This week I’ve visited three schools who have been taking part in #NZReadaloud and reading The Bold Ship Phenomenal : Selwyn Ridge in W...

A photo from the 2016 New Zealand Children's Book Awards ceremony, held at Circa Theatre in Wellington on 8 August 2016.     These...

It's the season for school visits and I've had several fabulous ones recently, with more scheduled for next month. The wonderful p...

  I'm so excited that The Bold Ship Phenomenal has been shortlisted for the 2016 New Zealand Children's Book Awards . The...

I love to walk, and lots of ideas for new stories and snippets for stories I am working on come to me when I am out and about. This is not u...

  There’s a witches’ cauldron on Ngarunui Beach. Have you seen it? Three dinosaur eggs lie inside, smooth as stone.   Enormo...

Ben built me my own whare manaaki tangata.   Here it is in action at the Waikato Show last weekend, where, along with Judi Billcliff a...

Last year I had shed envy (for Dawn McMillan’s writing hut overlooking the Thames coast). Now I have bookshelf envy. I have just finished...

I'm grinning from ear to ear. The Bold Ship Phenomenal  has been awarded a Storylines Notable Book Award for 2016 . I'm so chuf...

What is it about egg-shaped chocolate that makes it taste so much better? To celebrate the arrival of Easter eggs in the shops (one of my ...

A nice review of my book by New Zealand book girl (Chrissi Blair) on her blog. I've had a great time this morning trawling through...

I think it's as important to celebrate the year that's just past (or if it hasn't been happy, to at least acknowledge it), as ...

I'm chuffed that my book, The Bold Ship Phenomenal , was listed by The New Zealand Herald 's Canvas magazine as one of the best book...

I have just finished reading Sue Copsey's fabulous ghost story for kids - The Ghosts of Tarawera (Treehouse Books, 2015). The Ghosts...

Everywhere I go, I see Wooden Arms houses. Homes and buildings that have been used, inhabited, perhaps cherished, and now have been left b...

Look at this wonderful blog post by the kids in Room 8 at Pukete School. Thanks guys, I had such a nice time... Room 8 is GREAT!: Author ...

Weigh-heigh! Tomorrow is International Talk Like a Pirate Day. To celebrate, I'm giving away a pirate flag and a bar of gold (Old ...

Tui Allen has loaded this review about my book on Goodreads . Tui is an author in her own right, and our local New Zealand Society of A...

What a week! On Saturday I launched my latest children's book (twice) at the Word Café writers and readers festival: once for adults an...