Best and Worst 2008 - Results!!

The Christchurch Best and Worst of Children's Literature for 2008 goes from strength to strength. The annual Christchurch City Libraries and Canterbury Reading Association event will soon need to hire the Town Hall for this popular evening.

Here is a sample of the books liked by bookseller Sheila Sinclair, teacher Heather Orman and book designer Kim Dovey.


Older Fiction/Chapter books

Bone by Bone by Bone by Tony Johnston - 1950s Tennessee, friendship between African American and white boys
Barnaby Grimes: Return of the Emerald Skull by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell - one of an entertaining series for middle primary
The Spook's Apprentice by Joseph Delaney - a story about the 7th son of a 7th son who becomes apprenticed to a spook whose job it is to rid the world of evil spirits
The Tomorrow Code by Brian Falkner - if you could send a message back to yourself earlier in your life, what would it be: exam answers? lotto results? advice?
The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness - Todd Hewitt and all the men of Prentisstown can hear can hear each others' thoughts all the time - The Noise.
The Boy in the Dress by David Walliams, illustrated by Quentin Blake - a "Jacqueline Wilson for boys"
10pm Question by Kate De Goldi - anxiety associated with growing up

Picture books

How to Heal a Broken Wing by Bob Graham - illustrations that tell you more each time you look
Guji Guji by Chih-Yuan Chen - a good read-aloud, appreciating differences and not giving in to peer pressure
Wabi Sabi by M Reibstein - sophisticated picture book about the beauty of imperfection
Road Works by Sally Sutton - great illustrations, great text, how a road is made - for the young and curious ( Brian Lovelock, the illustrator, apparently showed his illustrations to someone who advised him to send them to Walker Books - and voila!)
Splat the Cat by Rob Scotton - Splat fears his first day at school - as amusing as Rob Scotton's Russell the Sheep books
Home and Away by John Marsden - a sophisticated picture book - a different way of looking at how refugees are treated
365 Penguins by Jean-Luc Fromental. A large picture book covering maths, penguins and the melting of the polar ice caps

Can't wait till next year.
We're keeping mum about the worst!

A Friendship for Today by Patricia C. McKissack

In 1954 when a gallon of petrol cost 22 cents and a new car $1700, the Supreme Court in the USA made it illegal to have segregated schools in America. Most of the Southern States didn't get this message until the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's and even in the States that accepted the ruling there was social and legal opposition. This is one of those stories.

Rosemary Patterson is among the first black students in her town to enroll in what had once been an all-white school. It is not easy for her but she hangs in there and all the arguments are reeled out in a satisfactory way so that the book has drama and interest.

Friendship and racism are at the core of this novel and when one thinks that Obama is now President some 54 years later, it is quite miraculous.

Suitable for year 5/6 students up to intermediate level.

Reviewed by Bob


Published by Scholastic

Anywhere but here by Ella West

The second book in a trilogy that began with Thieves and it suffers a bit from second book syndrome because it needs to set-up the third book. Ella West has to ease things down as the five travellers recover from the action that ended the first book and build-up for the finale.

Nicky, Jake, Shelley, Paul and Tina can all "travel", in other words if they have a point of reference they can go there instantly. They have been exploited by a group called the Project to do some good deeds but also to steal secrets from Companies etc. In Thieves they escaped from the clutches of the Project and in this book they are loose in Los Angeles enjoying freedom and each other. Sooner or later they are going to have to face the Project as they have papers and discs from the last job they did before they escaped. This provides the drama and action in the book and sets up the third book in the trilogy.

You don't have to have read Thieves to enjoy this book but it helps big time. Do yourself a favour and read both. The third book is going to be great. Suitable for Intermediate and High school students.

Reviewed by Bob

Published by Longacre Press

Download a teacher resource kit

Hey Christchurch! Best and Worst Children's Books 2008

Presented by Christchurch City Libraries and

The Canterbury Reading Association

Wednesday November 26 from 7-9pm

at Fendalton Library cnr Clyde and Jeffreys Rd, Christchurch

Discussing their favourite books of the year, we are delighted to present:

• Teacher extraordinaire Heather Orman
• Talented book designer Kim Dovey
• Super book seller Sheila Sinclair from The Children's Bookshop
  

Plus a few extra surprises...

