COX, Sean Daniel Ruby: the adventures of a travel bug Self Pub, 2014 unpaged $15.00 pbk ISBN 9780646912431 Ruby is a likeable ladybird who loves to travel. Every night she leaves her bed and makes her way to the airport where she chooses a destination from the big boards she loves so much. Tonight Tanzania sounds good, and the plane is about to take off. Ruby thoroughly enjoys the flight, while clinging to the aircraft’s wing, and when she lands, she is ready to start her whirlwind adventure and meet new friends. The first animal she meets is Kaliha the…
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BLABEY, Aaron Thelma the Unicorn Scholastic, 2015 unpaged $16.99 ISBN 9781743625804 This is a story about dreams and what happens when they come true. Thelma the pony dreamed that she could be a unicorn and after a fashion this is what happens…but it entailed her in a total makeover. Readers get to follow all the joys of being a celebrity, but sadly, there is more to it than this and Thelma has to learn the hard way that it is important to be happy with who you are. The art work is cleverly done, placing the harsh realities of life…
BASE, Graeme The Last King of Angkor Wat Viking, 2014 unpaged $26.99 ISBN 9780670077151 SCIS 1675807 This book opens with Tiger, Gibbon, Water Buffalo and Gecko sitting in the ruins of Angkor Wat. They wonder which of them would have made the best king and they name the quality that would make them the best ruler. A mysterious Elephant issues them a challenge to go to the temple at the top of the hill. Along the way each character encounters a problem and in true fable genre, the Elephant reveals at the end how they each failed. Base’s illustrations of…
BARRAUD, Ned Moonman Craig Potton Pub, 2014 unpaged NZ$19.99 pbk ISBN 9781927213278 SCIS 1691372 The sense of wonder is a powerful motivator that should never be lost. Embedded in the concept of wonder is the notion of awe, a sense of reverence, as well as the imaginative ‘what if?’ including when looking out to the heavens at night-time. The moon has been central in this evocation of wonder though perhaps science and the moon landings have created a more rational response to nature? The author here has cleverly reversed this and imagined ‘what if there was a moonman who looked…
Stephanie Blake, translated from the French by Linda Burgess, I Don’t Want to go to School, Gecko Press, September 2014, 28pp, NZ@14.99 pbk, ISBN: 9781877579080 Those who enjoyed the best-selling Poo Bum will recall the egotistic young rabbit who likes to assert his own agency through using naughty words. Parents of many pre-schoolers will relate to this dilemma. What is the right thing to do? The double page endpapers will certainly set this scene where many images of our naughty rabbit will amuse the intended child audience and give permission for parents to vent angst through laughter. The background colour of…
Lynne Cox (author), Brian Floca (illus.), Elizabeth, Queen of the Seas, Random House USA, 15 May 2014, 48pp, $39.99 hbk, ISBN: 9780375858888 Back in the 1970s an unusual visitor came to the Avon River in Christchurch: a wild elephant seal. It took up residence, occasionally caused chaos and was much beloved by the public. The author of this book recalls visiting Christchurch and coming across some children looking for the elephant seal called Elizabeth. After many years, it inspired this picture book. Indeed, wildlife in urban areas is an international issue with coyotes in Chicago, red foxes in London and bears…
Ochre Lawson, My Australian Alphabet, Windy Hollow Books, 1 Sept 2014, unpaged, $25.99, ISBN: 9781922081391 Ochre Lawson shows common Australian animals and plants, such as ants, banksia, cockatoo, firmly centred on each page. Each subject has some coloured background with clear white space around it. These vague background blobs don’t give any context but do put the focus firmly on the subject. The Echidna is appealing but looks as if it is sitting on a big brown cushion. Each letter is shown in upper and lower case in the upper left hand corner of the page and the name of the…
Lisa Kerr, Cheeky Monkey Around The World (Cheeky Monkey #3), Five Mile Press. June 2014. 24pp, $14.95, ISBN: 9781760062453 Cheeky Monkey lives somewhere unspecified in Africa but when he has his Grand Adventure he travels to many famous places around the world. Everywhere he goes Cheeky Monkey comments on some well-known aspect. In Egypt he imagines being an ancient Egyptian king (note the text says ‘king’ not ‘pharaoh’). You can guess where he goes by a list of some of the illustrations – Leaning Tower of Pisa, gondolas, lederhosen, Eiffel Tower, poodle, bullfighter, Big Ben, London Eye, Statue of Liberty, Great…
BROWN, Kerry (text) Jedda Robaard (illus.) All My Kisses ABC, 2014 unpaged $24.99 ISBN 9780733330711 SCIS 1661100 Kerry Brown and Jedda Robaard introduce us to the loveable piglet, Abby, in this story. Abby is very kissable and loves to collect her kisses in a special bucket. She is also very possessive, deeming them too precious to share around. The bucket of overflowing kisses eventually turns them into bleak, grey pebbles. One day Abby discovers that her discarded pebbles had in fact become other children’s treasures, that brought them joy and even glow bright in the night. Abby then realises that…
BIXLEY, Donovan Little Bo Peep and More…favourite nursery rhymes Upstart Press, 2014 unpaged NZ$19.99 pbk ISBN 9781927262085 SCIS 1690556 Back at the turn of this century, an academic argued that children’s knowledge of nursery rhymes were a significant advantage in literacy acquisition (Danielson, 2000 ED 442117) that gave these children a head-start in literacy learning. This idea is based largely on the correlation between phonemic awareness and the patterns of language (intonation) that sit behind the nursery rhyme. Given perhaps the changing sources of story (from oral retellings of poems found in picture books to technological apps, where perhaps the…