Book Week brings colourful costumes and parades, especially in primary schools. At Yankalilla Area School, middle school teacher Narissa Dunn wanted something more – a way to make the week matter for her older students and reignite their motivation to read.

So she got creative.

Picture a classroom with tables covered with menus, background café music playing softly, and a wooden coffee machine sitting at the front. Instead of ordering lattes, students are ‘ordering’ novels. It’s Starbooks — a book-tasting café helping students sample and savour new stories.

The classroom café wasn’t just a gimmick. For Narissa, it was a deliberate strategy: reframing reading as a social and enjoyable experience rather than a pressured task. By transforming the environment, she shifted how students approached reading.

‘It was about working with the context I had,’ Narissa explains. ‘These are kids who thrive on community, humour and connection. So I thought — what if I built a reading experience around those things?’

The impact was immediate.

‘It created a different energy,’ she says. ‘They were laughing, relaxed and curious. Even reluctant readers who hadn’t finished a book in years were willing to give it a go.’

Supporting all learners

For students with dyslexia or reading anxiety, Narissa sourced and set up an audiobook app – where voices of celebrities and influencers could read a story. The voice of popular Youtuber ‘Mr Beast’ was a big hit. Importantly, it opened a pathway into texts for students who might otherwise have been left out.

‘Some of my students with dyslexia told me, “This is the first time I’ve enjoyed reading in class,”’ Narissa recalls. ‘That’s the shift we need to make.’

For Narissa, it’s also about giving older students access to texts that speak to them. As part of Book Week, she makes a point of ordering titles from the Children’s Book Council of Australia’s 2025 Book of the Year Awards – Notables list.

‘I don’t just order the picture books — I make sure to get Notables for young and older readers too. They deal with heavier themes, but at a level that really engages my upper primary and middle school students.’

When Narissa extended the project to her Year 5s and 6s, she paired them with Year 10 reading buddies — and saw a new level of excitement.

‘The younger kids’ faces just lit up when the older ones walked in,’ she recalls. ‘And for the Year 10s, it gave them a new role too — suddenly, they were mentors.’

The connections have lasted well beyond the classroom. Students who once ignored each other now greet each other at netball games, bonded by shared reading.

Narissa is quick to point out that Starbooks, which she plans to continue using in future years, isn’t about perfection or Pinterest-worthy displays. It’s about the intentional creativity that teachers bring to meet their learners where they are.

‘I don’t want reading to feel like another assessment task, or a scoreboard,’ she says. ‘I want it to feel like a shared experience — something fun, memorable and human. That’s when kids start seeing themselves as readers, not just in the classroom, but for life.’

Transforming teaching practice

For Narissa, the project has been transformative too. Starbooks has opened up new ways to integrate creativity, student voice and cross-age learning into her practice.

‘It has reminded me that creativity in teaching doesn’t have to be complicated,’ she reflects. ‘It’s about designing experiences that connect with your students’ world. Starbooks has given me confidence to keep experimenting — and to trust that when learning feels authentic, engagement follows.’

The department has a strong focus on literacy learning and shares evidence-informed strategies to help all students enjoy reading and succeed. Watch these short videos to see how literacy research is supporting learning across South Australia: Literacy learning research to inform teaching