NZ Books for Kids

Whale Pot Bay by Des Hunt

2011-03-30T16:25:00.000-07:00

Whale Pot Bay by Des Hunt (HarperCollins) 2009

Paperback ISBN 9781869507305

Jake (13) and his dad live in rural Wairarapa and get along pretty well with no women in their lives, or so Jake thinks. Then his dad falls in love and his girlfriend and her daughter come to stay. Stephanie is excited because her favourite rock star, Milton Summer, lives in the area. Jake doesn’t want any females mucking up their lives and crashes the jeep when he angrily takes her to see where Milton lives – they have a bit of sorting out to do before they can become friends, and get involved with Milt too. There’s other trouble, with suspicious characters hanging around and high drama when a pregnant whale is stranded in the bay, and then a tsunami to face. Technology sometimes clumsily dealt with, and the 13-year-old driving the jeep seems inappropriate. Otherwise an exciting read with a good measure of ecological information.

This review first appeared in NZ Book Council's The School Library in March 2009.

Saving Sam by Susan Brocker

2011-03-30T16:21:00.000-07:00

Saving Sam by Susan Brocker (HarperCollins)

Paperback ISBN 9781869507435

A dramatic dog fight scene opens the book and grabs your attention. Then we meet Ben. His mother is dead and now his dad’s in jail again so he and 16-year-old brother Sam are left to stay with their Aunt Ida and Uncle Joe, for a while at least. Ben makes friends with a filthy terrified dog his uncle has bought, and persuades them to let him take care of her. He names her Layla, cleans her up and gains her confidence, finding comfort and companionship together. Ben makes a friend at school who also has a dog and he joins her at dog training classes where they discover Layla’s history as a police dog. They’re going to need to be a good team and use all Layla’s skills too, as big brother Sam is on the road to destruction, led into the world of serious drugs by a teacher at school, a teacher who makes Ben’s life a misery every chance he gets. There’s drama, action, and strong emotion, making this a touching and thrilling read for 11-14 year olds, with a strong anti-drug message for good measure.

Reviews archive

2011-03-30T16:14:00.000-07:00

As you will see, I haven't been making very good use of this blog, but that's about to change.

I've decided to archive my reviews here - looking back to 2009 when I started reviewing for the NZ Book Council's school e-news - The School Library. Many of these can be found on the Book Council's website where you'll also find all sorts of other goodies like author bios, how to book school visits and what's on in the book world.

I also review for Family Times newspaper and for Magpies magazine. Magpies is a specialist children's literature magazine from Australia, with a New Zealand section featuring our authors, illustrators, new books and other literary information.

I hope you'll find some books to enjoy in the reviews to follow.

An Advent of Christmas Books - The Christmas Book by Dick Bruna

2009-12-14T01:45:00.000-08:00

The Christmas Book
By Dick Bruna
Methuen (1964), 1982

Dick Bruna has been illustrating picture books for more than 60 years! His first picture book was published in 1953, and, according to my copy, The Christmas Book was first published in 1964, reprinted five times, then a new edition in 1976, again reprinted numerous times, with my copy printed in 1982 - and of course much more has probably happened to this simple little book in the years since then.
I was given my copy, as a Christmas gift when I was pregnant with my son in 1985. So this is a special book in our house, patched as it is with sellotape and with discolouration on the white pages. The Christmas tale is told fully but simply, and accompanied by the simplest drawings possible. A treasure.
Read about Dick Bruna here. I was interested to read that his father was a publisher, his company one of the biggest in the Netherlands. He's probably best known for his Miffy books about a little rabbit.

An Advent of Christmas Books - Suzy Goose and the Christmas Star by Petr Horacek

2009-12-10T00:57:00.000-08:00

Here's a lovely new hardback Christmas picture book from Walker Books. The author/illustrator is Petr Horacek who has a great website here. He's a young guy, originally from Czechoslovakia, but now living in England after meeting and marrying an English girl.
Suzy Goose and the Christmas Star is about a goose and her friends are excited that it's Christmas - definitely a Northern Christmas as there is snow everywhere (and the white background is excellent for ensuring the text is readable over the full-page illustrations). They have decorated a beautiful Christmas tree but Suzy wants a star for the top of the tree so decides she will go up into the sky to fetch the bright star she sees there. She jumps, slides and tries everything she can to get up to the star, and suddenly realises that she is lost.
Suzy walked and walked and walked.
She was tired.
"It's Christmas Eve, I can't reach the star
and I'm very far from my friends,"
she thought.
The pages are filled with whiteness with the solitary goose looking very sorry for herself, but then 'Ding, Honk, Ding, Honk' she hears the sounds of her friends and follows the noise until she finds her way home again (back past all the obstacles she used to jump from before). And when they all look up at the tree again, the star is now in perfect position at the top of the tree.
It looked magical!
"Happy Christmas," honked Suzy Goose
with all her friends.
I love the illustrations. The backgrounds are thick with texture, crayon rubbings, snowflake shapes embedded with inky blue watercolour skies. The main features - the animals, the tree, the star, have been drawn in loose pencil sketched lines, coloured and cut out then applied to the background. This brings them to the fore of the pictures and they often have an added sheen of the paper's texture.
The story is told simply, with all the drama in the illustrations. Pages are sometimes a single double-page spread, on others the pages are divided into panels showing Suzy's progression.
I hadn't heard of this author/illustrator before but I'll be looking for more of his books, I so love his style. There are other Suzy books and many other titles and illustrations shown on his website.
Suzy Goose and the Christmas Star
By Petr Horacek
Walker Books, 2009
ISBN 9781406320657

