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Dunedin pupils are discovering the magic of literature during a nationwide celebration of local stories.
This week, schools across the country are participating in the first Aotearoa New Zealand Children’s Book Week.
Read NZ Te Pou Muramura organised the festival as an invitation to celebrate domestic writers and pukapuka (books) and to encourage children to read, under the theme “Reading Around Aotearoa”.
Andersons Bay School is one of many taking part in literary-themed activities during the week.
Principal Pauline Simpson said the celebration was all about the pleasure of reading.
“Reading opens the door to the world, and that’s really what we want,” Mrs Simpson said.
“The love of reading.”
Staff have scheduled several book-focused activity sessions to mark the occasion.
Teacher Miranda Bloxham said some of the events included parents coming in to the school to read at lunchtime and a “read-a-thon” which raised money for new books for the library.
All classes gathered at 11am on Monday to participate in a live national read-along.
Pupils joined classrooms across the country to listen to a storytelling session of the picture book Dazzlehands.
Author Sacha Cotter and illustrator Josh Morgan led the reading, alongside Kawata Teepa, who translated the text into te reo Māori.
Ōtepoti Unesco City of Literature organised a visit by local author Swapna Haddow who spoke to year 3 classes about her career and read an excerpt from her book The Terrible Trio.
“This is my first graphic novel series published in New Zealand, so it’s really fun to celebrate with you guys this book,” Ms Haddow said.
During her presentation, she discussed travelling to China to assist as a volunteer after an earthquake displaced native wildlife.
The experience influenced her Bad Panda series.
“This series is about a panda that has a lot of tantrums.
“I never met a bad panda that day, I met just very nice pandas.”
The week of activities at Andersons Bay School will conclude on Friday, August 21, with a book character dress-up day.