#365PictureBooks Hello 2015! Let's get ready to review!

Hellllooooo 2015!  It's a New Year and time to kick off my #365PictureBook review challenge.  I'm still a bit unsure about the best way to do my reviews, so they may be a bit stilted to start.  I'm sure by the end of the year they will have a lot more personality (mine supposedly!) and will surely be a lot easier to write.  

Please note that these are only MY opinions on the books I'm reviewing.  Many of you may not agree with my thoughts, but that's the great thing about being able to have our own opinions and ideas about things - we can make up our own minds :-)

I'm going to try and source these from all the new books I get through the Taradale Primary School library where I work.  It'll be interesting to see if I purchase 365 pictures books in a year!  This first batch are ones I processed in December.

I'm looking forward to sharing my journey through the next 365 days worth of picture books with you.  Happy reading :-)

#365PictureBooks 1. Kiwi Corkers: A Kiwi Christmas Carol by Chris Gurney, illustrated by Philip Webb

Gurney, P., & Webb, P. (2010). Kiwi Corkers: A Kiwi Christmas Carol. Auckland, New Zealand: Scholastic.

ISBN: 978775432555
Pages: 24
Age Level: Middle Childhood 7-12
Genre: Picture Storybook / NZ Fiction
Rating: 3 stars

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Kiwi Corkers: Great New Zealand Yarns are jazzed-up, Kiwi'ised versions of classic tales. 

Gurney's retelling of Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol is told in a cleverly worded humorous rhyme, although at times it is difficult to keep the rhythm up.  I would recommend reading it to yourself a couple of times before attempting to read aloud.

It is in keeping with Dickens original tale with Jerry D. Miser depicted as a complete scrooge, and being visited by the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and future.  'Bah Humbug' has been exchanged for 'Codswallop', a saying very familiar to many kiwi parents I daresay.

Webb's illustrations, using scanned pencil line and Photoshop, add beautifully to the Gurney's retelling, and the use of bright bold artwork clearly matches the text on each page.  I love that his ghost of Christmas Past is a Maori warrior, and the expressions on Jerry's face are definitely that of a grumpy old man.  Each image has got many kiwi-isms to spot, from an opossum to the pohutokawa flower, the buzzy bee toy to the pavlova.

It is a great addition to your Christmas collection.  Kids will enjoy the humorous rhyme and illustrations, while parents will enjoy the trip down memory lane and spotting all the kiwi'isms they remember.  Even though it is a picture storybook I truly believe that older children will enjoy it more than the younger ones, hence I classified it as a Middle Childhood read.

I got my copy of Kiwi Corkers: A Kiwi Christmas Carol from the Taradale Primary School library where I work. 

You can find a copy at Napier Libraries.

Donovan Bixley: Illustrator / Author extraordinaire!

OMG! Donovan Bixley is the most awesome illustrator around.  

I recently read Monkey Boy (which I will be reviewing later!), written and illustrated by Bixley, and began to wonder just what he had illustrated previously. 

Low and behold, I have unintentionally read quite a few of the books he has illustrated - many of which are in the TPS library where I am the librarian.  (p.s. School librarian is the most awesome job around!!!) 

He has illustrated books by (to name a few):
Margaret Mahy
Kyle Mewburn
Brian Falkner
Yvonne Morrison (whom I worked with at Onekawa Primary - she is a great school teacher, a 'kool' author, and a fantastic dance instructor!)
Barry Crump
Marc Ellis & Charlie Haddrell
Lucy Davey

Some of the books he has worked on (also only to name a few) are:
Monkey Boy
The Three Bears: Sort Of
The Weather Machine
Dashing Dog
The Looky Book
Dinosaur Rescue series
Northwood
Mr. Tanglewood and the Pungapeople
... (like and EVEREADY battery, the list just keeps going on and on and on .... Yay!)

I will most certainly be re-reading our selection of his books when I get back to school and savoring his artistic talent.  I'm also going to try and get my hands on some of the books he wrote (I already have the wickedly amazing Monkey Boy).   

For more information check out Donovan Bixley's official website, or jump onto the Booknotes Unbound - Writers page and read his article.

Quotable Quotes - Anthony Browne

I love this quote from Anthony Browne, made during his inauguration as the sixth Children's Laureate in 2009.

"Picturebooks are for everybody at every age, not books to leave behind as we grow older.  The best ones leave a tantalising gap between the pictures and the words, a gap that is filled by the reader's imagination adding so much to the excitement of reading a book."    Anthony Browne

Follow this link to find out more about more about the Waterstones Children's Laureates.

My Cat Likes to Hide in Boxes by Eve Sutton, illustrated by Lynley Dodd

Sutton, E., & Dodd, L. (1978). My Cat Likes to Hide in Boxes. London, UK: Picture Puffin.

