91¹ū¶³“«Ć½’s embrace of these little libraries has transformed neighbourhoods into literary hubs. They encourage a sense of community, promote literacy, and spark joy through shared stories and the love of reading. From classic novels to children’s picture books, these tiny book havens offer a diverse selection for all ages and tastes.

There are currently over 300 street libraries located in South Australia, and finding one near you is as easy as visiting the Street Library map Below we’ve added a few we’ve found in our travels, we’d love to add a few more so please let us know in the comments below or DM us on socials to add yours.

You can purchase and register your very own street library at
And for street library inspo visit their Instagram page

Carrickalinga

Aldridge Ave, Park Holme

Cudlee Creek Soldiers Memorial Hall

image credit Kerrie Drogemuller

Wait Campus

164 Flaxley Road, Mount Barker

image credit Newenham 91¹ū¶³“«Ć½ Hills

Thanks also to everyone who let us know about their local street library on Instagram. Here’s a few more locations to check out

• Regency Road, Happy Valley
• The Avenues High School, Windsor Gardens
• Roy Amer Reserve, Oakden
• Padulesi Park, Athelstone
• Crawford Reserve, Walkerville
• Echunga Main Street
• Old Noarlunga Market Square
• Kitchen Farm Cafe, Mt Barker (in an old telephone booth)
• Apex Park, West Beach
• Bowker Oval Book Nook

2025 Book Week Costume Ideas

We love this year’s theme “Book an Adventure” as it allows you to pretty much go dressed as any book character you like. So get creative and don’t forget to show us what you come up with!

Why the theme?

• The theme celebrates 80 years of Children’s Book Week 
• The theme encourages young readers to explore new worlds and embark on literary journeys 
• The theme ties in with the artwork of Jess McGeachin, the 2023 CBCA Eve Pownall Award winner 

The KiA team are a bit divided about costumes. Some of us LOVE IT (me) and some of us despise it (most of the others) so whether your a DIY, make it from scratch, hot glue gun costume connoisseur, a buy it all online and pay extra for express post panicker or a do your best with what you’ve got at home type of costume designer we’ve got some ideas for you below.

Whereā€™s Wally (Whereā€™s Wally by Martin Handford)

• Red and white striped shirt
• Blue jeans
• Round glasses and a beanie

Edward the Emu (by Sheena Knowles)

• Grey or black outfit
• Feather boa or DIY feathers
• Emu beak made from cardboard or face paint

Wombat from Diary of a Wombat (by Jackie French)

• Brown hoodie and pants
• Ears and nose using felt or face paint
• Carry a little “diary” or a mini shovel (to ā€˜digā€™ like the wombat)

Harry Potter (Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling)

• Black robe or school uniform
• Glasses and a lightning bolt scar
• Wand (pencil or stick works)

Pippi Longstocking (by Astrid Lindgren)

• Bright dress and mismatched stockings
• Plaited hair with wire inside to stick out
• Freckles with face paint

The Very Hungry Caterpillar (by Eric Carle)

• Green clothes
• DIY paper or felt headband with antennae
• Add fruit images or labels to match the story

Alice in Wonderland (by Lewis Carroll)

• Blue dress and white apron
• Hairband with bow
• Optional: a teacup or stuffed rabbit

The Magic School Bus Explorer (by Joanna Cole)

• Yellow clothes or jacket
• Backpack, goggles or ā€˜scienceā€™ props
• Optional: a stuffed lizard (like Liz!)