Light refreshments and a raffle (so remember to bring cash!)

Eureka! by Sandy McKay

Todd and Joey are scratching their heads, as they do every year, about a topic for the science fair. Miss Bromide tells them to get ideas from every day life, but they just don’t get it.

Joey’s mother never has time to help – she is looking after the family alone and works long hours. Joey’s next-door neighbour tries to subtly hint to Joey how he could do his science project and help his mother at the same time.

Sandy McKay is certainly a flexible writer having covered a number of topics and a number of age groups in her various novels from Recycled (for the younger readers) to Losing It (for Secondary level)

It is great to have junior chapter books such as Eureka! for the younger readers. It has a good plot with no pictures but it will not be a daunting read for those graduating to the “big kids” books. It will be a good read aloud in the classroom too.

Recommended for years 3 and up

Published by Mallinson Rendel

South Island Children's Librarians' Conference

If you enjoyed the South Island Children's Librarians' Conference in Christchurch in March this year, then you will want to sign up again for Greymouth March, 2009.

See what and who is on the programme Find out about local attractions, accommodation and, most importantly, how to register.

Flicker image by Sheree K

Remember me A Novel by Derek Hansen

A very appealing and unusual novel about growing up in New Zealand in the 1950's, told from the point of view of a 12 year old boy who has a passion for writing short stories.

It is a time when World war 2 is still in everyone's mind and everything about the war easily brought to the surface. It was also a god-fearing time when if anything happened to you it was because you had said, done or thought about something that angered god. It was in a nutshell your own fault, but redemption was possible, and this is a novel about redemption.

The story is narrated by a 12 year old boy of English parentage whose family is struggling to come to terms with New Zea land's mono-dimensional society where difference was frowned upon and any aspiration other than wanting to become an All Black, was considered disloyal. When the narrator writes an essay for school titled "The Burden of Responsibility" he becomes a celebrity and everybody reads it including an adult friend who has a guilty conscience over an incident with a U Boat lurking in New Zealand waters. Once this story gets out all hell breaks loose with friend turning against friend.

A riveting read this for high school students and for adults. This novel is the biggest surprise I have read this year from a New Zealand writer.

Learn more about Derek Hansen

Reviewed by Bob

Published by HarperCollins

Hazel by Julie Hearn

Hazel is a 13 year old girl from an English aristocratic family who owe their wealth to a sugar plantation in the Carribbean which was won in a card game by a great grandfather. Gambling is still in the blood and when Hazel's father takes her to the Epsom Derby in 1913 she unwittingly witnesses suffragette Emily Davison throwing herself in front of the King's horse. This stimulates Hazel to find out more about the Suffragettes and precipitates action amongst her private school friends, including an older American girl, whose actions will not surprise you one bit.

As a result of the action Hazel is whisked off to the Caribbean to live on the sugar plantation in the Caribbean and there she finds out more about her own family than she really wants to know.

Julie Hearn cleverly links the actions in both settings for a very satisfying read for secondary school readers.

Reviewed by Bob

Published by Oxford University Press

Coming Home online experiences

11 November 2008 is the 90th anniversary of Armistice Day. On this day in 1918 the Allies and Germany signed the agreement that formally ended the First World War.

Over the next few months, organisations all over the country are commemorating this anniversary and the 'Coming Home' of our soldiers. You can see a list of events on the NZLive website.

There are two special online initiatives based on the 'Coming Home' theme.

Coming Home search

On the right-hand side of the screen you can see the Coming Home search widget. Use it to start a search for all kinds of digital content (including web pages, images and video) related to the First World War and the return of New Zealand soldiers after it ended. You can find the full Coming Home search here.

