New Zealand author

Fast Five with Amy Brown

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1. Why did you want to be a writer?

My parents’ house has always had full bookshelves; there are piles of books next to each bed, and even beside the bath. The idea of being able and allowed to write the words in these important objects was thrilling. In Standard Two, I said that one day I wanted to write books for children. After school that day, I asked Mum what she thought I might be when I grew up. When she guessed that I would be a writer, I was delighted at her response. I still am.

2. What’s the best thing about being a writer?

When I’ve been writing for quite a while – perhaps two hours non-stop – the words sometimes begin to come unexpectedly. The chapter unfolds almost as if I am reading rather than writing it myself. Rereading these pages later, I often forget having written parts of them.  This is an exciting feeling.

3. What’s your favourite New Zealand book?

I won’t choose a favourite, because it is too difficult. But, I will say that Maurice Gee’s O Trilogy has stayed with me since I first read it nearly twenty years ago. I still have dreams (nightmares?) about Susan Ferris meeting the Birdfolk. I also vividly remember Jack Lasenby’s Harry Wakatipu stories. If you haven’t read them, Harry Wakatipu is a surly talking packhorse who lives with a deer culler in the Ureweras and gets into all sorts of mischief. Recently, I tried to tell a friend the story of when Harry starts illegally tickling trout, but had to stop because I was crying with laughter.

4. What do you love most about New Zealand?

I love that, in New Zealand, you’re never too far from the sea. I also love that you can walk barefoot without worrying about snakes or spiders biting you (I currently live in Australia).

5. What book changed your life?

Because I read it so often, and then later used it as a model for my own books, Jill’s Gymkhana by Ruby Ferguson probably changed my life. Its sense of humour, weird 1950s references to Bing Crosby, and brilliant line drawings have no doubt contributed to who I am today. I admit that it isn’t the best book in the world, but it has been important to me.
Amy Brown is the author of the Pony Tales series, including the latest book, Jade’s Summer of Horses.

Picture Book Nook: Seesaw Po by Kyle Mewburn, illustrated by Katz Cowley

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Read me for NZ Book Month!

Kyle Mewburn has done it once again!  He’s created another clever and fun-filled picture book that children and adults alike will love, and it features a loveable hippo called Po.

Po and his friends love the playground.  “I want to swing!” said Uta.  “I want to slide!” said Madi.  “I want to spin!” said Raff.  “I want to do everything!” said Po.  They all rush off to the playground and have a go on everything.  Everyone, that is, except Po.  Poor Po is just too big to go on anything…until he gets to the seesaw.

Children absolutely love Seesaw Po!  I’ve read it numerous times to children from 2-7 years and they were all captivated by the story.  Older children know right from the start that Po is too big to go on the playground and they feel sorry for him, but they don’t see the surprise ending coming.  It’s a story that all children can relate to because they all love going to the playground and they all have their favourite thing they like to go on (for me it’s always been the swings).  Katz Cowley’s illustrations are as marvelous as always.  You can really see the joy on the faces of the characters as they whizz around on the roundabout and whoosh down the slide.  The favourite illustration of the children I read the book to was Po stuck on the slide and they liked to point out that Uta was trying to pull Po down the slide by his ears.  Book Design deserve a special mention for the wonderful design of the book.  I love how the words follow the characters down the slide and around the roundabout, while still making the text easy to read.   It’s also great to see Scholastic NZ publishing Te Reo versions of their New Zealand picture books, especially these younger picture books.  Seesaw Po is a great collaboration from two of our most talented authors and illustrators.

4 out of 5 stars

Fast Five with Kyle Mewburn

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1. Why did you want to be a writer?

I never really thought I “want to be a writer”. Mainly because I was always told being a writer wasn’t a “proper job”. Besides, I knew most writers never made much money, and for a long time I believed making money was very important. (Because that’s what nearly everybody said.) Writing has always been like a bloodhound on my trail. Over the years I tried all sorts of other jobs, trying to throw it off the scent, but I never quite managed it. In the end it caught up with me. Now I realise there are much more important things than making lots of money. Like doing something you love. Or bringing wild and crazy ideas to life.

