David Riley, aka The Reading Warrior, is on a mission to flood South Auckland homes with books.
The former teacher, who grew up in Mangere, has devoted his working life to writing and publishing inspirational stories from New Zealand and the Pacific that will resonate with children and running student publishing projects that turn reluctant readers into published authors.
When teaching English and drama at Tangaroa College in Otara, David struggled to find books his students wanted to read.
“There were very few books they could see themselves in; books about their interests, their cultures or backgrounds or role models they looked up to.”
David decided to start writing books for young people like the ones he was teaching.
“I know if I put a book about the Tongan rugby league team in front of a Tongan boy, he will pick it up because he loves the Tongan rugby league team.”
When Covid arrived, and the schools and libraries shut down, David became increasingly worried about how it would impact children’s literacy skills, especially those that were already struggling.
The solution, he decided, was to provide families with a library at home and the Kāinga Pukapuka project was born.
“I was blessed to grow up with books everywhere at home, but a lot of kids don’t have books just lying around.”
The My Home Library project provides families with a pack of seven books with a culturally specific theme. There are packs for Samoan families, Cook Islands families, Niuean families, Tongan families, Tokelauan families and an Aotearoa pack aimed at local Māori and NZ European readers.
“Some of the books are bilingual, which a lot of the Māori and Pacific families appreciate.”
Each pack costs $100, and people can donate books either to a family they know or to a school which will distribute the packs to families who will benefit from having more books at home.
“We’ve given more than 1,000 home library packs across Auckland.”
Not content with providing children with stories written by other people, David also supports students who schools have identified as reluctant readers and writers to produce their own book.
He recently finished a project with 10 students from Leabank Primary School in Manurewa who have written a book called The Hood Heroes.
The children worked together to develop the story, creating a superhero to battle a monster threatening to ruin a fun family activity.
“I wanted to make it fun, but I also wanted to give these kids a feeling that ‘I’m powerful. I can make a difference. I can change things.’”
The students selected to create the book might not usually get the opportunity to participate in this kind of project.
“A lot of these young people are not going to receive awards or be acknowledged at school.”
Producing a book takes about 15 weeks, including writing, illustrating with guest illustrators from the school, design and printing. Each child gets a copy of the book at a special ceremony.
“When the children sign the books, and the parents are there, it’s beautiful.”
Each publishing project costs about $16,000, and Wiri Licensing Trust supported David’s application for funding for the Leabank School initiative.
Trust General Manager Kim Green says supporting the project has been a fantastic way to champion an initiative that showcases the stories of the ethnically diverse Wiri community, while helping young people in the area improve their reading and writing skills.
“We have also donated three home library packs to schools in the region. I would encourage anyone who is able to support Kāinga Pukapuka to jump on the Reading Warrior website and check out the amazing stories that can be shared with our tamariki.”
David says getting support from funders is crucial to his publishing projects because many of the schools in the region want to participate but don’t have the budget.
“When organisations like Wiri Trust help out, it’s awesome. It’s win-win for everyone – it enables me to continue to do the work, and it blesses the families and the schools for years to come.”
He recently met a boy at a school in Otara who had worked with David on a publishing project at his former school two years previously. The boy had the book he had written in his schoolbag.
“He told me he carries it around with him everywhere. Whenever he goes to a new school, he tells his teacher, ‘I’m a writer.’”
David likens the publishing projects to planting seeds.
“It’s not just about right now; these children will be so proud of this work for years to come.
“I always wanted to be an author when I was at primary school, but I didn’t think that someone like me, who came from where I came from, could be an author.
“The funding from groups like Wiri Trust enables children to have experiences that widen their vision of what they can be.”
If you would like to support David’s work you can email him on david@readingwarrior.com or find out more at readingwarrior.com
Wiri Licensing Trust wants to connect with local community groups and organisations that are doing great work in our hood to understand how we can better support you – email us at info@wiritrust.org.nz.
