“Reading stories of all kinds is my all-time favourite,” said Thornlie Senior High School student Safiya Aslam, who has been recognised in the 2025 Premier’s Reading Challenge.
Safiya won the Years 7 to 9 prize category and joined other winners at Parliament House, where their achievements were celebrated.
She said the challenge gave her a reason to visit her school library more often.
“Perhaps everyone loves reading books that are not the part of the syllabus, and so do I. Reading story books is the icing on the cake,” she said.
Safiya said she enjoys picture books because they are colourful and help her understand the story visually.
She said she also treasures her ongoing reading of the translation of the Qur’an.
“The book speaks about every aspect of life and gives a philosophy on how we can live with peace and harmony in this world and how we can secure our place in the next world,” she said.
As part of the challenge, one of the books she enjoyed most was ‘The Big Cheese’, a story that showed the value of friendship and the importance of avoiding pride and envy.
The Thornlie Senior High School student believes reading is more than entertainment.
“In this journey, I realised that I have learned so many new words, which eventually made my communication better. The other thing with reading is that you learn so many lessons of life without making so many mistakes in life,” she said.
The Premier’s Reading Challenge ran from April to June and encouraged students across Western Australia to discover the joy of reading. More than 26,000 students took part, reading about 420,000 books.
Education Minister Sabine Winton and Thornlie MLA Colleen Egan joined the winners at Parliament House to celebrate their efforts.
“I’m thrilled that Safiya was drawn as the winner for the Years 7 to 9’ prize category,” MLA Colleen Egan said.
“It reflects not only her own dedication to reading, but is also a nod to all local students that took part in the challenge.”
Ms Egan added that “Reading is so important to fostering imagination and critical thinking, and also lots of fun,” while encouraging people to read widely as they can never know where reading will lead them.
