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4 August 2025

5 Adventurous Characters to Dress Up As This Book Week

5 Adventurous Characters to Dress Up As This Book Week

Book Week is the perfect time to celebrate the magic of stories and what better way to do that than by stepping into the shoes of a brave, bold character from your favourite book? Whether you’re a student getting ready for a school parade or a teacher looking to inspire young readers, dressing up as an adventurous book character is a fun way to bring literature to life. From daring heroes to clever explorers, here are five adventurous characters that will make your Book Week costume stand out.

Detective Beans

What You’ll Need:

  • Brown overcoat
  • Red jumper
  • Brown tie
  • Brown pants
  • Fedora
  • Magnifying glass
  • Yellow notebook with a pencil

What To Do:

  • Get dressed into your brown pants, red jumper, brown overcoat and top it off with a fedora
  • Put the yellow notebook and pencil into the coat’s pocket, making sure the top is peeking out so everyone can see
  • Last but not least, carry the magnifying glass and make sure to look for clues to help you solve your latest case

Buy a copy of Detective Beans #1: Detective Beans and the Case of the Missing Hat here.

Percy Jackson

What You’ll Need:

  • Orange top
  • Iron-on transfer paper
  • Jeans
  • Sneakers
  • Sword

What To Do:

  • Print a ‘Camp Half-Blood’ Logo onto the transfer paper
  • Iron the logo onto the front of the orange t-shirt, following the instructions from the iron-on transfer paper
  • Get dressed in your newly made Camp Half-Blood top, jeans and sneakers
  • Don’t forget to carry a sword to attack any Furies that come your way

Buy a copy of Percy Jackson #1: Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan here.

Kip of the Karoo

What You’ll Need:

  • Green button up top
  • White Pants
  • Brown belt
  • Cowgirl hat and boots

What To Do:

  • Get dressed in the pants, top and belt
  • Wear your hair in two plaits if your hair is long enough
  • For extra flair add a cowgirl hat and boots

Buy a copy of Kip of the Karoo by Emma Gourlay here.

Friday Barnes

What You’ll Need:

  • Yellow and white striped shirt
  • Brown Cardigan
  • Jeans
  • Sneakers
  • Fedora
  • Magnifying Glass

What To Do:

  • Get dressed into the shirt, cardigan, jeans and sneakers
  • Wear your hair in two pigtails if your hair is long enough
  • For a finishing touch, add the fedora on top and make sure to have a magnifying glass in hand

Buy a copy of Friday Barnes #13: In Plain Sight by R.A. Spratt here.

Sophie Foster from Keeper of the Lost Cities

What You’ll Need:

  • Black Cape
  • White Tunic
  • Black pants
  • Black boots
  • Crystal Necklace
  • Clay and gold paint

What To Do:

  • Create the Ruewen family crest by molding a swan with the clay and painting it gold
  • Dress in the tunic, pants and cape and pin the family crest to the front of the cape
  • Accessorise with black boots and a crystal necklace

Buy a copy of Keeper of the Lost Cities by Shannon Messenger here.

 

Reviews

3 Reasons Why You Should Read Kip of the Karoo by Emma Gourlay

Review

7 April 2025

3 Reasons Why You Should Read Kip of the Karoo by Emma Gourlay

Parallel worlds: Read an extract from Keeper of the Lost Cities by Shannon Messenger

Review | Extract

3 July 2020

Parallel worlds: Read an extract from Keeper of the Lost Cities by Shannon Messenger

Truly remarkable: Read a review of Keeper of the Lost Cities by Shannon Messenger

Review | Our Review

30 June 2020

Truly remarkable: Read a review of Keeper of the Lost Cities by Shannon Messenger

Swords, monsters and angry gods: Read an extract from Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

Review | Extract

24 April 2020

Swords, monsters and angry gods: Read an extract from Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

Related Articles

Activity Pack: Detective Beans and the Case of the Missing Hat by Li Chen

News | Book Life

13 June 2024

Activity Pack: Detective Beans and the Case of the Missing Hat by Li Chen

Publisher details

Friday Barnes #13: In Plain Sight
Author
R.A. Spratt
Released
10 June, 2025
ISBN
9781761349713

Buy now

Synopsis

When Princess Ingrid is kidnapped, along with her fiancé, Binky Pelly, it’s all over the international news. The King of Norway is distraught. The people of Norway are bewildered. And Ingrid’s bodyguard is fired. So, he calls on his least favourite Interpol agent for help – Friday Barnes.

The trail soon leads them to New York City, where finding a princess is harder than finding a tiara in a haystack. Can Friday unravel the mystery of the disappearing lovebirds? And when a Manhattan rockstar’s book of handwritten lyrics goes missing, it's up to Friday to restore this priceless artefact to its rightful home.

