Picture Books

USA Writer and UK Illustrator

Randi Zuckerberg, illustrated by Joe Berger

Dot.

Picture Corgi 2013  $19.99pb  32pp

ISBN 978 0 5525 7152 4

Themes:  Digital words

Dot is a bright little girl – you can tell just by looking at her picture on the cover – and she knows all about the digital world – tapping and tweeting, surfing and swiping and talking and talking and talking. Then Mum says ‘go outside Dot – time to Reboot! Recharge! Restart!’ and when Dot gets through the door she remembers there is another meaning to all the digital words but a place for them all in her modern world. This is a simply told story that makes its point in a cheerful and memorable way with easy text and really great images.

Year 1 up/ Age 5 up

Randi is an American business woman and  the former Director of Market Development and Spokeswoman for Facebook.  She is just 32 years old and this is her first picture book.

Joe Berger is a London based illustrator, filmmaker and Cartoonist. He is 12 years older than Randi. Google his name for details of the picture books he has illustrated.

Image of Randi from her website. 

Mature Readers (and adults)

USA Writer

Lissa Price

Enders

Doubleday 2014  $26.99pb          273 pp

ISBN 978 0 8575 3136 0

Themes:  Dystopian stories/ Mind control/ Sequels/ Sci Fi stories

This is the exciting although creepy conclusion to the story begun in Starters and made all the more so because it hasn’t been expanded into a trilogy or a series which must have been quite a temptation for the writer!  The plot, to say the least, is complicated. In Starters, the first book in the duo, everyone between the ages of 20 and 60 has been killed in a particularly chilling ‘spore war’  - the old have the money – the young have none. Callie, 17 and the hero of the stories, has allowed a controlling chip to be placed in her head in order to survive. Now, it is possible for her to have that removed but first she must make an enormous decision about the implications it will have. This is one of those rare stories where we actually see the main character developing and growing as the plot unfolds. The books will surely be enjoyed by readers who have devoured The Hunger Games.  

Year 8 up/ Age 12 up

Non-Fiction 6 years up to adult

Australian Illustrator and Designer

Charlotte Trounce

Australia – A Three-Dimensional Expanding Country Guide

Walker Books   2014   $12.95hb (slipcase) 14pp

ISBN 978 1 4063 4679 4

Themes:         Australia – Description and Travel/ Fold-Out Books/

Although this could hardly be described as a resource book on Australia it is a charmingly illustrated small (very small) square book with pages that expand out to around 1.5 metres with ‘pop-up’ images.  Among place shown are the Sydney Opera House, Sydney Harbour Bridge, Parliament House, Melbourne Cricket Ground, Twelve Apostles, Port Arthur, Daintree Rainforest, St Peter's Cathedral, Wave Rock near Perth, Uluru, the Ghan, Kakadu National Park and the Great Barrier Reef.  

 It is a simple enough concept but  one that that might inspire enterprising children to make their own New Zealand version.

Year 2 up/ Age 6 up to adult

Writers Week Wellington NZ 2014

On Sunday last (9^th March)  I went to David Hill’s writing seminar held at the ever-generous Children’s Bookshop at Kilbirnie. David is such a magnificent teacher and in the two hours we spent with him my iPad almost ran out of battery power due to all the notes I was tapping in it.

David gives his full attention to a student at the seminar

 Image Barbara Murison

It was a beautiful day so I spent some time after the seminar in the sun at Island Bay (too far to go back to Waikanae) just down the road from the bookshop but not just idling in the sun although that was tempting. I had an assessment with me and was inspired by the previous two hours to continue with the report.

6pm and several of the people who had been on the course arrived as well as about 200 writers, overseas and local, illustrators, editors as we celebrated the launch of Mary McAllum’s new book Dappled Annie and the Tigrish and applauded Kate de Goldi as she gave a speech of praise and thanks to Gecko Press who were behind the function. I was really delighted to be able to spend some time talking to Ulf Stark (Can you whistle Johanna?) 

 

                                                                                                             Kate de Goldi

Image Barbara Murison

A quick sleep, then back to Wellington for the NZ Book Council Lecture given by Eleanor Catton who in spite of only having 40 minutes sleep the night before and who had only put the finishing touches to her lecture half an hour before she was due to give it, was a lucid and confident speaker. 

Her lecture ended, we had about 20 minutes to get from the Embassy Theatre at Courtenay Place to the City Gallery to be present in the not-one-seat-left auditorium as Gavin Bishop gave his ‘state of the nation’ Janet Frame lecture.   It was one of those wonderful times where you felt the 40 minutes allocated was far too short and you could have gone on listening all evening. It was particularly warming for the many children’s illustrators (Adele Jackson, Fifi Colston amongst them) in the audience as Gavin spoke about the pleasures and problems so close to their hearts.

