New Zealand author

The Field by Bill Nagelkerke

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How on earth do you tell your family that you’d seen . . .

 . . . Our Lady . . .

 . . . The Virgin Mary . . .

 . . . The Queen of Heaven . . .

 . . . The Mother of God. (The Mother of GOD!)

 And that she had spoken to you.

 And that she was going to speak to you again.

 Up in the Crow’s Nest.

 Tomorrow.

 And that was why you had to be there.

 (And that’s why you’d wet yourself.)

Jacinta’s father works as the groundsman for the local sports stadium, which they’ve nick-named The Field.  While he tends to the needs of the stadium, Jacinta looks down on the world from the Crow’s Nest, the corporate box used by the big-wigs to get the best view of the games at the stadium.  The Crow’s Nest is one of her favourite places in the world and she often pretends that she commands the players and places them where she wants them to go.  She may not have her special place for much longer if the City Council gets its way and knocks down The Field to replace it with a carpark for the new stadium.  It is while she is in the Crow’s Nest one day that Mother Mary appears to her in the television.  Jacinta doesn’t know if she is going crazy and seeing things or whether her vision is real, but when Mary appears again the next day there is no doubt.  Mary wants Jacinta to gather as many people as she can at The Field so that she can pass on a message.  The only problem is trying to get her family and the rest of her town to believe her.

The Field is a refreshingly original story from one of Christchurch’s own children’s authors, Bill Nagelkerke.  The story had a real ‘Kiwi’ feel about it, from the setting (which could be just about any city in New Zealand) to the characters.  Don’t be put off by the religious aspect to the story because I think you’d enjoy it whether or not you have any religious affiliation.  I found Jacinta easy to relate to as she was just a normal kid, and I found myself wondering what I would have done if I’d been in her situation.  In a way she’s a modern day Joan of Arc, who has to convince her parents, the priests and the other people in her city that she actually is communicating with Mother Mary and that they should listen to her message.  One thing that I particularly liked about the story was that the second part was told using different forms of media, including newspaper articles, letters to the editor and City Council meeting minutes.  This added different opinions to the story that we didn’t get in the first part.   The ending leaves you wondering whether people do turn up to hear her message and what that message might have been.  Like the other people in the story, we have to make up our own mind.

3.5 out of 5 stars

The Field is one of the first ebooks I’ve read and it’s the first title in ACHUKA’s digital publishing imprint: ACHUKAbooks.  I’ll look forward to reading their next releases.  ACHUKAbooks  are encouraging more submissions so if you are interested you can contact them at kindle@achuka.co.uk.

Picture Book Nook: Two Little Bugs by Mark and Rowan Sommerset

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Last year Mark and Rowan Sommerset brought us the hilarious Baa Baa Smart Sheep, which went on to win the Children’s Choice Award at the 2011 New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards.  Their latest creation, Two Little Bugs, is sure to be another hit with children.

As the title suggests, the story is about two little bugs, Little Bug Red who lives underneath the leaf and Little Bug Blue who lives on top of the leaf.  They try to convince each other that life is better on their side of the leaf, but neither is willing to try something different.  Little Bug Red decides to start eating the leaf bit by bit, and so each page gets smaller and smaller, until there is no leaf left, just a stalk.  They discover that the end of their leafy home is just the beginning of a new adventure.

While Two Little Bugs doesn’t pack the same humorous punch as Baa Baa Smart Sheep, it’s a fun story with an interesting design that children will love.  I love the way that the pages mirror each other so that you can see both bugs in each double-page spread (the bugs can be seen poking through the holes in the leaves).  This design aspect will make it appealing to children, as they see the page (leaf) shrink every time they turn it.  The colour palette is simple (green and black of the leaf with the red and blue of the bugs) which draws your attention to the two bugs.  Mark and Rowan publish their books through their own independent publishing company, Dreamboat Books, and other self-publishers could learn alot from the quality of their beautiful picture books.

You can learn more about Mark and Rowan Sommerset and buy their books from their Dreamboat Books website.

Guest Post: New Zealand author Deborah Burnside

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Deborah Burnside

The question was; Do you want to write a guest blog?

I said, YES…

I say yes to a lot of things because it makes life interesting and gives you things to write about.

Yes, I’d like to learn to belly dance and derby skate, yes I’d like to see the pilots flying the plane, yes I’d like to buy a ticket, yes I’ll get up extra early to take the special Colosseum tour (even though I am NOT a morning person).

You can see a theme here I hope?

That writers are spontaneous, curious and explorative people who may or may not write about all of the things they do, see or experience, but will likely always be doing interesting things that they could write about.

