New Zealand

Win a signed copy of Wearable Wonders by Fifi Colston

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Wearable Wonders is Fifi Colston’s fantastic new book that’s bursting with creativity, tips, tricks and ideas to help you make your own wearable wonder.  Fifi has been in Christchurch this week, running workshops for children as part of the TV2 KidsFest, and I got the chance to have a chat with her.  I’m a huge fan of Fifi’s books and I grew up watching her on What Now.

Thanks to the wonderful publisher of Wearable Wonders, Scholastic NZ, I have a special signed copy of the book 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 Wednesday 31 July (NZ only).

Thanks to everyone who entered.  The winner is Sandra Worthington.

Wearable Wonders by Fifi Colston

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Are your kids crafty and creative?  Are you looking for that perfect idea to keep your kids entertained for hours these school holidays?  Wearable Wonders is Fifi Colston’s fantastic new book that’s bursting with creativity, tips, tricks and ideas to help you make your own wearable wonder.

What wonderful stories can petals, shells and stones tell?

What fantastic forms can fabrics, wire and cardboard take?

What out-of-this-world shapes can old cans and drink bottles make?

Mix them together, add a dash of drama and a splash of imagination and learn how to WOW the world with your very own wearable wonder!

As Fifi says in her introduction, this isn’t a book with patterns that show you how to make something in particular, it’s about showing you ‘how you can come up with an idea for something you’d never dreamed of making before.’  There are plenty of examples of wearable wonders that Fifi and others have created to show you what can be created from materials that you might have lying around the house.

Fifi has split the book up in to lots of sections so that you can work through your masterpiece from start to finish.  The first section is all about how and where to find good ideas, and Fifi gives some great tips about tips to help inspire you.  Once you have your idea, Fifi then takes you through how to plan your time, shows you the tools and materials that you might need to create your masterpiece, shows you how to construct it, looks at what other accessories you might need to complete your look, and how to paint it.  The last section looks at staging a wearable art show and the things you need to pull it all together.

There is so much to like about Wearable Wonders. The information is clear, simple and easy to follow.  I especially like the way that the text is arranged in small blocks, on pieces of paper that look like they’ve been pinned or taped to the page.  The text is surrounded with lots of colourful diagrams and photos, with arrows matching photos and descriptions.  It’s the sort of book that will appeal to kids, teens and adults because it’s so user-friendly.  I’m not a crafty person but Fifi makes it look easy to create something wonderful from recycled materials.

Grab a copy of Wearable Wonders from your library or bookshop and create your own masterpiece.  It’s the perfect way to spend the school holidays or a rainy weekend.

Win a picture book pack from Scholastic NZ

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Scholastic New Zealand are publishing some wonderful new picture books in July, including books about birds, dinosaur dads, and a retelling of a piggy tale.  The best part is that they’re all by New Zealand authors and illustrators!  I’ll be reviewing them here on the blog throughout the month, but here’s your chance to get your hands on them.

Thanks to Scholastic NZ I have a pack of their wonderful new picture books to give away. The pack includes a copy of One Little Fantail by Anne Hunter and Dave Gunson, My Dinosaur Dad by Ruth Paul, and The Three Little Pigs retold and illustrated by Gavin Bishop.

Thanks to everyone who entered.  The winner is Debbe.

 

Picture Book Nook: The Green Bath by Margaret Mahy, illustrated by Steven Kellogg

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It has been almost a year since one of our most treasured authors, Margaret Mahy, passed away.  Since her passing there have been three wonderful new Margaret Mahy stories published.  This month, Scholastic are publishing another new Margaret Mahy story, The Green Bath, illustrated by one of Margaret’s previous collaborators, Steven Kellog.

Sammy likes to have adventures of all sorts, but he could never have imagined the adventures that he would have when his father brings home a big, green bath.  When Sammy takes a bath to clean up for his grandma’s visit, the bath escapes from his house with Sammy inside.  The bath takes Sammy on an adventure on the seven seas, with mermaids, a sea serpent and pirates.

