The Toymaker and the bird

By Pamela Allen Published by Penguin, 2009

Allen's picture books are well loved by young New Zealanders.

This story begins with the toy-maker who lives alone in the forest and plays his violin each evening.
At the end of summer, he is joined by a small brown bird and they both make beautiful music together.

When spring arrives the small bird flies away.
The toy-maker is very sad because he loves the small brown bird and he hopes she will return to him at the end of the second summer.

The bird does return but the toy-maker doesn't want her to leave - he really wants to keep her safe and admire her by putting her in a cage.
Finally, he recognises that the brown bird is deeply unhappy, he opens the door of the cage and the bird flies away.

Deep concepts of freedom, love and possessiveness are explored here; more welcomed by the primary level.

Reviewed by Fiona

Love Aubrey by Suzanne LaFleur

This is a very honest and profoundly moving story. Author Suzanne LaFleur delves deeply into the mind of eleven-year-old Aubrey who is trying to cope with the sudden loss of family members and then abandonment by her mother.
Initially Aubrey is resolute in her decision to sustain herself, to set herself apart from the world and block out the painful memories. She very reluctantly allows herself to be drawn by the helping hands that come to comfort her. However the support system that surrounds Aubrey is unflagging without being overpowering.
What’s remarkable about the book is the gentle unfolding of the coping mechanism that Aubrey displays. Her flashbacks move gradually from her many happy memories to the painful piecing together of the accident. She also writes little letters, at first to imaginary people and then to people with whom she needs to communicate her feelings in order to come to terms with her feelings of bereavement.
You will love Aubrey and delight in her strengthening in the year that the book spans, with mended relationships, well thought out decisions about her future and the ability to empathise with her peers.
The appeal for this book would stretch from intermediate levels to adults. It deals with death, survival, relationships and hope. An excellent first novel from Suzanne LaFleur!!!

Review by Janice Rodrigues

Published by Puffin

Our daft dog Danny

By Pamela Allen. Published by Penguin, 2009

This is another delightful story from Pamela Allen.

On the first page of the story, we can see and learn that the two nephews visit Uncle Peter's house by the beach; he lives there with his dog Millie. It is a lot of fun visiting Uncle Peter and Millie.

One day the two boys bring their dog, Danny with them to Uncle Peter's house.

Suddenly there is trouble because when Uncle Peter throws the ball, Millie and Danny run after the ball and Danny grabs hold of Millie's tail and won't let go.
Uncle Peter gets very cross and tells the boys not to "bring THAT DAFT DOG with you ever again".
Uncle Peter tries to fix the problem but then everyone is miserable.
Finally, Toby comes up with a brilliant idea and now everyone can enjoy being on the beach.

This is a fun story. The pictures mirror the words and there is the excitement of working out how to solve the problem with the dogs. This story would appeal to years 1-3.

Reviewed by Fiona

Silverstream

Written by Jillian Sullivan. Published by Pearson Education, 2007.

In the society of the future, the Government punishes people who disagree with its regime by sending them to work camps.
Lorna, a 14 year old girl who is horse-mad and aims to become a vet, suddenly becomes embroiled in saving her Mother from a work camp. Lorna's Mother is a famous children's writer and a member of an anti-camp protest group and she has suddenly disappeared. Lorna has the courage to try and rescue her Mother and has help along the way.

This oppressive society is realistically set in a not-too-distant future and makes you think that it could happen here; past history, in the form of Nazi Germany, enhances this story. I felt this author sent a strong message that no matter where we are at human history, people will still find ways to control and repress others.
At 161 pages - this is a great read that would appeal to these levels: senior primary, intermediate and junior secondary.

Series: Nitty gritty novels Series 2

Reviewed by Fiona

The Barefoot book of earth tales

retold by Dawn Casey
Published by Barefoot Books, Bath 2009

With earth care in the spotlight at the moment, here is a perfect offering of stories drawn from myths, legends, fairytales and folktales from around the globe. Chosen to illustrate the importance of our relationship with the natural world, they are nicely matched with colourful illustrations in a folksy style. Great for reading aloud, and there is a fun activity to go with each of the seven stories. Recommended for primary and intermediate level.

