Functional Solutions International PTY LTD

This week, our Managing Director shared this photo with the team after spotting a "Blind Date with a Book" display at Harry Hartog over the weekend.

It immediately reminded us of *Project Lighthouse 2025*.

One of the many ideas we first heard from the incredible school librarians who attended Lighthouse was this simple concept: wrap a book, give just a few clues about what's inside, and let curiosity do the rest.

Seeing the same idea embraced by a major bookseller like Harry Hartog only reinforces what we've always believed: *school libraries are often where some of the best reading engagement ideas begin.*

It's also why we included "Blind Date with a Book" as one of the practical engagement ideas in our *2026 School Library Toolkit*. Sometimes inspiring a student to read isn't about buying more books. It's about presenting them in a way that sparks curiosity.

A huge shoutout to everyone involved in *Project Lighthouse* and to the librarians who continually inspire us with ideas that make reading exciting.

If you're looking for practical, low-cost ways to increase engagement in your school library, you can download a free copy of the **2026 School Library Toolkit** here:

https://zurl.co/2YgC1

Donald and Eva were in Adelaide for SLASA... they had an absolute ball with all of our customers and delegates.

Conferences aren't just sitting at a booth for us... they're about connecting with people and hearing the stories right in the thick of learning. AND... they do some AMAZING things for us.

Did you know the "FSI Marketplace" was born from the 2024 ALIA conference?

Hot off the heels of Project Lighthouse, Quentin and the team began speaking with sponsors, sharing what we'd learnt and talking about what we're doing... that's when partners like ALS Library Services Pty Ltd , Raeco , Culture Counts and Seven Steps To Writing Success said "you know what... we want to get on board with this"... next minute we needed a platform and an ecosystem to manage the amazing discounts our partners were providing for our schools.

We don't like sitting down... we're always moving... fighting the fight for School Libraries.

https://zurl.co/GfD8l

Yesterday you smashed our quiz — Jackie French, ✅.

Here's the Sunday gift. One ACARA v9 curriculum code for each of the three titles we featured — that you'd never have to map yourself.

📕 Diary of a Wombat (Jackie French + Bruce Whatley)
AC9E1LE03 — "Discuss plot, character and setting, which are features of stories"

📕 Hitler's Daughter (Jackie French)
AC9HC8K05 — "How culture and religion may influence individuals' and groups' perceptions and expressions of citizenship and their actions as citizens"

📕 A Rose for the Anzac Boys (Jackie French)
AC9HP6P03 — "Investigate how the portrayal of societal roles and responsibilities can be influenced by gender stereotypes"

That's three codes. The full mapping across these three titles is dozens more across English, HASS and Cross-Curriculum Priorities alone.

With SmartSuite Library + ACARA-Sync, every one of those codes would already be on the book record the moment you catalogued it. No spreadsheets. No retyping. No "I'll get to it next term." Just there when the classroom teacher walks in asking what they can use for Year 1 character work — or Year 8 Holocaust studies — or Year 6 Anzac unit.

One author. Three completely different year levels. One catalogue doing the heavy lifting.

See how ACARA-Sync works → https://zurl.co/2NXnO

The reveal.

She is Jackie French AM.

Author of more than 200 books across more than 30 years.
Former Australian Children's Laureate (2014–2015).
Senior Australian of the Year (2015).
Member of the Order of Australia.
Books published in 36 languages, with more than 60 literary awards in Australia and overseas.

Three of her best-known titles to get you started:

📕 Diary of a Wombat
📕 Hitler's Daughter
📕 A Rose for the Anzac Boys

She is also dyslexic. She still jokes that she can't spell. She wrote her first book at age 30, in a shed, to pay her car registration. She has since become one of the most prolific and respected children's authors this country has ever produced.

Jackie's story is a reminder that the page belongs to everyone. Every reader. Every writer. Every child who's been told they're not the writing type. There is no one way in.

"A book can change a child's life. A book can change the world." — Jackie French

COME ON SLASA 2026!!!

Day 2 - Eva and Donald are pumped, so many delegates blown away by SmartSuite Library's new Discovery Search 😎

(Have you asked Donald about the new SmartSuite sneak peak yet? 😉🤫)

FSI Weekend Quiz time.

Who Am I: Name the Australian author.

Plot twist alert — this lady's story has one of the biggest plot twists in Australian children's literature.

🔹 As a child she struggled with reading, writing and spelling because of dyslexia. She still jokes that she can't spell.
🔹 She used to hide in cupboards to write stories in secret.
🔹 She wrote her first children's book at age 30 while living in a shed and needing money to register her car.
🔹 She has since written more than 200 books for children, teens and adults.
🔹 She's a former Australian Children's Laureate, a Senior Australian of the Year, and a Member of the Order of Australia.

Name her in the comments. Bonus points if you can name three of her books.
Reveal tonight at 6pm.

Every student stands in front of the library catalogue and freezes at the same moment:

"I don't know what to search."

So we built one more thing, sitting right next to the search bar. We called it Help Me Find.

Tell it the vibe. The mood. The genre. The reading level.

"Something a bit like Wonder, but not as sad."
"A funny chapter book my Year 4s can finish in a weekend."
"An Aussie author for NAIDOC Week."

Help Me Find takes it from there. Books from your shelves. Videos from TV4Education. In front of the student in seconds.

Loading shortly, free for every SmartSuite Library school.

See where it lives → https://zurl.co/LCFwq

Plot Twist: There is now a library system you don't have to search. 📚✨

You read that right.

SmartSuite Library's new **Discover**, **Help Me Find**, and **Recommendations** mean students stop hunting and start finding. Less searching, more reading. Less friction, more powerful thought.

Fitting, really, because that's exactly what SLASA 2026: Plot Twist – From Page to Powerful Thought is all about. Donald and Eva are at the FSI booth at the Hotel Grand Chancellor in Adelaide today and tomorrow. Come say hi, put the new discovery experience through its paces, and tell us what your library actually needs next.

🎁 $150 giveaway at the stand. Don't be shy.

🤫 And if you lean in close, ask Donald about the feature we're launching in a few weeks. He's a terrible secret-keeper.

🔗 Plot Twist: https://zurl.co/CJWqn

Here's something SmartSuite Library has been doing for our librarians for over 6 years:

A student finds "bad guys" in their library's collection. But they also see other books by that author, similar series, and film adaptations sitting alongside:
📕 The Bad Guys series — Aaron Blabey
🎬 The Bad Guys (2022) — the original animated film
🎬 The Bad Guys 2 (2025) — the brand new sequel

All from inside the catalogue. All licensed for classroom use. All connected automatically.

This isn't a manual link. SmartSuite Library connects every book in your catalogue to its film, TV, author interviews and related content in TV4Education automatically. As a librarian you don't tag anything. You don't curate anything. You just keep doing your job, and the connections appear underneath.

The book is still the hero. The screen version sits politely next to it.

Want to see your own collection light up like this?
👉 https://zurl.co/5DIGL