Astronaut (e.g. Goodnight Spaceman, There’s No Place Like Space)

• White clothes
• DIY cardboard helmet or use a bike helmet
• Stick on NASA logo printout

Percy Jackson (Percy Jackson by Rick Riordan)

• Orange t-shirt with ā€œCamp Half-Bloodā€
• Jeans and sneakers
• A pen (to represent his sword Riptide)

Explorer from ā€˜We’re Going on a Bear Huntā€™ (by Michael Rosen)

• Khaki or neutral coloured clothes
• Binoculars or a walking stick
• Map or stuffed bear

Bindi Irwin ā€“ Wildlife Explorer (from Bindi Wildlife Adventures)

• Khaki shirt and shorts
• Toy snake, binoculars or animal plushie
• Ponytail and adventure boots

This post contains some affiliate links, which means Kids in 91¹ū¶³“«Ć½ receive a small commission if you make a purchase using this link, so if you do, we thank you!

Here’s a list of our favourite First Nation’s books to help us celebrate and explain what NAIDOC Week means.

Poppy and the Great Ocean Garbage Patch

Written by Karen Jones Hauser
Illustrated by Scott Rathman

Poppy dreamed of big adventures. To explore home and the oceans beyond. Poppy was warned to be careful. What dangers could be out there? Unfortunately, the danger came from the unexpected. Things that look like they sparkle and shine to our beautiful sea animals. Will Poppy and friends make it through the danger in the ocean? Letā€™s all learn together how we can keep our oceans clean and safe. And donā€™t forget to scan the QR codes to hear and learn some new Kaurna words whilst on this adventure!

Benny Bungarraā€™s Big Bush Clean Up

Written by Sally Morgan
Illustrated by Ambelin Kwaymullina

Sally Morgan has written so many incredible books, and this is another to add to the book shelf! This book is great for younger children, with an environmental message about protecting and caring for the environment. Your children will love the illustrations.

Somebody’s Land

Written by Adam Goodes and Ellie Laing
Illustrated by David Hardy

An accessible picture book for young children that introduces First Nations history and the term ‘terra nullius’ to a general audience, from Australian of the Year, community leader and anti-racism advocate Adam Goodes and political adviser and former journalist Ellie Laing, with artwork by Barkindji illustrator David Hardy.

Welcome to Country

Written by Aunty Joy Murphy
Illustrated by Lisa Kennedy

Aunty Joy Wandin Murphy is a most respected senior Wurundjeri elder of the Kulin alliance. This is a very accessible welcome that introduces and gives meaning and explanation within the text to the customs and symbols of Indigenous Australia.

Young Dark Emu

By Bruce Pascoe

This book is really interesting and best for children aged 9+. We read it to our 5 and 7 year old children to make sure they fully understand the content. It has lots of information about battles, stolen land and culture, food, aquaculture and more. This book is a wonderful way to teach your children more about the importance of Aboriginal culture and sustainable practices but is a longer read.

Our Home, Our Heartbeat

Written by Briggs
Illustrated by Kate Moon and Rachel Sara

Our Home, Our Heartbeat is a celebration of Indigenous legends and it pays respect to the oldest continuous culture on earth.

Welcome to Country

Written by Marcia Langton

Welcome to Country is a guidebook to Indigenous Australia and the Torres Strait Islands. Professor Marcia Langton offers fascinating insights into Indigenous languages and customs, history, native title, art and dance, storytelling, and cultural awareness and etiquette for visitors.

Finding Our Heart: A Story about the Uluru Statement for Young Australians

Written by Thomas Mayor
Illustrated by Blak Douglas

A great read for young and old. The pictures are beautiful, and the message is important: letā€™s look after each other, and our country. Letā€™s understand what the Uluru Statement is and what it means. A lovely, meaningful book.

Jandamarra

Written by Mark Greenwood
Illustrated by Terry Denton

**This book is not suitable for younger readers**

The story is set in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. To the settlers, Jandamarra was an outlaw, but to the Bunuba he was a hero. This is a tragic, but important, story.

The Art in Country

By Bronwyn Bancroft

Our children (aged 3, 5, 7) have spent ages poring over this book. The artwork within it is detailed, colourful and intricate. We love this book and come back to it time and time again to talk about and decipher each picture and what it represents. Love this one!

