Reading is Magic!

Children’s Book Week will be held on 17-23 August 2024. Jess Racklyeft is the illustrator behind the 2024 CBCA theme, Reading is Magic! Featuring a child soaring through the sky with their head in a book, a rabbit popping out of a hat, a mermaid and a unicorn flying in the starry sky, children will be captivated by the endless possibilities in the illustration and theme! Based in Melbourne, Jess is an author/illustrator of children’s books using watercolours, paints and digital creations to invoke the imagination and layer meaning.

Below are some of the books Jess Racklyeft has illustrated but there are many more:

• Iceberg (CBCA Winner Children’s Picture Book 2022)
• Anzac Girl: The War Diaries of Alice Ross-King (2020) by Kate Simpson, published by Allen and Unwin
• The First Christmas
• I’m Your Favourite Book (2023) by Maggie Hutchings, published by Affirm Press
• Big World, Tiny World: Reef (2022) by Jess Racklyeft, published by Affirm Press
• Whisper on the Wind (2022) by Claire Saxby, published by Allen and Unwin
• Big Cat (2023) by Jess Racklyeft, published by Allen and Unwin
• The Forgotten Song: Saving the Regent Honeyeater (2023) by Coral Bass, illustrated by Jess Racklyeft, published by CSIRO
• Australia: Country of Colour (2023) by Jess Racklyeft, published by Affirm Press

When is book week?

“Of course there must be lots of Magic in the world,” he said wisely one day, “but people don’t know what it is like or how to make it. Perhaps the beginning is just to say nice things are going to happen until you make them happen. I am going to try and experiment.”

Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden

As I look out at all of you gathered here, I want to say that I don’t see a room full of Parisians in top hats and diamonds and silk dresses. I don’t see bankers and housewives and store clerks. No. I address you all tonight as you truly are: wizards, mermaids, travelers, adventurers, and magicians. You are the true dreamers.

Brian Selznick, The Invention of Hugo Cabret

“I don’t believe in the kind of magic in my books. But I do believe something very magical can happen when you read a good book.”

J.K. Rowling

“And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.”

Roald Dahl