2. What’s the best thing about being a writer?

Getting to hang out with other writers. They are such an entertaining bunch. If I wasn’t a writer, I’d probably have to become a stalker. Or a librarian.

3. What’s your favourite New Zealand book?

I didn’t grow up in New Zealand, so I don’t have any all-time favourite New Zealand books. It kind of changes every year. At the moment my favourite books are Northwood by Brian Falkner (which is just such an original thrilling story) and Stomp! by Ruth Paul (because it’s delightfully simple and beautiful).

4. What do you love most about New Zealand?

I could say “that it’s next to Australia”. haha (I am, after all, originally from Brisbane.) Otherwise, I’d have to say its size. There’s so much variety packed into a small space. Two hours drive and I can be swimming in the ocean, skiing in the mountains or tramping in the wilderness. It’s unique and slightly magical. Though the flipside is you sometimes have to drive two hours to find like-minded people, too.

5. What book changed your life?

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster. It’s deservedly a classic. My Year 7 teacher gave me his copy on the last day of school and I’ve read it every year since. If, like me, you love word games and puns, there’s no better book on the planet. It set me off on a life-long quest to write (or invent) the perfect pun. I haven’t done it yet, but boy I’ve had enormous fun trying!!

Kyle Mewburn is the award-winning author of Kiss, Kiss, Yuck, Yuck, Old Hu-hu, Hill and Hole and the hilarious and disgusting Dinosaur Rescue series.

Fast Five with Sharon Holt

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1. Why did you want to be a writer?

I wanted to be a writer because I absolutely loved reading books and being in libraries. I wanted to help other children find the joy that I found between the pages of so many wonderful children’s books.

2. What’s the best thing about being a writer?

There are many great things about being a writer, but the best thing for me is when children come up and say they love a story I wrote.

3. What’s your favourite New Zealand book?

My favourite NZ book is The Terrible Q by Tanya Batt.

4. What do you love most about New Zealand?

The thing I love most about New Zealand is how easy it is to get to the sea. I love the feeling of looking out over the ocean and imagining what’s on the other side.

5. What book changed your life?

The book that changed my life was a picture book that I was reading at bed time to my two toddlers. I don’t know what the story was but it was probably something by Lynley Dodd. While reading it to the children, I suddenly realised that I had forgotten to be a children’s author! I was already 40 so I very quickly started writing stories and sending them to Learning Media. Before long I was a published author and I haven’t looked back since!

Sharon has been writing for 10 years and has had stories, poems, plays and articles published in the School Journal.  Her latest novels, Sabotage and No Survivors, are  in the New Zealand My Story series and tell the stories of two girls growing up in New Zealand at the time of the Rainbow Warrior bombing and the Erebus crash.  Sharon has also written her own joke book called It’s True! You can make your own jokes, because her son kept trying to make up terrible jokes.

Fast Five with Ruth Paul

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1. Why did you want to be a writer?

Because, well … why not? As an illustrator, being a writer also gives me more control over the total story. Plus I  have only myself to let down if I don’t illustrate the story well enough. Doing both gives me the chance to create a more unified picture book. 

2. What’s the best thing about being a writer?

Having fun with language. Having fun, full stop. Oh, and getting emails from kids and parents who’ve read my books.

3. What’s your favourite New Zealand book?

Little Rabbit and the Sea by Gavin Bishop.

4. What do you love most about New Zealand?

The space, the climate, the small population, and all the opportunity we have to create a good society and environment to live in.

5. What book changed your life?

Not a book, but stories my father told me as a child that involved all the animals in our street in an imaginary fairyland. They were funny and wicked and naughty and special. They always involved dog poo (there was a lot of that in our street). It made me love the idea of sharing stories.

Ruth Paul is both an author and an illustrator.  Some of her books include Stomp, Two Little Pirates, The King’s Bubbles and The Animal Undie Ball.

Fast Five with Brian Falkner

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1. Why did you want to be a writer?

