picture books

My Favourite NZ Books for Kids and Teens

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I love New Zealand books and I’m happy to shout it from the rooftops.  We have so many wonderful, talented authors and illustrators here in NZ who write for kids of all ages.  My personal mission, as a librarian and a blogger is to spread the word about New Zealand books and get as many kids (and adults) reading them as possible.  I’ve also had the absolute joy of judging our New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults, which really highlighted the breadth of literature that we have here in New Zealand for our young people.

I’ve read and reviewed many NZ books here on My Best Friends Are Books over the years.  I’ve got so many favourite books that I come back to again and again (especially picture books).  Here are just a few of my favourite NZ books for kids and teens, along with the links to my reviews if you want to know more about them:

There are many more fantastic books that I’ve missed off this list, so it is no way complete.  I have a New Zealand category here on the blog so if you want to find more New Zealand content click on the category on the right hand side of the page.

Seriously Spooky Month: Guest Post – Elys Dolan

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As part of my Seriously Spooky Month I asked some of my favourite spooky authors to write a guest post for My Best Friends Are Books.  Today I’m joined by author and illustrator Elys Dolan.  Elys is the author and illustrator of three picture books, Weasels, Nuts in Space, and her latest book, The Mystery of the Haunted Farm.  I love Elys’ books, both for her quirky stories and wonderful illustrations.  Elys joins me today to talk about the making of The Mystery of the Haunted Farm.  Thanks for joining me Elys!

Writing Spooky Books for Children: The Making of The Mystery of the Haunted Farm

1 haunted farm cover webIf you like ghost stories and agriculture then my new book, The Mystery of the Haunted Farm, is the picture book for you. In this book Farmer Greg discovers some very spooky things happening down on his farm so he flees to called for help:

2 flee the farm

And who you gonna call when things go ‘BAH!’ in the night?

3 pig mobile

The Three Pigs Ghost Hunters of course. The pigs explore the farm to try and find out what’s causing the haunting and along the way they meet some bizarre, spooky and something rather sticky creatures. Below you can see them investigating the zombie duck pond but there’s even more creatures lurking on this farm including ghost cows, a frankenhorse and of course The Mighty Donkula to name just a few.

4 duck pond

I had a brilliant time creating a book with a spooky theme but when writing and illustrating a story that deals with things that could be seen as scary you sometimes have to tread carefully. In my experience though many children love things that are a little scary. The more gruesome it is the more fascination it seems to hold. This is of course variable depending on the child but it’s a trend I’ve notice when doing school visits and other literary events. I find it’s parents and other adults who tend to be more cautious.

I was quite determined that this book would be more funny than frightening though. For instance in the zombie duck spread there’s exposed brains and eyes falling out which could be quite gory but I’ve combined it with lots of slapstick, ridiculous facial expressions and general silliness which seems to negate any gore. Also I find using animal characters provides another degree of separation and can be more amusing than if the same things were depicted with human characters.

Whilst making Haunted Farm I found that working in an international market can also effect the kind of scary or spooky things you can include in a book. Originally it was intended to have a very different storyline. I had a totally different plot planned out centring around Farmer Greg releasing The Curse of the Phantom Chicken upon the farm by accidentally eating some cursed eggs:

5 greg eats eggsI even had an origin story for the curse and everything:

6 phantom chicken origin story

Once the curse is released it turns the farm animals into monsters which gives us all the zombie ducks, vampire bats and Frankenhorses that the final book contains. Again the pigs are called in and eventually they subdue the phantom chicken and everything goes back to normal (sort of). But alas this story wasn’t to be.

My publisher was worried about the curse element of this story and how that would work in the U.S market. It’s quite important to be able to sell a picture book in the U.S because it’s such a big market and it can make a book financially viable. They felt that the phantom chicken could be seen as too occult and that might upset certain readers with the references to witchcraft. In fact they decided that having any real ghosts in this book could be a bit tricky so I had to be very careful about how I handled them. You’ll have to read the book to see exactly how I did this because it’s a major spoiler!

To finish I think I might point out a couple of my favourite bits in the book. I’m a big fan of horror movies and you can probably guess that I’ve taken a lot of inspiration from movies such as Frankenstein, Dracula, The Mummy etc but there’s a couple of other film references in there that I hope some of the grown ups might recognise.

First up you can see climbing the stairs in the farmhouse there’s the shadow of a Nosferatu chicken:

7 nosferatu chicken

At the barn there’s a Jack Nicolson sheep as seen in The Shining:

8 the shiningAnd finally I was very pleased be able to squeeze in a bit of a ghostbusters/farming pun at the chicken coup:

9 afriad of no goat

The Mystery of the Haunted Farm by Elys Dolan is published by Nosy Crow and out now. You can find out more about Elys and her work at elysdolan.com and elysdolan.tumblr.com or follow her on Twitter and Facebook at @ElysDolan and facebook.com/elysdolanillustration.