An Advent of Christmas Books - The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey by Susan Wojciechowski and PJ Lynch

2009-12-09T01:45:00.000-08:00

I have two copies of this beautiful Christmas story. The first, acquired from a sale of withdrawn library books, is a large landscape format hardback with illustrations that go right to the edge of the pages, with a panel around 2/3 the left hand page for the text, and an additional small illustration at the bottom. This format does show the illustrations at their best, the textures of wood and clothing, skin and hair beautifully detailed in each panel.
The new copy has come to me as part of the P.J. Lynch Classic Christmas Collection in a boxed set with A Christmas Carol and The Gift of the Magi (which I'll review at a later date). It's smaller and portrait format, the illustrations just over half the size of the earlier edition, and with a pale relief effect as a border for each page (see picture). The illustrations are still beautiful, but when you compare the two the larger format is so worthwhile for the extra detail you can see.
I also take issue with the covers - the earlier cover depicts Jonathan Twoomey teaching the boy how to carve. A warm, focused, intimate moment. The new cover shows the mother, son and Jonathan on the snow-strewn street holding hands. Surely this gives away the end of the story, the happily ever after shown on the front cover.
The story, briefly, is about Jonathon Twoomey, a wood-carver known as Mr Gloomy, for he's always grumpy and never smiles or laughs. None of them know about the loss which has made him so unhappy. A widow and her son move to the village and she asks JT if he will carve some figures for her from wood - a nativity scene that they loved but have lost. They later ask if Thomas can watch JT carve. As the days go by they come again and again and slowly the relationship warms, and of course if you've seen that second cover you know the result!
It is a beautiful and touching tale, with quite a long text, worth settling down for a long read to enjoy the story and examine the illustrations as they deserve.
Much as I love a beautiful box set of books, such a treasure, I think I'll keep going back to my battered ex-library copy for the full experience.

An Advent of Christmas Books - The Night Before Christmas

2009-12-07T01:23:00.000-08:00

A tiny review for a tiny edition of an old story.

This book has been letterpress printed by Graham Judd who, as well as playing bass in a band with my husband, is a talented printer. It's a tiny treasure and I'm going to hang it from my Christmas tree, and get a couple more copies to go in some presents.

This book is a wee gem, just over 2"tall.

Here are the final pages:

If you'd like to get some copies yourself contact Graham at GTO Printers - www.gtoprinters.co.nz

An Advent of Christmas Books - The Twelve Days of Holidays by Yvonne Morrison and Jenny Cooper

2009-12-06T02:10:00.000-08:00

Christmas books aren't all sweetness and light. Just as I'd rather listen to Silent Night than Jingle Bell Rock, I'd also rather read a Christmas story which has a fair dose of tradition. Today's book has only the merest tinge of tradition and I won't be giving it to anyone as a gift this year!
The nod to tradition is that it is modeled on The Twelve Days of Christmas (and you could certainly sing it to that tune); but instead of gifts, each day sees a very stressed mother yell another order at her daughter, accumulating day by day.
'On the twelfth day of holidays, my mother said to me:
Be good and you can stay up... go and bug your father ... I can't wait till school starts ... have you fed the dog yet ... elbows off the table ... write to your grandma ... don't break your new toys ... go, wash your face ... help me wash the dishes ... play with your sister ... tidy up your bedroom ... and please will you turn off that TV!' On the thirteenth day she's sent off to Gran's.
There is a good deal of humour in the illustrations - created using lead pencil and watercolour. The whole family looks slightly mad and have Jenny Cooper's familiar big heads, seen in a number of other books she's illustrated (Shut the Gate, On a Rabbit Hunt, Peter & the Pig, The Reluctant Little Flowergirl and others).
Perhaps I took against this book largely because of the way the mother is depicted - with her mouth is wide open, yelling, in all the early illustrations, and downturned, sad and worn out, in the latter pages. Now I know as well as anyone that Christmas is a stressful time, but there's more to the holidays than kids watching TV all day, and mums can have a good time in the holidays rather than yelling at the kids constantly. Look out for the cat - he doesn't get a mention in the text, but the cat is involved in every scene (except the one featuring the family dog), and is a real character and far more worthy of our attention than the ever-present TV.
Read about Yvonne Morrison on the Christchurch City Libraries great author resource here, and they also have an interview with Jenny Cooper here. Yvonne has also written a number of other Christmas titles for children - Brian the Big-Brained Romney, A Kiwi Jingle Bells and A Kiwi Night Before Christmas.

The Twelve Days of Holidays
Written by Yvonne Morrison
Illustrated by Jenny Cooper
Scholastic New Zealand
Paperback, 2009
ISBN 9781869439163

An Advent of Christmas Books - A Right Royal Christmas by Lucy Davey and Donovan Bixley

2009-12-04T19:46:00.000-08:00

A new Christmas title from Scholastic New Zealand. Lucy Davey has had a number of cby Scholastic, probably her best-known would be the series about Fifi la Belle, a snooty Siamese cat from Parnell (illustrated by Christine Ross). These aren't particularly to my taste, a bit too much like Lynley Dodd's Hairy Maclary books, but not quite up to Dodd's standard in the rhyme department. This Christmas book, however, is lovely, and in the style of a classical princess tale, without the contrivance of trying to insert New Zealand details in at every opportunity. Sometimes it's quite a relief to have a NZ picture book that isn't obviously Kiwi.

