The illustrated book is inspired by parenting while Prime Minister of New Zealand.
Dame Jacinda Ardern is releasing a children’s book,titled Mum’s Busy Work, in surprise news announced today.
“Sometimes procrastination can be productive! At least in this case, because that’s how I came to write Mum’s Busy Work, a children’s book told through the eyes of a child, and based on things my daughter said to me while I was PM," Ardern told her Instagram followers in a video published Thursday morning.
Written by Ardern and illustrated by Kiwi artist Ruby Jones, Mum’s Busy Work will be released on September 30, retailing for $30.
“For every book sold in New Zealand, I’ll be making a $3 donation to the Kindness Collective,” Ardern said. “But for now, here’s a sneak peak of the cover, and a story that I hope captures the love parents have for their children, no matter what else they have going on in life.”
'Mum's Busy Work' is written by Jacinda Ardern and illustrated by Ruby Jones.
The book is billed as “an inspiring and heartwarming book about the relationship between a working mum and her daughter by the former Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern”.
Clarke Gayford, Neve and Jacinda Ardern at Wellington Cathedral of St Paul for the Queen's State Memorial Service on September 26, 2022. Photo / Mark Mitchell
When she resigned as Prime Minister in January 2023, shocking the nation, Ardern said she hoped to spend more time with her daughter. “To Neve: Mum is looking forward to being there when you start school this year,” she told reporters.
Mum’s Busy Work is being published by Picture Puffin, a Penguin imprint.
It’s expected to be highly revealing – publisher Penguin has called it “deeply personal” – and will see Ardern reflecting on her rise from rural Waikato to becoming the Prime Minister of New Zealand at 37.
Ardern's memoir 'A Different Kind of Power' will be released in June.
“I’ve tried to put on a page how it feels to lead – all the highs and lows, the parts of the job people don’t often see, and the many lessons I learned along the way,” she said when announcing the release in January. “I also wanted to share why I believe in empathetic leadership, and that kindness isn’t just something we should teach our kids, there’s a place for it in politics too”.
She was reluctant when first approached, and initially said no. “I didn’t want to write a book that hauled over the internal politics of the last five years,” she explained. “Then someone convinced me that I didn’t have to. That maybe it might be worth expanding on some of things I talked about in my valedictory instead – like the idea you can be your own kind of leader and still make a difference.”
Ardern was the subject of the 2020 biography Jacinda Ardern: A New Kind of Leader, written by Madeleine Chapman (now editor of The Spinoff) and described as “fresh and original” by Steve Braunias in his review for Newsroom.
