Storyteller, Waikanae schoolgirl Ella Neilson has published her first book with the help of Waikanae artist Lorna Ward.

The book follows the day of a tui, as it narrowly escapes a cat “creeping slow through the grasses” and “snuggles into her nest, upon her warm and freshly laid eggs”.

When I wrote the book Tui, I didn’t have much thought before it. I just sat down and started writing. I was definitely not expecting it to turn into such a big hit. Before I wrote the books, I had always been fascinated by birds. Not just native birds, but pheasants and peacocks especially. I had always loved how beautiful they were. From this I have always loved iridescent birds, so the Tui was soon in my charts of ‘favourite birds’. I had always had this idea of writing a series of books about different animals, instead I chose a bird, I chose to write about Tui. This is where it has all began.  Of course I couldn’t have gotten this far if it hadn’t been for my illustrator and all who have helped me along the way. – See more at: http://halo.org.nz/ella-neilson/#sthash.DlNqnDsT.dpuf