It's Christmas time

and the royal princess wants to have her parents to herself, but the King and Queen love to invite all the waifs and strays in to the palace to share the day with them. Each time the doorbell rings the princess answers it and tells the visitors that there's no room at all, but then her parents invite them in anyway, until the palace is truly overflowing with guests and the princess opens the door to a young couple with a baby nearly due (sound familiar?). The princess tells them there's no room but kind Queen Alice finds them room in the stable. When Princess Claire is sent out later with some food, she finds them with their newborn baby, and discovers that she can find pleasure in sharing Christmas day and all it's joys with others after all.

The rhyming text is full of alliteration and deliciousness - 'Crackers and cranberries, custard and cake; turkey and trifle and plum pudding bake: pumpkin and parsnips, piles of peas; plumps of pavlova, and trayfuls of cheese.'

Donovan Bixley uses a combination of drawing by hand and coloured in Photoshop, a technique frequently seen in picture books these days. I've no objection to computers being used for illustrating purposes, as long as it's not obviously a computer effect, and Donovan has done a great job her

e in the main, apart from some backgrounds which have the characteristic fuzziness of computer effects. This seems most obvious in less detailed pages where the spaces have a surreal glow that would never be accomplished with brush and paint. The characters of the little princess and her warm and patient parents draw you to them, they, along with their quirky visitors, are depicted in the timeless way of fairytales, with long dresses, robes and crowns, but with a distinctly modern sparkle in the eye. The chaos of the castle is brightly festive with classic fairytale touches. I particularly love this illustration from the beginning of the book, with echoes of the princess and the Pea in the multi-layered bed.

Children will love to listen to this story read aloud, and wish they could indulge in the glorious feast. Let's hope they also pick up on the positive message about sharing.

You'll find printables to colour in from this and other Lucy Davey books on her website here. I discovered on her website that she also writes songs for kids too. Check out Donovan's great site here too.

A Right Royal Christmas

Written by Lucy Davey

Illustrated by Donovan Bixley

Scholastic New Zealand, 2009

ISBN 9781869438449

Paperback

An Advent of Christmas Books - Lucy and Tom's Christmas by Shirley Hughes

2009-12-03T01:46:00.000-08:00

This book is an old one, no longer in print but available second hand. My copy has my son's name inscribed in the front, dated Christmas 1988 and this is the perfect book to share with an excited two-year-old child, as mine was back then.

Shirley Hughes has an extraordinary talent for depicting children in all their round rumpled goodness, and the ordinary household with its mess and domestic clutter.

'Christmas is coming! Lucy and Tom are helping to stir the Christmas pudding. As they stir they each make a wish.' And so begins the series of events leading up to Christmas day. There are cards both received and handmade by the children, decorations and a nativity scene to set out. The glorious mish-mash of gifts they have chosen - a brooch for Mum, a rubber in the shape of a dog for Dad to take to the office... there's a list of each child's chosen presents for the special people in their lives - now wrapped and hidden well - in a different place each day by Tom - Shirley Hughes is a master of the child's idiosyncratic behaviour that we will all recognise.

This is one of my favourite pages which captures the warmth of the kitchen, child on a chair to reach the table, and carol singers at the door.

The Christmas tree is bought and on Christmas Eve they all hang the decorations and arrange their parcels beneath it before the children go to bed, to wake early as all small children do on Christmas morning, before opening presents on Mum and Dad's bed.

This is an English Christmas so there's snow, and a big group of extended family for roast turkey, pudding and crackers, and then the presents from under the tree to be opened, and a lovely page depicting a baby playing with the paper rather than the present, and eventually falling asleep amidst it all. There's a walk with Grandad for grumpy Tom, then a warm family evening with games and lights on the tree.

I love the way the story slowly moves through all the rituals of Christmas, each thing with its own special time to be enjoyed. I do think children rather thrive on knowing what's going to happen, and enjoy looking forward to things as much as actually doing them, the suspense is all part of the event. More than anything it's the warmth of the family which shines from every page. Perhaps for some readers this book will also encourage them to develop their own family rituals around this special time of year.

You can read about Shirley Hughes here, and see some examples of her artwork at The Illustration Cupboard (along with a huge number of other extraordinary illustrators of children's books).

Lucy & Tom's Christmas

By Shirley Hughes

Puffin Books, (1981), 1987

ISBN 0140504699

An Advent of Christmas Books - Dear Father Christmas by Alan Durant & Vanessa Cabban

2009-12-02T02:10:00.000-08:00

This book was new to me, but it's a reprint, originally out in 2005. I hope the original came out in hardback because the paperback I have has a very thin cover and if this book gets the amount of handling the content warrants it will soon be falling to bits.

I wasn't familiar with the British author Alan Durant but found heaps of info about him here and see he has a huge stack of books to his name. The illustrator is also accomplished and you can read about her and some of her books for Walker Books (she writes as well as illustrates) here.

