewie who is celebrating his birthday and gets trapped inside a toy claw machine.
But it was not just the students who made an enormous effort with several staff members also dressing up as beloved book characters including Susan Willesden as Hairy Maclary, Susie McKenzie as a dalmatian and Debbie Collins as Cruella de Vil.
See more photos from the day online at thechronicle.com.au
Pilton, Leyburn, Back Plains, Greenmount and Clifton State Schools
A quartet of cupcakes, a piranha and many Harry Potter characters were all seen walking the main street of Clifton on Monday herded by three overgrown escaped chickens squawking “BBBBook Week!”
The 2023 Book Week parade was hosted by St Francis de Sales School and included students from six surrounding schools – Pilton, Leyburn, Back Plains, Greenmount and Clifton State Schools – making close to 250 students showing off their book inspired costumes.
“Our job as schools is to inspire the kids to read and then from there it's a life long learning skill and you should never stop reading” said St Francis de Sales principal Brendan Redinger who was dressed as a farmer as he walked with the students.
“Instilling that love of reading and enjoyment and if you can dress up and have a joke or have a bit of fun at the same time”.
Clifton State School student Caleb Morris, whose costume was inspired by the book Piranhas Don’t Eat Bananas got a real surprise when he saw himself.
“I didn’t even know it was this good until I looked in the mirror with it and it was just mind blowing”
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