If you’ve run out of things to keep your kids entertained in the last few days of the holidays why not get them drawing. Who better to teach them than Oliver Jeffers and Jeff Kinney!
Oliver Jeffers teaches you how to draw a moose.
Jeff Kinney teaches you how to draw Greg Heffley
Jeff Kinney teaches you how to draw Manny Heffley
Filed under authors, books, children, Illustrators
The ACB with Honora Lee is a finalist in the Junior Fiction category of the 2013 New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards. I reviewed it in October last year, so if you want to hear all about it and find out what makes it such a worthy finalist, read on.
Kate De Goldi’s last book, The 10PM Question, was a wonderful story and won many awards. It’s a story that’s loved by adults and children alike, and Kate’s latest book, The ACB with Honora Lee, is bound to have the same crossover appeal. I first heard about it when Kate talked about it at the Schools Programme for the Christchurch Writer’s Festival and I’ve been dying to read it ever since. I immediately fell in love with Perry and the residents of Santa Lucia.
Perry’s mother and father are busy people … they’re impatient, they’re tired, they get cross easily. And they think that only children, like Perry, should be kept busy. On Saturday mornings Perry and her father visit her gran, Honora Lee, at the Santa Lucia rest home, but Gran never remembers them. ‘Who is that man?’ Honora Lee asks when Perry’s father leaves the room. After movement class is abruptly cancelled, Perry is allowed to go to Santa Lucia on Thursday afternoons. She discovers her Gran has an unconventional interest in the alphabet, so Perry decides to make an alphabet book with the help of Honora and the others. Soon everyone is interested in Perry’s book project.
The ACB with Honora Lee is a quirky story about an unusual girl who finds friendship in an unlikely place. The story is brimming with humour, joy, wisdom, and a cast of colourful characters. It’s set in the Beckenham loop in Christchurch (where I live) and I only wish that I could go and meet Perry, Honora Lee, Dorris and the rest of Kate De Goldi’s characters. Perry is a unusual girl, who acts and sounds older than her 9 years. She seems quite lonely when we first meet her. Her parents are wrapped up in their own problems and don’t seem to have time for her. They don’t take much notice of her and enroll her in after school activities that she doesn’t really enjoy. Even when she really enjoys going to visit her gran and the others at the rest home, her parents don’t understand. Perry makes lots of new friends at Santa Lucia, including her gran’s friend, Doris, and Stephen and Audrey who work there. The fact that her gran doesn’t remember her doesn’t seem to worry Perry, she just reminds her who she is each time she visits. The thing that I like the most about Perry is her love of words. If she hears a word she doesn’t understand she has to find out what it means.
Perry’s gran, Honora Lee, is a real character. She may not remember who the people around her are, but she remembers songs and lines of Shakespeare. As one of the characters describes her, she’s ‘crabby as an old apple,’ but she comes out with some hilarious lines. I especially like it when her and Perry are playing I Spy, because she always gets it around the wrong way. Here’s a great example, ‘I spy with my little eye,’ said Gran,’something beginning with fat.’
It’s Kate De Goldi’s whole cast of wonderful characters that make The ACB with Honora Lee such an enjoyable read. Their interactions provide some funny, embarrassing and touching moments. It’s a story that will be enjoyed by the young and the young at heart and it will leave you with a smile on your face.
4 out of 5 stars
Filed under authors, books, children, children's fiction, New Zealand
I read a lot of books. Some of them I forget about almost straight away, but others stick with me long after I’ve turned the last page. There are only a handful, however, that have a lasting effect on me and hold a special place in my heart.
Some books feel as if they’ve been written just for you, like my favourite children’s book, Inkheart by Cornelia Funke. As soon as I started reading it I knew that I would love it, and the more I read it, the more I felt like Cornelia had written it just for me. She felt exactly the same about books and stories as I did and it was like she had put the thoughts and feelings inside my head down on paper. I can’t tell you what I was doing or where I was at the time I first read it because I was completely caught up in the story and didn’t want it to end. My favourite adult book, The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, also had this effect on me. I’m going to meet him at the Auckland Writer’s Festival in a couple of weeks and I think I’ll probably die of excitement just listening to him talk.
Some books unsettle you and creep in to your head so that you can’t stop thinking about them. Alex Shearer’s The Speed of the Dark was one of those books for me. I can’t remember much about the story (I will have to reread this again soon) but the sense of mystery and feeling of unease I got while reading has stuck with me for many years.
