The Curiously Good Book Club
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: The art of the book fair
For Gecko Press, we are looking for what we call curiously good books — books of strong character and good heart, with stories that parents and children will want to read hundreds of times. We are looking for books we feel we haven’t seen before with a harmonious combination of picture and story that sets up an immense hum, larger than the sum of its parts.
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Complete the picture
Click on the image and download activity sheet.
Released this month: Monkey on the Run
A traffic jam becomes the ultimate playground for Monkey as he leaps from one vehicle to another, finding stories as he goes.
If you cant get to your bookshop,
buy here
Book List of the month: Favourite time-travel or fantasy junior adventure novels list by Barbara Else
With Barbara Else’s Harsu and the Werestoat release this month, we asked Barbara about her favourite time-travel books for middle-readers that Harsu’s fans could also enjoy. It is a great list of books worth checking at your favourite book store or library.
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To receive a reading journal, send us an email at [email protected] with ‘Book Club Reading Journal’ subject line and your home address. Currently available to New Zealand club members only.
News
Jump! gets a starred review in Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly gave Jump! a starred review this week.
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Curiously Good Book Club, News
July competition winner: Travelling entertainment
The responses to our July competition proved that some forms of entertainment will never go out of style.
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News
A Dinner Fit for Captain Cook: MBAS Tuia Encounters Dinner
Note: There are still tickets! Mercury Bay Area School and Gecko Press invite you to a themed dinner in celebration of the Tuia 250 events commemorating Captain Cook’s visit to Mercury Bay. Food, nutrition and hospitality teacher at Mercury Bay Area School, Joanna Mannington, is organising the event at the Flaxmill Bay campground during September… Read more »
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Events, News
Sat 14 Sept: Featherston Goes Gobbledegook—A Joy Cowley event
Featherston Booktown and Gecko Press are having a party to launch Joy Cowley’s The Gobbledegook Book for children, illustrated by Giselle Clarkson. Joy will tell stories, Giselle will talk about her illustrations, and Julia Marshall of Gecko Press will tell children how a book is made. There will be a book signing followed by a… Read more »
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Curiously Good Book Club, News
June competition winner: Read-alouds
Thanks for all of your responses to our June read-alouds competition. We’ve built a whole new list of picture books to read aloud.
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Curiously Good Book Club
How to read with babies by Elaine Reese
New parents hear advice about what’s best for their baby on a daily, even hourly basis. One popular piece of advice is “Read to your baby!” Yet no one ever seems to tell new parents how. It’s not easy to read to a baby, especially a newborn. I remember the first time I tried to… Read more »
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Book Lists, Curiously Good Book Club
Scary books loved by Team Wardini
At Gecko Press, we aren’t scared of scary books like Wolfy, Inside the Villains and The Yark. And keep your eyes open for another frightening treat coming later in 2019…
We asked the team at Wardini Books what they recommend to anyone who is ready for a good scare.
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Curiously Good Book Club
Why scary is good
Wolfy by Grégoire Solotareff is an enduring bestseller and a watershed in French illustration. It is a masterful picture book about a rabbit and a wolf who want to be best friends. A bestseller in France, it is known and loved by two generations of teachers, librarians, parents and children. For this new paperback edition Grégoire… Read more »
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Book Lists
Pigs in books
Pigs can’t fly. They can’t run fast. But they make life peaceful and merry. I hope everyone can enjoy some wonderful pig books in this year of the pig.
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News
Oink – Publisher’s Weekly Starred Review
Oink has received a starred review by Publisher’s Weekly. “Eager to take a bath, a pig hangs his towel from the stepladder and climbs into the tub. It closes its eyes contentedly, but the moment of quiet is cut short by a knock on the door. A sheep, dressed in a skirted swimsuit and carrying… Read more »
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Do you love good books for children?
