# Event Details - **Event Name**: Waiheke Children's Book Festival - Reading Around Aotearoa - **Event Start and End Date**: Sun, 16 Aug, 2026 at 10:30 am – Sun, 16 Aug, 2026 at 03:00 pm - **Event Description**: Join us to celebrate National Children's Book Week on Waiheke Island. A whānau friendly day of events, workshops, storytelling and activities all focused on children's literature. Featuring local and national authors and illustrators and supported by Artworks. This event is kindly funded by the Waiheke Local Board. 10.30 am Welcome PERFORMANCE PROGRAMME (Bookings not needed) 11.00am - 12noon Spellodies (Artworks Theatre) Winner of the 2026 NZ Childrens Music Awards 12.00noon - 12.30pm Book Parade (Courtyard) Come dressed as your favourite book/book character and win prizes. 12.30 - 1.30pm Sing-a-long Jungle Book adventure (Music Musuem) Join Sister Shout and other local musicians for a wild and nostalgic romp through Rudyard Kipling's classic story immortalised by Walt Disney. 2.00 - 2.40pm Nursery Rhymes Alive (Artworks Theatre) A programme especially for those under 5 years based on the quirky kiwiana retellings of classic nursery rhymes by NZ illustrator and writer Donovan Bixley. A visual, musical and theatrical treat. WORKSHOP PROGRAMME (Please book tickets as places are limited) 11 - 12noon Roger Mason ' Learn to draw faces - a quick cartooning workshop'. Ages 9+ Roger is a graphic novelist based on Waiheke Islandhttps://www.rogermason.co.nz/ Waiheke Adult Learning 11 - 12 noon Melinda Szymanik 'Plot and Character Essentials’. Ages 9+ Melinda is an award winning children's writer based in Auckland https://www.read-nz.org/writers-files/writer/szymanik-melinda Library 12.30 - 1.30pm Vasanti Unka. 'Creating a Picture Book Character' All ages. Vasanti is an award winning writer and illustrator based in Auckland https://www.read-nz.org/writers-files/writer/unka-vasantiWaiheke Adult Learning 12.30 - 1.30pm Debra Wallace 'How to Train My Brain: A Personalised & Playful Guidebook for Children & Their Caregivers' All ages. Shake It, Settle It, Find Your Calm! In this hands‑on workshop, children’s author Debra Wallace guides tamariki (4–11) and their caregivers through making their own Calm Jar — a fun, sensory way to understand how emotions move through the nervous system. Inspired by How to Train My Brain, this activity helps kids learn how to pause, breathe, and let things settle inside. Each child will take home their Calm Jar and a matching activity from the book to keep practicing at home. https://positivereframe.org/about-debra-wallace-ms-lmft/how-to-train-my-brain/ Library 2 - 3pm Workshop with Avi Duckor-Jones 'Creating Mood and Tone in Writing'. Ages 12+. Avi is a writer, actor and teacher based on Waiheke Island. https://www.ketebooks.co.nz/authors/duckor-jones-avi-2024 Library 2 - 3pm Workshop with Emma Hinton/The Light Library: Seeking Our Way – Mapping a Storm & Making a Book Duration: 1 hour | Ages: 7+ | Tamariki and Adults | All whānau welcome In this hands-on, imaginative workshop, we explore the idea of a storm, what it looks like, how it moves and what it feels like. Storms can be within us and around us. We'll use drawing, mark-making and storytelling to map the storm using prompts from the book Seeking Will | Rapua a Will. Together, we'll create a collaborative "storm map," then turn our artwork into a book to take home. https://www.thelightlibrary.com Adult Learning MAIN STAGE LIBRARY - MC-d by No'oroa Te Hira 11am - No'oroa Te Hira (live cartooning) 11.15am - Vasanti Unka - Wild Summer 11.30am - Adventure of Little Fox by Rowan Johnson and Daniella Gaast 11.45am - The Carecrow by Callum Gilmour BREAK - Book Parade 12.30 - Kenni and the Roof slide by Mike Johnson 12.45 - Emma Hinton - Finding Grace, Kimihia a Grace 1.00pm - The Boy who ate bugs - Avi Duckor Jones 1.15pm - Melinda Szymanik - There's No Moa, e hoa! 1.30pm - Sweet As with Tessa O'Shea and Puawai Ormsby 2.00pm - Koro the Kiwi with Sid Marsh and the Jassy Dean Trust 2.30pm - The Bella Buttercup Children's Book Series by Carrot Peelings 3.00pm - The Time of Your Life by