Don’t know. Just always did. Maybe because I was a keen reader as a child.

2. What’s the best thing about being a writer?

Visiting schools and literary festivals and meeting your audience. Without that, it would be quite a solitary vocation.

3. What’s your favourite New Zealand book?

Aarrgh! Don’t make me choose. Too many brilliant books to choose from.

4. What do you love most about New Zealand?

The people. The climate. Rangitoto. The beaches. Lots of other things. I miss NZ!

5. What book changed your life?

Any one of the Famous Five books by Enid Blyton. These were a revelation for me. It was fabulously exciting (with lashings of fun) to find a new Enid Blyton book was in the library when I was young. I am sure that these books are part of the reason that I became a writer.

Brian Falkner is the author of The Tomorrow Code, The Real Thing, Brainjack, Northwood, and his latest book, Team Recon Angel: Assault.  Visit his website – http://www.brianfalkner.com/

Fleur Beale talks about I Am Not Esther

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I Am Not Esther is a New Zealand classic and Fleur Beale is one of New Zealand’s best authors for children and young adults.  It has been in print for 14 years and is as popular today as it was when it was first printed.  Random House New Zealand are celebrating Fleur’s amazing story by reissuing it with a great new cover.  I asked Fleur if she would like to write a post for me about I Am Not Esther as part of NZ Book Month, so here are her thoughts.

 

I’ll always remember a phone call I got about a fortnight after the book was first published. The woman on the phone was so excited her words were tumbling over each other. She said I’d written her story and now at last she was able to say to friends and family, ‘Read this, and then you’ll understand.’


People are often surprised to hear that the original idea for the story came from a real incident where a sixteen year old boy was thrown out of home and declared dead simply because he refused to leave school in his final year.


Readers relate strongly to the situation of a person being forced to think, behave and live in a strictly prescribed manner. This isn’t the way we do things in today’s world, yet it is the situation many children are still brought up in.
In a way, Kirby is an orphan and I think stories about young people who are alone and have to battle against the world for their very survival speak to something primal within us.

Barbara Else on being a finalist in 2012 NZ Post Children’s Book Awards

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Even off the top of my distracted head after this exciting news, I can come up with three reasons why being a finalist is so important for me.  First – it is wonderful to be listed in the company of some fine established names in NZ children’s books and with such talented and energetic newcomers. Second – a short listing is very significant for getting your name and work in front of schools and the general public. Third –  this is the greatest treasure – it is a huge affirmation of my work for children. After 6 novels for adults as well as 2 for children some time ago now, working on The Travelling Restaurant was breaking into a new area on a whole new level.  Writing it was a glorious romp. It’s a bonus to find that readers enjoy the fun, tears and magic of the adventure too.

I wanted to see if I’d have as much fun with a follow-up, but I wasn’t going to let it leave my hands unless it was a solid stand-alone book.  The Queen and the Nobody Boy is set in the same world as The Travelling Restaurant a few years later. It was a challenge to kick the story into action as quickly as possible without getting trapped by the need for background. In the end I just booted the characters off into their own tale. Some characters are back again showing different sides of their personalities. There are new characters I’ve grown very fond of, and a villain I love to loathe.

I’m also excited at being asked to take part in the finalists’ tour organised by the NZ Book Council. It’s a treat to meet readers in person. I love reading aloud, and love the unusual questions children ask as well as how they react to unexpected answers.

Steel Pelicans by Des Hunt

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Back in November 2010, Des Hunt told us on the Christchurch Kids Blog about a new story that he was working on, which he thought would be called Steel Pelicans.  He told us all about the characters, the setting and a little bit about the plot, but he didn’t know whether it was going to get published.  I’ve loved all of Des Hunt’s books so far and Steel Pelicans sounded like a really great story.  I was really excited when I found out that HarperCollins NZ were going to publish Steel Pelicans and I knew that it would be full of the action, adventure, New Zealand locations, and great characters that are always part of Des Hunt’s stories.

