Launch of "Song of the River"
Last night, Caitlyn and I were guest speakers at the launch of the 2019 republication of Joy Cowley's classic "Song of the River". Caitlyn gave an amazing speech, and met the book's talented illustrator, Kimberly Andrews.
Here is an excerpt from her speech:
I think this is a great book. I learnt lots of things. I learnt that streams and rivers can sing and they can take you to the sea. Mummy says that every stream, even the really small ones like the one at the bottom of our gully, ends up at the sea.
I like the pictures because they have mountains and forest in them. I like spotting all the different animals in the pictures, like the bear sleeping in the hole under the waterfall. I like bears but I am pretty glad we don’t have them in our forest in New Zealand!
I would like to read you one page. This page has one of my favourite pictures, of forest and snow and forest animals.
One spring morning, Cam was playing by his house.
He watched a trickle of water running through the pine trees.
The water splashed and sang in the voice of snow,
“Come with me. Come with me. I will take you to the sea.”
Thank you Gecko Press for inviting me to this launch celebration.
Photographs courtesy Simon Hoyle, as indicated.