Dear Father Christmas immediately reminded me of The Jolly Postman and its Christmas version, and perhaps that smaller, more robust format was more suitable for a book with so many surprises enclosed for every few pages there is an envelope with a treasure within - a letter, mini advent calendar, a Christmas decoration and more.

A soft and friendly looking Father Christmas smiles out from the cover, with a gold-embossed envelope in his hand, inviting you in. The story follows young Holly and her correspondence with Father Christmas which begins on 1st December when her little brother leaves his Christmas list on the fireplace but Holly writes a letter instead. Her letters are full of questions about Father Christmas, where he lives, who his helpers are, how he manages to get right around the world on Christmas night. Father Christmas patiently replies and answers her questions in a perfectly plausible way (well, I AM a great believer in the joys of Christmas!), each time reminding her that she hasn't supplied her wish list yet. When she finally does it's for a very special gift and Santa does manage to deliver.

Holly and her family and home are beautifully rumpled and her letters suitably decorated with childish drawings. Santa's abode is also perfectly magical and cheery. Children will love to open each envelope and read the contents - and put it back safe and sound again for next time.

This duo have also produced other titles in this format - Dear Tooth Fairy and Dear Mermaid.

Dear Father Christmas By Alan Durant

Illustrated by Vanessa Cabban

Walker Books (2005), 2009

ISBN 9781406305586

Paperback $19

An advent of Christmas Books - Cowshed Christmas by Gavin Bishop and Joy Cowley

2009-12-01T00:02:00.000-08:00

December is here and the countdown to Christmas is underway. We usually have an advent calendar in our house, but not this year. I also have a slowly growing collection of Christmas books so I thought I'd combine the two and provide a review of a Christmas book each day rolling up to the 25th of December.

Firstly, a new one recently out from Random House:

Cowshed Christmas

Illustrations by Gavin Bishop

Story by Joy Cowley

ISBN 9781869790738

Paperback $24.99

The cover invites you in - a cow and a dog are peering around the corner of the shed at something, and we'll just have to open the cover and see what's inside.

As I read the book aloud I knew it felt familiar, thank goodness for Kate De Goldi, talking about this book on Radio NZ on Saturday, who identified The Highwayman as the root of the repetition and rhythm.

This is a very New Zealand Christmas book; we meet animals one by one as they each bring a gift - and both the animals and the gifts have a very Kiwi flavour. It's not just a cow - it's a jersey cow, there's a collie dog, and bantam hens. They bring pavlova, gumboots, a football, jandals, a kiwi on wheels, pohutukawa flowers and a dripping hokey pokey ice-cream is carried by a kune kune pig. And finally on the last page we see a rather Maori-looking mother and infant. 'Little baby Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. Little baby Jesus by the stable door'.

Each page is simple in its content, the uncomplicated animals and their gifts outlined in black, produced with Gavin's trademark printmaking technique. Whilst the figures are simple the technique provides texture, and Gavin's talent with watercolour inks renders each page a glowing colour-washed delight, with spatters and stars that take the simple figures and create artworks of each spread. Each animal has a spread devoted to them, followed by the growing band of animals outside the cowshed door.

You could almost sing the text and children will want to join in on the the repetition, and love the story again and again even though we all know right from the start what the ending is going to be. A delightful, timeless and very New Zealand Christmas book to add to your collection, or start one for a child.

Find out more about the author and illustrator:

www.gavinbishop.com

www.joycowley.com

Banquo's Son by TK Roxborogh

2009-10-11T00:53:00.000-07:00

Launched this month with celebrations in Dunedin and Auckland, was Tania Roxborogh's Banquo's Son, a follow-on novel to Shakespeare's Macbeth. After Macbeth killed Banquo his son fled - this is Roxborogh's take on what happened to that son - Fleance, and begins 10 years later.
Firstly I must say that I'm not an expert on Shakespeare, I'm familiar with the main works, refreshed recently as my daughter has been studying Hamlet. I was rather dreading beginning the book after reading in the author's notes that she had tried to use the speech of Shakespeare's time, but I didn't find it a problem, the text was reasonably formal but without too much specialised language (though I did have to look up 'reivers' - which wasn't in my Oxford dictionary so I didn't feel too bad not knowing the word myself, good old Google provided the answer though), with an occasional slip into modern colloquial language ('the night could not be for real'). I thought the tone quite consistent and not hard to read at all.
A brief run-down of the story - Fleance is 21, he's spent the last ten years in the care of the couple who picked him up after his father's murder, living in England. He's taken a fancy to young Rosie (this name seemed a bit out of place - was it common in those times?) and they seem destined for marriage. However Fleance is being haunted by his father and feels the call to revenge his murder. When pressured to make a commitment to Rosie, Fleance upsets everyone by choosing instead to leave for Scotland, without telling anyone what he must do as they don't know that he is Banquo's son. On his mission he meets Duncan, nephew of the current king who is dying. They make friends and Duncan takes him in to his household, also hoping that Fleance might make a good partner for Duncan's sister Rachel.
I won't got into more detail of the storyline for fear of spoiling the book for those who haven't read it yet. Kings die and are succeeded, battles are fought and sides must be chosen, duty being the strongest movtive for any choices made. The witches, so influential in Macbeth are back again, wielding their strange power, and not everyone is who they appear to be. There's betrayal, and romance, battle and friendship, and duty, duty, duty.
Although there are some fierce battle scenes and strong male roles I still felt a feminine cast over the whole story - or perhaps I was influenced by knowing the author - and that her main feedback was from students at the girls' school where she teaches.
I did enjoy the read, the twists and turns in the tale, mildly distracted on occasion by the typos that should certainly have been picked up in the editing and proofreading process. With a bit of luck there will quickly be a reprint and they can correct the errors.
There's been quite a bit of chat online and in print since the book was released, some negative, some positive.
The Fountainhead is a student of Roxborogh's and gives insight into the experience of joining the ride towards publication. Writers House, New York agent Josh Getzler has picked up the book and there are rumours of film rights. There's a good review from Otago Daily Times and an interview on CDM online magazine. NZ Book Month reviewer Lisa Scott talked mainly about the potential for Shakespeare sequels on screen (and calls Rosie 'Rose'), NZ Listener said nice things in this week's issue, which made up for Nicholas Reid in Sunday Star-Times. The book has its own blog where you can read all the comings and goings, and last I heard it was at number 3 on the fiction lists and sold 3000+, off to a great start.

