Thames Coromandel District Libraries have a special treat for the young ones with children's author Nickie Muir making a special visit next week for the school holidays.

Nickie is the author of ‘Baba Didi and the Godwits Fly',a story about a young girl named Isabella and her grandmother Baba Didi, who sit on a beach watching the godwits preparing to migrate.

Children's author Nickie Muir will be visiting all three Thames Coromandel District Libraries next week. Photos: Supplied

She will do three readings during the school holidays starting with the Mercury Bay Library, followed by the Tairua Library and then finishing up at the Thames Library.

Nickie says she looking forward to the three library talks as it is always nice interacting with children about books.

The timing was also perfect as Nickie is planning on visiting whanau living in the Coromandel next week.

'The ladies in the library liked the book and they wanted me to have a chat with the kids for a reading.

'And of course you have all the kuaka (godwits) down there in and around the Miranda area too.”

She also loves the fascination children have with the illustrations appearing in the book, which were painted by Wellington artist Annie Hayward.

They have been done by hand and 'not digitally produced like most kids books are these days”.

'Kids really respond to that, they see it and they immediately think they can do it too which is wonderful.”

An illustration from Nickie's book ‘Baba Didi and the Godwits Fly'.

Her story beautifully blends the godwits annual migration to the Arctic Circle with Baba Didi's own journey from Croatia to New Zealand.

It speaks to children about the courage and resilience needed by both birds and people alike to reach a safe destination.

Nickie says the story has been 'kicking around in shoeboxes in various forms for a long time” but was inspired to complete the tale after the 2011 Fukushima earthquake.

She wanted to raise money for the people affected by the disaster and felt her story was the perfect vehicle to do so.

'It's a joint project with Unicef, I got together with them and organised for all my royalties from the book to go directly to them.

'My story also talks about climate change, it's embedded so the kids can't really see it but they can start asking questions about it.”

It also features a foreword penned by former Prime Minister Helen Clark who Nickie approached because of 'Aunty Helen's” interest in climate change.

But the foreword almost didn't happen due to a moment of absent minded thinking.

Nickie says the day she sent the draft manuscript to the former PM she had been baking.

'I had flour all over my hands and I sent it from Northland in a brown paper bag to a building in New York with the highest level of security.

'I followed it up later and her secretary laughed, saying it was probably sent to the bomb squad so the first draft may have been blown up. After that I sent an email.”

Nickie says she will tailor her talks next week depending on who shows up. If it is a lot of children show then she's got a lot of activities planned for them.

If there are a number of adults wanting to discuss the book or getting into children's book publishing then she will set aside time for them.

'There's usually one kid who's really super hyperactive so we'll get them to be a godwit and fly to Siberia and back,” Nickie jokes.

Thames Coromandel District Libraries children's librarian Christine Toogood says they are all excited for Nickie's visit.

'We always get enthusiastic when authors visit us and give kids different ideas, they will want to know how they wrote the book, what was involved and all those sorts of things.

'I also think the authors also get a kick out of having an audience as it gives them a one on one reaction to their book.”

Nickie Muir will be visiting the Thames Coromandel District Libraries on the following days and times:

Mercury Bay Library on Tuesday, September 30 at 10.00am.

Tairua Library on Thursday, October 2 at 10.00am Thames Library on Thursday, October 2 at 1.00pm

Copies of Nickie's book ‘Baba Didi and the Godwits Fly' can be purchased from all good book stores and online. Proceeds from each copy sold goes directly to Unicef.