WHERE LIONS ROAR AT NIGHT

A read aloud book for the whole family to enjoy by Rosie Boom

About The Boom Family 

From left to right: Jacob 9, Eliza 16, Kate 19 with Angel, Rose and Chris (never mind their age!), Milly 13, Josiah 20, and Samuel 11.

Chris and I (Rosie) have just celebrated 21 years of marriage.

We live with our six children in a 90 year old barn just out of Whangarei, New Zealand. In 2007 we bought 11 acres of beautiful New Zealand farm land and are in the process of building our new family home. 

  

Chris is involved in agricultural research and farm consultancy, and I am a full time mother of six beautiful, healthy, noisy, active children. Whenever I get a spare moment, I love to write! More of that below. Chris and I are singer/songwriters (in our spare time!), and have been travelling around New Zealand now for 19 years, singing at churches, camps, conferences etc- most anywhere we're asked! This has become more and more challenging and complicated as our family has grown, but what a blessing it is! We now have the added joy of having our children sing with us at our concerts...exciting! Let me introduce the children:

Josiah, our eldest son, is 20 and  is in his third year at Massey University, studying Valuation. He has chosen to do the degree extra-murally, which means we get to have him at home for a few more years! He plans to help Chris and I build the house in his holidays. He loves to play soccer and guitar. He writes a song nearly every day!

Kate is 19 and has moved to Hamilton, where she is doing a music degree, majoring in voice and piano. Where Lions Roar at Night is dedicated to her, because without her help last year, I would never have found the time to write it.  She ‘gave ‘ us her gap year and spent 2008 running the barn, cooking all the meals and home schooling her younger brothers and sisters, so I could get out and help Chris build.(and write!) What a joy that year was. We miss her very much.

 Eliza is 16, and has just passed Grade 6 piano, and Grade 5 theory. She also just passed Grade 6 Classical singing with distinction. She loves music and has a beautiful voice. She is also crazy about horses and loves going riding with Milly and Mum.

Milly is 13, and is thriving on farm life. She has a pony, chickens, Indian Runner ducks and a milking cow called Blossom. She is enjoying making her own butter and yoghurt and icecream with the milk. She has got a beautiful singing voice, and also has a real gift for piano, with Ellie as her teacher.

Samuel is 11, and loves building. He is always busy outside making tree huts, swords, and such like. He is also mad keen on soccer! I am teaching him guitar and he loves singing. He also loves going golfing with his Grandpa every Tuesday.  Samuel really struggled to learn to read  (he  has  dyslexia)  but  last year he  just took off and is now devouring books every day. He has just finished his 7th book in the Redwall series! A real joy for his mother to see. :)

Jacob is nearly 10 and is full of fun. He too loves soccer and recently was a soccer star in a movie made for the NZ 48 hour movie competition. He loves learning piano from Kate. Both he and Sam have bows and arrows and spend ages doing archery competitions. Jacob spends hours doing all manner of freaky flips and stunts on the trampoline, all designed to freak his mother out.

 Writing

In 2002, Chris gave me an enrollment into a four year comprehensive writing course for my birthday present. It was my best presie ever! I loved the course, and  writing quickly became a passion. It took perseverance and lots of discouraging moments before I finally had my first story accepted for publication in Guide Magazine. After that initial acceptance it seemed to became easier and easier.

One of the passions I have had for many years is to encourage parents in the wonderful and challenging task of raising their children. So, in 2006 I began writing a series called The Gift of Values. Volume One was published in 2007 and in 2008 The Gift of Values ~ Volume Two was published. I am in the process of writing Volume Three.

After a year of living in our barn, the story of our life here just had to be told! Where Lions Roar at Night just about wrote itself. I have always kept a very detailed diary and the book was very easy to write as I chuckled my way through the entries, remembering those special moments.

Homeschooling.

One of the great joys (and challenges!) of my life is home schooling the children. I've been doing it for 15 years now, but am learning all the time.
One of the joys of our home schooling has been seeing the creation of a children's book and CD, The Happy Prince. This began as a simple unit study for school on compassion, which developed into something much bigger. You can read all about it on our web site www.boomfamily.co.nz

“An awesome book - everyone should read it! Parts of it are very funny. I didn't want Mum to stop reading it. The characters come alive - it made me want to meet them.” ~ Sarah, age 11

“This book is a winner! We devoured it as a ‘family read’ in less than a week. Many chores were left undone as my family pleaded for “just one more chapter, Mum!” again and again. We got to know each family member as a close friend, laughing at their antics, sharing their adventures with enthusiasm and their crises with bated breath. This is the captivating, real life story of a Kiwi family that every reader would want to know and be a part of, a family who cares for each other and shares each other’s triumphs and losses. It’s about creativity, making the most of life’s ups and downs, dancing in the puddles (or canoeing in the floodwaters) on rainy days and living the great adventure with whatever’s at hand. Where Lions Roar at Night is more than the New Zealand family biography that we’ve been longing to read, it’s an inspiration to families and readers of all ages. We can’t wait for the next installment!”  ~ Jenni Anderson, mother