Aunt Concertina and her Niece Evalina

2009-09-23T19:16:00.000-07:00

Written by Paula Green
Illustrated by Michael Hight
Random House 2009
ISBN 9781869790110
Hardback $34.99
I so love it when publishers go the extra mile and produce a book in hardcover. It’s the sign of a book that you’d expect to have a long life with many repeat reads and this is certainly the case with Aunt Concertina. This is a sophisticated picture book with extensive and complex text, written in prose but with poetic elements at every turn, making it a delicious, and lengthy, read-aloud. Aunt Concertina loves to spend time in junk shops adding to her collections, but her niece Evalina wants to go on adventures. Whilst out shopping they find a kite which takes them off on their adventures around the globe. Each double-page spread is a work of art in itself – as you’d expect coming from a fine artist of Michael Hight’s pedigree. Fine artists don’t necessarily translate into great illustrators but in this case he’s done a fine job of taking the text beyond the words themselves and create a complex international panorama with familiar places and things waiting to leap out from every page, along with pieces from old maps, all created with the glorious depth of colour and texture of oils. I particularly love the kite which has a personality of its own. Many of you will remember this duo from their fine poetry book Flamingo Bendalingo, one of my all-time favourite poetry books (and one of the few by NZers for children) and this is another treasure to add to your library.

Old Hu-Hu by Kyle Mewburn, illustrated by Rachel Driscoll (Scholastic)

2009-09-07T16:10:00.000-07:00

A treasure appeared in my mailbox today - Old Hu-hu written by the irrepressible Kyle Mewburn. If you've ever met him on an author visit you'll know he's full of life and bursting with enthusiasm for his chosen career of writing books for kids. On his website he talks about being inspired to write this book by the death of his cat. Even though she was very old and getting sick it was still very sad. He also thought a lot about his grandfathers who were always telling stories, and says that he thinks Old Hu-hu looks a bit like one of his grandads. Kyle thinks Rachel's illustrations are brilliant and I'm inclined to agree, though I always have an unquiet murmur in the back of my mind when I see animals with human characteristics (have you ever seen a hu-hu bug with a moustache?). But I'll forgive this as the overall emotion and depth of the book is taken to a new level with Rachel's beautifully crafted illustrations. Scholastic are one of the few publishers who include info about the media used for the illustration and design of their books (just look on the copyright page) and in this case they say 'Illustrations created in pencil, paint and tears'. A labour of love I'd say, from both the author and the illustrator. Also mentioned is the typeface used - it's called Old Hu-Hu and I'm guessing it was created specifically for this book. I'll check that out to confirm. Considering the subject matter of the story it is a book that requires sharing with an adult who can talk through any questions and emotions that might result from a book about death. There are not many books on this topic and I think it's been dealt with beautifully... with not a mention of God or Heaven in sight.

Piano Rock by Gavin Bishop wins design award

2009-09-03T17:54:00.001-07:00

Congratulations to Gavin Bishop and Sarah Elworthy for their design work on Piano Rock. A 1950s Childhood (Random House) which took the Scholastic New Zealand Award for Best Children's Book in the PANZ Book Design Awards last night. Well deserved for this delightful treasure of a book with its fabric bound spine and its small size such a comforting handful. It's a pity that children's books were not up to taking out any of the other awards. Read about all the other winners here.
Here's my review, written for Storylines Booklist last year.

Piano Rock – A 1950s Childhood

By Gavin Bishop

Random House, 2008

Hb ISBN 9781869790103

This small hardback book is a treasure to behold, before you even open the covers, with its decorated fabric spine and silhouette illustration on a duck-egg blue background. The pattern of the spine is repeated on the endpapers and the pages littered with prints and classically coloured illustrations that help set the story in its time and place – Kingston, Southland, 1949-1954. This is the true and elegantly told story of the years Gavin spent as a young boy, with all the adventures a lad should have – building huts, eating scones and roast mutton, catching eels, going to school on a horse, Guy Fawkes Day and more. A glossary at the back explains some of the language of the day like Box Brownie, linoleum and Guy (which causes great trauma in the story). A book that will be enjoyed by children (perhaps 8+) and adults alike, conveying a true picture of life in the ‘good old days’.

