Fiction
Australian Writer
Anna Branford, illustrated by
Sarah Davis
Violet Mackerel’s Possible
Friend
Walker Books 2013 $24.99hb 111
pages
Violet Mackerel series
ISBN 978 1 9219 7756 5
Themes: Anxiety/ Birthday parties/ Friendship/
Moving house/ Neighbours
Violet Mackerel finds it is a
bit lonely to move house but when she goes out into the garden, looks through a
knothole in the fence and sees a small girl about her own age she knows she may
be looking at a possible friend. There is a real sweetness and vulnerability about all the characters in the books in this series and seems to appeal
particularly
to little girls around six and seven.
Years 2-4/ Ages 6-8
NZ Writer
Des Hunt
Phantom of Terawhiti
HarperCollins 2013 $19.99pb
256
pages
ISBN 978 1 8695 0954 5
Themes: Shipwrecks/ Big cats/
Wellington NZ/ Zealandia, Karori Wellington.
A friendly and affectionate Big Cat who may be a cheetah, is found by Zac and his friend Jess in the bush above the beach on Wellington’s wild west coast. Two Russian thugs, who will stop at nothing, threaten her life – and, it seems that of the two children, who are determined to protect her. Add a sub-plot concerning Zac’s disgraced father, missing bankrolls and a disgruntled supermarket customer and you have an addictive story hard to put down. In my opinion, Des Hunt goes from strength to strength with his stories, most of which have a conservation or scientific theme and this is one of his best. A great read-aloud.
A friendly and affectionate Big Cat who may be a cheetah, is found by Zac and his friend Jess in the bush above the beach on Wellington’s wild west coast. Two Russian thugs, who will stop at nothing, threaten her life – and, it seems that of the two children, who are determined to protect her. Add a sub-plot concerning Zac’s disgraced father, missing bankrolls and a disgruntled supermarket customer and you have an addictive story hard to put down. In my opinion, Des Hunt goes from strength to strength with his stories, most of which have a conservation or scientific theme and this is one of his best. A great read-aloud.
Year 6 up/ Age 10 up
More Mature Readers
(content rather than reading level)
UK Writer
Andy McNabb
The New Recruit
Doubleday 2013 $26.99pb 254pages
ISBN 978 0 8575 3176 6
Themes: Afghanistan/ Series/
Soldiers
Causing the accidental death of
his best friend, Liam enrols in army training to try to forget what happened.
After surviving a brutal training regime he is sent to Afghanistan where he
comes face to face with the brother of the young man he killed. Easily read, a great deal of action and
written in the sort of language today’s young readers understand and use. This
should be popular. Great jacket!!
If you are buying for a more conservative collection you need to examine and read it well as
there are many swear words that may cause offense. However, I wish I had a reluctant (boy)
reader to share it to.
Year 9/ Age 13 up
Year 9/ Age 13 up
Non-Fiction
NZ Writers and photographers
Riria Hotere and Simon Morton.
Images from Te Papa
100 Amazing Tales From Aotearoa
Te Papa Press and TVNZ 2012 $38.00
225
pages
ISBN 978 1 8773 8579 7
Here are at least 100 treasures from behind the scenes at
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa collected together in a magnificent
piece of book production and full of colourful images and photos. Included are two DVDs with the TV
series which kick-started the book – Tales
from Te Papa and contains all
the episodes 1- 60. While this book is a feast for the eyes and magnificent for
browsing it is not intended as a reference tool as there is no index or table
of contents. Of course many of the items could be followed up on the net.
Year 2 up/ Age 6 up
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