 

Winner of the Draw Simon Competition

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I’m very pleased to announce that the winner of the Draw Simon competition is Frances.  Frances drew Simon doing 3 naughty things and I was super impressed.  Frances wins a pack of Simon the rabbit books, courtesy of the wonderful publisher of Stephanie’s books, Gecko Press.  Check out Frances’s drawing:

Simon 1 – Simon thinks it will be fun to pour cold water on a sleeping Mummy rabbit.

Simon 2 – Simon thinks it would be interesting to see what happens when he puts flowers in the car’s petrol tank. The result; car gets towed (based on real life events!)

Simon 3 – Simon cranks up the volume, the adults aren’t impressed!

Congratulations Frances and enjoy your prize!

Win a copy of Pukeko Dancing on the Old Dirt Track

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Pukeko Dancing on the Old Dirt Track is a wee gem of a book about a Kiwi Christmas.  It follows the Sandersons as they prepare for Christmas and the pukeko family as they prepare for the arrival of their chicks.  You can read my review here on the blog.

Thanks to the author and illustrator Lotte Wotherspoon I have a copy of Pukeko Dancing on the Old Dirt Track to give away.  All you have to do to get in the draw is email bestfriendsrbooks@gmail.com with the subject line ‘Pukeko Dancing,’ along with your name and address.

Competition closes Friday 23 October (NZ only).

Pukeko Dancing on the Old Dirt Track by Lotte Wotherspoon

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When so many of our local Christmas books are just Kiwi versions of Christmas carols or The Night Before Christmas it is really refreshing to read a book about Christmas in New Zealand that is fresh and fun.  Lotte Wotherspoon has just released her new picture book, Pukeko Dancing on the Old Dirt Track, which blends the story of a family Christmas in New Zealand with the story of a Pukeko family.

Pukeko Dancing on the Old Dirt Track follows the Sandersons, a Kiwi family, as they prepare for Christmas.  They chop down a pine for their Christmas tree, decorate it, sing Christmas songs, and wrap presents.  The Pukeko family, Spike and Rose, are also making preparations.  They are gathering materials to build their nest and dreaming of ‘fleet-footed chicks.’  Just as Christmas Day arrives, with presents and yummy food to share, six fluffy chicks hatch out of their eggs and the celebrations kick off.

This is a wee gem of a book.  The story is delightful and the rhyming text bounces along, following the two families as they make their preparations.  Children will love joining in with the refrain that repeats throughout the book, ‘Flip-flap, yikkidy-yak! There’s a pukeko dancing on the old dirt track.’  The main reason I love this book though is because of the gorgeous, quirky illustrations.  The family are all wearing bright clothes and the Pukeko are even wearing little hats. Lotte has given the book a real Kiwi feel with Pohutukawa, toitoi and ferns throughout the book and the Summer activities that the family are all doing.  My favourite page is the very last spread where the Pukekos are having a party.  You can tell that a lot of love has gone into this book, just by looking at the beautiful production of it, from the hard cover and the feel of the pages, to the quality of the illustrations and the wonderful Pohutukawa end papers.  I hope to see more books from Lotte and Clay Press.

We had an event in Christchurch recently called the Pukeko Stomp, which was a walk around the Travis Wetland for pre-schoolers and their families, with stories and snacks.  I shared this book at the event and the children loved it.  It is a great book to read aloud to a group or one-on-one.

Pukeko Dancing on the Old Dirt Track is the perfect New Zealand picture book to share with your family this Christmas or to send overseas to relatives.  You can purchase Pukeko Dancing on the Old Dirt Track from the Clay Press website or at your local bookshop.

Seriously Spooky Month: Guest Post – James Foley

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Bringing My Dead Bunny to life – James Foley

www.jamesfoley.com.au/books/my-dead-bunny

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I have never owned a rabbit, let alone a zombified one, so when I began working on ‘My Dead Bunny’ I had no idea how to approach the character of Bunny Brad. I knew plenty about zombies, having watched all of the Walking Dead and the original Romero film Night of The Living Dead; but I didn’t know how to draw a decent rabbit (or, as this book required, an indecent one).

In addition, I wasn’t sure what illustration style would suit the book; in the first few pages I needed to show a live rabbit being electrocuted, then coming back as a zombie, and I needed to accomplish this without making the audience want to stop reading, close the book, and burn it immediately. As you would expect, it was a challenge bringing a dead bunny to life.

I always start a book by developing the main character. This inevitably involves experimenting with style at the same time. Once the main character design has settled, it informs the style of the whole book; everything else forms around it.

