A group of lucky Y7 students took part in a live reading session with NZ’s award-winning author Tania Roxborgh last month.

She read two chapters of her novel ‘Charlie Tangaroa and the Creature from the Sea’, last year’s Margaret Mahy Book of the Year. The students from Mr Hesqua’s Y7 class also gained her insights on being an author and writing tips. A great way to kick-start the class’ Novel Studies work.

The Roxborgh reading session is part of HELL’s Great NZ Book Trip which brings authors into classrooms to foster child readership.

Set in Tolaga Bay, the book tells the story of Charlie, a disabled Māori boy who meets a mermaid on the beach. It weaves in Māori mythology, and Charlie finds himself mediating between battling, sibling gods.