There was a bin chicken, more than a few Harrys and Hermiones, the Lorax, a Billionaire Boy, some fairies, Mr Men and Cats in Hats. And plenty of other characters walking from the pages of a favourite book.
Book Week 2024 parades are in full swing in schools around Canberra, another glorious celebration of reading, this year's theme being Reading is Magic.
At one of Canberra's newest schools, the Evelyn Scott School in Denman Prospect, students from preschool to year 10 paid homage to their favourite book character in costumes that were cute, imaginative and a reflection of their love of reading - even at a time when screens can dominate everything.
Mum of the year award goes to Ali Clausen who made her seven-year-old son Atticus a Bin Chicken costume "in a day". The Bin Chicken picture book by Kate and Jol Temple is becoming a solid inclusion in Book Week parades each year.
Book Week had an added shine to it this year at the school, which has almost 700 students from preschool to year 10.
Evelyn Scott School was one of three ACT public schools for which every student in the school completed the Chief Minister's Reading Challenge this year.
Students from preschool to year six were challenged to read 30 books and students from year seven to year 12 were set a target of 15 books to read over five months, either individually or as a group.
Principal Jackie Vaughan said the school was "very proud" to have met the reading challenge, especially as 47 per cent of the students were from a background where English was a second language.
"At Evelyn Scott School, we promote a really strong reading culture," she said. "And we provide access to rich and engaging texts to all our children and young people."
Ms Vaughan said the Chief Minister's Reading Challenge and Book Week both helped to instill a love of reading at a school that was rapidly growing.
"In 2021, we started with around 180 students, that's when we opened our doors, and we are now close to 700 students," she said.
The school's teacher-librarian Anna Bodle said the students did designated reading every day. Some of the older students also read to the younger students.
"We have a lot of voice and choice in what we read, so that agency means the children are far more likely to pick up a book," Ms Bodle said.
"It's not always necessarily the most rigorous book, but reading is better than not."
Screens were competition for students' time and eyeballs, but there were measures in place to persuade them to read instead.
"It means we have a lot of graphic novels and a lot of books that other libraries might say don't have a place in a high school library but if the children are picking up a book, that's all that matters," Ms Bodle said.
And the children definitely have their favourites.
Year 4 student Allison Smith, 9, is a fan of David Walliams' books, including Awful Auntie. "His books are really good," she said. "I think they have a good amount of pictures and not just words."
Year four student Lyla Dalgleish, 10, who represented the school at the Chief Minister's Reading Challenge awards ceremony, has read all the Warrior Cats novel series by Erin Hunter.
"I like it when they [the characters] are not stuck doing something. They completely change. The main characters change every series. There's completely different scenes every book and it's just really interesting to read," Lyla said.
The older students also got in on the act, including year eight student Mayia Joyes, 15, who came dressed as Hermione Granger for Book Week, one of her favourite times of the year.
"It means I get to read a bunch of books and talk about them - it's what I love," she said.