I read the first draft for ‘My Dead Bunny’ and was instantly hooked. Then I was perplexed. How would I draw Bunny Brad? I realised I needed to answer three questions:

  1. How ‘undead’ would he be? (i.e. would Bunny Brad still look relatively alive, or would he look obviously undead?)
  2. How much sentience would he have? (i.e. would Bunny Brad appear to be conscious of his actions and intentionally evil, or would he be acting out of unconscious zombie impulses?)
  3. How real would he look? (i.e. would Bunny Brad have realistic proportions, or would he appear more cartoony?)

I wrote these three questions down in my sketchbook, and tried a few drawings.

20130615-MDB-first-sketches

The brain worm was there from the start, as was the idea to have Bunny Brad appear at the narrator’s bedroom door casting a long shadow.  But that’s about all in these sketches that looks familiar.

At this point I realised I needed to look at reference photos of actual rabbits, so that I could clarify what features I needed to include. I soon found another challenge; how could I take a rabbit’s features and zombify them? Rabbits look very alert, anxious and cuddly, whereas zombies need to look slow, dim-witted and creepy. How could I draw a zombified rabbit and still have it seem like a rabbit?

I tried many many options over many many months. Here are some of those designs.

random-sketches

The publishers (god bless them) were very patient and supportive, rejecting options that were too cute and/or not strong enough. After many rejected character designs I was feeling very frustrated, so I sat on my studio floor with a big sheet of paper and a sharpie, and drew some ridiculous zombie rabbits that I thought the publisher would hate. ‘Let’s see what they think of these!’ I thought. I sent the sketches off with a devilish glint in my eye.

20140215-bunny sketches

The publisher emailed me back almost immediately. ‘We love them!’ they said. ‘More of these, please!’

I felt surprised, then relieved. The character had finally clicked, and so had the style. Bunny Brad shifted a bit from that sketch to the final version, but he was basically there, and the rest of the book flowed quite easily once he was in place.

LEFT: a colour test version of the rough sketch in the previous image; RIGHT: final version from the cover of the book

LEFT: a colour test version of the rough sketch in the previous image;
RIGHT: final version from the cover of the book

It’s always the case that I spend at least half of the creative process experimenting and planning. Quite often there’s a point where it seems like it’s never going to work – that the character is never going to settle and the book won’t go anywhere. I’m so glad Bunny Brad eventually turned up! He’s been a heap of fun to work with (if a bit nibbly).

My Dead Bunny by Sigi Cohen and James Foley is available now from Walker Books Australia.  Grab a copy now from your library or bookshop.

My Dead Bunny by Sigi Cohen and James Foley

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So you like picture books about cute bunny rabbits who nibble on carrots or deliver chocolate eggs in a basket?  Well this is definitely not the picture book for you.  However, if you like picture books about gross, stinky, horrible creatures then this book is absolutely perfect for you.  Meet Brad the zombie bunny in Sigi Cohen and James Foley’s new picture book, My Dead Bunny.

MDB_cover-1000px

We first meet Brad when he is visiting his owner in bed one night and we’re told of how Brad came to be dead.  Brad was just a normal, cute, fluffy bunny until the day he decided to chew through the TV cord and got electrocuted. The family bury him but the boy misses him and decides to dig him up and check on him.  This is when Brad starts to cause a panic, scaring everyone silly, stinking up the house and making a mess.  The situation gets so bad that the boy and his friends have to come up with a plan to deal with dead Bunny Brad.  Will their plan just cause more problems instead?

I absolutely love this picture book!  It is creepy, disgusting and absolutely hilarious.  It’s completely the opposite of those cutesy picture books about bunny rabbits and it will appeal hugely to boys.  You would have to make sure you knew your audience when reading it aloud, as you wouldn’t want to traumatise a kid whose beloved pet had just died.

Sigi Cohen and James Foley are a dream team for this book. Sigi Cohen’s rollicking rhyming text will have you laughing out loud as you read it.  I love his descriptions of zombie Bunny Brad, which are creepy and funny at the same time.  James Foley’s illustrations are delightfully creepy but hilarious.  James has used a very simple colour palette, mostly black and grey, with green and orange to add effect.  The green of zombie Brad really makes him stand out, compared to his living self which is grey.  James really makes zombie Brad look creepy and disgusting, with his pink, runny eyes, his horrible teeth, and the worm sticking out of his head.  James also uses different angles and shadows to add to the creepiness of the illustrations.  I even love James’ end papers of the book, which show Brad before and after his accident.

My Dead Bunny is a perfect picture book for older readers and younger readers who like a bit of a scare and a good laugh.

