Blog Archives

Doors and mirrors, Alex Mitcalfe Wilson

Posted on August 26, 2019 by NZ Books

The Chosen One Joy H Davidson DHD Publishing, $27.00, ISBN 9780473448301 Harsu and the Werestoat Barbara Else Gecko Press, $35.00, ISBN 9781776572199 The World of Greek Mythology Ben Spies Spies Publishing, $20.00, ISBN 9780473455866 Fantasy has always mattered to me.…

Tagged with: Alex Mitcalfe Wilson, Barbara Else, Ben Spies, DHD Publishing, Gecko Press, Issue 127, Joy H Davidson, Spies Publishing, Spring 2019
Posted in Children, Fiction, History, Literature, Non-fiction, Review

A child’s-eye view, Anna Mackenzie

Posted on December 3, 2018 by NZ Books

The Mapmakers’ Race Eirlys Hunter Gecko Press, $25.00, ISBN 9781776572038 Time Twins Arne Norlin and Sally Astridge Submarine, $25.00, ISBN 9780473406325 Finding David Hill Puffin, $20.00, ISBN 9780143772392 The bonds of family and place, seen from an appropriately youthful viewpoint,…

Tagged with: Anna Mackenzie, Arne Norlin, David Hill, Eirlys Hunter, Gecko Press, Issue 124, Puffin, Sally Astridge, Submarine, Summer 2018
Posted in Children, Literature, Review

Quality assured, Guy Somerset

Posted on March 8, 2017 by NZ Books

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…

Tagged with: Autumn 2017, Gecko Press, Guy Somerset, Issue 117, Kate De Goldi, Susan Paris
Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review

Drawing pictures in the mind, Barbara Else

Posted on August 31, 2016 by NZ Books

Coming Home to Roost Mary-Anne Scott Longacre Press, $20.00, ISBN 9781775538592 The Road to Ratenburg Joy Cowley Gecko Press, $20.00, ISBN 9781776570751 Twice now I’ve been a marker at a regional Lit Quiz where teams of top intermediate age readers…

Tagged with: Barbara Else, Gecko Press, Issue 115, Joy Cowley, Longacre Press, Mary-Anne Scott, Spring 2016
Posted in Children, Literature, Review

Glory or gory? Caitlin Walker

Posted on August 31, 2016 by NZ Books

The Bakehouse Joy Cowley Gecko Press, $20.00, ISBN 9781776570072 Viewed from a distance of seventy-plus years, 1943 was history soup, everything mixed up, and it was difficult to separate reality from what he had read or been told. One event,…

Tagged with: Caitlin Walker, Gecko Press, Issue 115, Joy Cowley, Spring 2016
Posted in Literature, Review, YA Reviewers, Young adults

Foreign countries, Kathryn Walls

Posted on March 13, 2016 by NZ Books

The Bakehouse Joy Cowley Gecko Press, $20.00, ISBN 978177650072 The Knot Impossible: A Tale of Fontania Barbara Else Gecko Press, $25.00, ISBN 978177650041 The Girl Who Rode the Wind Stacy Gregg HarperCollins, $25.00, ISBN 9780008124304 Joy Cowley’s The Bakehouse…

Tagged with: Autumn 2016, Barbara Else, Gecko Press, HarperCollins, Issue 113, Joy Cowley, Kathryn Walls, Stacy Gregg
Posted in Children, Fiction, Literature, Review

Reading, writing and arithmetic, Barbara Else

Posted on June 9, 2015 by NZ Books

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…

Tagged with: Barbara Else, Gavin Bishop, Gecko Press, Gregory O’Brien, Issue 110, Joy Cowley, Kate De Goldi, Longacre, Random House, Winter 2015
Posted in Children, Fiction, Literature, Review

Hurtling along, armed with a map, Eirlys Hunter

Posted on June 9, 2015 by NZ Books

Soup and Bread Nōnen Títi Nōnen Títi, $25.00, ISBN 9780994107732 The Pirates and the Nightmaker James Norcliffe Longacre, $20.00, ISBN 9781775537694 The Volume of Possible Endings: A Tale of Fontania Barbara Else Gecko Press, $25.00, ISBN 9781927271377 Two of these…

Tagged with: Barbara Else, Eirlys Hunter, Gecko Press, Issue 110, James Norcliffe, Longacre, Nōnen Títi, Winter 2015
Posted in Children, Fiction, Literature, Review

Happy birthday Gecko Press

Posted on June 9, 2015 by NZ Books

Publisher Julia Marshall reflects on a decade of readers and reading. Gecko Press is turning 10 this year. It is banal to say that in these 10 years there has been a lot of change (though of course it is…

Tagged with: Gecko Press, Issue 110, Julia Marshall, Winter 2015
Posted in Comment

Rhyming pleasures, Linda Burgess

Posted on May 30, 2014 by NZ Books

Over the Hill to Greytown Tania Atkinson (Viv Walker illus) Wai Art Press, $20.00, ISBN 9780473252526 Bruiser and the Big Snow Gavin Bishop Random House, $21.00, ISBN 9781775534860 Toucan Can Juliette MacIver and Sarah Davis Gecko Press, $20.00, ISBN 9781877467547…

Tagged with: Gavin Bishop, Gecko Press, Issue 106, Juliette MacIver, Linda Burgess, Random House, Sarah Davis, Tania Atkinson, Viv Walker, Wai Art Press, Winter 2014
Posted in Children, Literature, Review