Loving Country

Written by Bruce Pascoe and Vicky Shukurolgou

This is a wonderfully detailed book for anyone who is thinking of travelling around their state, or our beautiful country (COVID restrictions allowing!). Loving Country is a guidebook that offers a new way to travel and discover Australia through an Indigenous narrative. It is beautifully photographed and features 18 locations.

Found

Written by Bruce Pascoe
Illustrated by Charmaine Ledden-Lewis

This story is about a small calf who is taken away, after being lost and separated from itā€™s family. The calf tries to find itā€™s family throughout the story.

Day Break

Written by Amy McQuire
Illustrated by Matt Chun

Day Break is the story of a family making their way back to Country on January 26. They work together to move through the landscape and overcome challenges. This is a confronting, yet truthful, book.

This post contains some affiliate links, which means Kids in 91¹ū¶³“«Ć½ receive a small commission if you make a purchase using this link, so if you do, we thank you!

“Adults often think they should avoid talking with young children about race or racism because doing so would cause them to notice race or make them racist. In fact, when adults are silent about race or use “colorblind” rhetoric, they actually reinforce racial prejudice in children. Starting at a very young age, children see patterns ā€” who seems to live where; what kinds of homes they see as they ride or walk through different neighborhoods; who is the most desirable character in the movies they watch; who seems to have particular jobs or roles at the doctor’s office, at school, at the grocery store; and so on ā€” and try to assign “rules” to explain what they see. Adults’ silence about these patterns and the structural racism that causes them, combined with the false but ubiquitous “American Dream” narrative that everyone can achieve anything that they want through hard work, results in children concluding that the patterns they see “must have been caused by meaningful inherent differences between groups.” In other words, young children infer that the racial inequities they see are natural and justified. So despite good intentions, when we fail to talk openly with our children about racial inequity in our society, we are in fact contributing to the development of their racial biases, which studies show are already in place.ā€ (Dr. Erin Winkler, 2017)

Itā€™s our job to raise children that are not only NOT racist but also actively ANTI racist.

ā€œChildren arenā€™t born racistā€ is a statement we are seeing all over the place at the moment. And yes, this is 100% true. But something must be going wrong along the way for so many racists to still be marking the world with their hate.

One of the ways we can start and continue this important conversation is to share literature with our children from an early age regarding diversity. Teaching our children about diversity is crucial but not always easy. We all want kids to be globally minded and not just tolerant but accepting of differences ā€“ kids who see the colours and textures of this world for all their beauty. But the world will teach our kids other lessons about race when they are out in it, and it likely wonā€™t be the peace and love messages we hope theyā€™ll receive.

Thatā€™s why itā€™s critical to have our own conversations at home before this happens regarding all forms of diversity, from differences in skin colour, cultural and ethnic backgrounds, languages, disabilities and sexual orientation.

These conversations will help equip our future generations with the tools they will need to make sense of things they will (unfortunately) see and hear in the world.

There are many places parents can access current information. Here are some links we have found where parents can retrieve resources to focus on this topic at home.

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Some amazing books by Australian authors that we can share with our children are below. Itā€™s imperative for us to help young people to aquire the desired traits of a global citizen. We can, as parents foster this creative and critical thinking, open mindedness, understanding of power-relationships and optimism for a better world.Ģż

1. Love Makes a Family ā€“ Sophie Beer
2. Whoever You Are ā€“ Mem Fox
3. Wide Big World ā€“ Maxine Beneba Clarke
4. The Patchwork Bike ā€“ Maxine Beneba Clarke
5. The Lost Girl ā€“ Ambelin Kwaymullina & Leanne Tobin
6. The Little Refugee ā€“ Anh Do & Suzanne Do
7. Iā€™m Australian Too ā€“ Mem Fox
8. Ziba Came On A Boat ā€“ Liz Lofthouse
9. Mirror ā€“ Jeannie Baker
10. What’s a YiaYia – A Book about Grandmothers – Stella Stamatakis

Reading stories is so powerful, we hope you enjoy these books as much as your children will.
Letā€™s all remind ourselves of the beauty in difference.

