Poetry Box autumn reading series: Iris and Me by Philippa Werry

Iris and Me, Philippa Werry, The Cuba Press, 2023

Philippa Werry has written a verse novel inspired by the life of writer, Robin Hyde. Robin is the pen name of Iris Wilkinson, so it is fitting that, in a book that narrates a life, Philippa uses the name the writer was born with. Iris was born in South Africa in 1906, moved with her family to New Zealand when she was young, and died in England at the age of 33.

It is not often I endorse books, but I made an exception for this one. On the cover you will see my endorsement: “Breathtaking. Nuanced. Unforgettable.” After rereading and rethinking my way through the book’s layers, the words still stand – this is a remarkable and original book. It was the runner-up for the NZSA Laura Solomon Cuba Press Prize 2022. It depends upon research and imagination, and there are fascinating endnotes that include extracts from Robin’s own writing.

Philippa’s verse novel focuses on Robin’s travels in 1938 (I can’t stop thinking of her as Robin) to England by way of war-torn China. Robin wrote as a war correspondent and her time in China presented numerous challenges – including a period where everyone thought she was missing.The unfolding story includes memory jump cuts – to different times and experiences that build a vital portrait of the woman. We get to hear of Derek Challis, the child she had in secret and had to place in foster care, her painful knee condition which left her permanently disabled and in pain, the source of her pen name, her mental health struggles. More than anything, we are drawn close to Robin’s drive both to care for her beloved son and to write.

What makes this poignant book so original is the narrator. Any reviewer that spills the beans on the narrator’s identity is not worth their reviewing salt! You need to read the book yourself and follow the clues. I love the insight and the warmth, and the downright quirkiness of the narrating voice. Genius!

Philippa writes with a poet’s deft touch which is very fitting because poetry meant so much to Robin. Robin wrote novels and did journalistic work but poetry mattered to her enormously. I am a big fan of her collection, Houses by the Sea (1952, a posthumous publication). She also wrote a sequence of children’s poems as a Christmas present for Derek, tied them with a ribbons and popped them in his Christmas stocking. The Cuba Press, with the blessing of Derek, has published the poems in a collection entitled The Uppish Hen and Other Poems (2023, edited by Juanita Deely and illustrated by Dïne). Derek didn’t get to see the book before his death in 2021 but the book is dedicated to him. (my review here)

I find Philippa’s writing draws upon the poetic delights of repetition and rhythm, and is an aural joy. It is honey flowing, carefully making room for the engaging voice of the narrator and, at times, tough subject matter.

I also appreciate the underlying message that women can do anything: Robin paved the way for women in a world dominated by men. She was doing her utmost to care and earn a living for her son in his foster family, she travelled to places where women seldom travelled (for example, the front line of a war torn country). Robin refused to believe she couldn’t do certain things because she was a woman. She persisted in writing and getting published, even if men were in charge of making books and putting ideas and stories out into the world.

Iris and Me is a book to hold to your heart, to help you find your own courage and strength through adversity and epiphany, to fight for what is just and fair, to find ways to do what satisfies you. I would loved to have read this when I was a young girl finding my own voice and my own way in the world. Verse novel brilliance.

Philippa Werry is a Wellington writer of fiction, non-fiction, poetry and plays. Her books include award finalists Anzac Day, The Telegram and This Is Where I Stand.

Philippa Werry website

The Cuba Press page

The Uppish Hen and Other Poems page

Poetry Box autumn reading series: Kind Crocodile by Leo Timmers

Kind Crocodile, Leo Timmers, Gecko Press, 2023

Leo Timmers is a whizz illustrator and author. I adored Elephant Island (Gecko Press, 2022).

Kind Crocodi matches a simple and sweetly crafted storyline with simply and exquisitely rendered illustrations. Quirky is a word that comes to mind. Humane. Comforting. Humorous. Leo’s stories always draw upon what it is to be human, on what matters in this topsy-turvy, heart-churning world. Animals are the protagonists – in the great and enduring tradition of animals in children’s literature.