The Green Bath is a wonderfully-wacky Margaret Mahy story that will have kids imagining their own bath-time adventures.  Margaret has let her imagination run wild with this story of a boy who’s bath tub comes to life.  The story is full of Margaret’s wonderful language and characteristic wordplay.  I especially like ‘ Sammy bewildered them with bubbles and baffled them with soapsuds,’ and the way that she describes the buccaneers as ‘beaten, bubbling and blustering.’  Steven Kellog’s illustrations are delightfully silly and perfect for this watery, bubble-filled adventure.

The Green Bath is the perfect bedtime book to share with your children, especially just after a bath.  Just don’t go reading it before bath-time or you might find your bathroom covered in water and bubbles!

 

 

Picture Book Nook: One Little Fantail by Anne Hunter, illustrated by Dave Gunson

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There are some wonderful books that have been published about New Zealand birds, especially Ben Brown and Helen Taylor’s picture books.  There are very few, however, that are perfect for younger children and wonderful to read aloud.  One Little Fantail by Anne Hunter and illustrated by Dave Gunson is one of those books that entertains and informs young children about New Zealand birds.

One Little Fantail is a collection of delightful rhymes that introduce children to a variety of our native birds.  Anne Hunter’s rhyming text is a joy to read aloud and each poem rolls off your tongue.  I love the way that Anne can describe so much about each bird’s characteristics in just eight lines. The short, rhyming text makes the book perfect for sharing with younger children, as they don’t get bogged down in detail. You could get children to pretend to be each bird, based on the description that Anne gives you of each one.  For those inquisitive children, there are more interesting facts about each bird in the ‘Did you know…’ pages at the back of the book.

Each double page spread features a different bird, with their name in English and Maori.  Dave Gunson’s realistic illustrations are stunning and he perfectly captures the characteristics of each bird.  He captures the mischief of the Kea, the flitting of the Fantail, and the fierceness of the Kahu.

Book Design have done a brilliant job of designing One Little Fantail.  I especially like the way that the names of the birds fade into the background, while also being quite prominent on the page, and the way that the sounds each bird makes stands out in bold lettering.

One Little Fantail is a book should be in every preschool and school around the country.  Grab a copy and introduce your children to our magnificent native birds.

Picture Book Nook: Henry’s Map by David Elliot

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Henry is a very particular sort of pig, who believes there’s ‘a place for everything and everything in its place.’  But when he looks out the window, he’s troubled.  The farm is a mess! How will anybody find anything? Henry comes up with a plan.  He’ll draw a map!  Follow Henry and his friends through the farm as he draws the map.  Will this sort everything out?

Henry’s Map is a very funny picture book that’s full of surprises.  I started reading it thinking it was going to be a pretty straight-forward story, but David Elliot had me laughing out loud as the story took an unexpected turn.  It’s so much fun to read aloud, because you naturally speed-up the second part of the story as the animals are all rushing around.

The animals all have quite unique personalities so you can’t help but do different voices for each one.  Henry the very organised pig is a cute wee guy who kids will love.  He proudly clutches his map and shows it off to the other animals on the farm, but he gets quite flustered when he thinks that it’s all wrong.

David’s illustrations are superb and his characters are very animated.  The sheep are bursting with energy, the chickens are all in a flap, and the horse is galloping full-pelt down the hill.  One moment they full of delight and the next they’re full of worry.

Grab a copy of Henry’s Map by one of our most talented author/illustrators, David Elliot.

 

Win Diary of a Frog and Diary of a Sea Lion

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Diary of a FrogDiary of a Frog and Diary of a Sea Lion are the latest in the ‘Diary of a…’ series from Scholastic.  Sally Sutton and Dave Gunson introduce kids to the life of different animals through their entertaining and informative diaries.

