{"id":65704,"date":"2025-08-13T04:39:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-13T04:39:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/65704\/"},"modified":"2025-08-13T04:39:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-13T04:39:10","slug":"i-can-still-hear-my-mum-reading-it-to-me-kate-preece-on-the-power-of-picture-books","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/65704\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I can still hear my mum reading it to me\u2019: Kate Preece on the power of picture books"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome to The Spinoff Books Confessional<\/a>, in which we get to know the reading habits of Aotearoa writers, and guests. This week: Kate Preece, author of Ten Nosey Weka<\/a> (illustrated by Isobel Joy Te Aho-White) which is a finalist for the The BookHub Picture Book Award at the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The book I wish I\u2019d written<\/p>\n

Girl A by Abigail Dean. It is the type of thriller I would want my name on \u2013 not because of its (horrific) true crime-inspired subject matter, but because of the way everything you\u2019ve learnt is turned on its head by the final page. Plus, the success story for this debut novel is every author\u2019s dream, from nine publishers competing for her manuscript at an auction, to Sony securing the screen rights. <\/p>\n

Everyone should read<\/p>\n

Small Great Things because of Jodi Picoult\u2019s character-building mastery. It is so uncomfortable to be placed in the mind of a white supremacist. He\u2019s just one character, in one of her many novels, but I remember him \u2013 or rather, I remember what he felt. I admit to being a late-comer to the Picoult fan club, but she (and Kristin Hannah) are now my go-to authors.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The book I want to be buried with<\/p>\n

\u2026 hasn\u2019t been written yet. It will be the last one I ever read. It will be something worth reading, because it will take me on my final journey. <\/p>\n

Dystopia or utopia<\/p>\n

Dystopia, particularly when its reality is disturbingly imaginable \u2013 or when the concept makes you see things completely differently. I really enjoyed The Measure\u00a0by Nikki Erlick, which pits eight people against their own mortality. Overnight, named boxes appear on every doorstep in the world, each containing a piece of string. The length of the string tells its owner how long they have left to live. From the choice of whether or not to open your box, through to the world\u2019s rapid development of prejudices in relation to life expectancies, I found the storyline very thought-provoking.<\/p>\n

\"\"From left to right: the book Kate Preece suggests we all read; the book that made her cry; and the book she wishes she\u2019d written.
\nFiction or nonfiction<\/p>\n

Fiction, for my pleasure, but I believe nonfiction is a really powerful tool for children. Often, it can be what gets kids into reading \u2013 it satisfies their curiosity for the world around them, and they forget that they\u2019re actually reading. That\u2019s why I couldn\u2019t help myself from including facts in my books \u2013 did you know that the parea (Chatham Island wood pigeon) is a packet of biscuits heavier than a kerer\u016b?<\/p>\n

The book that haunts me<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a book that haunts me from my childhood. When the sun is setting and pink and blue colours are cast across the sky, I see this book. The problem is I have no idea what it\u2019s called! There are pink and a blue cloud parents (think 1980s), and a purple child. It was almost comic-like, and possibly within a collection of stories \u2026 Sometimes, I can see a red cover. So yes, haunted.<\/p>\n

The book that made me laugh<\/p>\n

Fox in Socks. A classic Dr Seuss tongue-twister, it\u2019s such a great read-aloud book. I have many fond memories of reading it to my children as quickly as humanly possible.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The book that made me cry<\/p>\n

After a long spate of reading only Val McDermid\u2019s Tony Hill and DCI Carol Jordan series \u2013 so well written that the intensely gruesome crime scenes made sense (until you tried to relay them to someone else) \u2013 Where the Crawdads Sing moved me to tears. I am yet to see what the big-screen did to Delia Owens\u2019 bestseller, but something tells me that I don\u2019t want to.<\/p>\n

Greatest New Zealand book<\/p>\n

Hairy Maclary from Donaldson\u2019s Dairy. Lynley Dodd\u2019s clever use of rhyme, rhythm and repetition is something I aim to emulate, because it makes her writing so fun to read, and listen to. I have a weakness for Scarface Claw, too, but that\u2019s more because my son used to call him the \u201ctoughest Tom in toe\u201d. <\/p>\n

Greatest New Zealand writer<\/p>\n

The dearly beloved Margaret Mahy for all the treasures she\u2019s given generation after generation. When I think about 17 Kings and 42 Elephants I can hear my mum reading it to me. When there\u2019s a spider in the bathroom, I think about the scared lion from The Spider in the Shower. Then, for my children, it\u2019s A Lion in the Meadow they remember \u2013 especially as their mum is still known to respond with: \u201cNonsense, little boy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"From left to right: Preece\u2019s greatest Aotearoa book; the book that made her laught; and one of the books Preece\u2019s favourite NZ writer.
\nBest thing about reading<\/p>\n

It creates shared experiences. Books provide a common ground, enabling connection across all ages. Reading children\u2019s books together also influences family dialogues. Thanks to Ten Nosey Weka, my son always asks for biscuits using a number in ta r\u0113 Moriori, and I dearly hope similar things are happening in other areas of the motchu, too.<\/p>\n

Best place to read<\/p>\n

In an aeroplane. Travelling gives me a sense of freedom; the only thing you have to do in that time between A and B is \u201cget there\u201d. It\u2019s bonus time, and I relish filling that with a good book. (I look with jealousy at my children who can read in the car without getting sick!)<\/p>\n

What I\u2019m reading right now<\/p>\n

The latest offering from our book club. When I moved to R\u0113kohu, I reached out to the Book Discussion Scheme (Christchurch) to see if they would support a book club over here, and, thankfully, they\u2019ve made it work (i.e. acknowledged that we have no control over the always-late post!). So, there are 11 of us reading The Believer\u00a0by Sarah Krasnostein, a non-fiction book about \u201cghosts and gods and flying saucers\u201d. My favourite reads have been: Becky Manawatu\u2019s Au\u0113, American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins, and Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, by Gail Honeyman, which is delightfully quirky.<\/p>\n

The winners of the 2025 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults<\/a> will be revealed at a ceremony in Wellington tonight, August 13. The Spinoff will be live-blogging the event alongside hosting the livestream.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Welcome to The Spinoff Books Confessional, in which we get to know the reading habits of Aotearoa writers,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":65705,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[353,49,48,75,41877],"class_list":{"0":"post-65704","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-books","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-the-spinoff-books-confessional"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65704"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65704\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}