Kids' Picks
PICTURE BOOKS
The Curious Ar-Chew – A Tale of a Very Strange Creature. Sarah Grundy, Illustrated by Ali Teo and John O’Reilly
Hedgehog catches a glimpse of a mysterious creature asleep in a tree. What can it be? Its feet look like those of a goose, but no, it has the ears of a rabbit. The local animals have a mystery on their hands! This beautifully illustrated book by a New Zealand author uses light and shade coupled with gentle colours, poetic rhythm and rhyming lines to build up to the eventual revelation of the mysterious ‘Ar-Chew’.
It’s My Egg (and you can’t have it!). Heather Hunt and Kennedy Warne
Father Kiwi finds himself protecting a very precious egg while Mother Kiwi goes off to feed. He soon realizes this is no simple task with a cat, a dog and stoat showing considerable interest in it. Vividly illustrated in forest blues, greens and browns, “It’s my egg” reveals the vulnerability of our native birds and shows how we can all help to protect them.
Note: Heather Hunt will be visiting Dunedin City Library on Monday 23rd April to read her books and talk about her amazing illustrations, as well as her work with Backyard Kiwi to protect our national bird. Check out the competitions page of our website for details of our Cool-as Kiwi Art Competition, judged by Heather Hunt.
FICTION 7-9
The Baby Firebird. Paula Harrison ; iIlustrated by Sophy Williams
The Baby Firebird is the third book in The Secret Rescuers chapter book series. Talia lives in a tropical rainforest in the Kingdom of Arramia. It is filled with magical creatures, including a flock of firebirds. When the firebirds lives are endangered by the evil Sir Fitzroy Talia decides to save them. Luckily she has a magical stone which allows her to communicate with the firebirds.
Crash! Nancy Krulik; illustrated by Louis Thomas
This is the first title in a very funny, nicely illustrated new series named The kid from Planet Z.
When Zeke Zander’s spaceship crashes on Earth he and his family need to fix the ship and return home. The family try pretending to be humans or Earth people but this is not easy when really they are aliens from another planet with antennae on their heads, the ability to become invisible and they have a talking cat!
FICTION 10+
Annual 2. A New Zealand Miscellany. Edited by Kate De Goldi & Susan Paris
Aimed at 9-13 year olds, this is an exciting feast of stories, poems, essays, interviews, comics, a recipe, a game, a song by Bic Runga, artworks and ideas for aspiring young writers, packed with 152 pages of new content written and created by some of New Zealand’s best writers and illustrators. Such a wonderful variety means there is something of interest for everyone!
The Discombobulated Life of Summer Rain. Julie Lamb.
During the week Summer Rain lives on a farm with her very frugal grandfather while her father is away at work. Summer is a feisty, very self sufficient character who is a little embarrassed by her weird family. She goes to a country school, loves to make people laugh and gets into some unusual situations! Humorous and with a distinct New Zealand flavour this entertaining story is a 2017 New Zealand Book Award finalist.