Coming Home Memory Maker

Craft your own expression of what 'Coming Home' means with this video mixing tool. Remix photographs, graphics, film clips and music from the years following the First World War and then share your new video with friends and family. Go to the Memory Maker.

Image
New Zealand soldiers and civilians in London at the end of World War I, 1918. Photographer: Thomas Frederick Scales. Reference number: 1/2-014090-G. Royal New Zealand Returned and Services' Association Collection, Alexander Turnbull Library. Image available on the Timeframes website.

Big and Bad

by Etienne Delessert. Houghton Mifflin, 2008

In this superb retelling of the classic ‘Three Little Pigs” it is not only the pigs who fear the ‘lean, mean and always hungry’ wolf – but all the animals in the forest! Individually they try to get the better of him – beavers try to drown him, crows pelt him with walnuts, moles dig traps – but it is only when clever cats work together to make a plan, using the three little pigs, straw, wood, and bricks as bait, that they ultimately lure him down the chimney and into the fire. In the end he flies off into the sky, watched by all the animals.
Delessert’s distinctive, pastel illustrations are large scale and daring, for example, Delessert shows the wolf in a hat made from the skin of seven cats, with a chicken foot protruding from his jaw. Not for the faint hearted, but an inticing read.

Reviewed by Joy

Water - that most precious resource

One Well by Rochelle Strauss, illustrated by Rosemary Woods

Most of us, I think, try to grasp large ideas by reducing them to manageable proportions. So the idea of the world’s water being likened to one well serving a village is a useful way of looking at water and the various demands we make on that essential resource.

This book is marvellously clear about how the water in the world works. Firstly there is the overview about where the water actually is. Then it goes on to look at how it is recycled, how much is used by plants, animals and people, how much is fresh and how much is polluted. Finally we can see by the illustrations how much demand there is for the water at the well and, perhaps most astonishingly, who has the most access to the well.

The illustrations graphically help in making this topic understandable. You will find information pages at the back of the book showing us all how we can make a difference in our attitudes to water and its use.

Originally this was published by Kids Can Press in Canada along with other books in the Kids Can Make a Difference series. The other beautiful and helpful books in the series to look out for are:

If the World Were a Village by David J. Smith and Shelagh Armstrong
(This title is also on DVD put out by Visual Education Centre Limited)
Tree of Life: the incredible biodiversity of life on earth by Rochelle Strauss and Margot Thompson
Ryan and Jimmy: and the well in Africa that brought them together by Herb Shoveller
One hen : how one small loan made a big difference by Katie Smith Milway and Eugenie Fernandes.

In these times we are all trying to understand how we can make a difference to the planet and these are all wonderfully accessible books to help students (and us) who want to understand and contribute.

Find out more about Ryan's well
and Water Aid

One Well is published by A & C Black London

Rare wildlife of New Zealand

by Rod Morris & Alison Ballance

100 threatened native N.Z. species are featured in this attractive volume. Each entry is given a double page opening, which includes a full-page photograph, and a page describing interesting and unique features. Plants, birds, insects and animals are organised according to their habitat: Forests, Islands, Wetland & Rivers, High Country, and Sea & Shore.
This is not a reference book but rather a snapshot of N.Z’s rare and endangered wildlife. A worthy addition to any library for the photos alone, with text that provides an interesting read.
A companion volume to Beautiful Birds of New Zealand also by Ballance & Morris.

Published by Random House of N.Z. http://www.randomhouse.co.nz/
Enjoy more Rod Morris photos of N.Z. wildlife @
http://www.rodmorris.co.nz/index.htm

Reviewed by Melva

Books books books and more books

Do you ever feel overwhelmed by the number of books out there?

Looking at this list for Moonbeam Children's Books Awards 2008, which is run by Independent Publisher Online Magazine, I realise that there are many I have never heard of! I suppose some of these are self-published but there are also relatively well-known names such as Barefoot Books in there as well.

Nice to see Jennifer Beck/Lindy Fisher/Stefania's Dancing Slippers/Scholastic NZ there with a silver award in the Picture Book - All Ages category.