Publisher details

Kip of the Karoo
Author
Emma Gourlay
Publisher
HarperCollins
Genre
Children’s Fiction
Released
02 April, 2025
ISBN
9781922033130

Buy now

Synopsis

Kip lives on a mountain in South Africa. She rides horses at Sunnybrook Ranch and a magical creature called Buffel is her loyal companion. Life is good.But when her roof falls in, and her dad can't afford to fix it, Kip vows to save the day. Luckily her friends have found an ancient map in a cookie jar. There's treasure in the Karoo desert! But are the dangers of the Karoo worth the risk? There are killer leopards and forbidden caves, and a film set full of dodgy Hollywood people. Plus, hot on their trail, is greedy King Double. He's desperate for a horse. So when Kip rescues three horses, she's not the only one in danger.

Publisher details

Detective Beans and the Case of the Missing Hat
Author
Li Chen
Publisher
Penguin
Genre
Children’s Fiction
Released
28 May, 2024
ISBN
9781761049477

Buy now

Synopsis

Detective Beans is available 24/7* for all your mystery solving and ice-cream taste testing needs.* Except on school days, and after bedtime.Today he’s investigating the case of the missing hat. His missing hat. The clues take Beans all over Cat Town. He encounters philosophical pigeons, dodgy street magicians, lounge singers and soup chefs, and even a mysterious trash portal.No one is a match for his crime-solving powers. But will Beans find his hat before Mum is expecting him home for dinner?

Publisher details

Keeper of the Lost Cities #1: Keeper of the Lost Cities
Author
Shannon Messenger
Publisher
Simon and Schuster
Genres
Children’s Fiction, Fiction
Released
01 March, 2020
ISBN
9781471189371

Buy now

Synopsis

Recommended for ages 7+.

The first book in the New York Times bestselling series!

Twelve-year-old Sophie Foster has a secret.

She is a Telepath, and has the power to hear the thoughts of everyone around her – something that she's never spoken about, even to her own family.

But everything changes the day she meets Fitz, a mysterious boy who also reads minds. She discovers there's somewhere she does belong, and staying where she is will put her in grave danger. In the blink of an eye, Sophie is forced to leave behind everything and start a new life in a magical world.

Sophie has new rules to learn, and not everyone is thrilled with her "homecoming". There are secrets buried deep in Sophie's memory, secrets that other people desperately want.

Would even kill for...

Publisher details

Percy Jackson #1: Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief
Author
Rick Riordan
Released
21 August, 2013
ISBN
9780141346809

Buy now

Synopsis

For YA readers and children aged 9+.

The first book in the bestselling Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. Now with a new cover look, read the story that launched Percy Jackson into the stratosphere, before the Disney+ series comes out!

The first book in the bestselling Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. Now with a new cover look, read the story that launched Percy Jackson into the stratosphere, before the Disney+ series comes out!

Look, I never asked to be the son of a Greek god. I was just a normal kid... until I accidentally vaporized my maths teacher.

Percy Jackson is having a bad week. His life has gone from totally normal to monsters-from-Greek-mythology-randomly-appearing kind of strange. Worse still, the king of the gods thinks Percy has stolen his all-powerful lightning bolt - and it seems making Zeus angry is a very bad idea.

Now Percy and his friends have just ten days to catch the true lightning thief and stop all-out war from erupting on Mount Olympus...

What could possible go wrong?

Li Chen
About the author

Li Chen

Li Chen was born in Beijing, China, and moved to New Zealand when she was five (with her parents, not as a solo child explorer, I don't think that's allowed). She's always loved drawing and has been working as a full-time comic artist since 2012. Detective Beans and the Case of the Missing Hat is her first graphic novel. When she's not drawing, Li likes to hang out with her cats or go on really long walks. Oh, and she drinks a LOT of tea.

Books by Li Chen

Detective Beans and the Case of the Missing Hat
Li Chen

Detective Beans and the Case of the Missing Hat

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Detective Beans: Adventures in Cat Town
Li Chen

Detective Beans: Adventures in Cat Town

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Emma Gourlay
About the author

Emma Gourlay

Like Kip, Emma Gourlay grew up with a black dad and a white mum and a buffel in her head (in Afrikaans, 'buffel' is the word for a special, rare creature.) Emma dropped out of law school and opened a vintage clothing shop, but when it was bulldozed to make way for apartments she started to write. She lives in Melbourne.

Books by Emma Gourlay

Kip of the Mountain
Emma Gourlay

Kip of the Mountain

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Kip of the Karoo
Emma Gourlay

Kip of the Karoo

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Shannon Messenger
About the author

Shannon Messenger

Shannon Messenger graduated from the USC School of Cinematic Arts, where she learned—among other things—that she liked watching movies much better than making them. She’s studied art, screenwriting, and film production, but she realised her real passion was writing stories for children. She’s the New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author of the award-winning middle grade series, Keeper of the Lost Cities, as well as the Sky Fall series for young adults. Her books have been featured on multiple state reading lists, published in numerous countries, and translated into many different languages. She lives in Southern California with her family—and an embarrassing number of cats.

