Read to Succeed

Tamatea Intermediate students are Writing Warriors! Look how focused they are.

Today we had another launch for the book, Rise of the To’a, the MMT story. This launch was held for the Tongan community at Lesieli Tonga church in Mangere. It’s been an amazing blessing to be part of this work and to learn a little about Tongan culture. A big malo ‘aupito to ‘Alisi Tatafu…

Today I was blessed to be invited to St Mary MacKillop School in Mangere as their “Author of the Month.” The student librarians wrote to me asking if I could visit because they want their friends and peers to do more reading. I think it’s so awesome that these young people have so much love…

These are some of the children I’ve been working with to write a Chinese story teaching children what to do in a thunderstorm. They are members of the New Zealand Multicultural Arts and Sports Center, a group dedicated to the cultural and educational development of young people from the age of three. They provide free…

Kinaua Ewels is a Kiribati-Kiwi primary school teacher who shared an amazing story about her grandfather, Konererio, with me. He was a ‘Coastwatcher’ during World War II and saved many people’s lives because of his bravery. Kinaua asked if we could work together to make a children’s book based on that story and here it…

I’m making a new book about Black Ferns Sevens try-scoring machine Michaela Blyde. It’s called Strike Hard! The illustrator is Sarah Trolle and Sarah is a teacher too! The korero that goes with this particular picture is that the Black Ferns Sevens team see themselves as a waka, that leaves mana in its wake. “The…