Congratulations to Barbara Else.

The University of Otago Vice-Chancellor Professor Harlene Hayne has just announced the seven recipients of the Arts Fellowships for 2016.  Barbara has been awarded the College of Education/Creative New Zealand Writer in Residence.

Barbara, who has written six novels for children and six for adults, says she wants to use the time to write a children’s novel that begins in ancient times and moves to a contemporary New Zealand sea-side settlement.

Well done Barbara – that is such good news

Acknowledgments to Hutt News

 

And keep watching this space next week for a review of Barbara’s latest book published by Gecko Press – The Knot Impossible to be launched in October.  Number Four in the Fontania series.

Tapirs in the city

UK Writer and Illustrator Polly Faber, illustrated by Clara VulliamyThe Not-A-Pig  #1 in the Mango and Bambang series  Walker Books 2015 $19.99hb 142pp  ISBN 978 1 4063 6143 8  Themes: City life/ Friendship/ Short stories / Single parent families/ Tapirs

So many people thought that Bambang was a pig but of course he wasn’t. He was a Malaysian Tapir as Mango, who knew everything, tried to explain to anyone who would listen. In these four short stories it is hard not to fall in love with the two characters as they explore the inside of a big city, go swimming in an Olympic sized pool, eventually avoid the wicked intentions of a determined animal collector and learn to sing and to play the clarinet. The stories are written with a charm and warmth and are a pleasure to read aloud. This is Polly Faber’s first book and I am looking forward impatiently for the rest of the series.    

Year 4 up/ Age 8 up

Moa Hunting!

NZ illustrator Patrick McDonald We’re Going on a Moa Hunt Puffin 2015 $19.99pb 32pp ISBN 978 0 1435 0638 6

Themes: Traditional nursery stories - reworded

The pictures in this rewording of a very familiar children’s story are amazing and full of images (with much humour) of the New Zealand bush and mountains, seashore and countryside – with hundreds of NZ birds, butterflies, fish, shells and mammals (including the moa) to be found on every generously covered page.  For very small children and specially those who know the words of ‘We’re going on a bear hunt’ off by heart, a certain amount of explaining needs to be done before embarking but the excitement is the same and so is the wonderful tension on the journey ‘out’ and the one back home again. My only quibble is – why wasn’t a small girl allowed to be one of the Moa Hunters?     

Preschool up/ Age 3.5 up

Don't forget tomorrow, September 8th, is 

WORLD LITERACY DAY

The importance of Nursery Rhymes

NZ illustrator Donovan Bixley

Pussycat Pussycat and more

Upstart Press 2015 $19.99pb 24pp

ISBN 978 1 9272 6228 3

Themes: Traditional nursery rhymes (cat themes)

I feel I know every picture, every nuance of this book off by heart as since it was sent to me three weeks ago (and I apologise I am only posting it now) it has travelled back and forth to the Waikanae Kindergarten. The children have pulled it out of my book bag each Tuesday morning and insisted that that is the book we begin with. It is a long time since I shared nursery rhymes with children and I had forgotten how magic they can be with their simplicity and yet their sense of huge story behind each one. And this is even before the illustrations are mentioned! Donovan Bixley’s pictures for these four rhymes (all with a cat hero) are charming. They are warm and friendly and funny and cover each page with images. They are very ‘touchable’.

I read an interesting article on the importance of nursery rhymes the other day – it was written a few years ago and I am not totally sure of its source but have a look as it does make some very valuable points.

www.kbyutv.org/kidsandfamily/readytolearn/file.axd… 

Preschool up/ Age 3.5 up

The long awaited sequel to I am not Esther and I am Rebecca

Now available (released Wednesday August 26th)
NZ Writer  Fleur Beale  Being Magdalene  Penguin Random House 2015 $19.99pb 316pp  ISBN 978 1 7755 3767 Themes: Discovery of self/ Mental breakdowns/ Closed Religious Communities/ Sequels

Fleur - source unknown

At the end of I am Rebecca Magdalene was only eight. Now four years have passed and Magdalene is the oldest daughter in the remaining family and life is starting to overwhelm her. We read with dismay as everything in the Pilgrim Family and in parts of the Community begins to disintegrate, as the despicable Elder Stephen slowly descends into madness and as the head of the family, Caleb Pilgrim continues to insist that everything in life must be done according to The Rule. Not for one moment does Fleur Beale let go of the tension that builds and builds until – but yes, there is a happy ending. This is a book that will be read and reread and many readers will want to go back to the beginnings of the story of this incredibly resilient family (to even the members of it we dislike the most) and start all over again with I am not Esther and I am Rebecca.

