At Gecko Press, we believe that one good book can spark a lifetime love of reading.
We have built a digital and real-life community where people can share knowledge about great books for children (not just our books) and find creative ways to encourage children to love to read.
The Curiously Good Book Club takes books to places they are not normally found and works with anyone who wants to encourage a child to love to read. The Club brings together the entire book ecosystem – libraries, booksellers, schools, families, children.
If you want our help to organize an event, create a book club, or if you have ideas to promote children’s books and reading, please join the Club and share them with us. The aim of the Curiously Good Book Club is simple – that every child loves to read.
Do you want to receive our monthly newsletter, Book Club members-only content, events invitations and special offers?
Book Club Blog: ‘Nothing with pictures. No pictures!’
By Trevor Agnew
We all know that books for young people are important. Except that some people seem to think that picture books are just an optional extra. They’re for toddlers to chew on – sometimes literally – until they get down to real reading. I still remember a fellow teacher who brought his classes into the school library to borrow books, shouting his final instruction, ‘Nothing with pictures. No pictures.’
Book List of the month: Puberty books for all ages
In November, we are releasing Tell Me, a book full of answers to real questions from 8-year-olds, covering what they really want to know about bodies, sex and emotions. Ella Sharpe, manager of the Younger Sun Bookshop in Yarraville, Australia, has provided us with a great list of other popular books on this topic.
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Book Lists, Curiously Good Book Club, Events, News
Book list: Reimagined classics
On Wednesday 4th March, The Children’s Bookshop in Kilbirnie will be hosting illustrators Giselle Clarkson, Kieran Rynhart and Kimberly Andrews, to discuss how they approached reillustrating the work and characters of iconic writers.
A Curiously Good opportunity: Publishing and marketing role with Gecko Press
Gecko Press is seeking a publishing allrounder with a focus on marketing for our central Wellington office. We are looking for someone with initiative, confidence and a deep interest in children’s books; a quick worker who thrives on getting things done.
Monkey on the Run chosen for New York Times/NY Public Library 10 Best Illustrated Children’s Books
Monkey on the Run, by award-winning Belgian picture book author-illustrator Leo Timmers, has been selected for the New York Times / New York Public Library Best Illustrated Children’s Books of 2019.
Giselle Clarkson is a freelance illustrator and comic artist, and the illustrator of The Gobbledegook Book. She illustrated Secret World of Butterflies (2017) and is best known for her illustrations for conservation and environmental projects, and of biscuits—Common Household Biscuits & Slices of New Zealand was a viral hit. She lives in Wellington, New Zealand.
Book list: Celebrating books published in te reo Māori
In honour of Te Wiki o te Reo Māori (9–15 Mahuru, 2019), we want to celebrate the increasing number of books being published in te reo Māori. We asked Lucy Ira Bailey (Te Ati Awa, Ngāti Mutunga, Taranaki), the senior bookseller at The Children’s Bookshop in Wellington, to curate a list for us. Find these… Read more »
Julia featured as a ‘rebel CEO’ in September Kia Ora magazine
Julia has been featured as a rebel CEO, alongside Hamish Johnson of Flying Saucer and Anna Dean and Angela Meyer of Double Denim in Air New Zealand’s September issue of Kia Ora magazine. “Gecko Press works hard to stay true to its vision of publishing curiously good books from around the world – to actively publish books… Read more »
Sat 14 Sept: Featherston Goes Gobbledegook—A Joy Cowley event
Featherston Booktown and Gecko Press are celebrating the joyous new anthology of much-loved poems and stories by Joy Cowley, The Gobbledegook Book, illustrated by Giselle Clarkson. Don’t miss this chance to hear Joy recite gobbledegook poems and stories. There will be books for sale with Mr Feathers Den, Joy and Giselle will be signing and a scrumptious… Read more »
The Curiously Good Book Club
The Curiously Good Book Club
