New Books

This month the New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults have just been announced - so heres a list for you to check out! 

Picture Book

The King's Bubbles

[Children's Choice Award Winner]
By Ruth Paul
King Bill is admiring the bubbles he blows €¦ but is dismayed when they all float away. He demands that they be brought back, so the hapless royal advisors devise all sorts of schemes to try and retain a roomful of bubbles.

Out of the Egg

[Best First Book Award Winner]
Tina Matthews
The hard-working Red Hen finds a green seed and plants it. She tries to enlist the help of the Fat Cat, the Dirty Rat and the Greedy Pig, but they are unwilling to lend a hand and the Red Hen is left to do all the work herself. Eventually the seed grows into a tree and the Red Hen lays a perfect white egg at its base. Out of the egg hatches a little chick with a fresh way of looking at the world. An interesting twist on the well-known tale of The Little Red Hen.

Rats!

Gavin Bishop
Mrs Polly Piper is prim and proper and longs to keep a perfect house, but it is overrun by a horde of rascally rodents. Then one day there's a RAT-TAT-TAT at the door€¦

Tahi - One Lucky Kiwi

[Picture Book Category Winner]
Melanie Drewery, Ali Teo (illus), John O'Reilly (illus)
This tale is tall but true. Join the class as they learn all about kiwi, and the truth about Tahi, who really is One Lucky Kiwi. With creative illustrations, combining photographs with drawings, this is one incredible educational story.

To the Harbour

[Honour Award Winner]
Stanley Palmer
Part children's book-part memoir, To The Harbour is a depiction of life around Manukau Harbour, the summer after the end of the war. This book captures that time and place with highly-skilled illustrations and a beautifully detailed story.

Non Fiction

A Mini Guide to the Identification of New Zealand Land Birds

Andrew Crowe, Dave Gunson (illus)
A handy guide to the identification of New Zealand's land birds. This little book has been designed to fit into a pocket, day pack or bag. Full of essential information.

Reaching the Summit

[Honour Award Winner]
Alexa Johnston, David Larsen
An accessible, exciting book aimed at young readers aged 9-14. Its all about high adventure and tells the story of  young Ed Hillary growing up in the Waikato, his  love of climbing and the outdoors, his early climbs and growing reputation, then the Everest expedition and the ascent on Mt Everest itself.

Weather Watch New Zealand

Sandra Carrod, Karsten Schneider (illus), Richard Gunther (illus)
Sandra Carrod explains winds, clouds, rain, snow and all the other kinds of weather our fair country is subject to. Lots of activities to do throughout, as well as explanations of local weather patterns in the context of global concerns. Includes fantastic graphics that make understanding the text easier, accompanied by photographs, diagrams and stuff.

What is a Fish?

Feana Tu'akoi
Eliminate the wrong answers and you'll find out just what exactly is a fish.

Which New Zealand Spider?

[Non Fiction Category Winner]
Andrew Crowe
All spiders commonly seen in New Zealand are covered - native and introduced. Which New Zealand Spider? is full of detail and includes the author's trademark features of easy, accurate identification. It features illustrative photographs throughout.

Junior Fiction

Dead Dan's Dee

Phyllis Johnston
After the Great War, Dee lives at the beach with her mother and aunt. It's a paradise for Dee with the sun, the sea and the sky, but little by little her seaside haven disintegrates. Her mother and aunt become very ill, leaving Dee alone. However, soldier Joe has never forgotten his promise to his army mate, Dan, Dee's dead father. He and Essie take Dee north into half-broken bush country. Told with subtlety and charm, this is a poignant, big-hearted story of honour, courage and the aftermath of war.
Dead Dan's Dee is her tenth work for children and young adults.

The Dumpster Saga

Craig Harrison
In this laugh-out-loud book, Ben's kid brother, Chesney, turns up wearing a plastic helmet he found in a dumpster and suddenly strange things start to burst into Ben's life. This really hacks him off, as he's trying to impress his dream girl. Before long, the town of Dodsbury is reeling from idiotic and totally gross events - until another dumpster appears from nowhere and a mysterious guy with blue hair asks for his helmet back.

The Mad Tadpole Adventure

Melanie Drewery, Jenny Cooper (illus)
This book could be a thriller or a horror story or a mystery or a romance. This is Maddie's story of how she loved her tadpole and watched it turn into a frog, only to have her beloved Isabella Princess Big Eyes €˜stolen'. This is a very funny read, with wide-ranging appeal.

My Story Sitting on the Fence: The Diary of Martin Daly, Christchurch 1981

Bill Nagelkerke
It is 1981 and Martin senses big trouble brewing at home. The South African rugby team has been invited to tour New Zealand. Martin's sister, Sarah, is out to stop the tour in protest against South Africa's racist apartheid system. His rugby-mad dad is equally determined that the tour should go ahead. And Mum is behaving oddly. Then a new school leads to a new friendship, and Martin is faced with a choice. He can walk away, or he can become involved in something that will end up being bigger than anybody could have predicted. Martin's story is about the Springbok tour of 1981 and how it divided our nation.

Snake and Lizard

[Junior Fiction Category Winner & NZ Post Book of the Year]
Joy Cowley, Gavin Bishop (illus)
Snake and Lizard are two very different creatures, who learn the give-and-take of friendship in these warm and funny stories set in the desert. Snake is elegant and calm, and a little self-centred; Lizard is exuberant and irrepressible. In this beautifully illustrated book, the pair begin to see past their differences and become firm friends.

Young Adult Fiction

Salt

[Young Adult Fiction Category Winner]
Maurice Gee
Hari lives in Blood Burrow, deep in the ruined city of Belong, where he survives by courage and savagery. When his father, Tarl, is taken as a slave and sent to the mine known as Deep Salt, from where no worker ever returns, Hari vows to save him. Pearl is from the ruling families, known as Company, which has conquered and enslaved Hari's people.

The Sea-wreck Stranger

[Honour Award Winner]
Anna Mackenzie
Ness, Ty and their cousin Sophie live in a small island community: a community that has turned its back on the sea, and on its own past. When the arrival of a stranger forces all three to question the world they know - a world dominated by superstition, fear and loss - they each have a choice to make. With its strong cast of characters, this perceptive novel will hold you firmly in its grip.

Tomorrow All Will Be Beautiful

Brigid Lowry
This book is for the girl with the dodgy sense of humour; for the girl who likes sad songs and blue marbles, the one whose dog got run over by a car, and the one whose cat just had kittens. It's also for the girl who'd rather have a ferret. ..

The Transformation of Minna Hargreaves

Fleur Beale
Minna Hargreaves is finding life sweet. Her family may be dysfunctional, but at least she's got great friends and a gorgeous new boyfriend. Then her dad drops a bombshell: in one month's time the Hargreaves family is going to live on a tiny, windswept island in Cook Strait to film a reality TV show. There will be no phones, no TV, no internet, no social life for an entire year.

Zillah

Penelope Todd
A spellbinding, psychological thriller. Exquisite, astute, affecting, the novel brings the Watermark Trilogy to a rich conclusion. The last in the trilogy.