Tanya Batt and Peter Forster CRAFT STATION - LIBRARY Come along and be inspired to create and craft using the stories shared by our fabulous line up of authors and illustrators. COMMUNITY CINEMA 11AM - 1.30PM This collection of short films, adaptation of classic Margaret Mahy picture books will be screened on loop between 11am - 1.30pm. The Witch in the Cherry Tree The Three Legged Cat The Boy with Two Shadows Keeping House The Great White Man-eating Shark WAIHEKE ART GALLERY 2.00 - 3.00PM (7 years plus) Melinda Szymanik and Vasanti Unka will talk about the picture books they created together, 'Lucy and the Dark' and 'My Elephant is Blue'. Book available for sale at the Waiheke Art Gallery Matariki craft station using 'The Song of the Kauri' (Melinda Szymanik) and 'I am the Universe' (Vasanti Unka) as inspiration available 10.30 - 3.00pm. Facepainting, crafting activies, book displays and book sales available throughout the day. All of this is made possible thanks to funding from the Waiheke Local Board, Read NZ, Artworks Waiheke, Island Direct, Sealink and the Once Upon An island Trust. - **Event URL**: https://allevents.in/takapuna/waiheke-childrens-book-festival-reading-around-aotearoa/200030229038057 - **Event Categories**: festivals, art, literary-art, workshops, storytelling - **Interested Audience**: - total_interested_count: 48 ## Ticket Details ## Event venue details - **city**: Takapuna - **state**: AU - **country**: New Zealand - **location**: Waiheke Library (Waiheke) - **lat**: -36.78149 - **long**: 175.00742 - **full address**: Waiheke Library (Waiheke), 131 Ocean View Rd, Oneroa, Waiheke Island 1081, New Zealand, Takapuna ## Event gallery - **Alt text**: Waiheke Children's Book Festival - Reading Around Aotearoa - **Image URL**: https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events3/banners/d52dddd55b69fdf61c132f9d9b9f2b7d4756ea5711a1be284b44878a34846fe5-rimg-w1200-h628-dcf8f8e8-gmir?v=1786270823 ## FAQs - **Q**: When and where is Waiheke Children's Book Festival - Reading Around Aotearoa being held? - **A:** Waiheke Children's Book Festival - Reading Around Aotearoa takes place on Sun, 16 Aug, 2026 at 10:30 am to Sun, 16 Aug, 2026 at 03:00 pm at Waiheke Library (Waiheke), 131 Ocean View Rd, Oneroa, Waiheke Island 1081, New Zealand, Takapuna. - **Q**: Who is organizing Waiheke Children's Book Festival - Reading Around Aotearoa? - **A:** Waiheke Children's Book Festival - Reading Around Aotearoa is organized by Once Upon An Island Trust. - **Q**: Who is this event for? Is it right for me? - **A:** Waiheke Children's Book Festival - Reading Around Aotearoa is ideal for festival lovers, culture enthusiasts, and anyone looking for a vibrant, immersive community experience. Whether you're a first-time attendee or a longtime enthusiast in Takapuna, this event is thoughtfully curated to deliver a standout experience worth every moment. If Waiheke Children's Book Festival - Reading Around Aotearoa sounds like your kind of event, don't wait - spots fill up fast. ## Structured Data (JSON-LD) ```json [ { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "Festival", "name": "Waiheke Children's Book Festival - Reading Around Aotearoa", "image": "https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events3/banners/d52dddd55b69fdf61c132f9d9b9f2b7d4756ea5711a1be284b44878a34846fe5-rimg-w1200-h628-dcf8f8e8-gmir?v=1786270823", "startDate": "2026-08-16", "endDate": "2026-08-16", "url": "https://allevents.in/takapuna/waiheke-childrens-book-festival-reading-around-aotearoa/200030229038057", "location": { "@type": "Place", "name": "Waiheke Library (Waiheke)", "address": { "@type": "PostalAddress", "streetAddress": "131 Ocean View Rd, Oneroa, Waiheke Island 1081, New Zealand", "addressLocality": "Takapuna", "addressRegion": "AU", "addressCountry": "NZ" }, "geo": { "@type": "GeoCoordinates", "latitude": "-36.78149", "longitude": "175.00742" } }, "eventAttendanceMode": "https://schema.org/OfflineEventAttendanceMode", "description": "Join us to celebrate National Children's Book Week on Waiheke Island. 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