St Francis Catholic School

I did a talk at Ashburton Intermediate today – told the children a story about how a book about rocks changed someone’s life. After the talk these four boys came sprinting into the library asking where the books on rocks are. ‘Why do you want to read those?’ I asked the boys. ‘We want knowledge,’…
Havelock North Intermediate. My question to the kids: what did you learn from my talk today? Answers: “We can publish books at our age.” “If my work gets rejected – publish it myself.” “My voice is powerful!” “A book is a dream that you hold in your hands.”
I’m working with children from Manurewa West School on a bilingual (Māori and English) book about Matariki. As part of the project we went out to Kurawaka Animation Studio in West Auckland and the children got to learn digital illustration skills from Stan, Dean, Wailer and Jayden. It’s an awesome program they’ve got going teaching…
Today we celebrated Tuvalu Independence Day with the launch of 8 new bilingual Tuvaluan children’s books. The books represent each island in Tuvalu and are written by 8 Tuvaluan young women. As well as the writers the team that made these books is Sagaa Malua (project paramount chief), Alamai Sioni (cultural advisor), Chad Robertson (illustrator),…
Today I visited Wesley College and spoke to the students about dreaming big and how reading helps us discover amazing things about ourselves we never knew before.
I’ve seen a few Book Week parades, where children dress as book characters, but I haven’t seen any do it the way Flat Bush Primary School does it. Dress as people you admire and are inspired by – they could be book characters, might be someone in your own whānau. Parade together as a whole…