Seriously Spooky Month: Guest Post – Lesley Gibbes

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As part of my Seriously Spooky Month I asked some of my favourite spooky authors to write a guest post for My Best Friends Are Books.  Today I’m joined by Lesley Gibbes, author of the award-winning book, Scary Night.  Lesley joins me on My Best Friends Are Books today to talk about her spooky picture book.

There’s no denying, I love all things scary! When I was a child I loved a good scare and nothing was scarier than the darkness of night. There’s something so deliciously terrifying about noises in the dark made by things you can’t see. My imagination would run wild and I loved it!

So of course, my first picture book just had to be set in the dead of the night when anything can happen. And in SCARY NIGHT when three friends, Hare with a hat, Cat with a cake and Pig with a parcel set out on a mysterious night-time journey all sorts of scary things happen. Close your eyes and imagine snapping crocodiles, roaring bears, mountain cliff tops, graveyards, bats, spiders, castle ruins and rats. Are you brave enough to join the journey and find out just where the three friends are going? Go on, you won’t believe the surprise!

SCARY NIGHT has just the right amount of scare to give your kids a thrill with a reassuring ending that’s sure to have everyone celebrating. It was awarded Honour Book, by the Children’s Book Council of Australia for Early Childhood Book of the Year 2015 and is the perfect book for Halloween this October!

SCARY NIGHT written by Lesley Gibbes, illustrated by Stephen Michael King and published by Working Title Press 2014. CBCA Honour Book 2015 Early Childhood Book of the Year. Shortlisted Speech Pathology Australia, Book of the Year (3-5 years) 2015.  You can visit Lesley Gibbes at www.lesleygibbes.com

Imaginary Fred Book Trailer

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Imaginary Fred is the first collaboration between two giants of children’s literature, Oliver Jeffers and Eoin Colfer.  I’m a huge fan of both of these guys so I’m very excited to read this book.

Sometimes, with a little electricity, or luck, or even magic, an imaginary friend might appear when you need one. An imaginary friend like Fred… Fred floated like a feather in the wind until a lonely little boy wished for him and found a friendship like no other

Here is a funny book trailer for Imaginary Fred:

Imaginary Fred is available this month from HarperCollins NZ.

My Most Anticipated October Kids & YA Releases from Allen and Unwin

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9781925266955

Zeroes by Scott Westerfeld, Margo Lanagan and Deborah Biancotti

Don’t call them heroes. But these six Californian teens have powers that set them apart.

Ethan aka Scam has a voice inside him that’ll say whatever people want to hear, whether it’s true or not. Which is handy, except when it isn’t – like when the voice starts gabbing in the middle of a bank robbery. The only people who can help are the other Zeroes, who aren’t exactly best friends these days.

Enter Nate, aka Bellwether, the group’s ‘glorious leader.’ After Scam’s SOS, he pulls the scattered Zeroes back together. But when the rescue blows up in their faces, the Zeroes find themselves propelled into whirlwind encounters with ever more dangerous criminals. At the heart of the chaos they find Kelsie, who can take a crowd in the palm of her hand and tame it or let it loose as she pleases.

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The Singing Bones by Shaun Tan

In this beautifully presented volume, the essence of seventy-five fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm is wonderfully evoked by Shaun Tan’s extraordinary sculptures.

Nameless princes, wicked stepsisters, greedy kings, honourable peasants and ruthless witches, tales of love, betrayal, adventure and magical transformation: all inspiration for this stunning gallery of sculptural works. Introduced by Grimm Tales author Philip Pullman and leading fairy tale scholar Jack Zipes, The Singing Bones breathes new life into some of the world’s most beloved fairy tales.

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Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone Illustrated Edition by J.K. Rowling and illustrated by Jim Kay

Prepare to be spellbound by Jim Kay’s dazzling depiction of the wizarding world and much loved characters in this full-colour illustrated hardback edition of the nation’s favourite children’s book – Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. Brimming with rich detail and humour that perfectly complements J.K. Rowling’s timeless classic, Jim Kay’s glorious illustrations will captivate fans and new readers alike.

9780857634146

Box by Rosalind Beardshaw

What would YOU do with a box? When four toddlers find some toys in cardboard boxes, they have fun with them for a while. But, before long, the friends’ interest in the toys wains and their attention turns to the boxes themselves. What could they do with SO many boxes, they wonder? An inspiring and charming novelty book celebrating the creative possibilities and limitless joy of the boxes.

9780857634924

Poles Apart by Jeanne Willis and Jarvis

Everybody knows that penguins belong at the South Pole and polar bears live at the North Pole-but what would happen if, one day, a family of picnicking penguins accidentally got lost? When the hapless Pilchard-Brown family find themselves at completely the wrong pole, they need Mr White, the friendly polar bear, to guide them all the way home.