You can also hear Gavin talking about his books on Storylines new video interviews - Literature Live

My Brown Bear Barney 21st birthday edition

2009-09-01T02:26:00.001-07:00

Firstly, humble apologies for neglecting this blog for a whole year. I won't bore you with my excuses, just promise to do better.

So on with the show - and what a show the Auckland Storylines Festival Family Day was on Sunday. One highlight was celebrating the 21st birthday of Brown Bear Barney. My how the years have flown and there will be a new generation of children who read this when they were small, who will now be able to share it with their own young ones.

Barney is beloved largely because he is so ordinary - Dorothy Butler and Elizabeth Fuller between them have conjured an ordinary day in the life of and ordinary family - just what young children enjoy seeing in the pages of their picture books - something that reflects their own lives a little.

Children and their parents and grandparents all gathered to enjoy cake and numerous bear-related crafts in the Aotea Centre on Sunday, with Dorothy and Elizabeth there to celebrate, and a new edition from Penguin, complete with birthday balloons on the front cover.

Sorry to be negative, but honestly the new book is a flimsy wee thing with the lightest of covers. Surely such a long-term classic warrants a hardback that can continue to be enjoyed by another generation of children. And perhaps there could have been mention that the book was a recipient of the Storylines Gaelyn Gordon Award for a Much-loved Book.

Katarina is a classic

2008-09-14T20:22:00.000-07:00

Katarina, one of Gavin Bishop's early picture books (first published in 1990), is back in print, now as one of Random House's New Zealand Classic series, and rightly so too.
This is the true story of Gavin's great aunt Katarina, a young Maori woman living in the 1860s, the time of the goldrush and the Maori wars. She falls in love with a Scot and follows him to Otago, leaving her family behind in the Waikato. She learns to live the pioneering way, but somehow never forgets her roots. She makes a trip home as the land wars are breaking out and must quickly find her way back to her new home.
Gavin's illustrations are sensitive and evocative of the times, sketched in pencil and sepia watercolours that take you back in time to share the experience of Katarina as she goes through the great changes in her life. The illustrations let us see the changes in accommodation - from whare to tent to colonial weatherboard. There's just the right scattering of Maori language - I understand what is meant even if I don't know the exact words. The final phrase - Mate kainga tahi, ora kainga rua - A person is lucky indeed to have two homes rather than one - sums up Katarina's life - she's moved into the new colonial ways, but never forgotten where she came from and the old ways. May we all go on remembering, thanks to those like Gavin who ensure we will always have stories to help us do so.

Bernard Beckett is a Bologna superstar

2008-04-03T10:27:00.000-07:00

Bookman Beattie has reported great news for New Zealand writer Bernard Beckett and his publishers, Longacre Press in New Zealand and Text Publishing in Australia. Bernard's young adult novel is doing great business at the Bologna Book Fair (gotta get there one day!). Genesis is taking off big time in Bologna with a £100,000 sale to Quercus and sales for Norwegian, Spanish, French and Italian rights, and also to Canada.
Bernard is a top-class writer New Zealand should be hugely proud of. His novels have been aimed at the young adult market so far, but will now maximise the crossover potential of Genesis by marketing to both YA and adult markets.
He's also a fantastic teacher and role model who effectively communicates his ideas, and his love of writing, story and science. All the best Bernard. And now I'll very guiltily go away and read the book... I loved Malcolm and Juliet and Deep Fried, but I've never really been a sci-fi girl. But when the writing is this good I've got to give it a go.
Pic of Bernard from Longacre Press website.

Booknotes goes large

2008-03-26T13:53:00.000-07:00

If you're a member of the New Zealand Book Council (www.bookcouncil.org.nz - a great source of info about NZ authors, both for adults and for children) you will receive their Booknotes publication. There's always quite a variety of articles about NZ books, including pages in the back entitled 'The School Library'.
I've always thought that this title doesn't do the column any favours - it limits immediately who will want to read it and deserves a more general audience than just school librarians. That's one complaint, another - perhaps just a natural problem that comes with only being a quarterly publication - I often feel like the books reviewed aren't particularly new, many I've seen in the shops and heard discussed in a number of forums before the review in Booknotes is available. Perhaps this is because I'm spoilt by having great access to new books in NZ, but surely the librarians who this is apparently aimed at, are in the same position. My other complaint is that all the reviews are by one person. While you can become familiar with an individual writer's likes and dislikes as time goes on I personally prefer to have a range of opinions and perspectives.
Previous columnist Emma Coley has moved on to pastures new and her successor, Sara Kolijn, has made a very enthusiastic start in the new mag just out. Sadly for Sara noone noticed that Emma's name was still on the header, (tut tut proofreaders), although she is credited at the end of the column.
My major complaint for this issue is the gigantic size of the cover images, significantly and unnecessarily larger than in previous edititons. Was this to fill empty space? How many more books could have been included if the covers had been reduced? I feel slightly done, that I haven't got my full quota of reading.
Personally, I like to read about as many books as possible, and a bit of other book-related info would be a much-appreciated addition - more information about the authors and illustrators, some insight into the books, and the book-making process, that isn't easily accessible from elsewhere. These do appear - the last issue had an excellent article about Gecko Press (www.geckopress.com) and a tale of self-publishing from Rebekah Palmer (Champ the Chopper). This issue has a most fabulous article about italics that got my brain humming.
One last thing - and perhaps I'm just having a bad day and feeling particularly picky, but why oh why have they closed David Hill's sharp short story by mentioning his book Black Day - perhaps, dare I say it, the least substantial of his literary output, no other books mentioned - apparently notable only for his publication of a Kiwi Bite.
I do enjoy Booknotes... really I do, there's just a bit of irritation, not enough to cancel my sub though, there's enough good stuff and potential for me to look forward to discovering what's in each new issue as I rip the plastic off it on my way back from the post box.

