Ulf Nilsson (text), Gitte Spee (illus.). The First Case (Detective Gordon #1) Gecko Press, March 2015, $AU15.99/$NZ19.99 (pbk), 96pp., ISBN 978-1-927271-50-6 This beautifully illustrated chapter book is a thoughtful and poignant evocation of the tension between crime and its causes and consequences. This is a big issue that even young children have to negotiate. Ignoring for a moment the Darwinian predator/prey “natural law” conundrum, this anthropomorphic text brings to life the issues of difficult needs versus choices, fair and reasonable consequences, love and forgiveness, crime and punishment. When a small squirrel discovers that his hazelnuts have been stolen, he goes…
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Kyle Mewburn (text), Donovan Bixley (illus.). Fire! (Dragon Knight #1), Scholastic (NZ), 1 April 2015, $AU9.99/$NZ12.00 (pbk), 96pp., ISBN 978-1-77543-259-3 Rats! (Dragon Knight #2) Scholastic (NZ), 1 April 2015, $AU9.99/$NZ12.00 (pbk), 96pp., ISBN 978-1-77543-260-9 Merek is a young lad whose real form is a dragon if he shape-shifts, though on many occasions that goes awfully wrong. We first meet him clinging to a spire that’s on fire (though that doesn’t really worry dragons), but if he shape-shifts and escapes, he will be seen for what he is and all will want to kill him for humankind hate dragons. He wants to attend…
Rose Lagercrantz (text), Eva Eriksson (illus.). When I am Happiest Gecko Press, July 2015, $AU15.99/$NZ19.99 (pbk), 128pp., ISBN 978-1-927271-89-6 Social realism in children’s literature orientates to darkness rather than light or to use archetypal imagery, winter rather than the joys of summer. Not so in this lovely evocation of a young girl who seems always to see the glass half full. It is a poignant and subtle story where, despite the death of her mother in previous stories as well as the loss of her best friend Ella who has left her neighbourhood, Dani is surrounded by people (family, friends…
Astrid Desbordes (text), Pauline Martin (illus.), translated from the French by Linda Burgess. Travels of an Extraordinary Hamster Gecko Press, June 2015, $AU18.99/$NZ24.99 (pbk), 128pp., ISBN 978-1-927271-83-4 This graphic novel is a delightfully subtle take on the issue of egotism, that part of all us that sees the bright side of things from a personal perspective, often to the detriment of others and often blind to our own foibles (note the visual play on rosy and blue glasses in the pictures). We are to read the word “extraordinary” in the title with a touch of irony: is hamster a superhero…
Carl van Wijk (text), Alicia Munday (illus.). Squishy Squashy Birds Potton & Burton. 30 March 2015, $NZ 19.99 (pbk), 40pp., ISBN 978-1-927213-42-1 $NZ 29.99 (hbk) ISBN 9781927213445 Little did young Sammy know that when he had read his favourite book Endangered Birds of New Zealand and tucked it safely into his back pack, what was living in his imagination had actually come to life in the real world. These endangered birds were truly alive and all squishy-squashed inside the book, “hidden between the pages, trapped closely side by side.” Each bird protests about being enclosed because, in each case, the…
Ulf Stark (text), Eva Eriksson (illus.). When Dad Showed me the Universe Gecko Press, 1 July 2015, $NZ19.99 (pbk), 32pp., ISBN 978-1-927271-82-7 $AU24.99, $NZ34.99 (hbk), 32pp., ISBN 978-1-927271-81-0 When I stand out on my deck on a clear night and look up to the sky, I am quickly in a state of awe and wonder. The complexity, the vastness and trying to make meaning of our presence is overwhelming. In this delightful evocation of parent/child, father/son, Dad too wants his child (the narrator voice) to “see the universe”. But he has no deck and lives in the city. And…
Yvonne Morrison (text), Donovan Bixley (illus.). Little Red Riding Hood, Not Quite Scholastic (NZ), 1 April 2015, $AU15.99/$NZ19.00 (pbk), 32pp., ISBN 978-1-77543-263-0 Something of a follow-up to the NZ Children’s Choice Award Winner (2014) The Three Bears… Sort of, we have a retelling of this ancient folktale where the authorial voice is not that of the knowledgeable adult with the implied listener as an innocent child but instead it is a dialogue between a precocious lad and his struggling mother. For every assertion the mother makes in telling (or at least trying to) the traditional tale, the critical child…
Juliette MacIver (text), Nina Rycroft (illus.). Grasshoppers Dance Scholastic (NZ), 1 June 2015, $AU15.99/$NZ19.00 (pbk), 32pp., ISBN 978-1-77543-224-1 A wonderful evocation of the power of dance, movement and music, this picture book could well result in a boisterous schoolmistress bouncing around as she sings and sways to the words of this picture book! Whatever the time of the year or the mood that needs to be evoked, this picture book gives permission for choral readers to crow and grasshoppers to dance (a drama production here) to the hippity-hop and the boom, boom of words. Of course, not everyone can play…
Heinz Janisch (text), Wolf Erlbruch (illus.). The King and the Sea: 21 extremely short stories Gecko Press, March 2015, $AU16.99/$NZ19.99 (pbk, with flaps), 48pp., ISBN 978-1-927271-80-3 $NZ34.99 (hbk with flaps), 48pp., ISBN 978-1-877579-94-3 As Max, the wildest king of all, discovered many years ago, being the boss is not all it is cracked up to be. This intriguing picture book might begin a philosophic process in younger minds to think about the pros and cons of egotism versus community and then apply such thinking into their own space. In each very simple and finely-tuned story, the king must confront the…
Tiziana Bendall-Brunello (text), John Bendall-Bruenello (illus.). Hogs Hate Hugs! Oxford, UK: Lion Hudson (distributed in NZ by New Holland), 1 September 2014, $AU19.99/$NZ21.99 (hbk), 32pp., ISBN 978-0-7459-6514-7 Sometimes adults can be somewhat excessive with hugging and kissing children almost to the point that the child, psychologically-speaking, feels consumed. Little Hog is indeed the cutest and cuddliest hog in the whole forest and everything and everyone wants to hug him. There are small hugs from mouse, a slow hug from turtle, and a hopping hug from rabbit. But little sister’s hug is worst: a running-flying hug that bowls him over!…