Kiwi Classic: Handful of Blue by Vince Ford

Jeremy and his family - Mum and Dad and younger sister Tessa - have a farm right on the coast north of Gisborne but life is far from idyllic. Not only are Jeremy's parents having trouble paying the bank in times of drought, but Jeremy has a string of problems including damaging the family car, and running the water well dry.

Vince Ford's prose deftly captures the wonderful coastal light and country atmosphere in this excellent story about a rural New Zealand.

It's a story of friendships and baddies, mystery and intrigue, even stranded whales! If you haven't read it, grab a copy - its also a fantastic read aloud for years 5-8.

Kiwi Classics

Starting tomorrow we’ll be digging deep into the back catalogue to bring you (every Friday this term) a review of a great New Zealand fiction title published in the last 20 – 30 years. Call 'em Kiwi Classics if you like because that’s what they are - fabulous fiction reads as engaging today as they were when first published. Stay tuned.

Flickr Image by zeynep'arkok

‘Leonardo’s palette’ – by Bailey, Gerry and Foster, Karen.

Leonardo da Vinci’s life is told through two different styles in this book positioned side by side. The first is through an informal story told by a man who sells oddities and artefacts at a market, to a 10 year old boy who collects antiques. We learn about da Vinci’s genius, his works and life through the questions the boy asks the collector, after he finds an artist’s palette belonging to Leonardo amongst the treasures.

The other half of the book is set out in small boxes of facts with matching illustrations and reproductions. The official information is well set out, interesting and attractively laid out and works slightly better than the device of the boy’s story. Overall the story is made accessible by the two different approaches and would attract and reader of about the Year 3-5 level. This series (Stories of Great People) includes other famous people such as Neil Armstrong, Cleopatra, Mother Teresa, and the Wright Brothers, to name a few.

Reviewed by Suzanne Hardy

Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson

After having written SPEAK a book about a girl’s traumatic experience, author Laurie Halse Anderson, began to hear from kids who had been or who were battling eating disorders. This spurred her on to write Wintergirls, a deeply compelling novel about Lia, an eighteen-year-old battling anorexia.

Lia used to have a friend called Cassie who was bulimic. Cassie is now dead but she seems to rule Lia’s mind, encouraging her to fatality. Who is going to help Cassie out of this cycle of despair? Lia is surrounded by her family, but do they really understand the demons that torment her?

The author very graphically details the suffering of an anorexic. However there is assurance in the conclusion, that there exists a glimmer of hope for Lia or for anyone with an eating disorder.

In an interview in the School Library Journal (June 2009) Laurie Halse Anderson says she did a lot of research on anorexia and even visited pro-ana Web sites (Web sites that promote anorexia). The author also elaborates that she used the myth of Persephone to tell the story.

Wintergirls is a book for secondary school and deals with the subjects of eating disorders, death, grief and emotional problems.

by Janice Rodrigues

High Interest, lower level readers - Second Thoughts by John Parker

Jeff’s bored, he’s slacked off with both his parents and the idea of taking his father’s new sports car for a spin is a bit too tempting. So tempting that, of course, it gets him into unforeseen difficulty.

We get asked a lot for books for older students who are reading at a low level. While there are a few out there, more are very welcome.

Second Thoughts is one of the Go For It series from Gilt Edge Publishing. This series aims to provide "high-interest, lower level reading material for struggling or disinterested year 7, 8 and 9 readers". The series also includes non-fiction titles such as Creative Music Maker which not only outlines the facts of digital home recording but also profiles well-known music acts.

Reviewed by Beth

Graceling by Kristin Cashore

What a stunning first novel this is. I couldn't put it down. It is a fantasy, an adventure but most of all a love story.

The two main characters are Po, a prince from one of the seven kingdoms in which this book is set, and Katsa a young girl who possess a talent called a Grace. Katsa's grace is that she is good at killing and she is owned by a king who uses her for this purpose. Katsa doesn't like killing but as an enforcer she is unbeatable and she enjoys this. When Po comes into her life she starts to think about things and about her grace and starts to change. Po and Katsa then start on a journey that brings them in conflict with a powerful King, a challenge that will stretch them both to the limit.

This book will be popular as the plot moves rapidly and Po and Katsa are strong characters. Will appeal mainly to intermediate and junior secondary school students.

Don't miss this one and I am sure the author realises there is scope for a sequel.

reviewed by Bob

Published by Harcourts (2008)

Broken Soup by Jenny Valentine

While standing in a queue a boy hands Rowan a photograph negative saying she had dropped it. Fifteen year old Rowan denies knowledge of it, but when she has it developed with her friend Bee, it turns out to be a photograph of her dead older brother. This mystery deepens as the story progresses and there are many surprises, none better than the ending.

