Whangārei library hosting launch for new Northland children's book

Whangārei Central Library will host the launch event for new children's book Lost, by Heather Whelan. Photo / Tania Whyte

A new children's book set in Northland in the 1860s is about to be launched at Whangārei Central Library.

Lost, which is written for 8- to 12-year-olds, follows a group of orphaned siblings who plan to travel from England to Australia.

Things go awry when one of them ends up on a ship to New Zealand instead, washing up in Auckland, and then the Bay of Islands, Whangārei-based author Heather Whelan said.

"They plan to go to Australia because it's the gold rush but the girl, who's called Kate, accidentally ends up on a ship bound for New Zealand so the boys go to Australia without her."

Much of the rest of the book, in which the siblings try to find each other, is set in Northland, largely in the Bay of Islands and Hokianga.

The book's launch in the Children's Room of the Whangārei Central Library this Saturday, July 23, is set to feature activities such as Victorian dress-ups and "gold panning".

"Because the boys are originally going gold prospecting, I've made a kind of gold-panning apparatus. It is of course, not gold - it will be lollies hidden in rice," Whelan said.

Whangārei-based author Heather Whelan, who has written a new chapter book for children. Photo / Supplied

"I've got hold of some Victorian clothing so that they can try them on and dress up and their parents can take pictures if they would like to."

Whelan will read excerpts from Lost, and talk about what life was like in Victorian times, especially for children.

"I'll talk to the children about the sort of clothing that was worn in those days and how life was for young people in those days and how hard they had to work," she said.

There will also be colouring-in, and an activity where children can build boats out of paper plates.

Lost is the first children's chapter book Whelan has had published, although she has previously written a picture book for children, called The Crazy Idea, and several non-fiction books. She also writes travel articles for magazines.

It will likely not be Whelan's last children's book, with another already in the works.

"I have written the first draft of a sequel to this story," she said.

Copies of the book will be available to buy at the event for $20 (cash only), although entry to the event is free.