Blog Archives

History to mystery, Barbara Murison

Juggling with Mandarins V M Jones HarperCollins, $16.99, ISBN 1869504623 The Serpents of Arakesh V M Jones HarperCollins, $14.99, ISBN 1869504771 My Story – Journey to Tangiwai David Hill Scholastic New Zealand, $15.95, ISBN 1869434994 Aunt Effie’s Ark Jack Lasenby Longacre Press, $16.95, ISBN 1877135844 Evil

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Posted in Children, Fiction, Literature, Review, Young adults

Not in Wonderland now, Rosemary Lovell-Smith

Harry Wakatipu Comes the Mong Jack Lasenby Puffin Books, $15.95, ISBN 014331808X No Safe Harbour David Hill Mallinson Rendel, $16.95, ISBN 0908783760 Boy Next Door Penelope Todd Longacre Press, $16.95, ISBN 1877135763 Buddy V M Jones HarperCollins, $16.99, ISBN 1869504313

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Posted in Children, Fiction, Literature, Review, Young adults

One of Alf’s, Jack Lasenby

Somebodies and Nobodies Brian Turner Vintage, $34.95 ISBN 1869415078 Few autobiographies return us to scrutinising our own lives. I’ve just had – suffered – that experience reading Brian Turner’s Somebodies and Nobodies. It covers his first 25 years, from birth

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Posted in Autobiography, Non-fiction, Review

The parent problem, Joan de Hamel

Recycled Sandy McKay Longacre Press, $14.95, ISBN 1887135496 My Dad the All Black Sandy McKay Longacre Press, $14.95, ISBN 1887135690 The Dare Club Vince Ford Longacre Press, $14.95, ISBN 1877135682 Stranded Jan Thorburn Mallinson Rendel, $17.95, ISBN 0908783671 Aunt Effie

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Posted in Children, Fiction, Literature, Review, Young adults

Some Content May Disturb, David Hill

Kalik Jack Lasenby Longacre, $14.95, ISBN 01877135593 Why should I have to review Lasenby? After all, the guy’s beaten me far too often in far too many Children’s Book Awards. I’ll review him because his Travellers quartet of Young Adult

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Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review, Young adults

The flip side of adventurousness, Judith Holloway

Closed, Stranger Kate De Goldi Penguin, $15.95, ISBN 0 14 130504 5 hanging on letting go Helen Beaglehole Mallinson Rendel, $14.95, ISBN 0 908783 47 7 The Shaman and the Droll Jack Lasenby Longacre, $14.95, ISBN 1 877135 32 1

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Posted in Literature, Review, Young adults

The archaeology of childhood, Jack Lasenby

Desert Shorts Norman Bilbrough Canterbury University Press, $24.95, ISBN 0 908812 81 7 The first paragraphs of Norman Bilbrough’s title story catch the moment when the boy-child’s uncritical admiration of the parent turns to youthful embarrassment – so like and

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Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review, Short stories

The good, the sad  and the reckless, Pat Quinn

Taur Jack Lasenby Longacre Press, $14.95, ISBN 1 877135 18 6 because he’s my brother Helen Beaglehole Mallinson Rendel, $16.95, ISBN 0 908783 31 0 At the Big Red Rooster William Taylor Longacre Press, $14.95, ISBN 0 877135 20 8

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Posted in Children, Literature

Only kidding, Julie Eberly

Hark William Taylor Scholastic, $11.95 ISBN 1 86943 397 1 Uncle Trev’s Teeth Jack Lasenby Cape Catley, $24.95 ISBN 0 90856166 0 Bad grammar and quickly dated vernacular are the most significant problems in William Taylor’s use of a first

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Posted in Children, Fiction, Literature, Review

Tall tales and truths from an underrated writer, Judith Holloway

Dead Man’s Head Jack Lasenby McIndoe, $18.95 There is a special category of books written about the world of children which are, on the whole, written for children to read (or to have read to them) but whose themes, originality

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Posted in Children, Literature, Young adults
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