Below is a free resource designed to align with the 2025 Australian Book Week theme, “Book an Adventure.”
Book Week is Australia’s annual celebration of reading and children’s literature, running from 16 to 23 August. The 2025 theme, “Book an Adventure!”, encourages kids to explore new worlds through stories. This year also marks 80 years of Children’s Book Week inspiring young readers!
Our free PEEC Book Week resource features picture books from the Notable Australian Children’s Books 2024 list. It helps you find great stories to share, explains how the theme relates to Positive Education, and provides questions to spark fun conversations about the books and their themes. Feel free to share this with teachers at other schools too, as you don’t need a login to access this resource.
1. Adventure as Positive Engagement & Flow
Positive Education emphasises engagement, that flow state when we’re fully absorbed in a meaningful activity.
The “Book an Adventure!” theme invites children to dive into imaginative journeys through storytelling, capturing that magical absorption in reading. In adventure stories, young readers often experience complete immersion, an ideal parallel to the Positive Education aim of fostering deep engagement and curiosity.
2. Building Positive Emotions & Wellbeing
Positive Education fosters positive emotions (like joy, hope, and gratitude) through intentional learning and wellbeing practices.
Adventure reading ignites wonder, excitement, and hope, nourishing those emotions. It encourages exploration and resilience; emotional states that are also nurtured in Positive Education’s holistic wellbeing model.
3. Fostering Character Strengths & Purpose
Central to Positive Education is identifying and cultivating character strengths like courage, curiosity, kindness, and perseverance. The CBCA’s theme embodies these traits: adventurers face unknowns bravely, show curiosity for new worlds, and learn to persist through challenges.
This mirrors the PERMA(H) model (Positive Emotions, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, Achievement, and Health), particularly Purpose and Accomplishment, as children see themselves overcoming challenges alongside story protagonists.
4. Strengthening Positive Relationships
The Geelong Grammar School model for Positive Education highlights the importance of positive relationships, through sharing, collaboration, and empathy.
Adventure books often involve teamwork or building bonds between characters. Sharing stories (through classroom readalouds, book clubs, or dressing up) encourages students to connect over shared enthusiasm, fostering communal engagement and social wellbeing.
5. Accomplishment & Growth Through Narrative
The six pillars of Positive Education include Accomplishment—developing skills, mastery, and confidence.
Adventure narratives often feature quests or challenges that characters must overcome, modeling perseverance, problem-solving, and eventual success. Children vicariously celebrate those milestones, and may be inspired to undertake their own “quests” (whether creative, academic, or personal) throughout the Book Week activities.
6. Adventure as Exploration & Growth
Reading adventures opens doors to exploration of geography, ideas, history, and perspectives. Positive Education encourages exploration of one’s own purpose and the wider world.
Just as Positive Education supports students to connect with meaning beyond themselves, this theme encourages reading across diverse landscapes – emotional, imaginative, and cultural.
“Book an Adventure!” acts as a launchpad for emotional richness, character development, social connection, and engaged learning…all pillars of Positive Education.
It invites children not just to passively consume a story, but to live it: to imagine themselves as explorers, collaborators, problem‑solvers, and empathetic companions.
The CBCA’s 80‑year legacy of celebrating stories ties in with Positive Education’s emphasis on embedded, school‑wide positive cultures. Stories become tools for connection, resilience, and flourishing.
• Read-Aloud Adventures: Teachers can draw connections between story events and elements of the PERMA(H) model. E.g., “When the hero faces fear, what strengths are they using?”
• Creativity & Growth Missions: Encourage students to write their own mini-adventure, highlighting a character strength or collaborative effort.
• Adventurer’s Reflection: Use journaling to link reading journeys with students’ real-life experiences. What challenges have they overcome? What character strengths did they use?
To learn more about PEEC, or any of our other resources, please contact: institutecurriculum@ggs.vic.edu.au.
Below is a free resource designed to align with the 2024 Australian Book Week theme, “Reading is Magic.”
What Is It?
The 2024 Book Week theme, “Reading is Magic,” celebrates the enchanting power of books to transport readers to new worlds, spark their imaginations, and evoke a sense of wonder. This theme beautifully aligns with the Positive Psychology principles of awe and wonder, which are crucial for enhancing wellbeing.
Awe and Wonder in Positive Psychology
Awe is a profound emotional response to something vast and beyond our current understanding, often leading to a sense of connectedness and humility. Wonder, a related concept, involves curiosity and amazement, driving us to explore and learn more about the world around us. Both emotions contribute significantly to psychological wellbeing by promoting a sense of joy, expanding our perception of life’s possibilities, and fostering a
deeper connection to others and the universe.
Reading is Magic
Books have an unparalleled ability to evoke these feelings. Through storytelling, readers can experience awe by encountering grand narratives, complex characters, and fantastical worlds that stretch their imagination and understanding. The magic of reading lies in its power to immerse readers in experiences far removed from their own, prompting feelings of wonder and curiosity.
For teachers, incorporating this theme into our classroom activities can enhance students’ wellbeing. By selecting books that inspire awe and wonder, we can help
students cultivate a lifelong love of reading while also supporting their mental health. Stories of epic adventures, magical realms, and profound human experiences can spark students’ imaginations, encouraging them to dream big and explore the unknown.
Additionally, discussing these themes in class can help students recognise and articulate their own feelings of awe and wonder, building emotional literacy and resilience. In a world where stress and anxiety are prevalent, fostering these positive emotions through the magic of reading can be a powerful tool for promoting overall wellbeing.
In essence, the 2024 Book Week theme “Reading is Magic” not only underscores the joy and adventure found in books but also highlights their role in nurturing awe and wonder, essential components for a flourishing, well-rounded life.
To learn more about PEEC, or any of our other resources, please contact: institutecurriculum@ggs.vic.edu.au.