Some books just wrench your heart out, by putting you in to the head of a character that faces some horrific situations. I’ve just finished reading Morris Gleitzman’s books about Felix, Once, Then, Now and After. These were books that I had been meaning to read for a while but hadn’t got around to reading. Last year one of my best friends, who is a school librarian, told me I had to read Once. I did and I’m incredibly grateful to her for making me do so, as this book (and it’s sequels) had a huge impact on me. Morris Gleitzman is a very talented storyteller, who can write incredibly funny stories as well as incredibly sad and moving stories. Morris’ stories of Felix’s fight for survival in Poland during World War II are heartbreaking and I know that I will always carry these stories in my head and my heart. Once, Then, Now and After are stories that everyone should read. I’ll be meeting Morris Gleitzman at the Reading Matters Conference in Melbourne next month and I’m sure I’m not the only one who will be telling him how much I love these books.
What books hold a special place in your heart?
Filed under authors, books, children, children's fiction, young adult, young adult fiction
Rachael King’s fantastic children’s book, Red Rocks, was recently named as a finalist in the Junior Fiction category of the New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards. Since then, it has also been named a Storylines Notable Book and been nominated in the Best Youth Novel category for the Sir Julius Vogel Awards (for science fiction, fantasy and horror writing).
Thanks to Random House New Zealand I have 3 copies of Red Rocks to give away. All you have to do to get in the draw is enter your name and email address in the form below. Competition closes Sunday 5 May (NZ only).
Thanks to everyone who entered. The winners are Adrienne, Cushla and Lynley.
New Recruit is the second part of the Department 19 animated web comic created by Will Hill and Tom Percival. You can watch the first part, If you go down to the woods today, here on the blog.
The latest book in Will Hill’s Department 19 series, Department 19: Battle Lines is out now.
Filed under authors, books, horror, young adult, young adult fiction
I’m a picky graphic novel reader. Like picture books, it’s the illustrations that catch my eye and then I’ll see what the story is about. There are a couple of graphic novel creators whose books I’ll grab whenever they’ve got something new coming out. The first is Garen Ewing, the creator of the Rainbow Orchid graphic novel, because he’s got a style of illustration and story that is similar to Herge’s Tintin. The second is Doug TenNapel, because his cartoony style really appeals to me and his stories are imaginative and funny. Doug’s latest graphic novel, Cardboard, is about a down-on-his-luck dad, his son, and the magic cardboard that changes their life.
Cam’s down-and-out father gives him a cardboard box for his birthday and he knows it’s the worst present ever. To make the best of a bad situation, they bend the cardboard into a man– and to their astonishment, it comes magically to life. But the neighborhood jerk, Marcus, warps the powerful cardboard into his own evil creations that threaten to destroy them all!
Cardboard is a fantastic story, filled with imagination, adventure, humour, and cardboard creations of all sorts. One of the reasons I love Doug’s work is because he creates such original stories and Cardboard is no exception. He’s taken the idea of a father building something out of cardboard with his son and thought ‘what if?’ My dad used to make awesome cardboard creations with me and my siblings when I was younger (the best being a full Batman mask) so I can totally imagine what it would have been like to have had magic cardboard. I think that’s why this story works so well, because every kid (or adult) can imagine it happening.
The thing that really draws me to Doug’s graphic novels are his illustrations, which are fantastic. Doug’s style is quite cartoony and reminds me of some of my favourite cartoons that I watched as a kid. His characters have very expressive faces, particularly their eyes. Doug’s imagination has run wild and he’s created some weird and wonderful cardboard creations, some of which go out of control. Der-Shing Helmer has done a wonderful job of the colouring, making the illustrations vibrant and bold. I especially love the front cover. It really jumps out at you and makes you want to read the book so you can find out who the giant eyes belong to.
Cardboard and Doug’s other graphic novels, Ghostopolis and Bad Island are perfect for ages 9+, especially boys, who want a great story. They are ideal for those kids who have moved on from Asterix and Tintin or for reluctant readers.
Filed under authors, books, children, children's fiction, funny, graphic novel
To celebrate the release of his new book, The Maleficent Seven, Derek Landy went down to a crypt under Dublin and answered some questions about Tanith and her part in the Skulduggery Pleasant series. The 3 parts of the interview are below for your viewing pleasure.