Thanks to Scholastic I have a copy of Diary of a Frog and Diary of a Sea Lion 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 Wednesday 10 July (NZ only).

Thanks to everyone who entered.  The winner is Brenda.

Win a signed copy of Red Rocks

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Rachael King’s Red Rocks was my favourite for the 2013 New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards.  Although it didn’t win the award, it’s a winning book in my opinion.  As part of the New Zealand Post Children’s Book Festival in Canterbury we gave away copies of Red Rocks to children at every school we visited.

Luckily for you, we had a few copies left over at the end of the week so I’m giving away 3 signed copies of Red Rocks here on the blog.  All you have to do to get in the draw is enter your name and email address in the form below.  Competition closes Wednesday 10 July (NZ only).

Thanks to everyone who entered.  The winners are Stephanie, Joy and Sandra.

The 2013 New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards winners

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The finalists in the 2013 New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards gathered in Christchurch last night for the awards ceremony. The awards night is always themed and this year the organisers went for a ‘Witch in the Cherry Tree’ theme in honour of Margaret Mahy.  The book of the year was also renamed the ‘New Zealand Post Margaret Mahy Book of the Year’ this year.  I was  nervous myself, hoping that my favourites would take out the award, so I’m sure the authors and illustrators themselves were incredibly nervous.  Overall, I was pleased to see a couple of my favourites win awards, but I was disappointed that others missed out.  I think that Red Rocks and The Nature of Ash are amazing books and if I could give Rachael and Mandy an award I would.

Read below to find out who won each category, as well as the Honour Book and Children’s Choice Award.

Best Young Adult Fiction and New Zealand Post Margaret Mahy Book of the Year

Into the River by Ted Dawe

Best Non-Fiction

100 Amazing Tales from Aotearoa by Simon Morton & Riria Hotere

Best Junior Fiction

My Brother’s War by David Hill

Honour award, Junior Fiction

The Queen and the Nobody Boy: A Tale of Fontania series by Barbara Else

Best Picture Book

Mister Whistler by Margaret Mahy & Gavin Bishop

Best First Book

Reach by Hugh Brown

Children’s Choice

Melu by Kyle Mewburn, Ali Teo & John O’Reilly, Scholastic NZ

On the road with the Canterbury NZ Post Children’s Book Festival Roadshow

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Last week I spent the week out on the road with two awesome librarians, Saskia Hill and Susan Dodd, as part of the Canterbury NZ Post Children’s Book Festival Roadshow.  We decided that this year, we wanted to talk about and read the finalist books to as many children as we possibly could over the course of the Festival week.  We battled heavy rain, flooding, horrible traffic and a flat tyre to deliver our Roadshow to the kids of Canterbury.  We visited 11 schools, 13 preschools, presented 2 Books Before Bedtime Pyjama Parties and read to over 6000 children over the course of the week.

Part of our programme was performing Margaret Mahy and Gavin Bishop’s wonderful picture book, Mister Whistler.  I danced around as Mister Whistler, while Saskia read the book and got the kids interacting with the story.  Here’s a couple of photos of my performance.

It was an awesome experience and something that we hope to repeat again next year.  These were my highlights of the week:

  • Dressing up as Mister Whistler and dancing around while taking my clothes on and off.
  • Giving away heaps of copies of Kyle Mewburn’s Melu and Rachael King’s Red Rocks to kids all around Canterbury and seeing their faces light up.
  • Seeing kids so eager to answer questions about the finalist books so they can win a bookmark.
  • Meeting lots of enthusiastic teachers and librarians who love books.
  • Reading and talking about books with kids of all ages and doing it all with one of the coolest people around, Saskia Hill.

Here is a small selection of our photos from the week:

Best of luck to all the authors and illustrators on the shortlist for the awards.  I’m really looking forward to going to the awards ceremony here in Christchurch tonight.  I’ll be live Tweeting from the event so if you want to know the winners first, follow me – @zackids.