Book launch at school

Port Chalmers author Julie Fawcett, her 8-year-old Samoyed dog Angel-Louise and (from left) Lilly Singh (8), Hoani Singh (12), Pyper Swete (6), Hunter Swete (6), Finn Fraser (6) and Connor Fraser (7) at the launch of her third book, Train Trip Across the Mountains, at Sawyers Bay School this week.

Miss Fawcett said the evening launch was a small but ''wonderful'' event, and followed the launch of her second self-published book, Merlin's Magical Door to Nowhere, at the same school in 2015.

Australian-born and a trained librarian, Miss Fawcett decided to move to the Dunedin area after working at the Macraes mine in 2011. Characters from the area are woven into some of her illustrated books.

She is also keen to promote literacy, and gave children at the book launch copies of her latest book.