Kind Crocodile is exactly as you’d expect – a picture book about kindness, perfect in pitch for the younger child. Take one kind character and a parade of animals scared witless and you get a page turning treat!

My review is slender because I don’t want to spoil the reading effect for you. It is full of warmth and comfort and the joy of reading, and I do hope you get to experience it yourself. Yeah for Leo Timmers!

Leo Timmers was born in Belgium in 1970. Trained in graphic design, he illustrates for Belgian magazines and papers as well as illustrating picture books.

Gecko Press page

Poetry Box autumn reading series: Easy Peasy by Ky Garvey and Amy Calautti

Easy Peasy, Ky Garvey and illustrated by Amy Calautti, EK Books (Exisle Publishing) 2023

EK Books (Exisle Publishing) produce children’s books “with Heart in Issues that Matter”. And indeed they do. Stories are such an important form of entertainment and diversion, but they are also a way of passing messages of hope, resilience, strength. Children’s books are a celebration of the power of story and characters to make us laugh, mourn, ponder, feel comfort. I adore examples that tell a good story but also shine a light on what it is to be human in a higglety-pigglety world.

Easy Peasy, written by Ky Garvey and illustrated by Amy Calautti, is a book of family relationships, love, care and perseverance.

Ruby loves red. When her dad gives her a pair of red roller skates for her birthday she thinks they will be easy peasy to ride! But will they? What is it like when we try to do new things and the new things don’t exactly work as we imagined or planned. Hmm! This book nails the ups and downs of new things (excuse the pun!).

Ky’s language flows and frolics and is super FUN to read out loud. Will there be CRASH and BANG, WIBBLES and WOBBLES?

Amy’s illustrations are equally vibrant, funky and full of LIFE! I especially love the illustration of Ruby sitting on the couch wearing red glasses next to the book she was reading. I love the way books are making reading part of what we do as children and as adults. So important!

Three cheers for EK Books, with this excellent addition to their list. I had such FUN reading it, and loved the underlying themes. Bravo! Now to try something new!

Ky Garvey is a mother to two boys who are both diagnosed with Autistic Spectrum Disorder and ADHD. Through her experiences with her boys, she has been inspired to write fun and engaging stories that turn challenges into triumphs. Ky aims to share supportive, inclusive and empowering stories for children. Ky also writes and hosts the podcast Totally Lit! a monthly podcast celebrating reading, writing and creating literature. The podcast features amazing writers, illustrators and all types of creators of books and stories.

Amy Calautti loved to draw from a young age and often made up games based around drawing to entertain her younger brother and cousins. She now lives with her small tribe of humans who inspire her every day. Amy’s other books include Turning Cartwheels, Hector and his Highland Dancers, and Mr Ming & the Mooncake Dragon.

EK page

Poetry Box review: Miss Mary-Kate Martin’s Guide to Monsters by Karen Foxlee and Freda Chiu

Miss Mary-Kate Martin’s Guide to Monsters: The Wrath of the Woolington Wyrm
Karen Foxlee and Freda Chiu, Allen & Unwin, 2022

I am a big fan of Karen Foxlee and urge you to track down a copy of Lenny’s book of Everything and Dragon Skin. Loved them both. This week I was book shuffling, trying to find the right book to fit my mood, and nothing seemed to work until I fell upon Miss Mary-Kate Martin’s Guide to Monsters: The Wrath of the Woolington Wyrm. I devoured it in one glorious gulp – and now I can read the follow-up, Miss Mary-Kate Martin’s Guide to Monsters: The Trouble with the Two-Headed Hydra.

Mary-Kate is a slightly awkward misfit with a curiosity about the world, along with anxiety issues. She has certain things to do to help her feel less anxious (write things in her notebook, wear matched clothing, keep lucky things such as a handkerchief or special coins in a jar) and has certain things to avoid (sitting backwards on a train, saying something wrong things during small talk, beginnings and endings).