A group organized by the Wellington Children’s Book Association later went across the road to the Felix  Café where, over what I thought was a particularly  good meal, we were able to explore the ideas raised (and many others) in more detail.

And a word of praise to Kathryn Carmody, Programme Manager Writers Week  2014 – you did a superb job!

 

Now, it’s back to the computer where I will try to get some sort of routine into my life again. Since I moved up here to Waikanae (very pleasant it is too) 3 months ago, I have been planning routines – now is the time to live them.

Image of Kathryn Carmody - acknowledgements to Booksellers NZ

Picture Book

NZ Writer and Illustrator

Raja Hidzir

Hugo and the Tortoise

Thumbnail Books   2014  $19.99pb    32pp       

ISBN 978 0 4732 6950 0

Themes:         Missing pets/ School projects/ Tortoises

When Hugo finds a friendly tortoise wandering around in the street and there is no sign of his owner, he takes him home. With the help of a sturdy video camera, he decides to involve him in his school project  -  A day in the life of a tortoise.  With a satisfying twist in the plot the reader finds it is the camera that is the catalyst for Hugo (not his real name!) and his original owner being reunited. 

This is an attractively set out book with illustrations I know children will really respond to and it radiates a warm sense of good humour.  

It is available from the publisher and from some bookshops:

Thumbnail Books

PO Box 22077

Khandallah

Wellington 6441

      

Year 1 up/ Age 5 up

Book Activity on a Grand Scale

It has been a week of intense book activity for me!

On Friday last I went to my first event in the current festival to a session titled The Quiet Volume – ‘a live literary experience for two’  - a new way of looking at the act of reading. It was interesting but would have been better perhaps held somewhere were there were actually books surrounding the participants and not the National Library which, since it went digital, is strangely denuded of words on paper. The whispering voice in our headphones kept asking us to look around and view the different ways people were interacting with their books. However the people in the vicinity were only interacting with their screens. I understand the programme had originally been devised for the reading room of the British Library - see image above.

On Saturday I went to a really sparkling event held by the Kapiti Children’s Writers Group.  Here Jill MacGregor, writer and photographer of the much anticipated and now much appreciated Children of the Pacific series spoke to us about the books and about some of the ups and downs of self-publishing. Tareima's String, Kiribati was one of the first books I reviewed on this blog (nearly a year ago). Just Google Jill’s name for the list of her books and for information about a remarkable woman who believes passionately in what she is doing and in the importance of documenting cultural practices.

 

Last night I went to the Ministry of Education Information Evening for Writers, Illustrators and Photographers held at Te Papa. Neale Pitches (South Pacific Press and Lift Education) MC’ed the evening where the audience filled the Vodofone Room and extended to a large virtual audience. Whether people went away (into the bitterly cold night in Wellington or from their computers with the virtual audience) feeling satisfied, bemused or anxious would be hard to say. It was very obvious that everyone concerned was working tremendously hard and hopefully there will be a follow-up meeting later in the year.

              (Photo of Neale Pitches - BPANZ)

- And this is only the beginning for me because the delights of Writers Week start in a few days – book launches/ discussions/ seminars/ parties... Wow!

Fiction - Age 10 up

WINNER TOM FITZGIBBON AWARD 2013

NZ Writer

Juliet Jacka

Night of the Perigee Moon

Scholastic NZ     $19.50pb         2014

ISBN 978 1 7754 3203 6

Themes:         Enchantments/ Families/ Fantasy/ Magic/ Survival

Tilly Angelica is about to turn thirteen which means a big family party will be held, wonderful food will be prepared and Tilly’s special talents will be made known. But all Tilly really wants is to spend the day hanging out with her friends and being ‘normal’. However, the Angelica family who are coming to the party from all over the country are not normal. They are all slightly mad; they are magical and it seems likely they are all about to be enchanted by a discontented cousin who wants Tilly’s family home.      

This is a perfectly paced story, full of humour, believable characters and one that would be a pleasure to read aloud to a group. I can well see why it was given the Tom  

Fitzgibbon Award for 2013.  Recommended.

Year 6 up/ Age 10 up

 

Juliet Jacka  2013

 image Barbara Murison

Night of the Perigee Moon will be officially launched at the Margaret Mahy Day and AGM of Storylines on Saturday 29 March 2014 at Kings School, Remuera, Auckland. And at the Children’s Book Shop Kilbirnie, Wellington on Wednesday 19^th March 2014 at 6pm. Google Scholastic New Zealand for more details.