Between 2017 and 2020, the Board of Trustees at Geraldine High School, allowed a timetabled allocation of art teaching hours by a specialist art teacher, to be allocated to students with diverse learning needs. This allowed a programme to be developed exclusively designed for these students. Within this context, ‘No Laughing Me Publications’ was created and has evolved over a number of years as an
idea for promoting the naïve art produced by these students. This was done initially as end of year exhibitions for students, parents, extended family, and the board and staff of Geraldine High School, and were very successful in showcasing the individual art skills of the students doing the art programme. As the programme evolved, it was increasingly connected to the literacy needs of the
students as they wrote and talked about their work. As the art programme developed the students written description of their work gave rise to the idea of making story books for children using the images they were generating, and combining these with simple sentences. This then became the makeup of No Laughing Me Publications. A group of 12 special needs students involved in the art programme at Geraldine High School and 3 adults from the community, who are ex GHS students. Support from the school board, staff, and the families concerned has been overwhelming, and it continues to this day. What has No Laughing Me Publications produced?
‘I’m Going Home For Christmas’
In 2017 we produced our first book called, ‘I’m Going Home For Christmas.’ The zoo animals decided to go to their home countries for a Christmas holiday. Some of them had never seen where their species had come from. So they packed their lunch boxes, waved goodbye to the zookeeper, went to the airport, boarded the right planes, and flew home. Also at the airport were lots of lost puppies. They ran onto the planes and before they knew it they were flying with the zoo animals all over the world.
‘The Animals Return. - Back To The Zoo’
It took us two years to produce our next two books, ‘The Animals Return – Back To The Zoo.’ The zoo animals return to the zoo and tell the zookeeper what they saw and did in their home countries.
‘Counting In Maori To 22’
Also in 2019 we also produced ‘Counting in Maori to 22.‘ This book counts in Te Reo Maori to 22 to celebrate Henry King’s 22nd birthday. Henry is a past student of Geraldine High School and is now living with assisted care within the Geraldine community. This book has colourful banners and easy text that makes learning in Te Reo easy.
‘The Puppy Airbus’
In 2020 our aim was to produce our last book in series featuring the zoo animals and the naughty puppies. ‘The Puppy Airbus,’ is the title of this book. When the animals came back to the zoo there were no puppies on board the planes. They were lost all over world. So the airport managers from all over the world decided to build a special puppy airbus to go and collect all the lost puppies and bring them back to New Zealand, and their worried owners. This book is in production. We have completed nearly all the graphics and have one third of the computer work needed for publication.
