Sharon Holt celebrates her 30th and final Te Reo Singalong book

Rylee Buchanan, Sue McCandlish, Kahui Chapman, Keira Hohepa, Sharon Holt, Ohana Hongara, Madelize Bekker, Stacy Walker and Naomi Peterson celebrate the new book. Photo/Kate Durie

Kihikihi Kindergarten was the venue for a special book launch on Thursday 11 August.

The book, "Taihoa, e hoa!", is the 30th and final Te Reo Singalong book written by Sharon Holt. The series was born at Kihikihi Kindergarten and this book was photographed there. So it seemed appropriate to have a book launch where the series began.

Sharon published the first two books in the series 10 years ago, with the help of Madelize Bekker from Edumaxi Ltd. Since then, the series has grown and become loved by teachers and children throughout New Zealand. As well as launching the new book, the event at Kihikihi Kindergarten honoured Sharon's dedication to producing te reo resources for teachers and children.

The latest book encourages us to find new ways to reduce the amount of rubbish we send to the landfill. It's the second of two books in the series about caring for the environment.

Earlier this year, Sharon wondered about a theme for the final book in the series. She was surprised and delighted to receive a phone call from her friend Sue McCandlish, head teacher at Kihikihi Kindergarten. "Sue rang me out of the blue and asked if I had ever thought of doing a book about recycling and zero waste," says Sharon.

Sue had no idea Sharon was working on the next book. "I was driving to work and thought 'Sharon has not done a book on enviro-schools or zero waste', so I phoned her. The response I got was so joyful," recalls Sue.

Sharon wrote the book after connecting with Paul Murray from Para Kore and learning more about the zero waste philosophy he had brought to Kihikihi Kindergarten.

Sharon says the idea for Te Reo Singalong books began after she started learning te reo Māori at Te Awamutu's Te Wānanga o Aotearoa campus in 2002. Before then she had "no clue" about the language.

"I was even too scared to say the word Māori because I did not know how to pronounce it correctly." She has done many courses over the last 20 years. "I'm not fluent, but I have a passion for correct pronunciation," she says.

Back in 2002, Sharon's daughter Sophie was enrolled at Kihikihi Kindergarten. "She didn't want me to leave in the morning, so I thought, 'if I am going to be here, I may as well practise my reo with the children."

Sharon spoke te reo with the kindergarten children on Wednesday mornings. "I remember we had to change it to a Tuesday once, and the children said, 'no that's not right. We only speak Māori on a Wednesday'," laughed Sharon.

Sharon fell in love with te reo Māori and wanted to share and learn while being active with the language. Through her time relief teaching in kindergartens and schools, she sensed a need for different Māori language resources.

"There were no easy resources for teachers to use unless they already had that baseline knowledge. I knew I could help with that through my background as a journalist, a children's book author, a teacher and as someone learning te reo Māori myself," says Sharon.

Sue and Sharon discussed ideas about potential resources, including putting the words in the books to music to help with pronunciation. Sharon made a couple of prototype books illustrated by Deb Hinde, but publishers were not interested as Sharon was not Māori. Those prototypes stayed in a filing cabinet for several years, until 2011 when Sharon was writing stories in English for Madelize Bekker as a contractor.

"The contract ended and Madelize asked me if I had any ideas for language learning resources. Of course, I told her about the prototype books in my filing cabinet and she wanted to hear more," says Sharon.

"Madelize was one of the first people to really share my passion for these books. She loved the idea so much that she funded me to publish two books which came out at the start of 2012. Madelize also named the series Te Reo Singalong," says Sharon. Those books were so successful that both were reprinted quickly. The idea took off and Te Reo Singalong books were finally born.

Ten years later, with the 30th book in the planning stage, Sharon and Sue decided that the book should feature photos of children at Kihikihi Kindergarten, bringing the full series circle from where the idea began. Sharon's daughter Sophie Holt (24) took the photos for the book, and her son Greg Holt (26) wrote the melody for the song.

"It was so special to have our children involved in this final book of the series, as they had both attended Kihikihi Kindergarten and grown up with me writing the books. It was a beautiful ending," says Sharon.

At the book launch, Sue thanked Sharon "on behalf of thousands of early childhood, primary school teachers and children from all around New Zealand" for having the "vision and confidence to go ahead with the idea of Te Reo Singalong books".

"Sharon had the knowledge and connections to make this happen and has been instrumental in revitalising te reo Māori. She has encouraged and motivated many teachers to increase their level of te reo. Sharon has normalised the Māori language back into our kindergartens and early learning services," says Sue.

Sharon Holt (middle) was awarded for her work in her Te Reo Singalong books. Photo/Kate Durie.

At one of the first conferences, Sharon attended to sell the books, a teacher ran up to her trade stand and said "Sharon Holt, thank you so much. You have made it possible for me to finally have the confidence to use te reo with the children".

Sharon knows the time is right to end the series at 30 books. "It feels like this is an end and that my job has been done. And thanks to Madelize taking over the publishing side, the books will continue to be sold through the website and in book stores throughout New Zealand."

Stacy Walker, singer on the CDs and composer of many of the songs, also attended the book launch, She says "It's amazing to think we have done 30 books in 10 years. It is our family history too because my children have been a part of the books. My daughter is 19 this year and she is the child's voice on 'E hia ngā moe?', 'Anei Kē!' and 'He aha tēnei?'".

Stacy has enjoyed working with Sharon. "I trusted and she trusted me."

Madelize says "This may be the end of this series of books, but I know Sharon. I don't think she's finished yet."

Sharon adds that she is really grateful for the connections she made at Kihikihi Kindergarten and in the Kihikihi and Te Awamutu communities through her children.
"We remember those connections with love and the friendships still endure. It was a great place to raise children and grow a series of books that are favourites for so many children and teachers."