Books by Shannon Messenger

Keeper of the Lost Cities #1: Keeper of the Lost Cities
Shannon Messenger

Keeper of the Lost Cities #1: Keeper of the Lost Cities

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Exile
Shannon Messenger

Exile

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Everblaze
Shannon Messenger

Everblaze

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Neverseen
Shannon Messenger

Neverseen

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Lodestar: Keeper of the Lost Cities #5
Shannon Messenger

Lodestar: Keeper of the Lost Cities #5

Retail partners

Legacy: Keeper of the Lost cities #8
Shannon Messenger

Legacy: Keeper of the Lost cities #8

Retail partners

Keeper of the Lost Cities #7
Shannon Messenger

Keeper of the Lost Cities #7

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Nightfall: Keeper of the Lost Cities #6
Shannon Messenger

Nightfall: Keeper of the Lost Cities #6

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Unlocked: Keeper of the Lost Cities #8.5
Shannon Messenger

Unlocked: Keeper of the Lost Cities #8.5

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Keeper of the Lost Cities: 3-Book Box Set
Shannon Messenger

Keeper of the Lost Cities: 3-Book Box Set

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R.A. Spratt
About the author

R.A. Spratt

R.A. Spratt is the author of The Peski Kids, Friday Barnes and The Adventures of Nanny Piggins. In her previous life she was a television writer. Unlike the Peski kids, R.A. Spratt never fights with her brother, but only because he moved to Hong Kong to get away from her. R.A. lives in Bowral, NSW, where she has three chickens, two goldfish and a dog. She also has a husband and two daughters.

Books by R.A. Spratt

The Peski Kids 1: The Mystery of the Squashed Cockroach
R.A. Spratt

The Peski Kids 1: The Mystery of the Squashed Cockroach

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The Peski Kids 2: Bear in the Woods
R.A. Spratt

The Peski Kids 2: Bear in the Woods

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The Peski Kids 3: Stuck in the Mud
R.A. Spratt

The Peski Kids 3: Stuck in the Mud

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The Peski Kids 4: Near Extinction
R.A. Spratt

The Peski Kids 4: Near Extinction

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The Peski Kids 5: The Final Mission
R.A. Spratt

The Peski Kids 5: The Final Mission

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Friday Barnes 9: No Escape
R.A. Spratt

Friday Barnes 9: No Escape

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Shockingly Good Stories
R.A. Spratt

Shockingly Good Stories

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Friday Barnes #10: Undercover
R.A. Spratt

Friday Barnes #10: Undercover

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Astonishingly Good Stories
R.A. Spratt

Astonishingly Good Stories

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Friday Barnes #11: Last Chance
R.A. Spratt

Friday Barnes #11: Last Chance

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Rick Riordan
About the author

Rick Riordan

Rick Riordan is a teacher and a writer, and has won many awards for his mystery novels for adults. He says that the idea for Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief first came to him while he was teaching Greek mythology at middle school in San Francisco. But rumour has it that Camp Half Blood actually exists, and Rick spends his summers there recording the adventures of young demigods. Some believe that, to avoid a mass panic among the mortal population, he was forced to swear on the River Styx to present Percy Jackson's story as fiction. Rick lives in Texas (apart from his summers on Half Blood Hill) with his wife and two sons.

Books by Rick Riordan

Percy Jackson #1: Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief
Rick Riordan

Percy Jackson #1: Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief

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Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson #2)
Rick Riordan

Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson #2)

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    Percy Jackson and the Titan's Curse (Percy Jackson #3)
    Rick Riordan

    Percy Jackson and the Titan's Curse (Percy Jackson #3)

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      Percy Jackson and the Battle of the Labyrinth (Percy Jackson #4)
      Rick Riordan

      Percy Jackson and the Battle of the Labyrinth (Percy Jackson #4)

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        Percy Jackson and the Last Olympian (Percy Jackson #5)
        Rick Riordan

        Percy Jackson and the Last Olympian (Percy Jackson #5)

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          The Lost Hero: Heroes of Olympus #1
          Rick Riordan

          The Lost Hero: Heroes of Olympus #1

          Retail partners

            Son of Neptune (Heroes of Olympus #2)
            Rick Riordan

            Son of Neptune (Heroes of Olympus #2)

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              The Mark of Athena: Heroes of Olympus #3
              Rick Riordan

              The Mark of Athena: Heroes of Olympus #3

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                House of Hades (Heroes of Olympus #4)
                Rick Riordan

                House of Hades (Heroes of Olympus #4)

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                  The Blood of Olympus: Heroes of Olympus #5
                  Rick Riordan

                  The Blood of Olympus: Heroes of Olympus #5

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