The children from Rawa Community School will celebrate the launch of their new picture book, Monster Party with celebrated children’s and YA authors, Alison Lester and Jane Godwin at 4.30pm on Tuesday October 16th in Melbourne at The Little Bookroom.

Rawa is located at Punmu, on the edge of The Great Sandy Desert in the Pilbara region of WA. Home of the Martu people, it is one of the most remote communities in Australia. In 2017, Alison and Jane travelled to Punmu as part of an AISWA (Association of Independent Schools WA) initiated project to support children and young adults in their literacy development. 

Jane worked with the students to create stories, real and imagined, around life in their community, and Alison showed students how to produce a colourful array of illustrations using different mediums and colour palettes. Collectively they produced captivating stories that reflect the culture of the Punmu community and their shared love of storytelling.

Ron Gorman, Deputy Director of AISWA says, “The children have a major achievement to celebrate by having their story being produced by a major
Australian publisher. This is a fine example of children’s creativity and capacity to be successful.”

As part of the book launch, children from the Rawa Community School will be performing a public reading of their book. 

“Monster Party was great fun to make and it’s just as much fun to read," said Alison Lester. The Punmu kids did a fabulous job with their words and illustrations and I love the way Magabala Books has designed it. It’s a lovely book.”