Year 8 up/ Age 12 up (and for adults)

Sir Edmund Hillary's Amazing Everest Adventure

NZ Writer and Illustrator  David Hill, illustrated by Phoebe Morris First to the Top Puffin Books 2015 $25.00hb 32pp ISBN 978 0 1435 0687 4

Themes: Courage/ Sir Edmund Hillary/ Mountaineers/ Mt Everest/ Tenzing Norgay

In 32 large and colour filled pages with simple yet succinct text, is the whole story of Sir Edmund Hillary (shy as a child – determined and courageous as an adult), his mountaineering partner Sherpa Tenzing and of one of the main characters in the book – Mt Everest. The story is told with tension, with excitement and in places with poetry, perfectly matched throughout by the captivating images and illustrations.

Highly recommended   

Preschool up/ Age 4 up (I tried this out with a group of four year olds at the Waikanae Kindergarten this week and we must have spent at least half an hour looking at the pictures and talking about them.) Recommended for ESOL

David Hill with Fifi Colston

Image: Barbara Murison

David Hill spent most of his childhood and teenage years in Napier. He studied at Victoria University of Wellington and became a high school teacher, teaching both in New Zealand and the UK. He became a full-time writer in 1982 and is one of this country's most highly regarded authors for children and young people. David's books have been published internationally and his short stories and plays for young people have been broadcast here and overseas.

David has won awards for his writing in this country and overseas. He was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2004. Most recently My Brother's War, published by Penguin in 2012, won the Junior Fiction and the Children's Choice Junior Fiction awards in the 2013 New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults.

Image of Phoebe from Grow Wellington

As a child, Phoebe Morris always dreamed of becoming a zoo keeper and working with animals. However, persistent allergies meant that she ended up drawing them instead. As an adult, Phoebe now spends her time drawing a range of things - either on paper, or on her custom PC named 'the Millennium Falcon'. Without Wellington's seemingly endless coffee supply, it is unlikely that the illustrations for First to the Top (with David Hill, Puffin, 2015) would ever have been completed. Find out more about Phoebe's work at http://phoebe.design/

Author and Illustrator Information from Penguin Books New Zealand website

Storylines Wellington 2015 Reporting Back

STORYLINES WELLINGTON 

Sunday August 23^rd 2015 

Reporting Back

Philip Webb in action illustrating a story

Donovan Bixley helps create a medieval gauntlet

Ruth McIntyre  The Children's Bookshop

From the moment I walked into the compact but roomy Shed 6 down on the Wellington waterfront where Storylines 2015 was being held, it was obvious it was a success. It was midday and there were children everywhere (accompanied usually by adults) but this was no aimless moving about - children were all totally engaged in activities. There was much to be involved in and it was nearly all based on recent children’s books.  Gillian Candler’s nature series about the ocean, the rocky shore and the beach provided the stimulus for a magnificent marine display, which had children and adults crowding around it all day. There were activities based on Kyle Mewburn’s Dinosaur Rescue and medieval series, a Book Nook where children could listen to or just look at recent picture books and what Storylines would be complete without the portly red figure of Clifford padding about and waiting to be hugged and photographed. My favourite part of the day was to be sitting in the audience of children who helped Philip Webb and Kyle Mewburn create and illustrate a new story – it was complicated and involved a flying Swiss cheese, a black dragon called Edith, a pack of evil Teddy Bears and a dragon-catching fishing net.

Eileen Mueller (the coordinator) and her large team of volunteers should have gone home happy although totally exhausted with the thought that all the weeks (and weeks) of work
had culminated in such an enjoyable experience for everyone who came down to Shed Six on Sunday. Congratulations.  And good luck to the Storyline events still to happen next weekend.