Although sometimes it’s the thing a writer hasn’t been able to do that turns up in their stories.

I live on a large rural block with my lovely husband, Malamute Blaze, three sons, their assorted friends, some sheep and cattle, various migratory birds, pesky rabbits and a wild, white cat with no ears.  A long time ago I said I wanted to turn our paddock into a maize maze – at the time we were leasing the land to a cropper who had planted maize and our son got lost in the maize.  While that was a terrifying experience, it made me think it would have been a whole lot easier to find him if there were paths through the maize.

“Then the cropper wouldn’t make any money, Deb.”  Said the lovely man.

“I know, but you could charge money to walk through the maize maze instead, before you harvested,” I said.

“Nobody would pay to do that.”  Said the lovely man.

“I think they would, I think we should do it here.”

The lovely man didn’t agree, “You are raising kids, singing, dancing, acting in Les Miserables, building a house and running a waste and recycling company…I think you are too busy to grow and operate a maize maze.”

Well, put like that I had to agree, because what the lovely man didn’t know was that I was also harbouring a secret desire to write books.

It was that seed of truth, that personal desire to grow a maize maze that made me give that thing to Marty in YES.

I love that YES, my new young adult book, is titled YES, because so many great things have happened in my life simply by saying YES.  It’s also an acronym for the Young Enterprise Scheme, something the characters in the book take part in and which is something I wish had been in High Schools when I was at school, as I cold started a business when I was 21.  I encourage anyone given the chance to participate in YES at their school to give it a go.

And all those other things I mentioned… well since 9/11 you can no longer visit pilots in cockpits.  The Colosseum  closed the lower levels in October this year indefinitely and they’d not been opened since the 1930s.  Learning to Belly Dance was fun, I met great people, got to perform at lots of public events and it gave me an idea for a scene in, On A Good Day.  Buying the wrong bus ticket in Turkey led me on an amazing (sometimes slightly hair-raising) adventure and personal tour of Istanbul by a local, which may yet end up in a book.  And Roller Derby has me loving bruises, blisters, grazes and speed and leaves me with the conundrum of what to call my skating alter ego.  I wanted Princess Slayer (Princess Leia – star wars) because my Mum used to put my hair in two buns when I was little, but thanks to the movie, Whip It that name is taken.

I’ll take some time thinking about my Derby name the same as I do when I name characters in stories… because I like names and words that mean more than one thing and I like my characters to be true to their names.

The newest character I am writing about is Cartograph, he takes a while to get his name, I’m not quite sure exactly what is happening in his story,  I know where it is and when it is and who is in it, but the rest is just a fabulous rollercoaster ride as I sit at the computer and say YES – today I’m writing.  How lucky am I?

Deborah Burnside

Picture Book Nook: Moon Cow by Kyle Mewburn

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Kyle Mewburn deserves an award for being New Zealand’s hardest working children’s author this year.  He’s had so many books published in 2011, from picture books to junior fiction novels.  His Dinosaur Rescue series (with which he collaborates with the brilliant Donovan Bixley) is probably the best series for junior readers to come out of New Zealand in recent years.  Kyle’s latest book is a picture book about a cow that tries to make friends with the moon, called Moon Cow.

Milly the cow thinks that the moon must be lonely up there in the sky with no-one to talk to so she decides to try and make friends with it.  She stays up all night talking to the moon but “the moon didn’t say a word.”  All the other cows laugh at her, saying “Silly Milly Cow! Talking to the moon!”  Each night the moon gets brighter and closer as Milly talks, dances and juggles for the moon, but the moon stays silent. Will the moon ever talk to Milly and share its secrets with her?

Moon Cow is an absolutely stunning picture book.  It’s one of those picture books where the text and illustrations are perfectly matched.  Kyle’s story is gentle and touching, with just the right amount of humour.  As I was reading I thought that it had a similar feel to his award-winning Hill and Hole.  Deidre Copeland’s illustrations are what really make Moon Cow stand out for me.  The front cover really draws the reader in and makes you want to make friends with Milly.  I can just see children gushing over how cute Milly is, especially because of the way Deidre has drawn her eyes.  I love the way that Deidre’s illustrations glow on the page, especially the very last page with Milly and the moon by the lake.  The book’s designers should get some credit for the amazing job they have done on this book too.  My only negative is that a book of this quality should have been published in hardback.  Moon Cow will be a favourite with children and is sure to be a finalist in the New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards in 2012.

