I liked my photo and reading our class writing.  Thank you for printing it.  My family said it was cool and were smiling.  I liked David coming in every week and making us smile.  It made me want to write. Taeiloa  

I felt happy that I was in a book because I haven't experienced it.  I liked trying new things so being in a book was a new thing for me.  I would do it again.  My sister laughed because I put her in one of my sentences. Mum and Dad said well done.  Kacey  

I had the pizzaz because I made my stories interesting. I liked the pictures because it had my whole entire class in it. My cousin thought it was funny because I made a joke in one of my stories about David.  Jon Paul

I liked our book because it has memories about what we did last year, memories with people who are not in my class this year.  My family liked it because they saw my writing and they said it was good.  I liked how my friends wrote too, just reading their stories. Kulukona

It was an insane moment of my life, and I can’t believe I made a book and to be honest this might be the proudest moment of my life. My Mum and Dad were so ecstatic to see the book and they wanted to see my page the most to see if I wrote anything about them. Edward

Working with David was very interesting and fun, because at first, I thought this “writing a book” was to motivate us to become better at writing. But then, we started to create stories about our life and experiences. Eventually, writing became different to the way I used to write. I learnt that writing can inspire others physically and mentally. Jason

David is a product of South Auckland education and out there championing authentic engagement and significantly increasing the literature based on Oceania heroes. He is a well-established and respected teacher – author.

David strongly believes and proves young people have amazing stories to tell and through effective and encouraging teaching they achieve great things. 

David models and shares that teaching is the art of finding ways to encourage young people to succeed through making reading interesting, fun and inspiring.

The Book Publishing Programme aspires to inspire schools, teachers, students and whānau that all learners are capable of being brilliant bookworms, wonderful writers and  proud published authors.

Laurayne Tafa CEO TafaEd Ltd