ISBN: 9780140502428
Pages: 32
Age Level: Early Childhood 0-6
Genre: Picture Storybook / NZ Fiction
Rating: 5 stars

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‘Cats from many different countries may like to do all kinds of strange and exotic things, but my cat, an ordinary round-the-house cat, likes to hide in boxes’.

With simple rhymes and bright colourful illustrations, My Cat Likes to Hide in Boxes is an entertaining read for young children.  The rhymes are repeated with a new line being added to the start each time (much like The Twelve Days of Christmas) enabling children to quickly pick up on the repetition and ‘read along’ to the story. 

Lynley Dodd, a well-known New Zealand author and illustrator, depicts each cat in a soft pallet set in a bold and bright background.  The simple illustrations relate directly to the new rhyme and amusingly show each new cat in the traditional dress of their country.  The common refrain, ‘But MY cat likes to hide in boxes’, is accompanied by humorous illustrations of the cat hiding in a variety of different boxes.

My Cat Likes to Hide in Boxes is in the genre of a Picture Storybook, in that it is 32 pages long, and both the text and the illustrations tell the story.  Cat lovers and young children will love this book for the silly rhymes and the funny pictures.

English born, and moving to New Zealand in 1949, this is Eve Sutton’s only picture book, originally published in 1973, which she co-wrote with her cousin.

I got my copy of My Cat Likes to Hide in Boxes from my bookshelf. 

Check out other reviews of 'My Cat Likes to Hide in Boxes' on Goodreads.

The Rig by Joe Ducie

Ducie, J. (2013). The Rig. London, UK: Hot Key Books.

ISBN: 9781471402197
Pages: 368
Age Level: YA 12-18
Genre: Sci-Fantasy / Dystopia / Mystery / Thriller
Rating: 4 stars

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The Rig is an old oil rig, hundreds of miles from nowhere in the Arctic Ocean, which has been converted into a maximum security juvenile prison for the worst of the worst.  Surrounded by sharks and monitored around the clock, escape is impossible.

15 year-old Will Drake is a bit of an escape artist and loves a challenge.  He has escaped from every prison he has been put into.  There is no-where he can’t escape from, and he will stop at nothing to prove the warden wrong when he is transported onto the Rig.  However, not everything on the Rig is as it seems, from the reason Will has been incarcerated, to the use of the prison and how some inmates are different from the others – stronger and more aggressive!    

The Rig is a young adult, prison break story … but it’s really so much more than that.  It is science fiction, fantasy, thriller, adventure, and dystopia all rolled into one.  If you can suspend your disbelief about the futuristic vibe and harshness of the setting of this novel, which most young adults can do, then the plot and setting of this novel is realistic and believable.  It will make you question yourself, and humanity, and ask “What if?”  There are so many elements in this novel that make it a great young adult read.  


I got my copy of The Rig from my bookshelf. 

Check out other reviews of 'The Rig' on Goodreads.

Infinity Drake Bk1 The sons of Scarlatti by John McNally

McNally, J. (2014). Infinity Drake: The sons of Scarlatti. London, UK: HarperCollins. [Science Fiction]

ISBN: 9780007521593
Pages: 400
Age Level: Middle Childhood 7-12
Genre: Science-Fiction
Rating: 5 stars

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This is the first novel in an exciting new science-fiction series for readers age 9 and up.  Infinity Drake, Finn for short, is going off on holiday with his crazy mad-scientist uncle Al (mad in the ‘always coming up with amazing creations’ way, not in the ‘evil genius’ way).  Their holiday plans come unstuck when a lethal, genetically modified wasp, is released in the south east of England and Al is summoned to help the government.  A military team (Apache helicopter, personnel and gear) is going to be miniaturised to track and kill the wasp before its eggs hatch and they go on a killing spree.  The operation is sabotaged and Finn ends up shoved into the food supply container and shrunk to 9mm along with the military team.

The scientific fact and advanced technologies that this novel is based around, the action packed military scenes and the humour make for an exciting read that boys will be drawn to.  The character development and realistic settings make for an entirely believable read, and the elements of good versus evil is an age-old recipe that works time and again.  

 This is a fast-paced, edge-of-your-seat read.  It involves nano technology, crazy scientists (both kinds), military manoeuvres, teenagers who can out-smart the bad guys, lots of action and laughs, and one bad-ass grandmother that can scare anyone straight!  It is a fantastic and exciting start to a new series with a hero who is only 9mm tall. 

I got my copy of Infinity Drake: The Sons of Scarlatti from my bookshelf.

Check out other reviews of 'Infinity Drake: The sons of Scarlatti' on Goodreads.