I’m chuffed to bits to be September’s Open University Reading for Pleasure Author in the Spotlight. You can read about my favourite books and why I choose to read here, with a handy download for classrooms and projects available too.
Thank you to The Open University and all they do to encourage reading for pleasure.
It’s launch day for Dave Pigeon (Zombies!) and I got to share the day with Mr Dilly, superstar authors Lisa Williamson, Lucy Strange, Steve May, James Turner, Justin Somper, Anne Fargher AND a whopping three thousand children!
We took on the speed round of introducing our books in less than a minute and then got to share a reading from each of our books – this was my first reading of Dave Pigeon (Zombies!) and I’m so chuffed it was with so many brilliant schools.
Thank you to everyone who sent in questions for the author panel and happy reading to everyone who picks up a copy of Dave Pigeon (Zombies!) in time for the spooky season.
It’s the start of spooky season and Dave and Skipper are back with their latest book. There are zombie animals in the garden and Dave and Skipper think this is the work of some dreaded green jammy biscuits.
But a cookie’s a cookie, and Dave can’t resist taking a peck. Now Skipper is in quite the flap! Is Dave about to turn into a zombie? You’ll have to pick up a copy of Dave Pigeon (Zombies!) and find out.
You can have a go at making your very own zombie cookies with this recipe and check out all the Dave Pigeon free activity sheets here too. And if you are out and about, do check out the immersive spooOOOoky October half term trail at Birdworld Farnham! All the event details are here.
Happy reading and happy Haddoweeeeen!
It was the final day of the But Then Library Tour today and we completed our tour of the Dunedin Libraries with Waikouaiti Library.
Waikouaiti School and Karitāne School joined us for the But Then readathon and they had heaps of questions too. I was asked about how books are made, whether I write in notebooks or on the computer and which of my books was my favourite. But my favourite question of all was ‘do you like watching TV?’ and I couldn’t have said ‘YES’ loud enough!
Thank you to all the schools who joined me on the But Then Dunedin Libraries Tour and all the brilliant librarians who hosted me. In total, I saw over 115 kids and six schools got involved. So the biggest thank you of all has to go to Su Ikin from the Dunedin Libraries outreach programme who organised the tour and looked after me so well.
Did you know September is International Sign Up For A Library Card month? Go get yourself a library card this month, (or any month), if you haven’t already!
It was so exciting to swing by the site for the brand new South Dunedin Library coming next year. With all the struts in place, it was brilliant to see what a incredible space it will be.
But until next year, the awesome librarians at the South Dunedin Pop Up Library are holding down the fort and making sure South Dunedin have access to heaps of books and services in the community. And I got to take the But Then Library Tour to them today.
Bathgate School popped in for a But Then story time and crafts session and even got to take away their very own penguin reading buddies.
I spent day 3 of the But Then Library Tour with Elmgrove School.
We had a read of the book, heard about all the penguins, whales and seals they had seen and then made some excellent librarian/Grandad glasses inspired by the characters in the book.
It’s Day 2 of the But Then Library Tour with Dunedin Libraries and I started the day chatting to Jeff at OARfm about the tour. We spoke about the book and what inspired the story and my love of libraries. I even revealed TOP SECRET news that Daron and I were working on a follow up to But Then… so watch this space for more exciting news on that.
Port Chalmers School popped along to Port Chalmers Library to join in But Then… fun and we created a whole flock of albatrosses and penguins and a herd of seals too!
Thank you to Simon from The Star for popping along and writing about the tour in the paper this week.
It’s Day 1 of the But Then Library Tour with Dunedin Libraries to celebrate the launch of But Then…. The plan is to have a MEGA readathon of the book at ALL the public libraries across Dunedin.
We started at Blueskin Bay Library and Waitati School came to visit.
And after a reading of the book, the children got to work making their very own Grandad and librarian glasses and designing their own library cards.
Stay tuned for more But Then fun from the But Then Library Tour with Dunedin Libraries.
It’s the end of the Storylines Northland Tour and despite a sore throat, I made it to the end of the week without losing my voice. Day 4 started at Pukepoto School with Years 4, 5 and 6. We talked about my books and I told them the real story behind But Then.
Next up was Awanui School and I was visiting with Vasanti Unka. There was a puppet storytelling and Vasanti and Years 1, 2, 3 and the nearby kindy helped draw Vasanti’s invisible friend Niko.
My last visit of Day 4 was to Waihārara School, the northern most school in the Far North that we were visiting on the tour. I read But Then to the whole school and they helped me out with their impressive animals sounds.
And then it was time for an ice cream during a stop at Cable Bay.
Favourite comment of Day 4: I have seen a penguin. Unfortunately, it was because my dad ran over it.
And then it was time for Day 5 and I was off to visit the final school of the tour. It was a fantastic finish to the week as Years 0, 1, 2 and 3 from Oruaiti School helped me design library card full of overdue excuses that included sliding down a rainbow and dropping it, leaving it on the moon and Mum holding on to it for too long.
What an awesome tour. Here are some epic stats: in total, we travelled over 1420km, saw approximately 3223 pupils and made 29 stops! Thank you to brilliant Anne for looking after us so well all week. And thank you, beautiful Northland!
Favourite comment of Day 5: My favourite place to read my book is in my classroom with my class.
Kia ora Day 3 and finally a full day of the famous gorgeous Northland sunshine! My day started at Ohaeawai School with Years 0, 1, 2 and 3. They did a brilliant job of sussing out all my fibs in a game of Two Truths and A Lie and then we created 76 brand new library cards full of excuses for overdue books. There were naughty nanas, cruise ships and pirates.
I then got to visit Kawakawa Primary School and spoke to Years 2, 3 and 4. We came up with 45 brand new But Then… stories and we heard about sharks, volcanoes and teachers who stole books!
My final visit was to Umawera School, where Vasanti Unka, Angie Belcher and I teamed up to talk about out books. I love listening to Vasanti and Angie and came away inspired to get back to my desk to write again.
After an ice cream and a trip to Ahipara beach, it was time for dinner and a sleep.
Favourite question of the day: Is that Angie riding a hammerhead shark?
