For just a few minutes she wasn't Tauranga Labour MP Jan Tinetti. She was Whaea Jan again, singing and dancing with the students at Merivale School and receiving a rousing haka.

Jan, until last year the principal of the school for more than 11 years, returned yesterday as part of Government Book Week, an initiative where the government funds a free book for every child registered in the Duffy Books in Homes programme.

The programme was launched in 1995 and has distributed more than 12 million books into New Zealand homes via 500 schools and more than 280 early childhood centres.

The project is the brainchild of author Alan Duff who wanted to break the cycle of booklessness among children at low decile schools.

Jan says the Duffy book assemblies at Merivale School were among her favourite times at the school and she was especially pleased to be spending time presenting Duffy books to three local schools.

'I love visiting schools. Those are my favourite days.”

The first-term MP shared stories with the students about her new job: the many meetings, hours of reading and long days at the office when parliament is in session.

'At 5pm on a Monday an email comes with all my reading for the week, which generally has to be done by Wednesday. Most of it's not exciting stuff like kids' writing that I was reading here at Merivale. No one comes and shares their writing with me anymore. It's stuff that's pretty hard to read so I'm thankful I turned into a very good reader.”

Tauranga Labour MP Jan Tinetti was Whaea Jan again yesterday to help mark Government Book Week.

Jan says even though she didn't work those long hours as a principal, the job was probably just as hard, if not harder.

'I used to lie awake at night worrying about you guys. I don't lay awake now with the same worries but I do think about you a lot.”

She's made some new friends in her new job, she says, including Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

'The best part is I get to tell all those people in Wellington what it's like for you guys at Merivale School because they don't know what it's like for you. Some of them haven't been in a school since they left school. It's awesome to be able to tell people what it's like for you and what it's like for your whanau living in Merivale.

'I always take a part of you with me. You're always in my heart and I'm always thinking about you. Thank you for being the amazing people you are because you're helping me be a better person in my job as well.”

Jan invited the children to continue to send her their best pieces of writing.

Children in the Duffy Books in Homes Programme receive three book catalogues each year from which they can choose five free books, one of which is funded by the government and the rest by sponsors. Each book has a sticky label which has the child's name, as well as the name of the school and sponsor who gave the book.

In addition, children have the opportunity to earn more books through a weekly ‘Caught Being Good' award. There are also books and certificates awarded to parents and caregivers who have been reading to their kids at home or at school.