This is a teenage novel of family relations following the death of a much loved brother and how this affects other relationships with friends. It is a novel about grief. Rowan and her young 6 year old sister Stroma are the stars of this book as they pull their lives together following the departure of their father and the morbid depression of their mother. At times the novel has you laughing and crying at the same time.

Jenny Valentine had a hit with her first book Finding Violet Park and her ability to write honest realism with a hopeful outlook, should ensure that this book is a hit too.

Suitable for Secondary school students.

Reviewed by Bob

Published by HarperCollins 2008

Fernleaf Cairo : New Zealanders at Maadi Camp by Alex Hedley with Megan Hutching

And yet ANOTHER New Zealand military history?

And, unapologetically, YES!

Almost every New Zealand soldier with service in the Middle East in World War II passed through Maadi Camp. Maadi was the single most significant New Zealand military establishment and played many roles in the lives and memories of our old soldiers.

We would do well to remember that a soldier who served in 1945, even if they lied about their age and enlisted at 17 years old, they would now be 81!

If the eyewitness accounts are not written now it will be only a few years until such sources are unavailable.

Maadi. Drill and discipline. Indoctrination and control. The idea was that the camp would transform 'civilian" soldiers into fighting machines. And, given the reputation the New Zealanders earned, they objectives were very successfully achieved!

But this is not just a tale of military discipline, boot shining, forced marches and sand in the rations. It relates the personal experiences, scraps and successes of a range of young, fit, active, healthy and independently-minded men far away from home. Combined with the foreign environment of Egypt and the proximity of Cairo the young New Zealander's experiences were many and varied!

An interesting, enlightening and informative item but the greatest pleasure is in the personal nature of the experience.

An excellent read with those for an eye for the historical. Critical that this has been produced now as, in a decades time, this title could not have been published in the way. Those interviewed could easily have taken their experiences with them.

Well done. Read, enjoy and take the inspiration to go and chat with a veteran. Readers will be richer for both experiences.

As an aside, the Maadi Cup is awarded for the winning New Zealand Secondary school under 18 boys rowing eight as recognition of the men, the camp and in remembrance of the rowing competitions on the Nile.

Recommended. Year 11+

Reviewed by David

Published by HarperCollins

Where’s My Mummy? by Carolyn Crimi, illustrated by John Manders

This story is set at night in an eerie graveyard and shadowy woods. Does this send a chill down your spine? Be pleasantly surprised though as this is a gentle spooky story.

It’s bedtime and baby mummy is not ready to sleep. He wants to play one more game of “Hide and Shriek”. Impatient while hiding, Baby Mummy goes in search of Mama Mummy and ventures through the dark woods trying to convince himself “I’m not scared”

The illustrations and storyline work well together and will delight young readers. It is also a great read-aloud.

Recommended for junior primary

Reviewed by Coral

See a list of more picture books about families and more ghost story picture books

Published by Candlewick Press (2008)

The Boy in the Dress by David Walliams Illustrated by Quentin Blake

This book is a hoot. I laughed all the way through just as I did with authors TV programme Little Britain. The humour is campy and the irony of the story will not be lost on the readers.

Dennis lives with his overweight father and older brother John and the family is in emotional turmoil over the departure of the mother. It is a no hugging male family and Dennis is searching for his identity. Dennis is the best footballer in the school team and his team progress through to the Cup Final. Descriptions of the football games are hilarious. But Dennis does have an interest that his father, brother and school cannot understand. He likes to read Vogue magazine and see the clothes. When he meets the foxy Lisa he is able to express himself in a way he never has before but which gets him into trouble at school and at home.

In spite of Walliams noted sexual preference this is not a gay book but it is about individuality and difference. Hugely funny, it will appeal to students of intermediate age and older.

Reviewed by Bob

See our earlier review from the pen of a teenager.

Published by HarperCollins 2008

Little Audrey by Ruth White

A beautiful true story about the author and her family growing up in very grim conditions in a coalmining community in Virginia. This has been the setting of Ruth White's other novels particularly the excellent Belle Prater's Boy.

The story is narrated by Audrey, Ruth White's older sister, and tells the story of the family's early life after the death of their youngest sister and before the death of another family member whom I shan't reveal as it will ruin the story for you. The father is a miner and the mother does the best she can no matter how miserable she feels. Each of the four girls in the story has a unique personality and the sense of community is one that does not exist today. It is heart warming, it is sad, it will make you laugh and cry at the same time and it is brilliantly written.

Will appeal to Intermediate and Junior Secondary students but adults will get a lot out of this short book.

Reviewed by Bob

Published by Farrar Straus Giroux 2008

Stories from coal mining towns in Appalachia - An interview with Ruth White

Ten Cents a dance by Christine Fletcher

Set in Chicago in 1941 just before and just after Pearl Harbour and America's entry into World War II. Chicago is noted for it's jazz and blues music, and for it's connection with gangsters. Both feature in this novel.