It is time for parents to teach young people early on that in diversity there is beauty and there is strength.
~Maya Angelou

Itā€™s about a little boy talking to his Grandpa about important days in his life, playing soccer with his team, new uniform on the first day at school…… and through the beautiful illustrations you see the parallel story of his Grandpas time at war, with his ā€œteamā€ in the trenches, wearing his soldiers uniform.

Weā€™ve had 7 billion questions this morning about the story, and how it makes her feel, and what she thinks it means which is EXACTLY what we read books for right?

It’s available online or you can grab a copy from Kmart or Target (online or instore)

Realising that the one thing that we give our children that no one can take away, is their education, maybe we should take more care to engender this love of learning that will lead to their ultimate success.

The following points are a collection of tips and tricks collected over the years and put together to help as a guide to encourage a love of learning. Have fun as you work to implement them in your family.

1. Show that youā€™re a learner too
   Share things you have learnt. Tell your children about Professional Development and Conferences you attend. Invite their opinions on things you have read for your own interest. Never talk down to them. Be part of the learning community.
2. Encourage creativity
   Give children opportunities to create in any way they like. Have them create original expressions of their learning through a variety of web tools. Let them draw, write a song, make a film, create a cartoon or record a podcast. Put a camera in their hands for recording and expressing learning.
3. Make it meaningful
   Make connections to their lives. Encourage interpretations that make sense to them. Create for an authentic audience, by publishing online through blogs, wikis and other web ideas. Donā€™t set chores, donā€™t hand out worksheets, donā€™t assign workā€¦ create motivating learning experiences.
4. Flatten classroom walls
   Donā€™t confine learning to the classroom. Bring the world in. Collaborate online with children in other places. Use Skype for global connections.
5. Demonstrate your passion
   If you arenā€™t enjoying the learning, neither will the students. If what you do bores you, it will bore them too. If you clearly love it, they will too! Interact with other parents and educators online to fire up your enthusiasm.
6. Respect your children
   Donā€™t expect the same from every child. Make sure every child knows that you know where theyā€™re at. Donā€™t imagine any kind of standardized tests will tell you that. Listen to their conversation and value their thinking. Show interest. Know every childā€™s story.
7. Provide variation
   Donā€™t fall into the habit of doing things the same way all the time. Come up with new ways of practicing skills. Share ideas with other parents. Get ideas online. Get ideas from the children. Surprise them. Use different tools and formats and approaches. Plan for multiple intelligences and different learning styles. Make learning a family experience and if possible, a community one.
8. Implement inquiry as a stance
   Encourage children to explore, question and wonder. Invite them into a new topic with a strong provocation that inspires curiosity. Provide opportunities for them to play with possibilities and investigate in a variety of ways. Help them make connections between different areas of learning. Focus on concepts and big ideas. Be controversial and play the devilā€™s advocate in a situation to get a measured response.
9. Play games
   Find games online and offline. Get children to move around and play physically. Play thinking games. Invent games and let them invent games. Make sure every game has a learning goal. Make the learning goal explicit to the children. Make it fun!
10. Encourage students to be responsible for their own learning
    Tell them they are! Give them choice. Donā€™t make all the decisions. Encourage goal setting and reflection. Create a culture of thinking. Talk less. Step back and hand over controlā€¦

are focused on this goal of really getting our students to love the education they are receiving at home and at school. Join us in this crusade to encourage our students/your children to love their learning.

Should you wish to discuss any of these ideas with us and how we plan to motivate our students to LOVE LEARNING, please feel free to give us a call or fill in aĢż. We would love to hear some of your ideas to add to our list.

