Seeking Will Picture Book

Bring Seeking Will Rapua a Will to life! Inspired by the January 2023 storms in the Waitākere Ranges, this bilingual picture book follows a boy and his dog navigating a storm, exploring resilience, connection, and the will to thrive. Through Create a Book Together workshops, children and families helped shape the story. 

Now, we’re crowdfunding to fund local illustration, design, and printing—keeping this project community-driven. Your support will help us complete this heartfelt book and inspire creativity, conversation, and connection. 

Join us!

Seeking Will Rapua a Will is a collaborative, community-driven book born from The Light Library, where storytelling, creativity, and connection come together. Our goal is to promote creative literacy by making storytelling, mark-making, and expression accessible to all. Feedback from our workshops reflects a deep need for this in our communities.

Our Create a Book Together workshops, run by Emma and Nicky, have already engaged over 40 tamariki and their whānau, who have contributed background paintings and ideas, shaping Seeking Will into a truly shared creation. Through this process, we hope to inspire conversation, creativity, and a sense of belonging—just as the book itself does.

About the Team

AUTHOR: Emma Hinton is an experienced storyteller and facilitator who transitioned from a 25-year film career to publish Finding Grace Kimihia a Grace, a bilingual picture book. This led to the creation of The Light Library, where she curates books and workshops that foster creativity and community, while reconnecting with her Ngāti Maniapoto roots. She lives in Waitākere, Auckland, with her daughter and works as a Celebrant, sharing real-life stories. Passionate about storytelling’s power to shape the future, Emma continues to explore how stories help us thrive.

ILLUSTRATOR: Nicky Hartley is an illustrator inspired by the human form and its relationship with the environment. Her work often reflects themes of motherhood, stillness, and connection, with the Waitākere Ranges’ lush bush and coastline influencing her artistic style. With a degree in Graphics and Illustration, Nicky has spent over 20 years supporting diverse art groups worldwide. She has worked as a framer, art supplier, and workshop coordinator, integrating creative expression with a deep sense of care and connection.

We are raising funds to cover the costs of illustrations, design, and printing for Seeking Will Rapua a Will. Here's how your support will make a difference:

• Illustration Costs: Funding will support the creation of the book's illustrations, including the pencil drawings by Nicky Hartley and the background paintings by the tamariki.
• Design and Layout: The funds will go towards the professional design and layout of the book, ensuring it’s polished and ready for print by the talented Lisa Dragicevich.
• Translation and Editing: Funds will support the translation and editing of the book in both Te Reo Māori and English, ensuring cultural accuracy and sensitivity.
• Local Printing: We are committed to printing the book locally in Aotearoa New Zealand, reducing the ecological impact of overseas printing. This choice supports local businesses and reduces the carbon footprint of the production process.

Your contribution will help bring this community-driven project to life, ensuring it’s printed with care and consideration for both people and the planet.

From the team behind Finding Grace Kimihia a Grace comes Seeking Will Rapua a Will, the next book in our bilingual series. Seeking Will explores how communities respond to life’s storms—and the stories that guide us forward.

Inspired by the January 2023 storms in the Waitākere Ranges, this story follows a boy and his dog navigating a storm, offering a heartfelt exploration of connection, courage, and finding a way home together. Like Finding Grace, this book centers around a core value—this time, will—inviting readers to reflect on its meaning through the journey of our characters.

This book emerges from The Light Library, where storytelling, community, and creativity come together. Through our Create a Book Together workshops, over 40 children and their whānau have helped shape this story—painting backgrounds and contributing ideas. Each young collaborator will receive a copy and be acknowledged in print.

The creation of Seeking Will is a deeply collaborative process. Alongside illustrator Nicky Hartley’s pencil drawings, tamariki from our workshops have painted the backgrounds, making this a true community-driven project. Their contributions have shaped the visual and narrative, as will the translation process, weaving together English and Te Reo Māori to ground this story in Aotearoa.

Now, with illustration and text editing in progress, final workshops will take place during our funding campaign. Our goal is to complete the book’s design and print production by late 2025, ensuring this beautiful, community-made story reaches families, schools, and libraries across Aotearoa.

Seeking Will Rapua a Will is more than just a book—it's a community-driven project that needs to be seen and heard because it reflects the resilience and strength found in connection, courage, and collective action. This book, born from the devastation of a storm, invites readers to reflect on the core value of "will" and how it drives us to thrive even in difficult times, and most importantly, to do it together.

This work is valuable because it gives children and families an opportunity to engage with a story they helped create. Through our workshops, tamariki and their whānau have contributed to the development of the book, making it a deeply personal and community-centered project. 

Your support will bring this heartfelt story to life, inspiring creativity, conversation, and a sense of belonging, while ensuring our communities' stories are heard and celebrated across Aotearoa NZ.