Karl's Reading List

Published by Hodder Moa Books/Hachette New Zealand Ltd: Auckland, New Zealand, 2010. I have previously talked about this author's version of  Old MacDonald's Farm  in the  first group of picture book reviews.   The Wheels on the Bus  does a similar thing to that book, taking the titular children's song and making it far more 'Kiwiana.' This one goes the anthropomorphic route, with the bus being driven by a Kiwi and picking up iconic New Zealand creatures, each from iconic New Zealand landscapes. Along with the usual verses, we also get a few like  "The lambs on the bus go baa baa baa"  and  "The passengers on the bus go bumpity-bump..."  which are a little more specific to the page. One page seems to have a cameo by the animal characters from  Old MacDonald's Farm,  which makes sense since the bus from this book is visible in the barn in that book. Another 'hidden' aspect is a little bit of Maori mythology: there are faces on the th...

Published by Little Friends Publishing Ltd: New Plymouth, New Zealand, 2007 (2004). A rhyming story set on a New Zealand farm,  Perky the Pukeko  tells the story of Perky, raised from an egg put under a hen, and his adventures around the farmyard, before he finally makes his way to a nearby  "pest-infested drain"  where he finds  "a place where he belongs/ with other pukekos."  It's cute, with basic yet expressive drawings, and a few humorous touches - when Perky snaps a shoelace left at the door, for example, the farmer literally boards up the front door and adds a sign with a 'no pukekos' image. Another image has the farmer racing frantically to the barn, throwing an open can of paint behind him in his haste. It feels very much like the story of  Perky the Pukeko  is based on a real-life animal, with possibly a few story embellishments, and Ezekiel seems to appreciate the story.  Karl's List My Cat Likes to Hide in Boxes ;  Do Not Lick...

Published by Beckett Publishing: Auckland, NZ, 1985. First published 1965. I found this at the ReStore in Tahunanui yesterday after work. I had the evening free and got a long way through it, then finished the book this afternoon. So, a fairly easy read, and not one I've ever read before. Dinny Virtue is a rubbish collector, not only doing the job of a rubbish collector but also collecting a large percentage of the 'rubbish' on his property, in case it ever comes in handy. He and his friend 'Watcher' enjoy their job, particularly the "perks" (aka, the good quality rubbish, and what they can sell it for), but are otherwise fairly unmotivated in life. Dinny's world is upended when his eighteen-year-old daughter, Leila, turns up. Dinny hasn't seen her in years, and is resistant to her arrival. Crump's humour shines as Dinny tries half-heartedly to make Leila leave, while gradually growing to respect and appreciate her. Of course, Leila is soon a v...

Published by Ferguson Publishing: Nelson, New Zealand, 2024. Once a month, the Nelson Ministers Fraternal meets on a Tuesday morning. I try to attend as often as I can. Last time, another minister had brought this book along with them, and was offering it around for someone to read. I jumped at the chance, especially when I realised it kinda fitted the brief for 'Black History' in my Reading Challenge this year.  I mean, it's about the history of an African man! Neither writer is a professional author - Ross Ferguson is actually a local dentist and retired minister - and that lack of professionalism does show at times - there are random quotation marks at times; some sentences are incomplete; the authorial voice changes from Ross to Custodio and back without warning or reason - and yet the story is an interesting one, if (sadly) similar to others you may have read. Custodio was born in Angola, grew up during a civil war in the country, had both parents die when he was young...

Published by Golden Press: Auckland, Christchurch, Sydney, 1975. First published 1845. This abridged edition (by Joan Stevens) first published 1955. This book is part of the New Zealand Classics series, which I have several of. It also has the distinction of forming the basis for a recent historical novel, Jerningham, which creates a fictionalised version of the author's life.  As the title suggests, Adventure in New Zealand tells the story of Edward Jerningham Wakefield's adventures in New Zealand. Jerningham was the son of Edward Gibbon Wakefield, and nephew to both William Wakefield and Arthur Wakefield, the former of whom was one of the founders of Wellington, and the latter of whom was notably killed during the Wairau Affray.  All of the Wakefields were involved in the New Zealand Company, an organisation that today is viewed with much suspicion. Jerningham, of course, paints a much rosier picture of the NZ Company's dealings, putting any fault over land-sale controver...

