Fickle climate gets a book in its honour

by EMMA DANGERFIELD

The notoriously changeable weather in New Zealand is the subject of a newly published book, the first by local author Melisa Sinclair.

Melisa, who has a lifestyle block on the south side of the Hundalees, has written a number of short children's stories but this is the first she has seen through to publication, and she is now approaching retail outlets interested in stocking it.

Entitled Weather or Not, the story is a simple tale of changeable weather, changing your mind, and changing your clothes. Anyone who has dressed for summer in the morning, only to find themselves in a snowstorm come lunchtime, will appreciate the book, but it will appeal in particular to preschool and primary school aged children, with its simple rhyming text.

Melisa is no stranger to children's literature, having worked in a children's library as well as writing reviews of children's books.

She has been interested in writing from a young age, but says her main credentials for becoming a children's author are simply that she used to be a child, and remembers clearly what used to appeal to her when being read to by her parents.

Weather or Not has colourful illustrations - also by Melisa - and simple text.