My Story: Land of Promise

2008-03-02T15:02:00.000-08:00

The Diary of William Donahue, Gravesend to Wellington, 1839-40
ISBN 9781869438494
Scholastic 2008

Lorraine Orman has another My Story book out and it was a pleasure to read. This was not what I had expected. I've enjoyed much of Lorraine's writing, particularly Hideout (Longacre Press) which had a good story and lots of emotional drama, but the My Story series have never been my cup of tea. Perhaps it's my aversion to reading history (after living through many long months of my husband writing a history book I was well over that genre!) or that so many facts are incorporated into the books in this series that the story is sometimes lost along the way. I haven't read them all, so this should not be taken as a judgement call on all My Story books, just my personal feeling after a sampling.

So well done Lorraine, you drew me in and kept me going back for 'just one more chapter' until I'd consumed the whole thing and now know a whole lot more about early life in Wellington, what a shambles it was when the excited immigrants arrived, and - what I liked most - the story of what it was like travelling on a ship for weeks and weeks.

I only occasionally sighed at the facts included as an unlikely part of a young boy's knowledge, and relished the discovery of how the people who came here made their way through times of great difficulty - most admiring those who came from upper classes and got down to the work of building their new lives, leaving their rich ways behind them.

New Zealand Post Book Awards Finalists

2008-02-28T11:37:00.000-08:00

The news was out a few days ago, easing the anxious wait for all those authors, illustrators and publishers out there waiting to find out who the NZ Post Book Awards finalists are. The following will now have until May to agonize about who the final winners will be. The judges will also have to deal with all those who consider their taste in books superior and can't understand why they picked these ones and left other treasures out. The fact of the matter is that there are three judges and none take their task lightly, these choices will have been made after much discussion and thought. I, myself, had made a few predictions about who might be on the final list and only chose six of the final 20. I'll be back to inspect the unexpected ones to see if I can appreciate why they were chosen.

And so to the finalists...

Picture Book

The King’s Bubbles by Ruth Paul (Scholastic New Zealand)

Out of the Egg by Tina Matthews (Walker Books) - I was surprised at this as Tina lives in Sydney, though born in New Zealand. It sent me back to the eligibility criteria. I'm sure one of the rules used to be that you had to be resident in NZ for the past two years, but that must have been in the 'old days'. Now if you are NZer by birth you are elegible.

Rats! by Gavin Bishop (Random House New Zealand) - Yay! This is one of my top favourites, and so good to see the publisher produce a large hard-back, with French -fold dust jacket and all, it somehow gives the book more dignity and weight all round.

Tahi – One Lucky Kiwi by Melanie Drewery, Ali Teo (illus), John O’Reilly (illus) (Random House New Zealand) - some confusion here as I had thought this title would be in the non-fiction category - in fact when I checked library catalogues there were an assortment of choices - non-fiction, picture book and junior fiction.

To the Harbour by Stanley Palmer (Lopdell House Gallery) - more a work of art than picture book. Stanley Palmer is one of New Zealand's top artists and he's taken a step back into his childhood and created gorgeous monoprints to illustrate. The exhibition of the original artwork (large works, with all the text, and other content, backwards) is well worth checking out. There's been a bit of debate around as to whether this book is indeed for children, I say let's let the children themselves decide, just because it's from the past and told in old-fashioned language don't underestimate their ability to appreciate and enjoy the piece of Palmer's boyhood life.

Non Fiction

A Mini Guide to the Identification of New Zealand Land Birds by Andrew Crowe, Dave Gunson (illus) (Penguin

New Zealand

). Well here's the question - how do you define what makes a non-fiction book a children's book. I love that you can fit it in your pocket but...

Reaching the Summit by Alexa Johnston, David Larsen (Penguin New Zealand). Very timely with the death of Sir Ed, although apparently chosen before that event.

Weather Watch New Zealand by Sandra Carrod, Karsten Schneider (illus), Richard Gunther (illus) (Reed New Zealand). Good on you Reed, for putting out this champ before they powers-that-be shut you down. (In case you're not aware, Reed Publishing - in the year it celebrated 100 years of publishing - was sold into the Pearson group and the Reed name can no longer be used. The new name of Raupo will take over from here and will be managed from the house of Penguin).

What is a Fish? by Feana Tu’akoi (Scholastic New Zealand). I don't know how the judges could pick just one out of this fabulous series.

Which New Zealand Spider? by Andrew Crowe (Penguin New Zealand)

Junior Fiction

Dead Dan’s Dee by Phyllis Johnston (Longacre Press)

The Dumpster Saga by Craig Harrison (Scholastic New Zealand)

The Mad Tadpole Adventure by Melanie Drewery, Jenny Cooper (illus) (Scholastic New Zealand)

My Story Sitting on the Fence: The Diary of Martin Daly, Christchurch 1981 by Bill Nagelkerke (Scholastic New Zealand)

Snake and Lizard by Joy Cowley, Gavin Bishop (illus) (Gecko Press).

