Authors who support Story Dogs

Quality children’s books are one of the corner stones of the Story Dogs literacy program. We use books that are colourful, exciting, funny, rhyming, repetitive, dog themed, spark a conversation and fun to share. All of our volunteers are given a pack of six books to start them off. These books are chosen as they have one or more of the characteristics listed above and are a mix of reading levels from beginner to more advanced. Our volunteers also use books from their own collections, school libraries, classroom readers and or local libraries. 

We love to partner with Australian authors whose books fit well into what we are looking for. Many of these authors have also helped our charity by donating or supporting what we do. Some of the authors are or were Story Dog volunteers who have written and published books for the very purpose of our program. 

Authors who have helped support Story Dogs and whose books we use in our program are showcased below. If you are looking to buy a children’s book then supporting these authors is also supporting the Story Dogs program.

Thank you for your support!

Annette and her dog ‘Summer’ were volunteers for Story Dogs for over 8 years. 

Annette's book is a fun rhyming story about a dog named ‘Summer’. 'Summer' would like us to be kind to each other. Meet her friends and see them play. It’s a happy life being a ‘Summer’ dog, especially on a school day.

How Annette helps Story Dogs: All proceeds from her book sales are passed on to Story Dogs. Over the many years Annette has donated many hundreds of dollars to Story Dogs.

How to buy Annette’s books: 

Amazon stock this book, https://www.amazon.com.au/s?k=LOOK%21+there%27s+a+dog+at+school&i=stripbooks&ref=nb_sb_noss

Dawn has written four books about her wonderful dogs. Her dogs are:

Charli is our princess Spoodle,

Dougal is the cutesy Cavoodle,

Riley is our playful Groodle, and

Barnzy is our elegant Labradoodle.

They have oodles of fun everyday - so come join in their adventures at home and at play.

Dawn has become a Story Dogs volunteer since writing her books and supporting Story Dogs.

How Dawn helps Story Dogs: Dawn has supplied hundreds of her books at cost price so we can either put them in our book bags for our volunteers or we have resold them in our Platinum Partner – Just For Pets Stores for a profit to Story Dogs.

How to buy Dawn’s books: Go to her website  https://www.oodlesoffun.com.au/shop 

Lisa runs a charity to rescue old dogs and also writes children’s books on the adventures of her dogs. 

Team Golden Oldies children’s books feature positive uplifting stories of a group of senior rescue dogs about overcoming life’s challenges, friendship, and spreading kindness and love to make a better world.

How Lisa helps Story Dogs: Team Golden Oldies sponsors a Story Dog on the Sunshine Coast.

How to buy Lisa’s books: visit her website https://teamgoldenoldies.com/

Scott is a passionate author who is based in Lismore NSW, not far from where the first Story Dog started in Murwillumbah. Scott has partnered with Story Dogs to help more children find the love of reading. His own child goes to one of the schools in Lismore that has the Story Dogs program. 

Roses are NOT Red is a playful story that at its heart emphasises that things are not always what we’ve been led to believe. Life is not black and white; it’s all a matter of perspective. Wonderfully illustrated by Joanna Cuskelly.

How Scott helps Story Dogs: $1 from every purchase of his books goes to Story Dogs

How to buy Scott’s books: go to his web site https://www.scotter.com.au/roses-are-not-red/

Pam Sellwood is a retired dog trainer with two golden retrievers, 12-year-old female Marlee and Chevy, Marlee’s eight-year-old son, who are part of the Story Dogs team. They have been Story Dogs volunteers, visiting Pottsville Public School in northern New South Wales on Fridays for the last ten years.

“Chevy the Story Dog” is a short story about the life of a beautiful golden retriever who had a difficult start and then became a Story Dog and went into schools, helping many children to read. He is hoping he has taught these children to love reading books.

How Pam helps Story Dogs: Pam donates the proceeds of her book to Story Dogs

How to buy Pam’s book: Amazon stock this book - https://www.amazon.com.au/s?k=%E2%80%9CChevy+The+Story+Dog%E2%80%9D&i=stripbooks&ref=nb_sb_noss

The Biggles books are delightful Australian picture books for children aged 2-6.

The central character is Biggles, a little Jack Russel who works on the farm. The books appeals to children through its delightful farm characters depicted in water colour illustration and playful rhyming verse. The books also captures the hearts of adults and teachers alike with the underlying theme of resilience, social intelligence and altruism.

How Vanessa helps Story Dogs: $1.00 from every book “Biggles the Persistent Pup” will be donated to Story Dogs.

How to buy Vanessa’s book: visit her website https://bigglesbooks.org/about-biggles-best-books-for-emotional-intelligence/ 

Jan and her dog ‘Crosby’ volunteered with Story Dogs for 3 years. Jan has written this book to introduce the students they saw to Crosby and to also encourage more students to read about the adventures of Crosby and how everyone can be awesome, no matter who you are. 

How Jan helped Story Dogs: Jan went over and beyond in her role as a volunteer to help fund the Story Dogs program. Including attending many many events at the school, making items to sell, distributing donation boxes and many other fundraising activities. 

How to buy Jan’s book: This book has not been published, however Story Dogs have a limited supply of original copies. Please contact Janine on janine@storydogs.org.au for more information.