Move Over Vampires – and Welcome to Mummies and Cavemen!

A scary Egyptian mummy, wild haired cave girls, a band of rockabilly hobos and local celebrities mixed and mingled with a crowd of devoted young fans and some impressive dinosaur bones at the launch of Jill Marshall’s two new books for children last Sunday. The much-loved author of the bestselling Jane Blonde series has just published a wacky picture book called Kave-Tina Rox for pre-schoolers and a spooky adventure story called Doghead for readers aged 8 to 14.

Given that dinosaurs and cave children feature in Kave-Tina Rox while a host of bizarre ancient Egyptian gods and monsters appear in Doghead, the Origins Gallery at the Auckland Museum on the night of November 1, was the ideal venue for this thrilling launch. Indeed it was difficult to know who was more excited to be a private guest at the museum after dark - the many children who were invited to come along, or the eager parents who accompanied them.

The lucky guests were treated to readings from Doghead and Kave-Tina Rox by another dynamic duo, Michael Hurst and Jennifer Ward-Lealand, while musical entertainment was provided by Hobo, definitely a band with a future given that none of its members are even in high school yet.