The 2016 Christchurch Family Day on Sunday 28 August at the Upper Riccarton Library presented an exciting line up of books, illustration and activities.

Highlights included:

• Birds and Their Beaks: Children enjoyed educational and artistic activities with non-fiction author Gillian Candler.

• Word Detective - Mystery Sentence Hunt: Children scoured the library for words to form
a sentence from Yak and Gnu by Juliette MacIver, illustrated by Cat Chapman. Five lucky winners were
drawn from a box of entrants with the correct answers, and took home a bag of books donated by our
generous New Zealand publishers and the Storylines Trust.

• Lily Max Paperdoll Competition: Gems and fluff and fabric were glued to create some creative
characters in the arts and crafts area. Jane Bloomfield presented winners with t-shirt or book prizes.

• Poetry was Here, There and Everywhere: Greg O’Connell, enthusiastic poetry writer and tutor, and
performer of the Family Poetry Show, graciously organised a poetry panel for adults, including the
venerable local author and poet James Norcliffe, and Auckland guest author and poet Elena De Roo.
Greg also spearheaded two children’s poetry workshops, one for children and one for adults.

• Sports Adventure: Steve Gurney, inspirational speaker and sports enthusiast, took Storylines out of
doors for a tyre repair workshop giving a hands-on demo related to his new book, The Beginner’s Guide
to Adventure Sport in New Zealand.

• Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Te Whānau Tahi Kapa Haka Group: The tamariki of this immersion
school performed a show inspired by the picture book He Taniwha i te Kura (“Taming the Taniwha”), a
story of a boy who is bullied by a nasty taniwha who happens to inhabit his local classroom. The entire
performance was in te reo Māori. The room was crowded with delighted family and friends.

Participants

• Fifi Colston (author/ illustrator)
• Leonie Agnew (author)
• Scott Tulloch (author/ illustrator)
• Jane Bloomfield (author)
• James Norcliffe (author)
• Gillian Candler (author non-fiction)
• Steve Gurney (author non-fiction)
• Elena De Roo (author/ poet)

• Jodie Keehan (Storyteller)
• Greg O’Connell (performance poet)

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