Celebs spin yarns for charity

Jude Dobson and Alison Quigan read to children at Three Kings School. Photo / Doug Sherring

Once upon a time in Uganda there were two goats, one called Judith and one called Dobson.

Media personality Judith Dobson gave the goats to a child she sponsored for Christmas so the Ugandan family named them after her.

Dobson is not sure what happened to Judith and Dobson but she was able to invent her own tale about a sheep as co-author of children's book, Mary's Christmas Yarn.

The book was written by ten well-known New Zealanders to promote ChildFund New Zealand's Gifts that Grow programme, which enables New Zealanders to give animals to poor families in developing countries.

Carol Hirschfeld, Alison Quigan, Miriama Kamo, Jim Mora, Judith Dobson, Janet Wilson, Jeremy Corbett, Jaquie Brown, Danielle Cormack and Hilary Barry each contributed a chapter to the book.

The text and a recording of each author reading their chapter is available at childfund.org.nz.

This week Alison Quigan and Dobson tested the book out on a class of Year 2 pupils at Three Kings School.

Teacher Simone Sutherland said it prompted a lot of discussion about giving at Christmas time in her class and she was impressed by the cohesiveness of the story.

"I could have sworn it was the same author all the way through," said Sutherland.

"It flowed brilliantly and was very entertaining."

Actress, director and playwright, Alison Quigan employed bedtime storytelling techniques to write her chapter. She was in charge of chapter two and happy to pick up where Carol Hirschfeld's first chapter left off.

"I'm a much better follower than a leader," said Quigan. "I liked the idea that she set it up and I kept going in that direction."

The central character of the book is a 9-year-old girl investigating why anyone would want a sheep for Christmas.

Dobson said while the story is aimed at primary-aged children it does contain some sly laughs for adults, particularly in Jeremy Corbett's chapter about reproduction.