Sharing a love of books and reading

STUDENTS at Holy Rosary Primary School celebrated Book Week with a parade and a visit from local author Ross Knight.

Knight, a Mia Mia farmer, bulldozer driver and founding member of punk rock band Cosmic Psychos, published The Incredible Tail of Little Roo in 2022.

“I don’t do a lot of school visits,” he said, “but my son went to school here and it’s my way of repaying the great work they do.”

Knight didn’t set out to be a children’s author and told students how his story evolved.

“I was driving home one night on a road without a white line down the middle,” he said.

“A little roo hopped out and kept going along the middle of the road with me following for about five minutes.

“I thought to myself, why don’t you make yourself useful and paint a white line down the middle of the road?

“The next morning, I woke up with the complete idea for a story.”

Collaborating with long-time friends Matt Weston and illustrator Lluis Fuzzhound, the book was released a year later, with another four planned.

Knight engaged with the students as he read his book, encouraging them to ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’ at each twist and turn in the story.

He left them with some sound advice.

“If you have an idea, always write it down because you never know what it will come to,” he said.

Last Friday, students participated in a parade, dressed their favourite literary characters.

“We wanted the parade to be about a love of books and reading,” said deputy-principal Kate Ruck.

“All the students were encouraged to come dressed as a favourite character, and everyone got into the spirit of Book Week and joined in.”

Each class did two circuits of the basketball courts as fellow students clapped and high-fived them.

The parade was watched by officer-in-charge at Heathcote Police Station Sergeant Holly Lembke who told students they looked fantastic.