Reviewed by Pamela

Friday Classic: The Mangrove Summer by Jack Lasenby

It is the summer of 1941 and to avoid the possible Japanese invasion of New Zealand, a family evacuates to their bach on the east coast of the Coromandel.
The children decide that to survive they need to take to the cover of the dense mangroves in a boat, - without telling the adults. First published in 1989 the story vividly and poignantly describes their adventures at surviving alone. And although the adventure ends in tragedy Lasenby's writing and characters brilliantly reveal the language, attitudes and resourcefulness of the era. Suitable for a Years 5- 8.


flicr photo by aaronsimonsen

The Building site

By Richard Spilsbury
Published by Raintree, Pearson Education Limited, 2009

This book is a very useful when exploring simple machines. "At the building site" covers the technology people use when building structures, roads and tunnels and relates the machines at the sites to the simple machines they are based on. It starts with how machines are used to knock down old buildings and clear the site, and explains how bulldozers, diggers, pile drivers, and cranes work to construct new structures. There are colour photos with captions or labels on each page opening, and definitions for words printed in bold type can be found in the glossary.

Towards the end of the book, the different simple machines are listed and described, with further examples of where they occur on the modern building site. There is a "Find out more" page, listing books on the subject published between 2004 to 2008, and three websites about simple machines. The first two sites were great, but I could not open the last one.

This book is part of the series "Technology at work" covering technology at the airport, factory, fire station, home and film set, and is suitable for around years 3-5.

Reviewed by Heather

Kiwi Classic Slide the Corner by Fleur Beale

I recently read and enjoyed Fleur Beale's book End of the Alphabet, Random House, 2009. It reminded me how much I liked her first novel (1993) for children, Slide the Corner so I took the opportunity to enjoy it again.

Greg's parents want him to be an academic success - like the rest of his family. But Greg is not like the rest of his family. He loves cars, he understands them, and he wants to be a rally car driver. After poor results in his exams, his parents want him to repeat his 5th form year (year 11). But Greg has other ideas and talents. The school has a course in Car Maintenance.

Here is a story about a boy finding out who he really is, what he wants, and having the courage to make it happen. Slide the Corner is not only about cars its also about a teenager beginning to make his own decisions about where his life is heading.

Review by Heather.

The Loblolly Boy by James Norcliffe

The prologue of this book was originally a short story. New Zealand based author and poet; James Norcliffe used his short story to as a springboard to develop it into a complete and exciting fantasy called The Loblolly Boy.
The tale begins and ends with Ben, a Loblolly Boy. Ben meets up with Red from the Great House and offers him an escape from a life of pain and misery. Red is now free to soar like a bird in the sky and to become invisible. The book is a compilation of adventures of Red’s stint as the Loblolly Boy. However the perplexities of being this character soon confront Red and force him to question his permanence as the Loblolly Boy.
The assuaging factor is that things tie up very nicely for Red, but the questions is will Ben be as fortunate?
This is a fast paced narrative, full of surprises, imagination and humour. The moral angle to the story is that the grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence. I can see this book appealing to senior primary children.

Janice Rodrigues

Understanding the Human Body Series

The Brain and Nervous System 9780750257251
Food and Digestion 9780750257268
Heart, lungs and blood 9780750257275
Muscles and the skeleton 9780750257282
Reproduction 9780750257299
The Senses 9780750257305

This new health series published by Wayland in 2009 targets the Intermediate, junior secondary student.

The information is clearly presented in bite size paragraph format, combined with photo’s, diagrams, and body fact boxes. The series also has an Investigate box, which provides students with information around a topic and then invites them to investigate the topic further. Another feature is the Try this box, which provides a mini experiment for students to follow up on.

At the back of each book there is a Fun facts and an Activities page. These pages are useful for reinforcing the information contained in the books and help make these topics fun and approachable.

This series would be a valuable asset in any classroom, school library or home.

Reviewed by Tracy Dyett