Dinah Priestley Visit

Photo by Dinah Priestley

On Tuesday author/illustrator Dinah Priestley visited St Brendan's and spoke to our Juniors and Year 3 & 4 students.  She brought along a furry friend "Oscar" to help her out. Dinah read her book Oscar, Star of the Opera a picture book about a dog who becomes a famous opera singer. The idea for Oscar came from her own dog who had once burst into song while she was listening to Pavarotti - a very famous opera singer.  She explained that ideas for stories often came from things like this that happen in your everyday life.  Dinah shared her other stories too, including some that she is still working on, however it was Oscar who was the star of the show as children from each group were encouraged to put on the mask & costume and become Oscar, Star of the Opera while Pavarotti sang in the background.   

Note: Dinah made the Oscar mask herself too - isn't she clever?

Thank you so much for your visit Dinah, we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.

Photo by Mrs Banks

Books we have in our library: Oscar, Star of the Opera and That's Not Cricket.

Dinah's visit was part of the New Zealand Book Council's Writers in Schools programme. You can find out more about Dinah and her books at the New Zealand Book Council website here.