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Remember sitting on the mat in class, waiting for that heart- thudding moment when it was your turn to read aloud? It's a different scene these days, Ann Packer writes.
THERE'S been a quiet revolution since the days of Janet and John, when the baby boomers learned to read - or suffered humiliation at best, and illiteracy at worst, if they failed.
Today's children are turned on to reading by some of the world's best writers, assisted by the artistic talents of some highly accomplished illustrators.
It's a revolution led by New Zealanders, and the driving force has been one of the best kept secrets of New Zealand publishing. The organisation affectionately known in primary staffrooms as "School Pubs", which produces the 90-year-old School Journal, became in 1993 Learning Media, a Crown-owned company with a board of directors, chief executive and commercial brief.
Neale Pitches, formerly principal of Onslow College, now heads an organisation which employs 55 staff and contracts many more to write and illustrate publications...