Ruby is fifteen and sick of working in the packing house bottling pickled pigs feet. Who wouldn't be? When offered the chance of working in a dance emporium for 10 cents a dance by a shifty old school pal, Ruby jumps at the chance. Soon she is rolling in the money with the other girls after serving a pretty interesting apprenticeship, and coming in contact with dubious characters and the music scene. When war breaks out and the servicemen are on the scene everything changes. With a change in family circumstances forcing the issue, Ruby has to decide what she is going to do with the rest of her life.

A story of a little known period of American life and a very enlightening one at that, as Ruby makes the transition from girl to woman.

Suitable for secondary school students but young adults will get off on it too.

Reviewed by Bob

Published by Bloomsbury, NY. 2008.

Four animal fables from Gecko Press

Gecko Press continues to provide New Zealand children with a wealth of innovative, quirky picture books translated from (mostly) European languages, and these four recent offerings are no exception.

The animals featured here display few animal characteristics (except for the zebra parents in Zou who, unsurprisingly, find it difficult to hold miniature teacups in their standard-sized hoofs) but are instead used to illustrate totally human values-- and foibles.

Both Zou and The Big Yawn are aimed at the very young. The former, by French writer Michel Guy, features a young zebra who overcomes a wealth of everyday disasters in order to bring his parents a cup of tea in bed. They eventually get their tea, but much more important is the love that comes with it. Zou has few words and would suit the beginning reader.

Monika Spang’s The Big Yawn is the perfect read-aloud bedtime story. The zoo animals prepare themselves for bed in various unexpected ways, linked by a large yawn that moves from one page to the next, rounding up the stragglers, until

‘Some snore, some snuggle, some count sheep,
All the animals are going to sleep…
..And you?’

The illustrations, by Sonya Bougaeva (author/illustrator of 2007’s The Visitor) are both charming and witty.

The Fearsome Five by Gecko favourite Wolf Erlbruch would suit a slightly older audience. The five are a self-described group of ‘ugly misfits’ who learn the secret of happiness from a Hyena with a plain face but a good outlook on life. United by friendship, their love of music, and a taste for pancakes, they eventually

‘..discover the old truth that what you look like doesn’t matter as much as what you do, and that being happy is a matter of attitude’.

The Chicken Thief, originally published in French by Beatrice Rodriguez, is one of an increasing number of new wordless picture books that work well at junior level. When a chicken is captured by a night-prowling fox, her distressed friends set off in hot pursuit, desperate to save her before it is too late. But all is not as it seems…
The reader/ viewer is kept one jump ahead of the would-be rescuers in what turns out to be a delightful story about the folly of jumping to conclusions. While The Chicken Thief can be enjoyed at its simplest level, older children will find more complex layers to explore and much ground for discussion.

No animals were harmed in the making of any of these books.

Reviewed by Cecily Fisher

See a list of picture books with a manners/values theme - always a popular list

Published by Gecko Press

Book Reading – Kate de Goldi’s “10pm question.”

A 10 part adaptation of Kate de Goldi’s “10 pm question” is due to air on Radio New Zealand National on July 6th. The novel has already won the NZ Post Book Awards this year and is currently nominated as a finalist in the Montana Book Awards fiction category – the first book to be a finalist in both awards. Catch your fix of Frankie’s quest for reassurance in an uncertain world.

Bribes to get boys into reading.

Rongotai College in Wellington is currently trying out a new scheme to get boys reading, offering them a can of drink if they can prove they've read two books, a voucher from Subway if they are able to stretch to five, and a movie voucher if they can make it to 10. The school says the scheme has been so effective that library book borrowing has doubled since it launched.


"Boys don't read enough. Some are only reading one book a year, so we want to push them. We are not trying to turn them into English students, we just want them to read books," teacher Kit Norman, who is in charge of the scheme, told New Zealand website Stuff.


"I am the first person to admit it is a bribe, but the results speak for themselves."


If pupils can read 20 books – proved with a reading log and with parental guarantees of home reading sessions – they are awarded a mobile phone voucher, with each class's top two pupils winning a school blazer, and the top three students overall taking home a clothes voucher. Robert Walpole would surely have approved.

End of the Alphabet by Fleur Beale

Ruby Yarrow is a very nice person, selfless and caring but she has low self worth and is put upon by her family, particularly her younger brother Max. When her best friend Tia proclaims "I'm not talking to you until you stop being a doormat", Ruby reassesses her life and takes steps to get some backbone. What results is a family story of internal struggle particularly between Max and Ruby, but also between Ruby's stepfather, who is a very good father, and Ruby's mother. In between times there is a Brazilian trip to consider and Ruby's great efforts to turn her life around.

Many readers will sympathise with Ruby's situation particularly when it comes to doing tasks around the house and sibling rivalry. Fleur Beale always writes a good story and this is no exception.

It is aimed at intermediate and junior secondary school students but adults will enjoy it too.

Reviewed by Bob

Published by Random House 2009.