Yes by Deborah Burnside

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Every now and again you read a book that you really connect with.  Something about it, whether the characters or the story, strike a chord with you.  You get to the end of the book and you just sit there for a while thinking about it, with a smile on your face but with a sense of loss because it’s over.  Deborah Burnside’s latest book, Yes, is one of those books.

Marty (AKA M & M) has trouble reading people, organizing things and pleasing his father.  His brain isn’t wired the same as other people so it takes him longer to figure things out, but he’s as normal as any other teenager on the outside.  Luke spends his time hanging out with his best mate Luke (AKA Legless) and his ‘chick-mate’ Francesca, who he’s had a crush on for ages.  Luke’s always trying to get Marty into all sorts of crazy ventures, and when he attempts to get him involved in YES (the Young Enterprise Scheme) it’s futile to resist.  Marty doesn’t know what to expect, but the last thing he thought he would be doing was making crochet hats and being mentored by his dad.  Will their business succeed or will it all fall apart?

Deborah Burnside has created a memorable character with an authentic voice.  As Yes is told in the first person, we really get inside Marty’s head and we get the sense of how difficult it is for Marty to read people and make sense of the world.  Even though his brain is wired differently, Marty is still such a typical teenage boy.  He’s got a crush on his ‘chick-mate,’ his dad’s an embarrassment and Marty never seems to live up to his expectations, and he has an obsession with sex.  It’s a sign of a great story when you can picture yourself in the same situations, in places that you know – I kept thinking of myself and my best mate from high school as Marty and Luke.  One of the things I liked most about Yes is that Deborah can have you laughing out loud one moment, then in tears, and leave you with a smile on your face by the end of the story.

I can’t recommend Yes highly enough.  It’s my favourite New Zealand book of 2011 and I’ll be surprised if it’s not a finalist in the 2012 New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards.

Picture Book Nook: Marmaduke Duck and Bernadette Bear

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Marmaduke Duck and the Marmalade Jam by Juliette MacIver and illustrated by Sarah Davis was one of the finalists in this year’s New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards and was one of my favourites.  The bouncy, rhyming text and stunning illustrations were a winning combination and made a fun, if tongue-twisting, read-aloud.  I was excited to see that they had written another Marmaduke Duck book, called Marmaduke Duck and Bernadette Bear.

Marmaduke Duck has opened a marmalade shop and animals of all shapes and sizes are coming from all over to sample Marmaduke Duck’s marmalade jam.  But then one day, Bernadette Bear shows up and opens a honey shop right next door.  Will Marmaduke’s marmalade shop survive or will Bernadette put him out of business?

I absolutely love Marmaduke Duck and Bernadette Bear!  Juliette’s rhyming text is a joy to read and makes the story bounce along.  I’m a huge fan of Sarah Davis‘ illustrations, whether it’s people or the myriad of different animals that populate the pages of Marmaduke Duck and Bernadette Bear.  Sarah has the amazing gift of being able to portray animals that look life-like while at the same time having human expressions (just have a look at the front cover to see what I mean).  Every page glows with the brightly coloured animals and their crazy antics.  Any parent who chooses to read the Marmaduke Duck books to their children is sure to give them a love a words and beautiful illustrations.  This is definitely one of my top picture books of 2011.

Picture Book Nook: Bruiser by Gavin Bishop

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Christchurch kids have seen lots of diggers, dump trucks, and cranes lately with all the demolitions after our earthquakes so what better time for a book about a grumpy digger than now.  Bruiser is a grumpy digger on a mission.  He has to hurry up and plough the hillsides, crush rocks and tear up forests so that he can get the motorway built.  But one day he gets stuck in the mud and no matter what he does he can’t get out.  While he’s trying to get out, he knocks a magpie nest out of a tree and it’s up to Bruiser to get them to safety.

Bruiser has everything that a great picture book should.  The story is full of mischief and fun, and it’s perfect for reading aloud.  Gavin Bishop’s bright, bold illustrations bring his story to life and children (especially boys) will love this grumpy digger with a heart of gold.  Gavin has effectively used the days of the week and numbers in his story, in a similar way to Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar, “On Monday he ploughed through five hills.  On Tuesday he crushed ten rocks,” and so on.  Children are always the best critics of picture books, and having read Bruiser aloud to a group of preschoolers, Bruiser gets the tick of approval.  Bruiser is certain to become a New Zealand classic.

Picture Book Nook: The Elves and the Cloakmaker by Chris Gurney

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The Elves and the Cloakmaker is the latest title in the Kiwi Corkers series from Scholastic.  Written by Chris Gurney and illustrated by John Bennett, I think this is one of the first, if not the first, Christmas book with a Maori theme.  Chris and John have taken the idea of the original Elves and the Shoemaker story and given it a New Zealand twist.