Mary-Kate’s mum is an archaeologist and always off on missions. Mary-Kate gets to stay with her beloved Granny but on this occasion she has to accompany her mum to a little village. A greedy landowner wants to build a huge new shopping centre. It means demolishing things.To the consternation of the local villagers, it means demolishing a heritage water well with its terrifying legend. Professor Martin is invited to check out old bones and find reasons why the well must not be demolished.

I loved Karen Foxlee’s book because it is beautifully written, the characters are well-developed and it is gripping to read. Mary-Kate is full of questions, courage, perseverance, daring, smartness, kindness, cunning. What a combination! She is one cool kid! It reminded me of Ernest Rutherford as a curious boy in Maria Gill’s brilliant book on the scientist. Maria’s book tracks Ernest’s life from boyhood to adulthood (Ernest Rutherford: Just an ordinary boy, Maria Gill, illustrated by Alistair Hughes, Upstart Press, 2023).

I also loved Freda Chiu’s quirky illustrations. I don’t think I have ever said this about illustrations before, but I loved the way she drew the heads and hair, and the shoes! Sublimely quirky!

Is there a monster? Does the heritage well get saved with its beloved legend? These questions and more kept me reading until the very last satisfying page! You will have to read the book yourself. I especially love the multi-dimensional characters and the cracking good plot. Brilliant.

Karen Foxlee is an Australian author who writes for both kids and young adults. She grew up in the Australian outback mining town Mount Isa and still frequently dreams she is walking barefoot along the dry Leichhardt River. Ophelia and the Marvellous Boy, Karen’s first novel for children, was published internationally to much acclaim while her second novel for younger readers, A Most Magical Girl, won the Readings Children’s Fiction Prize and was short-listed for the CBCA Awards. Her next book was the internationally successful Lenny’s Book of Everything, which won multiple awards including the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards, the Queensland Literary Awards, the Indies Book Award, was a CBCA Honour Book and was nominated for the Carnegie Medal. Her latest middle-grade novel, Dragon Skin, was a CBCA Honour Book, winner of the Aurealis Awards and was short-listed for the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards, the Indie Book Awards and the ABIA Awards.

Freda Chiu is an author and illustrator from Sydney, Australia. As well as illustrating children’s books, her work spans comics, editorial and retail graphics. Outside her art practice, Freda lectures in Illustration at the University of Technology Sydney. Her debut picture book, A Trip to the Hospital, was short-listed for the CBCA Award for New Illustrator and the IBBY Australia Ena Noël Awards

Allen & Unwin page

Poetry Box review: Maria Gill’s Ernest Rutherford: Just an ordinary boy

Ernest Rutherford: Just an ordinary boy, Maria Gill, illustrated by Alistair Hughes
Upstart Press, 2023

“Curiosity exists in us all”

The above quote is the epigraph to Ernest Rutherford: Just an ordinary boy. It is so very fitting as it is a key to the life of the scientist. Ernest grew up in Spring Grove (Brightwater, Nelson) in a family of fourteen. The book tracks the life of the scientist from boyhood to his Nobel Prize and the global acclaim. Maria Gill has produced a text that is clear, concise, fascinating, while Alistair Hughes‘ illustrations are exquisite (they remind me of watercolours). Maria and Alistair have collaborated on two other books about significant events in New Zealand: The King’s Medal and Ice Breaker!

I loved the fact Ernest’s teacher gave him a science book that inspired him to do things and to question. Maria’s book seems exactly the kind of book that will inspire another child to do and to question.

I especially love the essential “takeaways” of Ernest Rutherford, vital ideas that transform the book into a children’s work that matters! Here are some examples:

*To foster curiosity in a child is a very good thing – to be curious about the world we live in (visible and invisible), the world we have lived in, and the world we will live in. Out of learning comes curiosity – a lifelong practice to treasure and embody in my view.