Steel Pelicans is about two friends called Dean Steele and Pete Kelly who are the Steel Pelicans of the story.  The story starts in Wollongong, Australia where Dean and Pete have spent most of their life.  Dean gets them into all sorts of trouble, especially when it comes to mucking around with explosives.  Pete’s parents don’t like him hanging around with Dean, and when Pete’s grandmother in New Zealand becomes ill his family decide to move to Auckland to look after her.  Dean doesn’t want Pete to go and gets him involved in one last dangerous stunt before he leaves.  It’s not long before Pete becomes friends with Afi at his new school.  Pete’s parents approve of Afi and let Pete go and stay with Afi and his family at their batch in Port Waikato.  It’s here that Pete and Afi stumble on a smuggling operation and find themselves in deep trouble, which only gets worse when Dean comes over for the holidays.  They’re about to learn that they shouldn’t mess with the Redfern family.

Steel Pelicans is a classic Des Hunt story with all the adventure, mystery and danger that make his stories so good.  His stories are usually set just in New Zealand but this story starts in Australia as that’s where the two main characters are from.  One thing I like about his stories is that they have a real Kiwi feel about them and they’re set in different parts of the country, from the Coromandel to the West Coast to Port Waikato.  He always adds an ecological message into the story and this time it’s about fishing and Paradise Ducks.  I always finish his books knowing that I’ve read a great story and learnt a little bit about New Zealand wildlife at the same time.  I really liked the characters of Pete (or Pelly) and Dean.  They’re almost complete opposites but somehow are still best mates.  I liked how Des Hunt added a second friend into the mix because it created some conflict between the three boys.  Des Hunt also really knows how to write scumbag villains, whether they’re gang members or drug dealers, and you can imagine that they’re the sort of people who might live in your neighbourhood.  If you’re a fan of Des Hunt’s books you’ll love Steel Pelicans, but if you haven’t read any of his books then this one is a great one to start with.

5 out of 5 stars

Picture Book Nook: The House That Jack Built by Gavin Bishop

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If I had to pick one picture book that is quintessentially New Zealand, I would choose Gavin Bishop’s The House That Jack Built.  Gavin’s multi-layered story, based on the traditional rhyme, contains our history within it’s pages, told from both a Maori and a Pakeha perspective.  It is a picture book in which you discover something new or get a slightly different meaning from each time you read it.  Now, thanks to the wonderful Gecko Press who have reprinted the book in a stunning new format, a new generation of New Zealanders can enjoy this important book.

On the surface, it’s the story of Jack Bull, who travels to New Zealand from London as a new settler in 1798.   This is one of those brilliant picture books where the words tell a completely different story from the illustrations.  The end papers show us the reality of Jack’s life in London in 1798 and we see him with his cart of possessions and the red door that comes to symbolise Pakeha society.  In the next few pages we follow Jack’s ocean voyage on a map and see the list of goods that he has brought to trade with the natives.  Throughout the rest of the story Gavin portrays the effect that Pakeha colonisation had on the local Maori, from trading land and food for clothes and weapons, to the loss of culture and the deaths in the New Zealand Wars.

The House That Jack Built is a book that should be in every home, school, and library around New Zealand.  It’s an important book to help us remember who we are and where we’ve come from.  For those readers not in New Zealand the story will also be relevant as it applies to any colonial history.  Gavin Bishop is our master of the picture book and this is the best example of how he gets his message across visually.  He weaves the Maori and Pakeha strands of the story together and shows us through the illustrations, how Maori were assimilated into the Pakeha world.  The publisher, Gecko Press, deserves a huge amount of praise for, not only bringing this book back into print, but also for producing a gorgeous edition in a larger format than the original and printed on high quality paper.  Buying a copy of The House That Jack Built and sharing it with your family is the perfect way to celebrate Waitangi Day on 6 February.

5 out of 5 stars

The House That Jack Built is being published to coincide with Waitangi Day (6 February) and will be launched at the Porirua Festival of the Elements on Waitangi Day 2012 with author/illustrator Gavin Bishop.