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.
Curiously Good Book Club, News
September competition winner: Toitoi–Gecko Press competition for young writers and artists
Our readers have been busy this month, creating entries for our September competition.
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Book Lists, Curiously Good Book Club
Book list: Interactive and lift-the-flaps
Just in time for Halloween, we have a new adventure from Clotilde Perrin, author of Inside the Villains. The House of Madame M is a thrilling, spooky work of paper-engineering and imagination. Anna Low from Potts Point Bookshop in Elizabeth Bay, Australia has sent us a round-up of her favourite interactive and lift-the-flap books. There… Read more »
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Curiously Good Book Club
The Gobbledegook Book: Q&A with Giselle Clarkson
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.
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Curiously Good Book Club, News
August competition winner: Extraordinary achievements
We can tell from the responses to our August competition that we have some extraordinary readers in our community!
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Events, News
Four days until our FREE Joy Cowley Gobbledegook 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 »
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Book Lists, Curiously Good Book Club, News
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 »
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News
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 »
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Curiously Good Book Club, News
School Library Journal reviews Otto Goes North
Otto Goes North is reviewed in the School Library Journal in their September issue.
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Book Lists, Curiously Good Book Club, News
Book list: Children’s poetry
At Gecko Press, we’re big fans of poetry and nonsense rhymes. We’re excited about the upcoming launch of The Gobbledegook Book: A Joy Cowley Anthology, illustrated by Giselle Clarkson. So we wanted to share the joy of children’s poetry with you.
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News
Eirlys Hunter on RNZ
Eirlys Hunter is on RNZ talking about some of her favourite media.
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Do you love good books for children?