*The story of Ernest underlines how important it is to try in the face of adversity or failure. If at first you don’t succeed, try again, as the saying goes! Ernest had to resit his scholarship exam to go to high school as his family could not afford to send him. Numerous examples of perseverance follow.

*Questions are important! Ernest was full of questions from an early age, and out of this love of questioning and persistent work came discovery.

Maria Gill is one of our national treasures when it comes to nonfiction children’s books. Ernest Rutherford: Just an ordinary boy is no exception. His unfolding life is inspiring. Importantly, it is good to spend time with the curious child as much as it is the curious adult, and to read examples of Ernest’s key experiments and discoveries. Maria places him alongside other notable scientists (Albert Einstein, Marie Curie, Isaac Newton), and offers a valuable timeline and glossary. This book is essential reading. I will leave you with an apt sentence from the book’s conclusion:

“Perseverance and curiosity can give you the greatest gift of all … knowledge.”

Upstart page

MARIA GILL is an author of over 60 books for children and teachers. She wrote the story about Ernest Rutherford while on a Christchurch Arts Centre Residency during the 2021 pandemic lockdown. Maria’s book Anzac Heroes won the New Zealand Book Awards for Children & Young Adults Non Fiction Award as well as the Supreme Book prize. In 2020 Storylines awarded Maria the Margaret Mahy Medal for services to children’s literature. She writes fulltime in a little seaside village north of Auckland. Maria’s website

ALISTAIR HUGHES has illustrated seven children’s books including The King’s Medal, Snapper: The Real Story, and Ice Breaker! An Epic Antarctic Adventure. He has also written, designed and illustrated a visual analysis of British genre films, and a children’s book called The Night Sky comes out later in the year. He worked for a major media organisation for almost two decades and now writes, illustrates and designs graphics for his own company; Shoreline Creative, based in Tasman’s Golden Bay.

Poetry Box review: Mama’s Chickens by Michelle Worthington & Nicky Johnston

Mama’s Chickens, Michelle Worthington and Nicky Johnston, EK (Exisle Publishing), 2023

Mama doesn’t like the idea of chickens, especially how they poop all over the show. She doesn’t even like eggs. But the reality is altogether different. She loves their bright gleamy feathers, the way they are good company, and she gives them all names. Chooky La la is her favourite because she reminds her of her busy and independent daughter.

The illustrations are fascinating hives of activity and mood! So much to absorb as they add a rich visual story to a very moving picture book. The chickens and the characters are so mood expressive. On one page, in a backyard scene, a child swings on a washing line next to some birds, a bike leans against a tree, Mama feeds veggie scraps to Chooky La la, and there are hens and trees and flowers everywhere. idyllic busyness.

Mama’s Chickens is a thought-provoking picture book because it is not just a chicken story it is a mama story. Mama is losing her memory through early-onset dementia. The chickens are of such comfort, and keep her company even if she forgets their names and what she was going to do next.

This book is a touching and important portrait of someone getting dementia – of how it affects the mother and how it affects those close to her. You get to see how a person with dementia might be forgetful yes, but also cranky, sad, frustrated, tired. It is hard for Mama and it is hard for family.

What this delightful and poignant book shows, is how in difficult circumstances love can be the vital connecting glue, love can hold the family together through all manner of challenges. The chickens make mama laugh and care, just as her family make her laugh and care. And Mama finds ways to laugh and and to care for and be with them.

Mama’s Chickens would be a perfect gift for any family that is learning to be with someone going through dementia. It is also an excellent book to read in every family and every classroom to open windows on an illness that affects so many families. I adored it. It is still resonating.

Michelle Worthington is an international award-winning author, screenwriter and businesswoman. Shortlisted twice for the Children’s Book Council of Australia’s picture book of the year, two-time winner of the International Book Award and finalist in the USA Best Book Awards, Michelle also received a Gellett Burgess Award and a Silver Moonbeam Award for her contribution to celebrating diversity in literature.

