Cedric Ramadier (text), Vincent Bourgeau (illus.) Help! The Wolf is Coming! Gecko Press, 1 June 2015, $AU16.99/$NZ 19.99, unpaged – board book, ISBN 978-1-927271-84-1 It seems obvious to say that the book as an object is a central part of textual communication but this picture book takes this idea a step further. You open the page and the text states (as we see a distant image of an angry wolf) “Quick! Turn the page.” Naturally you do and we see a closer image of the wolf, teeth bared and another instruction. “Quick! Tilt the book to the right and turn…
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Rosalind Malam (text), Sarah Nelisiwe Anderson (illus.). Rustle up a Rhythm Scholastic (NZ), 1 April 2015, $AU14.99/$NZ19.00 (pbk), 24pp., ISBN 978-1-77543-148-0 Coupled with Juliette MacIver’s Grasshoppers Dance, parents, teachers and children are encouraged to “rustle up a rhythm” to express and give joy in the mundaneness of day-to-day life. As the family gets up, has breakfast, packs up a picnic basket, walks off in the traffic to the railway station, stops off at a park, heads home for dinner and each heads off to sleep, the ordinary is brought truly alive when you rustle up a rhythm, swing your…
Barbro Lindgren (text), Eva Eriksson (illus.). Max’s Bear Gecko Press February 2015, $AU12.99, $NZ14.99, unpaged – board book, ISBN: 978-1-776570-02-7. Max’s Wagon ISBN 978-1-776570-01-0. Max’s Bath ISBN 978-1-776570-00-3 These charming stories interweave with each other focused on Max and his dog, teddy bear, truck and cookie (plus a bath and a potty). It captures something of both the innocence of the playful child who delights in having a bath and creating mayhem as well as the egotism of the growing child who insists that dog does what he wants. But dog is a clever character and knows the joy of…
David Elliot, Henry’s Stars. Penguin Random House NZ, 5 May 2015, $NZ 19.99 (pbk), 40pp., ISBN 978-1-77-553824-0 A sequel to Henry’s Map where we discover that Henry is something of a finicky pig who likes everything in its place and order in the world and makes up a map of the farm so that all is where it should be (and where he discovers that there is a difference between abstract ideas and lived realities), here in Henry’s Stars, our little pig discovers that perspective is what it is all about. One beautiful night, Henry looks about at the sky…
Joy Cowley (text), Andrew Burdan (illus.), Hush: a kiwi lullaby Scholastic (NZ), May 2015, $NZ 27.00 (hbk), 32pp., ISBN 978-1-77543-296-8 — Retold in Māori by Ngaere Roberts. Do you recall the nursery rhyme lullaby “Hush little baby, don’t say a word, Mama’s gonna buy you a mockingbird”? Though the date and authorship are unknown, it is a lullaby that is believed to have its origin in the USA (given the naming of this particular species of bird). A question for parents (including Dads)! Do you love to sing your child to sleep? Joy Cowley here has given a Kiwi version of…
Brett Avison (text), Janine Dawson (illus.), Ducks to Water The Five Mile Press, 1 April 2015, $14.95 (hbk), 32pp., ISBN: 978-1-76006-606-2 For young lads who love cranes, and diggers and cars (like my two year old grandson), this pop-up book is bound to please! Visually celebrating open rural spaces (“there’s plenty of space at Mum and Ted’s place where a boy and his best mate can play”), we visually also focus on Bryn, a young lad and his best mate Oscar, a dog. We follow them when we turn the page as they track the quacks of a mum and…
Ally Carter, All Fall Down (Embassy Row #1), Scholastic, 1 February 2015, $19.99, 320pp., ISBN 9781743628942 Popular American author Ally Carter has a new series, Embassy Row, of which this is the debut novel. We meet sixteen year old protagonist Grace, on the day of her return to live with her grandfather, ambassador for the United States within the fictional European country of Adria. We learn that Grace had left Adria three years earlier after witnessing the death of her mother, a mystery which will unravel as the novel progresses. The American Embassy in Adria is located on Embassy Row,…
Kate Hunter (text), Lucia Masciullo (illus), A Curry for Murray, University of Queensland Press, 25 March 2015, $24.95 (hbk), 32pp., ISBN 978 0 7022 5354 6 This engaging picture book is a fun journey through a series of cooking experiences. It all starts with Molly cooking a curry for her neighbour, Mr Murray, when his wife goes into hospital. Soon other neighbours are asking for food when they hear Molly is a fine cook. She enthusiastically sets about making spinach and macaroni for Sam Maloney and pumpkin puree for baby Renee. News of her cooking prowess spreads far and wide…
Ed Allen (text), Simon Williams (illus), Dear Mum, I Love You, Scholastic, 1 April 2015, $16-99 (hbk), 24pp., ISBN 978 1 74362 6320 Celebrating the bond between mothers and their children, this is a happy picture book full of energy and entertainment. It consists of a series of letters written by various baby animals to their mums to say how much they love them and why. Each letter is affectionate, clever and funny using puns, idioms and changes in font to individualise the message. The letters are presented in a lift-the-flap and open the envelope style which introduces an element…
Pip Jones (text), Ella Okstad (illus), Meets Mad Nana Dot (Squishy McFluff The Invisible Cat #3), Faber & Faber, 1 March 2015, $11.99 (pbk), 74pp., ISBN 978-0-571-30254-3 In the third book of the series Ava, together with her invisible friend the white cat Squishy McFluff, is to stay a whole night at her eccentric Nana Dot’s. Ava’s grandmother is dotty in many ways: her house is covered in dots and she does all sorts of dotty things such as eating fried eggs with bananas and honey. Many madcap and amusing adventures ensue, including Ava and Squishy mixing a dye at…