Young Adult Fiction

Salt by Maurice Gee (Penguin New Zealand). One of my favourite reads for the year.

The Sea-wreck Stranger by Anna Mackenzie (Longacre Press)

Tomorrow All Will Be Beautiful by Brigid Lowry (Allen & Unwin) - Quite a lot of the content of this book has been published before (in magazines & anthologies) so wondered about elegibilty because of this - but it has obviously passed the test. This will be a treasure for many a teenage girl.

The Transformation of Minna Hargreaves by Fleur Beale (Random House New Zealand)

Zillah by Penelope Todd (Longacre Press)

Big Fish Little Fish

2008-02-20T15:30:00.000-08:00

Big Fish Little Fish by Melanie Drewery has just landed on my desk and it's a little treasure for a recently independent reader, and the keen young fishing enthusiasts. Mums, dads and other adult readers could also learn a thing or two, as I did, about how to catch a fish, what sort of fish it is (when you finally get one on the line) and all about whales (which hopefully you won't have on your hook).
A great little tale about a boy entering a fishing competition who takes to the ocean with his grandad, instead of in his mate's speed boat. He's rewarded, not with the biggest fish (and the coveted prize of a 'spinning sure-catch reel and a super twangy snap-resistant rod') but with a tale that reaches back into his family's past, and a pride in his background. It was quite a surprise to suddenly find a friendly tale of fishing with grandad turning to harpoons and whale slaughter, but a nice job is made of showing how things were different in the old days, the excitement and challenge of catching the whale, and why it's no longer a good thing to do.
Some nice playing with words too, phrases repeated then turned around, reliable wisdom from the grandfather.
The story is just the half of it though. There is comprehensive, but simple, info about equipment you need for fishing, how to tie a whole lot of different knots, and types of fish you might catch. Melanie has done her own illustrations too and they balance out the text nicely.
I'm even tempted to have a go myself having made it through several decades and never yet caught even a sprat.
I expect this is the last new book with the Reed imprint on it that I'll find too, now that Raupo is on its way and Reed put to bed forever.

Self-published books

2008-02-18T14:01:00.000-08:00

I've taken a look at a number of self-published books lately. As always they vary in quality hugely. There is often a good reason why a book has not been taken up by a publisher and before going ahead with the expense and agony entailed in trying to get your book out there yourself there should be as much consulting and consideration of feedback before going ahead. I'd never say 'don't do it' because there have been some great successes in self-publishing, people who have gone on to have successful publishing businesses, but you've got to do your homework and make it the best it can possibly be.
Apart from the quality of the writing/illustration/production there are also some basics of publishing that seem to be missed along the way by DIY publishers.
Like the picture book I received yesterday that certainly had its good points. It looked inviting, it was quite simply written (though not a story line I cared for myself - I won't make a judgement about if others would enjoy it). However the most basic information was missing - no copyright page at all - no information about who had published it, when, where, or how one could contact them if you did want to get more copies. The ambitious placement of pricing for NZ, US and UK is quite redundant if no one can trace where to obtain it from. A self-published novel I read on the same day had a copyright page but again no information about the publisher, or any contact details.
So if you're going down the track of publishing your own book you have to get the basics right, apart from whether your book is actually worth publishing or not. If you want to sell then you have to make it possible for people to contact you. Maybe your book really is great and a major publisher would like to pick it up... or a bookseller would like to stock it... but you're out of luck because they don't know how to find you. Let's get professional!

My Brown Bear Barney is a much-loved book

2008-02-10T12:33:00.000-08:00

The 2008 Storylines Gaelyn Gordon Award for a much-loved book has been awarded to the classic picture book by Dorothy Butler and Elizabeth Fuller - My Brown Bear Barney.

Barney is a favourite around the world, this book being the first in a series that sees a young girl going through her everyday life with her teddy bear companion. Young children love to see their own lives reflected in the books they read and that's a major reason for the popularity of these titles. Dorothy is a great advocate of keeping stories for young children simple and her many picture books have strived to do just this - creating books that are treasured and re-read many times.

My Brown Bear Barney was published by Reed Methuen in 1988, followed by two sequels, My Brown Bear Barney at School (1994) and My Brown Bear Barney at the Party (2001).

Dorothy Butler, who lives at Karekare Beach in West Auckland, has been a foremost author and advocate for children’s books for more than 40 years, with her children's bookshop in Auckland providing quality books for children for many years, and her acclaimed books on reading to babies and young children Babies need Books and Five to Eight offering guidance to parents on how to share books with their children and her many picture books including the Barney series. Dorothy's in her eighties now but still writing with two new picture books in the Tales of Old New Zealand series published in the last two years.

Elizabeth Fuller is well known for her images for Joy Cowley’s international best-seller Mrs Wishy-Washy, along with many school reader titles and her other bear stories by Diana Noonan - The Best-dressed Bear and The Best-loved Bear and another of Dorothy's books O'Reilly and the Real Bears.

The award will be presented at the Storylines annual Margaret Mahy Day in Auckland on Saturday 29 March 2008, which will also include the Margaret Mahy Lecture from Kids' Lit Quiz quizmaster Wayne Mills, and other Storylines awards. An enjoyable day for anyone interested in children's books. See www.storylines.org.nz for more info about this event.