Happy New Reggie!

Swapna HaddowPawsome News

Happy New Year, Readers! Me and illustrator Becka Moor started 2026 with the release of a brand new Reggie Rabbit book.

This one is the fourth in the series and after successfully exposing another Masque plot, word is getting out about crime-solving Reggie Rabbit and his parakeet partner. And this is exactly why a small shy mouse called Mo reaches out to the pair for help; his home, the warren-like metro tunnels underneath Bearburgh, is under threat. Cracks are appearing in the structure of the metro and in the mouse community that inhabit it.

Reggie and Pipsquark want to help the Metro Mice but Reggie will have to use all his detective skills to uncover what is going on beneath Bearburgh city. Will he be able to crack the case? Well, you’ll have to get your paws on a copy of Reggie Rabbit and the Metro Mice to find out.

Hoppy reading, everyone!

Thank you for all the book love in 2025!

Swapna HaddowScrapbook

It’s been an incredible year here at Swapna Haddow HQ – I had a whopper ELEVEN books published this year, with everything from fiction to non-fiction to picturebooks to my first in a brand new graphic novel series.

Thank you so much for all the love and support of my books this year. I am so grateful. I’ve been working hard on brand new books and next year, there will be more from The Terrible Trio, more from me and Jess Bradley and our Solved by Science series, the finale of the Dave Pigeon series and EVEN MORE BOOKY WONDERFULNESS!

Have an awesome festive period. I hope it’s filled with love, mince pies and a whole bunch of brilliant reads.

See you in 2026!

Granny made the School Reading List’s Children’s Books of the Year 2025 shortlist!

Swapna HaddowScrapbook

How to Save your Granny from a Runaway Train has been shortlisted for the School Reading List’s Children’s Books of the Year 2025!

I’m absolutely chuffed to bits for Team Granny who all worked so hard on this book. There are heaps of incredible books on the list so get voting for your favourites, and if you’ve enjoyed How to Save your Granny from a Runaway Train please feel free to give us a vote in the non-fiction category too. (Granny would be very happy about that.)

Thank you School Reading List!

Flying High with Dave Pigeon

Swapna HaddowRoosting With Dave

I was joined by over twenty classes in a HUGE Dave Pigeon (Turkey Dinner!) story-planning workshop with Flying High English Hub event.

I introduced my books and read from Dave Pigeon (Turkey Dinner!) before sharing my top tips on how to beat the blank page when you start writing a story. We planned over thirty new Dave Pigeon stories featuring worried worry monsters, visits to Chocolate Land and tyrannical rulers.

Thank you so much to everyone who joined in – I can’t wait to read all your stories!

Salon Reading Series with NZSA

Swapna HaddowScrapbook

It was so fantastic to share a platform with Gillian Torckler, Kath Beattie and Sam Montgomerie and talk to members of the New Zealand Society of Authors Otago Southland about our journeys into writing for children. There was a wealth of experience ranging from educational books to fiction to non fiction to poetry and more and it was great to hear real talk about the many routes into children’s publishing.

Thank you to Susan Wardell who chaired the event and to everyone who came along. Children’s books are awesome!

Hello, Port Chalmers!

Swapna HaddowThe Bad Panda Club, The Terrible Trio

It’s been a fun morning of story planning and reading at Port Chalmers School today. I started my day with Years 3 and 4 and then Years 5 and 6 and introduced them to the world of The Terrible Trio. It was so brilliant to meet readers who already knew Zeb, Barry and Marge so well and new readers who were itching to find out what happens next to the characters.

After Morning Tea, I meet up with Years 7 and 8 and I introduced them to the recipe of panda cake which inspired part of a story in the Bad Panda series. We also created more stories for The Terrible Trio pals, including stories of political uprisings.

Finally, I ended my morning of events with Years 1 and 2 and we read Why Not?. I loved telling them all about the research I had done of bizarre incidents in libraries and we played a game of guessing which ones were true and which ones were not so true. The pupils definitely won that game against the teachers!

Thank you so much to the staff and pupils of Port Chalmers School for such a fun morning and to Read NZ Te Pou Muramura for organising the event.

Storylines Notable Book Awards 2025

Swapna HaddowThe Terrible Trio

The Storylines Notable Book Awards 2025 booklists have just dropped and I’m chuffed to bits that The Terrible Trio: The (not so) Superheroes has made it on to the Junior Fiction list:

The list is packed full of incredible books by awesome authors and illustrators and I’m thrilled Zeb, Barry and Marge are sitting alongside such brilliant fiction for young readers:

Hugest thanks to the judges, booksellers, bloggers and readers who have all supported the book. We are working on two more books in the series so there will be heaps more fun to come in 2026.

Why Not? and The Terrible Trio Story Workshops

Swapna HaddowScrapbook, The Terrible Trio

Today, I visited Halfway Bush School to meet all the pupils from Year 1 to Year 6. First up were Year 1 and 2 and I got to share Why Not? with the pupils and surprise them with all the interesting library facts I had been collecting whilst researching the book.

After a delicious morning tea of cheese and choccie biccies, I met with Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 and told them all about The Terrible Trio.

We then created brand new story ideas for the character of Zeb and we heard about smelly dogs, stories in the middle of the ocean and commotions so huge they made poor Zeb’s tummy wobbly.

Thank you so much to Lizzie, Janelle and the staff and pupils at Halfway Bush School who made me feel so at home. I had a brilliant time!

The Terrible Trio x Reading Heroes

Swapna HaddowThe Terrible Trio

I was chuffed to bits to be invited to talk with Rachel and the children who are part of Reading Heroes.

I introduced my books, and of course The Terrible Trio, right before we had a reading and created a bunch of new adventures for the characters. We had stories about rainbow rocks, time machines, witches and spider forests and heaps of doggies for good measure.

I loved meeting everyone, and hearing all their brilliantly imaginative ideas, across the miles and I’m so thrilled that Reading Heroes are sending The Terrible Trio: The (not so) Superheroes out to everyone who came along.

Thank you to Rachel and the brilliant team at Reading Heroes for having me.