Jez Alborough is the creator of some wonderful picture books, including the classic Duck in the Truck. I am a huge fan of his books, with their bouncy, rhyming text and bright, cheery illustrations. Nat the Cat’s Sunny Smile is his latest book and the first in a fantastic new series. I’ve been following the creation of Nat the Cat through Jez’s Facebook page. It’s really interesting to see the steps of putting a picture book together and the different stages of the illustrations.
Nat the Cat’s Sunny Smile is available now in NZ from Random House.
Watch the video below to see and hear Jez reading Nat the Cat’s Sunny Smile and singing the song from the book.
Filed under authors, books, children, Illustrators, picture books
One of the things I love the most about Derek Landy’s Skulduggery Pleasant series is the cast of brilliantly named characters. The series focuses on Skulduggery and Valkyrie as they fight to save the world from the forces of evil, but I’ve often wished that I could see more of particular characters. I can imagine them getting in to all sorts of trouble when Skulduggery isn’t around. I’m obviously not the only one who wished for this, as Derek has written a stand-alone book that focuses specifically on Tanith Low, once a hero but now a villain with a Remnant inside her. Tanith and her gang of evil-doers go up against a group of rogue Sanctuary agents in Derek’s latest book, The Maleficent Seven.
This time, the bad guys take the stage. Tanith Low, now possessed by a remnant, recruits a gang of villains – many of whom will be familiar from previous Skulduggery adventures – in order to track down and steal the four God-Killer level weapons that could hurt Darquesse when she eventually emerges. Also on the trail of the weapons is a secret group of Sanctuary sorcerers, and doing his best to keep up and keep Tanith alive is one Mister Ghastly Bespoke. When the villains around her are lying and scheming and plotting, Tanith needs to stay two steps ahead of her teammates and her enemies. After all, she’s got her own double-crosses to plan – and she’s a villain herself…
There is no Skulduggery or Valkyrie in sight in The Maleficent Seven but I loved it and it’s got everything that makes the Skulduggery books so great. Some of my favourite minor characters in the series are major players in this book, especially Tanith and Billy-Ray Sanguine. Tanith and Billy-Ray have an unusual relationship – you don’t expect villains to use the word ‘love’ and be cutesy with each other. There are other characters who have also popped up in the other books in the series that you find out more about too, and not all of them make it to the end of the story (which is pretty normal for a Derek Landy book). I like that this book focuses mostly on the villains, rather than the heroes. You don’t often get to see things from their perspective so it makes a nice change. The major villain is, of course, Tanith Low, who we haven’t seen much of in the last few books, and the whole story centers around her. As well as the main story of tracking down the God-Killer level weapons, Derek gives us a glimpse of Tanith’s origins. You see her as pre-Sanctuary Tanith as well as Remnant-host Tanith.
The main reason I love Derek’s writing is because of his wicked sense of humour. The dialogue is great and his characters have some very entertaining conversations. There are some hilarious lines in this book and I just have to share a couple.
‘There are plenty of things I’d insult before getting to your intelligence, Johann. Your beard for one. It looks like the beards of Fu Manchu and Ming the Merciless mated, and their bizarre offspring crawled on to your face and died on your chin.’
‘”You zapped your own brain?”
“And it didn’t do me any harm apart from the dizziness and the vomiting spells and the weirdly persistent ringing in my ears. Also the blackouts and the mood swings and the creeping paranoia. Apart from that, zero side effects, if you don’t count numb fingertips. Which I don’t.”‘
If you’re a fan of the Skulduggery Pleasant series I’m sure you’ll love The Maleficent Seven as much as I did. You don’t have to have read any of the other books in the series to enjoy this one, so it would be a great book to hook kids in to the series.
5 out of 5 stars
Last year in the lead up to Anzac Day I had some of our wonderful New Zealand authors and illustrators join me on the blog to talk about their Anzac books and what Anzac Day means to them. You can read their posts by clicking on the links below. You can also read about my favourite Anzac books and Philippa Werry’s fantastic new non-fiction book about Anzac Day, Anzac Day: The New Zealand Story.
Christchurch City Libraries has a great info page about Anzac Day and Gallipoli for children, with basic facts and links to some interesting websites.
Filed under authors, books, children, children's fiction, history, New Zealand, picture books, young adult, young adult fiction
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