Children's book launched

Celebrating the launch of the children's book Stars of Orion, which outlines the history of the gold rush around Lawrence, are (back from left) David Still, illustrator P.G.Rob, author Diane Miller, husband and bookseller Brian Miller, Kendra Crawford (12), and (front) Finlay Bell (2) and Adam Craig (7).

The book, Stars of Orion, was written by Diane Miller and lays out the history of Gabriel's Gully through the eyes of a child.

As they moved around the country with their travelling bookstore, Mrs Miller and her husband, Brian, discovered there was a lack of books on New Zealand's history written for children.

"It's very important for children to know the history of the area around them," Mrs Miller said.

Now based in Macandrew Bay, she said it was also very important to have a child character in her stories as "you can tell stories about adults to children, but they don't relate to adults very much."

The three best-dressed children at the launch were each awarded a copy of the book on Sunday.

Mr Miller said "heaps" of books were sold at the 150th celebrations in Gabriel's Gully during the long weekend.

Copies of Stars of Orion would be available in local bookstores, he said.