Kahu is a cloakmaker who toils night and day to weave cloaks to sell to his customers.  His wife picks the flax and extracts the fibres for the cloaks and Kahu finds the feathers.  It is nearly Christmas and they must finish their cloaks in time, but when they fall asleep, four fairies come to help them.  Their little rhyme is:

“Tahi, rua, toru, wha
we bring feathers from afar.
Our flying fingers weave a cloak,
for we are special fairy folk…
Patupaiarehe!”

Each night the Patupaiarehe come to help them so that they can get their cloaks finished in time for Christmas.

Like the other titles in the Kiwi Corkers series, The Elves and the Cloakmaker is a fun twist on a classic tale and is a welcome addition to the growing number of Christmas stories for Kiwi kids.

The Flytrap Snaps by Johanna Knox

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Spencer Fogle is an ordinary kid who lives in the extraordinary town of Filmington.  His hometown used to be called Flemington, until film and TV crews discovered its range of landscapes, from fiery volcanoes to snowy mountains and lush rainforests, and took over the town.  The town’s richest resident, Jimmy Jangle, controls most of the business within Filmington and holds alot of people’s futures in his hands.  When Spencer is walking home from school one day, he hears blood-curdling screams coming from one of the science labs and goes to investigate.  Spencer uncovers a dark plot involving carnivorous plants, genetically modified flies and a mysterious, hidden file.  However, Jimmy Jangle and his thugs are willing to do anything to keep the truth covered up.

The Flytrap Snaps is the first book in The Fly Papers series, by New Zealand author Johanna Knox and illustrator, Sabrina Malcolm.  It’s a quirky story with action, mystery and plenty of laughs.  I love the idea of Filmington, with it’s different companies set up for the movie and television industry.  There’s the science labs that create experiments to be used in films, catering companies to supply food and drink for the film and TV crews, and the BodySlam Stunt Wrestling Club where they train stunt people for the movies.  I really liked Spencer because he’s just an ordinary kid who has to deal with an extraordinary situation.  I can’t wait to read the second book to find out what Spencer, Dion and Tora get up to next, and to solve the mystery of The Fly Papers.

Recommended for 9+    8 out of 10

Heart of Danger by Fleur Beale

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We were first introduced to Juno and the people of Taris in Juno of Taris, what would become the first in a trilogy.  I picked up Juno of Taris on a recommendation of another children’s librarian that I worked with and was blown away by the community that Fleur Beale had created.  For those of you who haven’t read the first book, it’s best to start at the beginning, but one of the great things about the subsequent books in the trilogy is that you get a summary of the story so far before you start.  I don’t know if this was an idea of the publisher, Random House New Zealand, or Fleur herself, but I think it’s something that all trilogies/series should have, especially when the books come out a year apart.

Heart of Danger starts off exactly where Fierce September ended, with Juno and her family arriving at their new home.  It’s not long before Juno’s sister, Hera senses danger and they decide to move back to New Plymouth and Fairlands School, where they have the protection of Willem.  Juno is reluctant to move back to Fairlands, where Hilto’s son, Thomas goes to school.  There’s also the handsome Ivor, whose advances make Juno uncomfortable.  Her feelings for Ivor are confusing and she’s not sure how to deal with them on the outside world.  When Hera is taken by mysterious strangers who mean to do her harm, Juno must use her special mind powers to help her save her sister.  But will this be enough to save them both from the Children of the Coming Dawn?

Heart of Danger is the perfect conclusion to this brilliant trilogy.  There is a sense of impending doom from the opening chapter which builds to a thrilling climax, but there are also alot of questions answered about the establishment of Taris, the extent of Juno’s powers, and Juno’s biological family.  The climax of the story comes just over halfway through the book and I was wondering how it would finish, but it left plenty of time for Fleur Beale to wrap up the story of the people of Taris and end on a positive note.  I’ve really enjoyed seeing how Juno has developed over the series and how the people of Taris have adapted to the outside world.  I loved how they all managed to hold onto little aspects of life on Taris, while becoming citizens of Aotearoa.  I know I’ll miss Juno, her family and her friends, but I’ll enjoy starting from the beginning again and taking that journey with them once more.  In the mean time, I’ll go to www.randomhouse.co.nz/heartofdanger to read Nash’s Story, an extra short story that Fleur Beale has written, to be read after Heart of Danger.

Recommended for 12+    10 out of 10