In 2021, Michelle was diagnosed with Progressive Nonfluent Aphasia (PNFA) which is a form of dementia. It affects her short-term memory and her ability to speak, read and write. Michelle’s personal experience has given her a passion for educating the public that dementia doesn’t just affect older people.

Nicky Johnston is an award winning children’s book author and illustrator. She has several bestselling titles published in Australia and overseas. Nicky’s illustration style is often described as whimsical, playful, narrative, emotive and colourful. She loves to work in watercolour, ink, pencils and pastel. As a primary teacher and acclaimed presenter, Nicky’s love of books sees her thoroughly enjoy taking illustrator workshops and visiting schools regularly. Nicky lives by the beach with her husband and four sons.

EK page

Poetry Box review: In or Out: A tale of cat versus dog! by Stacy Gregg and Sarah Jennings

In or Out: A tale of cat versus dog! Stacy Gregg and Sarah Jennings, HarperCollins, 2023

In or Out: A tale of cat versus dog! by Stacy Gregg and Sarah Jennings is such fun to read! Take one super-motivated dog and one super-on-the-move cat and you get storybook BRILLIANCE!

The dog is extremely good at finding things to do: painting, puzzling, building brick towers, model dinosaur playing. The cat is extremely good at finding doors and windows to enter or exit.

Stacy’s language nails the rhythm. This is picture book simplicity at its best – every word is the perfect pitch in the perfect place.

Sarah’s illustrations bring the text to life with sweet laugh-out loud humour. I love the dog pulling his hair (ears) out in frustration. My favourite page is the image of the dog reading a dog book in an arm chair with a bowl of tasty dog biscuits on the floor, a handily placed reading lamp, a comfy cushion and a cosy blanket in case they get cold. BUT! There is also the pesky cat at the window waiting to come in.

Ah, all pet owners will know that annoying feeling. Just when you get settled, your pet wants to be let in or let out or fed, and then again when you have resettled, it’s more in and more out and more wanting to be fed.

I love the way the story unfolds and how when the cat is now HAPPY the dog is now MAD! And I especially love the ending!

Stacey Gregg and Sarah Jennings are a genius author illustrator combination. I hope they have more books in the pipeline because this one is a little beauty. Bravissima!

Stacy Gregg began writing fictional novels about horses for children with Mystic and the Midnight Ride (2007), the first in her Pony Club Secrets series. Stacy has since written a number of books in the successful Pony Club Secrets and Pony Club Rivals series. She is a three-time winner of the Children’s Choice Junior Fiction category of the New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults for her novels: The Princess and the Foal (2014), The Island of Lost Horses (2015) and The Girl Who Rode the Wind (2016).

Sarah Jennings is an award winning children’s book illustrator based in London. At a very young age she discovered a love of drawing and has been scribbling away in a sketchbook ever since! She loves creating cute lively characters and combining digital and traditional techniques in her artwork. She has illustrated a wide variety of fiction, picture and non-fiction books including the best selling How Are You Feeling Today? series.

Harper Collins page

Poetry Box autumn reading series: Robin Hyde’s The Uppish Hen & other poems

The Uppish Hen & other poems, edited by Juanita Deely and illustrated by Dïne,
The Cuba Press, 2023

But Gretel’s house is built of cake and candy,
And when sun-shafts draw the bowstring of the rain
The loafing wood-pigeons have seen the glitter
Of Gretel’s barley-sugar windowpane.

from ‘Gretel’s House’

When I was researching Wild Honey: Reading NZ Women’s Poetry, I spent a lot of time in the Turnbull Library making all manner of wonderful discoveries. Spending time with the writings, letters, notebooks and manuscripts of poets from the past affected me on so many levels. I have written about many of my archival encounters in Wild Honey, but I left some for others to discover! I remember falling upon a scrapbook poet Robin Hyde had made for her son Derek, a book of animal stickers and animal stories penned by her. The stories lost steam but the animal stickers continued on for a number of pages – almost like a chance for Derek to imagine his own stories. I was very moved to hold this mother project.