Published by Cape Catley Ltd: Whatamongo Bay, Queen Charlotte Sound, 1991. When I was in primary school, I remember reading Uncle Trev stories; I guess there was a book of them in the school library. I have an Uncle Trev of my own, who is also a bit of a storyteller, so this book must have struck a chord with me. Having found this copy at a book sale somewhere, I began reading it quite some time ago with Elise. Then, I 'stole' it away to school, where I used chapters of it to help craft a new Level 1 (Year 11) English course that was focussing on Kiwi identity. For the rest of this year it has been sitting on my desk at work, so when I packed up for the year, I brought it home and finished it off myself. The set-up of Uncle Trev is very simple: a nameless young narrator, living in the 1930s or 40s, often sick at home, is regaled by the tall tales of his Uncle Trev. Uncle Trev will have some farfetched idea that will make farming life easier, or some farfetched adventure involvi...

Published by Huia Publishers: Wellington, Aotearoa, NZ, 2023 (2021). This is the second book I've read by this author, and - I think - the second book by this author, too! The first book, Flight of the Fantail , was very weird, and in my review I mentioned that I was still processing whether I liked it or not. Falling into Rarohenga is somewhat similar in that way. We follow twin siblings, Tui and Kae, who live with their mother after their no-hoper father left. Tui is the academic, Kae is the musician slacker, and both have that semi-antagonistic-but-secretly-looking-out-for-one-another thing that many siblings do, both in fiction and real life. The twins arrive home from a bad day at school (Tui loses her prefect status and Kae is suspended) to find that their mother has gone missing, kidnapped by their father and taken into Rarohenga - the Māori Underworld. Tui and Kae then also end up on Rarohenga, and must try to rescue their mother while resisting the urge to eat anything fro...

Published by Mallinson Rendel Publishers Ltd: Wellington, NZ, 2000 (1996).  Omnibus edition containing stories first published 1983, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1989, 1991.  Lynley Dodd stories are very cute and a huge part of any New Zealander's childhood - at least, I remember them from mine. The chance to now introduce them to Ezekiel is sweet, although at the age he is, we need to keep the pages at arms length to avoid unnecessary 'rippage.' This omnibus edition contains six stories, each giving a sense of the general Hairy Maclary vibes: detailed and subtly kiwi illustrations, good poetical story-telling with some good use of alliterative or onomatopoeic elements, an impressive vocabulary for a children's book (eg. bumptious, bustling, cacophony, caterwaul...) and a light touch of humour. The stories are easy to read for little kids with short attention spans, but also interesting enough that slightly older kids would appreciate them as well. The six stories in this volume a...

Published by Penguin Books/Penguin Random House New Zealand: New Zealand, 2024. This is kind of an odd book, with a bit more language in it than I would usually read. It is, however, also quite quirky in one particular way. The book, written by husband and wife duo Gareth and Louise, follow a married couple who run a bookshop in Havelock North. The couple previously used to be detectives in England, and over the course of the book, get embroiled in a mystery in New Zealand. The name of the couple: Garth and Eloise. If you think the names of the main characters bear a striking resemblance to the names of the authors, you should also note that Gareth and Louise also run a bookshop in Havelock North, and also have a background as detectives in England, although it remains to be determined whether Gareth and Louise have also helped solve mysteries in New Zealand! Garth and Eloise also, like Gareth and Louise, have a large rescue dog that they love, and have a number of eccentric employees ...

It's been a while since I've acknowledged Ezekiel, so here is another list of picture-books we are reading to him, most of which he is enjoying quite a bit. Now that he is beginning to 'interact' with things a bit more (he's almost a year old!!!), you will notice that a lot of these books have a common element... Karl's List: Edwina, the Dinosaur Who Didn't Know She Was Extinct - Mo Willems. Published by Hyperion Books for Children: New York, NY, 2006. This one is almost a cheat. I have known about this book since it was first published, and love its humour, so recently purchased a copy just so I could read it to Ezekiel and put it on this list. I've only read it to him once so far, and probably won't read it to him much until he's a little older, but I like it, and so here it is! The basic story of Edwina, the Dinosaur Who Didn't Know She Was Extinct is that Edwina is (surprise) a dinosaur who doesn't know she is extinct. She is friends ...

Published by Huia Publishers: Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand, 2022 (2021). Niho Taniwha is a book written for teachers, looking at Māori learning and how teachers can support (particularly) Māori students to greater success academically. The author brings a lot of her own understanding (she is Māori herself, and has had her children go through the schooling system), as well as quoting a number of studies to support her claims - including numerous studies that she herself has taken part in (she has a teaching background and  a doctorate). It is a very interesting book and is also one that my Head of Department at Nayland has used quite a bit, so elements of it are quite familiar to me. There are aspects of the book that might be controversial to some people, because of particular buzz-words or phrases which can, admittedly at times, be used to attack certain cultures or understandings. In particular, phrases like 'white privilege' or 'historical trauma' may cause some ...

Published by Puffin Books/Penguin Books (NZ) Ltd: Auckland, NZ, 1988 (1986). An easy story to read, The Keeper is set in a post-apocalyptic New Zealand, where a small group of villagers live on the shores of the 'Big Lake', which is later explicitly identified as Taupo. Within the village, Michael (our main character) is one of the few people - and the youngest - who can still read, and is called a 'Keeper' from the way he can 'keep' the information found within books. Michael narrates the story to us in the form of a journal he is keeping. An older 'keeper' named Charles also adds notes in a few places, expanding on the storylines that Michael remains unaware of. The Keeper is fairly typical for this type of book; there are groups of survivors, some 'outsiders' who may at times be antagonist but also may be misunderstood, there are challenges to face (Michael and his friends must help hunt down a rogue tiger, descended from those released from z...

As I said in my review of Peter Rabbit's Storytime Collection , I am wanting to find a way to acknowledge the books I read to Ezekiel without adding individual picture books to my reading list - I feel that would dilute it a bit much. So in this post, I've decided to look at a group of picture books all together. I've picked five picture books that I like (with a notable and noteworthy exception), and also asked Elise for five picture books she is  enjoying reading to Ezekiel. It's interesting (and helpful for this list) that our lists haven't overlapped at all this time around. So, here are ten picture books (plus one bonus 'book') that Ezekiel has been exposed to in the first 7ish months of his life: Karl's List Bunnies on the Bus - Philip Ardagh and (illustrator) Ben Mantle. Published by Walker Books Ltd: London, 2020 (2019). This is one of my favourites among our current picture books. A group of bunnies hijack a bus and hurtle through the town on th...

Published by Bridget Williams Books Ltd: Wellington, NZ, 2017. This book is the life story of Tuai, a now-obscure Māori chief who lived in the era of early European missionary work in New Zealand. As a young man Tuai, along with another young Māori named Tītere, travelled to England, living with missionaries in both London and the district of Madeley and learning much about European culture and beliefs (he often wore European clothing), before returning home and acting as a go-between for his tribe in their dealings with Pakeha. Tuai's ability to speak English made him quite an important and well-known figure in his day, with his death even announced in some English newspapers. Not a lot is known directly about Tuai; what he did is now mostly determined through reading European letters that happen to mention him in passages. The fact that the authors have managed to reconstruct his life from these is quite impressive, although in order to 'pad out' his life to full book len...

Published by Oati: New Zealand, 2017. This is a hard book to categorise. It begins with the author sharing a prophetic dream from his wife, in which there was a giant chicken standing by a tree, and then a voice saying 'Huia, Come Home.' The dreamer - an American by birth - didn't even know what a huia was when she had the dream, and it took some time for the couple to interpret it. The book then moves to a history of Christianity in New Zealand from the perspective of a Maori Christian, including some mini-biographies of not-always-well-known individuals, such as Piripi Taumata-a-Kura and Wiremu Tamihana. The difference between Christianity in this country pre- and post-Treaty is highlighted. Then, the author moves into a challenge for Christians in Aotearoa to decolonialize our faith and briefly exploring some ways in which a Māori worldview sits closer to the Hebrew worldview of the Old Testament than our Western worldview does. This is thought-provoking, challenging (in...

Published by Redhook Books/Orbit/Hachette Book Group: New York, NY, 2020 (2019). This is one of those books that caught my eye on a library shelf, and I got out with very little knowledge apart from judging it's cover. It is also one of those books that turned out to be very enjoyable. Charley Sutherland is a lecturer at Prince Albert University (a riff on Victoria University) in Wellington, New Zealand, and has the unusual ability to 'summon' characters to life from books he is reading. He has been able to do this since at least the age of four, when his mother found him playing with the Cat in the Hat, and demanded that he put it back. Charley's brother Rob (the main point-of-view character in the novel) is a bit embarrassed by Charley's 'weirdness' and wants to keep it a secret, including from his long-term girlfriend Lydia. This becomes more difficult as strange events start to escalate, including a Uriah Heep becoming an intern at Rob's law firm, an...