Finger Puppet Books - about the authors
Kerry & Sue Kitzelman
Partners in life and profession, primary school assistant principal, Sue, and former university lecturer, Kerry, bring a total of more than 60 years of teaching experience to this series of books. Having raised three children of their own, they appreciate the important role parents play in every facet of their children’s development, including learning to read. Now grandparents, they continue to share their passion for educating children with their extended family and a new generation of young readers.
Sue began her teaching career as an early childhood specialist and, after ten years experience, qualified as a learning support teacher. For many years, she designed and delivered early intervention programs and worked with 4-6 year olds who struggled with literacy skills. She identified and diagnosed many learning difficulties, and referred to and liaised with many specialists and therapists on behalf of her students.
Now, as the principal of a primary school, Sue remains passionate about helping children learn to read with minimum frustration and maximum encouragement and enjoyment. She currently coordinates a "whole school" approach to reading and, as such, provides training and support for teachers and teaching assistants.
Kerry began as a high school science teacher and, many years later, found himself lecturing in education at Griffith University. Along the way his career took him into fauna parks and provided the opportunity for extensive travel throughout Australia and overseas, studying environmental education and inspecting many zoo education facilities throughout Asia and the United Kingdom. He contributes his knowledge of Australian fauna to the books in this series, and although the Finger Puppet Readers are fanciful stories about Australian native animals they retain some relevance to the natural histories of the animals featured.
The philosophy and content of the Finger Puppet Books resulted from the observation and application of teaching literacy skills over many decades. Recently, the Australian National Inquiry into Literacy Levels (2005) underlined the importance of many of the techniques used in the Finger Puppet Book range.