To coincide with the release of Philippa Werry’s extraordinary verse novel, Iris and Me (I am reviewing it!), The Cuba Press have published The Uppish Hen & other poems, lovingly edited and introduced by Juanita Deely and illustrated by Dïne. Robin had gifted these children’s poems to Derek, tied in ribbon, in a Christmas stocking when he was young. Holding both the memory of the scrapbook and this published collection is so very poignant.

Poet and academic Michele Leggott worked diligently to bring Robin Hyde’s poetry and life to our attention. A thread that resonated so strongly, was the maternal thread, the signposts and yearnings to and for the son that Robin secretly gave birth to. Derek was cared for in foster families while Robin tried to make ends meet as a journalist.

The Uppish Hen, to which Derek gave his blessing before his death in 2021, was dedicated to him. All bar one of the poems are included with minor editorial changes. Derek was able to recite the poems across the course of his lifetime and I see them as a comfort bridge to his mother. These are poems that begged to be learned by heart, rich as they are with the comfort of rhyme. And we all love childhood rhythms and rhymes! I see them as a vital bridge between mother and son.

With its sumptuous colour, I easily picture myself as a young child lost in The Uppish Hen. Dïne’s exquisite illustrations demonstrate so beautifully how images can transform a book into something even more special. The visual “rhyme” produces comfort and provokes interest. There is both action and movement, and the characters are so appealing.

At times I am heading back in time, to the time of a poem’s making, as in a poem that features a spider capable of a stitching a hole in a torn stocking (those were the days!). There is also humour, epitomised in a poem about a snail:

Nobody ever talks to a snail, when sane —
Especially not in the rain
Especially not when the snail is crossing a street

from ‘The Purposeful Snail’

Here’s a taste of a poem begging to be read out loud:

I do want a puppy with raggedy paws
With scrabbledy toes to go hunting for rats,
And a bark of defiance for wicked black cats …
With a stump of a tail that he’d wag just for me …

from ‘To Santa Claus’

The Uppish Hen now has a special place on my shelves. There is the constant refrain of the moon and the stars, the wind, sheep, tigers, flowers. There is the underlay of Robin Hyde’s adult poetry, her life story, her drive to give Derek the best life she could. The Cuba Press have done an excellent production job. The collection demonstrates the word-rich aural delight you can find in children’s poetry, but it is also a prompt to lose yourself in the rewards of Robin’s adult poetry. Ah, the power of books to nourish us. Thank you.

Robin Hyde (1906–1939) is the pen-name of Iris Wilkinson, who grew up in Wellington and became one of New Zealand’s most significant writers of poetry, fiction and journalism. She did much to challenge the boundaries of women’s writing, and was one of the first woman war correspondents to go behind the lines of the Sino-Japanese War. She is the author of ten books of prose and poetry.

Dïne is a French illustrator and storyteller. She lives by Lake Wakatipu, where she illustrates books and poetry.

Juanita Deely is a writer living in the Wairarapa. She wrote and directed a film about Robin Hyde and Derek Challis called A Home in this World (2018).

The Cuba Press page

Poetry Box autumn reading series: ART is Everywhere by Ellie Chan and Liv Bargman

ART is Everywhere, Ellie Chan and Liv Bargman, Bonnier Books, 2022

I am immediately hooked on a book whose speaker and guide is an art-historian ostrich named Keith. “Art History” is such a big unwieldy “GRAND” term, but this glorious book shows you a cool ART road map that you can make your own.

Keith the Ostrich was motivated to write Art is Everywhere after seeing masses of visitors whizz though an art gallery and only stop at the famous paintings mentioned in the guidebook. I know the feeling! I was sitting in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence once, and was flabbergasted at the waves of tourists, with cameras held at arm’s length, taking photos of famous artworks, as they rushed from one room to the next. “Well I’ve done the Botticelli,” they’d exclaim.” I felt like tapping them on their shoulders (impossible when the shoulder is streaking past) and saying: “So what did you see in this work? What did it make you feel?” I love choosing a few works then sitting on the bench in front and getting lost in looking, feeling, thinking.

