We want to thank everyone for another amazing summer and thank you for your patience while we reveal some exciting news!
We are beyond thrilled to share that Lauren Achtem is our BC SRC 2025 Artist! Lauren has worked behind-the-scenes for BC SRC as our graphic designer since 2023 and we’re excited to support her leap into children’s illustration work.
Lauren’s Biography:
Lauren Achtem is a local illustrator and designer from Vancouver, BC. She has worked on many print & digital projects in Canada, Hong Kong and Japan, particularly for English language learning materials for Children. With a specialty in drawing fun animal illustrations for children. She will be releasing a new book written and illustrated by her in May 2025, called, My Mommy is So Strong! Her most recent project is for BC libraries – the 2025 BC Summer Reading Club.
Lastly, we’re thrilled to share that the 2025 theme is Colour Your Summer! We’re looking forward to a bright and fun program featuring the following sub-themes:
- Red Carpet – Celebrating music, film, and theatre
- Outrageous Orange – Geology and all things rock-related
- Yellow Brick Road – Fantasy and other worlds
- Growing Green – Biology and nature
- Ocean Blue – Oceans (obviously :)!)
- Indi-GO – Planes, trains, and automobiles
- Ultra-Violet – Art and history
We’ll be taking theme recommendations for 2026, so please submit your ideas. We want to acknowledge that themes should be appropriate for the spirit of SRC. While we understand that theme suggestions are submitted with good intentions, suggestions related to EDI (equity, diversity, and inclusion), cultural identity, and Indigeneity are not “themes”. We know that these topics are incredibly valuable and do have a place in children’s services/programs, and should be approached with thought and consideration. However, an SRC tagline is not that space.
