Here is the very first Gecko Press ANNUAL

NZ Writers and Illustrators Kate De Goldi and Susan Paris - editors Annual  Gecko Press 2016   $39.99hb 135pp  ISBN 978 1 7765 7077 5                                                 

Themes: Articles/ Comics/ Games/ Images/ Poems/ Puzzles/ Songs/ Stories

You only have to look at the themes above to see Annual covers something to please almost everyone although I suspect the audience will be made up of already committed readers. The list of contributors is w-i-d-e from Barbara Else (a quirky tale) to Paul Bevis (a guide to visual storytelling) to Fifi Colston’s This is not a bottle  (with ideas for what it COULD be. My favourite is Tim Upperton’s ‘poem’ “Kill List’ – a wonderfully speculative piece telling us just why it would be necessary to shoot to kill should any of the animals escape their cages at Wellington Zoo. It’s school holiday time so two ‘tasters’ (male, aged 9 and 10) have been around to look at the book and gravitated at once to the comic strips, adored the satire pages on Selfies by Steve Braunias (what would you do it Ritchie McCaw showed up to be your relieving teacher?) and were fascinated by Dylan Owen’s page on the gum tree bleeders with its gruesome discovery. Like me they were totally unmoved by the bland orange cover – BORING AS they said. I have heard, and I hope it is true; this annual may become just that - something to look forward to every and each October although it will be hard to match the fizz and interest of this very first Gecko Annual.

Year 5 up/ Age 9 up   (a lot of interest here for adults too)