Keith makes it clear from the start that ART is EVERYWHERE and ART is ANYTHING. The meaning and effect of art on us is never set in concrete but changes over time and changes from individual to individual. Art can be made from anything from paint to stone, chalk to wool, metal to sand, fabric to pencil, ink to paper.

There will be things you can try along the way. For example, try drawing an animal with one line like a cave artist. Or try using different brush strokes in a painting. Try sitting somewhere you don’t normally sit and see what sparks an idea for a painting (or a poem!).

There will be ideas for you to navigate. Ideas on patterns, colour, brush strokes, gestures, symbols. What makes these ideas so alive is the way Liv Bargman’s heavenly illustrations bring them to fascinating life on the page. There are loads of little spectators looking feeling thinking as we too are looking feeling thinking. There are examples of art. Examples of doing art.

I adore the design of the book, its font, layout, colours. It is a treasury of visual detail.

If I were rich I would give a copy of this book to every child who is passionate about painting, drawing, making art. It is accessible, inspiring, warming. It is the perfect account response to why I LOVE ART!

Ellie Chan is a graduate of Courtauld Institute for Art and the University of Cambridge. She has years of experience with leading art workshops for children and a knack for distilling complex information into language that is easy to understand and entertaining to read.

Liv Bargman is illustrator originally from the Welsh borders. Now based in Shropshire, UK. She graduated from Falmouth University in Illustration, and has an MA Art & Science from Central St Martins. Anything to do with soil microbiota, piques her interest like earthworms, ants, and tiny microbes! Anything massive too, like neutron stars, and long words.

Allen and Unwin page

 

Poetry Box autumn reading series: Tiaki – A shout-out to Aotearoa’s lesser-known creatures by Jean Donaldson

Tiaki: A shout-out to Aotearoa’s lesser-known creatures, Jean Donaldson,
Potton & Burton, 2022

“Aotearoa has the highest proportion of endangered species in the world.”

I love the feel of this book in my hand: the size, shape, paper stock. I love the look of the book: the internal design (although slightly bigger font would be welcome for visually impaired), the striking cover, the digitally painted artwork. Most importantly, I love the idea of the book, its subject matter so perfectly flagged in the subtitle.

The book is pitched at intermediate school age and teenagers but I think it also has a place in every primary school classroom. I see this book as a significant springboard to think, talk, draw, write, comic strip, make poems, paper mache, to feel and fight for our endangered species. Not just the ones that roll of the tip of our tongues, such as the tuatara, Māui’s dolphin and the kea, but creatures far less familiar.

Jean Donaldson begins by listing our lost species on a double page spread. Turn the page and it opens out into a double double page spread. Each of the four pages is covered in black dots that represent a lost species. It is is so effective, pausing and grieving before moving into a celebration of species on the brink.

What makes the book special is the combination of fascinating text and eye-catching artwork. Jean is a design graduate and it shows. The artwork is digitally painted and stops you in your reading tracks. Each creature described in the text is a set of fascinations. I would love doing a poetry workshop using this book. Taking a creature and getting children to write it alive in a poem.

Some highlights: the moko kākāriki (Wellington green gecko) opens its mouth wide in a display of bright blue when it needs to defend itself. The ngutu pare (wrybill) is the only bird in the word with a bent beak. It uses it to fossick for food under river stones. The pekapeka-tou-roa (long-tailed bat) weighs about as much as a tablespoon of butter.

This book is a gift for all the young and younger readers of Aotearoa and I would like to see well-thumbed copies in every school library and on every child’s bookshelf. Congratulations Jean Donaldson and Potton & Burton: you have gifted us a treasure. Let’s keep drawing attention to our lesser known creatures at risk – in every way we can.