A BOOK of five superheroes created by Frankston primary school students was launched on Thursday 9 July at Frankston Library, as a joint project between Anglicare Victoria’s Communities for Children Frankston program and Mission Australia.
Finding your superpower: An adventure with Ash and friends tells the story of five characters representing environmentalism, learning, safety, health, and kindness. It was developed with the school children, and based on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which sets out 54 rights for children worldwide.
“It was an idea amongst the team,” said Communities for Children Frankston’s Erin Crockett. “It was only around the end of last year that it formulated, so it’s happened really quickly.”
Six workshops were held with six local primary schools earlier this year, engaging students in Grades Three and Four to help shape each superhero and their story. Separately, almost 600 students across eight schools voted on which of the five superheroes Frankston needed most, with Heartina Hug, who represents kindness, emerging as the winner.
“We were asking specific questions about the superheroes,” said Crockett. “Where would they find them in Frankston, what superpowers would they have, how would they make you feel – and from that we were able to then create a narrative of that superhero for the book, based all on the children’s voices of how they described them.”
The workshops involved Ballam Park Primary School, Frankston Primary School, Kananook Primary School, Karingal Heights Primary School, Mahogany Rise Primary School, Naranga School and St John’s Catholic Primary School.
The five superheroes are linked through the story’s narrator, Ash, a boy who meets each character while riding his bike.
“Along the way Ash meets all these superheroes and gets them to help him on his journey with their superpowers,” said Crockett.
The superhero illustrations were designed by Blue Giant, incorporating feedback gathered from children during the workshops.
Mission Australia came on board after being approached by Communities for Children Frankston, funding the book’s publication and running the launch event.
“Communities for Children explained they were working with the school kids to create this book, and they felt that through our connection with families and parents, we might be able to also have a little bit of collaboration with them,” said Mission Australia’s Lorna Jordan. “We come into the part of being able to pay for the publishing of the book, to be able to bring the book to life, and to be able to share that book within the community, and also undertake the launch.”
The book includes a QR code linking to Mission Australia’s Parent Pathways program, a free service supporting parents of children under six as they work towards education, employment and stronger community connections.
“Our programme is called Parent Pathways, and it’s about working with parents who have children under the age of six,” said Jordan. “We work with those parents to help them create some goals, so that when their children go off to school and they need to go off and find employment, we’ve got them all set up and ready to be able to do that – not just into everyday jobs, but jobs that are purposeful and meaningful for them. It’s a free, voluntary service, and it’s very easy for parents to get in touch and find out if they’re eligible.”
Jordan said the partnership had run smoothly from the outset, with the two organisations finding a natural fit in their shared purpose within the community.
“There weren’t any hiccups along the way,” said Jordan. “It’s a good example of two organisations with a common purpose – Communities for Children take the children to their programs, and the parents of those children probably need some of the support we can offer as well, so it worked really well. We have very similar purposes behind our organisations – we both just want to enhance what’s out there in community and lift the profile of the community for families.”
Copies of Finding your superpower: An adventure with Ash and friends are available free from Frankston Library while stocks last.
First published in the Frankston Times – 14 July 2026
