Blog Archives

Quality assured, Guy Somerset

Annual Kate De Goldi and Susan Paris (eds) Gecko Press, $40.00, ISBN 9781776570775 Would it kill Wellington children’s publisher Gecko Press to once – just once! – say “Sod it, really, who can be bothered?” and bung out some bit

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Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review

“thethrillingalchemy”, Emma Martin

From the Cutting Room of Barney Kettle Kate De Goldi Longacre, $30.00, ISBN 9781775535768 Kate De Goldi’s writing for children and young adults has been acclaimed for its vibrancy and verisimilitude. De Goldi often takes the reader into psychologically complex

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Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review, Young adults

Reading, writing and arithmetic, Barbara Else

Speed of Light
Joy Cowley
Gecko Press, $20.00,
ISBN 9781877579936

Teddy One-Eye: The Autobiography of a Teddy Bear
Gavin Bishop
Random House, $35.00,
ISBN 9781775537274

The ACB with Honora Lee
Kate De Goldi (drawings by Gregory O’Brien)
Longacre, $25.00,
ISBN 9781869799915

Three stars of New Zealand literature, three award-winning books, three very different approaches and audiences: how is any reviewer to manage this daunting assignment?

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Posted in Children, Fiction, Literature, Review

Sweet and upbeat, Paula Morris

The 10pm Question Kate De Goldi Longacre Press, $29.99, ISBN 978977460203 “Every family has a secret,” says Alan Bennett, “and the secret is that it’s not like other families.” For Frankie Parsons, the clever, neurotic hero of Kate De Goldi’s

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Posted in Literature, Review, Young adults

Picture books, the cunning genre, Norman Bilbrough

Papa’s Island Melanie Drewery, illustrations Fifi Colston Reed, $16.99, ISBN 1869485947 Nobody’s Dog Jennifer Beck, illustrations Lindy Fisher Scholastic, $16.99, ISBN 1869437284 Haere – Farewell, Jack, Farewell Tim Tipene, illustrations Huhana Smith Huia, $16.99, ISBN 1869691040 Uncle Jack Kate De

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Posted in Children, Literature, Review

Pinning down the “again” factor, Linda Burgess

The Other Ark Lynley Dodd Mallinson Rendel, $27.95, ISBN 090878385X Taming the Sun: Four Maori Myths Gavin Bishop Random, $29.95, ISBN 1869416120 Koro’s Medicine Melanie Drewery, illustrations by Sabrina Malcolm Huia, $16.95, ISBN 1869691044 Clubs  Kate De Goldi, illustrations by

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Posted in Children, Literature, Review

Blaming Tolkien, Kate de Goldi

I’ve been reading children’s fantasy for 40 years. There are some gaps in my reading, and it’s true that if forced to choose between an unrelieved diet of fantasy or social realism, I’d go for the latter. It’s also true

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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

Adolescents and other animals, Kate De Goldi

Dog Breath and other stories Norman Bilbrough Mallinson Rendel, $15.95, ISBN 0 908783 30 2 Raindancer Vivienne Joseph Mallinson Rendel, $15.95, ISBN 0 908783 34 5 Go Horatio! Pat Quinn Scholastic, $11.95, ISBN 1 86943 404 8 Comes Naturally David

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Posted in Children, Literature, Review, Young adults

Out of the twilight, Harry Ricketts interviews Kate De Goldi

Interview   Harry Ricketts (HR): Did books mean a lot to you as a child? Kate De Goldi (K De G): They were my whole life really. I was a remarkably sedentary child. My mother’s favourite description of me was

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Posted in Children, Literature, Review
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