This is a sponsored post written by the 91¹ū¶³“«Ć½ branches of . (Unley and Norwood) Specialists in maths tuition and English tuition they help build childrenā€™s confidence and show them that they can conquer maths and read for pleasure. For more information visit their website at

As an avid reader myself as a kid, Matilda bookshop in Stirling is the kind of place I loved as a child and still love as an adult. It’s obvious from the moment you walk into Matilda’s, this is not your standard chain super store and you won’t leave feeling like you bought 3 books for $20 that you’ll probably never read. Nope, this is one of those ‘feel free to take your time browsing’ shops, where the staff are engaging, knowledgable and helpful… but only if you want them to be! If you’re happy browsing, they’re happy too! The owners are Hills people, with an interest and background in publishing (children’s in particular) and kids themselves – and it shows in their whole approach to their store.

They’ve got great ideas on books for toddlers, first readers, boys, girls, teenagers and more. The kids nook is a wonderfully inviting place to sit and read for a while, as mum and dad take the time to browse the array of often unique titles I haven’t seen elsewhere. They have the most delightful range of picture books with gorgeous stories told by illustrations that kids will adore – and everything from trucks, fairies, animals and alphabets. They also have a fantastic range of books for mum, dad, grandma, and your best friend (amongst others!), and I was secretly excited to see a whole table of wonderful adult colouring in and drawing books too!

I have recently picked up a couple of great Australian picture books I hadn’t seen before, for some friends overseas and I know they won’t already have these in their collection. Another happy customer took home a copy of some kids classics – Dear Zoo and The Very Hungry Caterpillar – so Matilda’sĢżhas them too! But above the lovely range, the wonderful staff, and the cute kids area, it is really the feel of Matilda Bookshop that I love the most.

Do yourself a favour – take the kids to Matilda Bookshop these school holidays. It’s the perfect place to develop their love of books and a lifelong friendship with literature. While you’re in Stirling, once you’ve picked up a couple of new books, have some lunch next door at our favourite cafe Tranquillo, or grab a takeaway and burn off some youthful energy at the great Steamroller Park on the corner.

What: Matilda Bookshop in Stirling.

Where: 8 Mt Barker Road, Stirling, SA. 5152. First block of shops on the right when you enter Stirling from the freeway. Ph 8339 3931. Or check them out online or .

When: Open 7 days (because their service rocks!), hours vary but mostly 9:30-5:30, 11am Sunday.

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IfĢżyou haven’t taken the kids for a wander around the stunning grounds of Carrick Hill DEFINITELY put it on your to do list!

Located in Springfield, about a 10 minute drive from the city, Carrick Hill is Australiaā€™s most intact twentieth-century heritage house museum and garden. It’s approximately 40 hectares of land which includes approximately 26 hectares of native bushland. It is gorgeous and you can literally spend a whole day here with the kids wandering the many gardens, having a picnic, exploring the Story Book Trail (see below) and grabbing a coffee and cake from the cafe.

Oh and by the way, it’s FREE to explore the Gardens and Grounds!

The Carrick Hill Story Book Trail was designed to enable children to explore and discover the natural world, this short walk through Carrick Hillā€™s parkland uses classic childrenā€™s tales to encourage the imagination.

The first stage of the Childrenā€™s Story Book Trail mainly focuses on British classic tales that reflect Sir Edward and Lady Haywardā€™s era. It is thanks to this coupleā€™s gift to the people of South Australia in 1986 that children are able to enjoy the house and gardens today.  Along a sandy track that weaves past ponds and through groves of trees, children encounter the following features:

• Boardwalk  & Frog on a Log
• Wind in the Willows
• The Hobbit
• Three Billy Goats Gruff
• Quidditch Tree
• The Secret Garden
• The Jungle Book and Animalia
• The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe
• The Magic Faraway Tree
• Charlotteā€™s Web

Carrick Hill – 46 Carrick Hill Drive Springfield

Open Wednesday to Sunday 10 am to 4:30 pm.
Closed Christmas Day & Good Friday.

More details: