Nova’s Missing Masterpiece by Brooke Graham, illus. Robin Tatlow-Lord. Pub. Exisle Publishing, Imprint EK Books, 2024.

This is a picture book about handling oneself when circumstances make you frustrated, you can’t regain calmness and you lose it. Toys out of the cot, temper tantrums and behaviour that is upsetting to everyone particularly your self.

Nova has created a masterpiece for her father’s birthday and misplaced it somewhere in her house. She rips the place apart trying to find it before her father gets home and completely loses it.

Meanwhile her dog Harley is taking it in his stride and when Nova loses it on the couch he lets out a howl.

Nova sees Harley’s reactions and copies him so that she assumes control and calms down. But will she find her masterpiece? Read it and find out.

Easy to read text with choice words but the illustrations make the story. Robin Tatlow-Lord captures the drama and provides a pictorial clue of what the masterpiece looks like for the reader to work out.

A classy piece of work for juniors and very useful in countering bad behaviour and loss of self control.

The Dragon Who lost His Spark by Megan Holden, Illus. Glen Zimmer. Pub. Insight Ink Publishing, 2024.

Sparky is a sad forlorn dragon as he leaves home with his suitcase because he has lost the ability to spark. A dragon without fire is no dragon at all.

At least that is what Sparky thinks of himself. He needs to regain confidence and on his journey he is going to get good advice from a number of creatures including a wise owl, a lion that is overcoming his fear of swimming and a bear who has made a lot of mistakes.

Read it and find out what happens.

Told in rhyming text with some challenging words like Affirmation, but nothing a newly confident reader cannot manage. Also a good read aloud for juniors.

Glen Zimmer’s illustrations are a delight with Sparky the dragon’s moods and feelings easily read.

Good start for a first book which is published on February 8th 2024.

Big Little Blue Bk2 Rockybottoms by Raymond McGrath. Pub. Scholastic, 2023

This easy to read graphic novel about self worth and being yourself is the second book in a series for junior and intermediate readers and is absolutely brilliant. The first part is reviewed elsewhere on this blog.

Big and little Blue are friends and penguins but they are different. In this 3 story book Big Blue likes to do absolutely nothing on a beautiful day and little Blue cannot understand that. He thinks doing nothing is easy and lazy while big Blue knows that it is good for his health. And it is, I like doing nothing too but not all day and Big Blue knows this too.

To emphasise this message little Blue meets a seal called Bubba Lubba who misses his mermaid girl friend and is waiting around in case she shows up. Bubba Lubba sings a sea shanty about his love and on prompting by little Blue decides to stop doing nothing and go find her.

When little Blue goes back to his mate Big Blue he has decided to do something and has finished doing nothing. Good stuff but people think doing nothing is easy. from experience it takes a lot of skill to do nothing.

Will have great appeal to reluctant readers.

Wot Knot You Got? Mophead’s Guide to life by Selina Tusitala Marsh. Pub. Auckland University Press, 2023.

This book is about questions asked of the author by essentially pacific island children aged between 7 years and 12 years in response to her first book Mophead: How your Difference makes a Difference.

The questions begin on the inside cover and they are heart felt – How do you create happiness? What would you do if someone doesn’t understand you? Does being difrent make you weard? How do I stop caring what other people think of me? Deep stuff.

Selina calls these problems Knots and uses art and drawings to get to the bottom of the problems and pick them apart. The knot is a knot in a girls hair which gets worse then the response “You’re not the only one with knots.

The book then becomes a work book for children to express their doubts and knots so that they can work through them. It gets the children to get to know themselves better, what they are good at what they need to work through with the aim of improving respect for themselves and others.

Very moving in places with one child asking how do I hug my dad?

Through art Selina gets the children to draw their problem, name it and write about it. A book for anyone in a dark place no matter what age, no matter what problem.

Highly recommended.

A Brain is Just a Brain by Joanna Milne Predo, Illus. Vera Hegedus-Gaspar. Pub. Joanna Milne Predo, www.vera.nz, printed www.lulu.com

This delightful picture book is not just for kids it is for the whole family.

Its about the brain and what it does for us. It is who and what we are but it often tells us things that are not true. It can tell us we are fat or ugly or dull and boring or sad and it can tell us we are happy and confident. It is never the same.

So how do we cope? Some of the advice given is to do something we like so that brain has something positive to do. “If your brain tells you something that is icky, tell it to shoosh and quit being picky“

Easy text with plenty of message and a good read-a-loud for junior children.

Water colour and ink illustrations by Vera Hegedus-Gaspar enhance the text and reflect the moods in the story perfectly. “A brain is just a Brain” and “thoughts are just thoughts“.

Great for self esteem and working out problems like depression and low self worth.

Girl on Fire by Alicia Keys, co writer Andrew Weiner, Illus Brittney Williams. Pub Harper Alley, imprint HarperCollins, 2022

A powerful graphic novel that looks at the lives of poor kids from the projects in an American city and how their lives and aspirations are affected by their situation. It will be popular with Maori and Pacifica students and .anybody who is a graphic reader from intermediate through to high school students and beyond.

Co written by pop singer Alicia Keys and based on a hit song of the same name, this novel looks at the lives of Lolo Wright, her brother James and her school mates. They live in a tough neighbourhood that is riven with drug dealers lead by a nasty man called Skin who controls everything.

When Lolo’s brother James is falsely accused of a crime he didn’t do, Lolo develops a characteristic she didn’t know she had and it is super powered in nature. At the same time a short boy named Runt who is also bullied and abused develops the same power.

Conflict results with a few surprises and ends in a satisfactory manner. Message is we all have the power within us to shape our own destiny no matter who we are.

Lots of friendship stuff particularly between girls and family stuff too. Great reading.

I read this book twice in a row without stopping. Firstly I looked only at the graphic images to see what they told me, then I read the written text. They complimented each other perfectly. Lots of tough ghetto talk and action images. This book will be popular.

The Tale of the Tiny Man by Barbro Lindgren Illus. Eva Erikson, Translated by Julia Marshall. Pub Gecko Press 2022.

This is a simply told story from Sweden about a tiny man who is very lonely because he has no friends. Although he is polite and courteous around people, raising his hat in greeting towards them, people don’t seem to like him.

He lacks self esteem and blames it on his ugly hat. He cries in bed at night but believes he is a kind man, and he is. He pins a note to a tree that says FRIEND WANTED and waits on his doorstep for an answer as 10 days go by and the first signs of winter appear.

Then a dog with a curved tail and wet nose comes to him and happiness abounds. He feeds the dog and they become friends, you can tell cos the dog leaks on his gate to mark out his territory. They have fun together and those that used to mistreat the old man change because of the dog.

The winter ends with spring and a young girl with a polka dot dress and a ribbon in her hair appears and the dog loves her. Is friendship exclusive? Will the dog take off with the girl?

Read it and see you will not regret it.

Easy to read text particularly good for juniors and primary students when read aloud.

The illustrations are a treat. The little man and the dog and girl are superbly drawn but do not drift into sentimentality. Brings about great opportunities to discuss self esteem and friendship.

The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna. Pub. Usborne Publishing 2021.

A young adult novel that will shock with its women hating violence and racism.

Deka is a 16 year old black girl living in a cold environment and largely scorned by the villagers around her. Her mother was also black but has died and her father raises her with an aloof manner. She does have friends and like her fellow 16 year olds awaits the ceremony, The Ritual of Purity, to see if she has purity. Purity means red blood in her veins not gold and all the girls are cut to reveal their status.

Deka fails and for that she goes through an ordeal in which she is killed and drained of blood 9 times but survives. She has extreme powers which she doesn’t know about.

The society she lives in have a god called Oyomo and their holy book is Infinite Wisdoms by which the people live. It is a book that keeps women down and makes them the playthings of men who lust after gold. Not pleasant but not unlike many religious groups on Earth.

Deka is saved by the Emperor of the land of Otera who wishes to put together an army of demon women to fight the Deathshrieks who are vicious monsters that threaten humans and dispose of them in most horrible fashion.

Deka is taken to the capital city Hemaira to a training site to develop her considerable talents and be groomed to fight the deathshrieks with other girls who are her sisterhood. You wonder while you are reading this novel ” why is Deka and her sisterhood fighting for such and evil society?” Well the answer is in the true nature of Deka and this you will discover as you read the book.

Deka is a good role model and the writing is expansive and catchy.

Read it and check out what happens but expect some gore and very cruel treatment. There will be a sequel in 2022.

Rosie the Rhinoceros by Jimmy Barnes, Illus. Matt Shanks. Pub. Angus & Robertson, 2021

When Rosie looks at her reflection in the mirror or in the water she sees a unicorn not a rhinoceros. Whats wrong with being a rhinoceros?

She believes her Pretty horn and dainty hooves are like those of a unicorn. She lives with a rhinoceros family who she finds “impressive but not magical like her’

Nonetheless in spite of her efforts all the other animals know she is a rhinoceros.

Rosie is very sociable and enjoys her day and especially loves the morning. After Mrs Lion and the elephants call her a rhinoceros Rosie gets her friends together to tell them she is a unicorn and shows them her pretty horn and delicate feet to prove it.

The animals all smile but will they accept her as a unicorn? read it and find out.

Great African scenes in the illustrations and a happy story about identity, difference and acceptance.

The author is none other than the rock singer Jimmy Barnes.

The Beatryce Prophecy by Kate DiCamillo, Illus. Sophie Blackall. Pub. Walker Books, 2021

This is story telling at it’s very best and if it were a fine wine it would be described as nectar of the Gods.

It is the story of a prophecy written in the Chronicles of Sorrowing that states “there will come a girl child who will unseat a king and bring about great change”. The prophecy has been ignored by the current king who rules his kingdom unwisely but he is aware of the prophecy and conducts a search of his kingdom to find the said girl.

When Beatryce is found by Brother Edik in the company of a goat called Answelica, he realises that this girl is the subject of the prophecy but she doesn’t know it. Her memory has gone but she does know her name is Beatryce

Brother Edik takes Beatryce, against the advice of the Abbot, into the monastary for protection and finds out she can read and write against the expressed wishes of the king. He cuts Beatryce’s hair off, dresses her as a monk, and urges her not to tell anyone of her literary skills and pretend to be mute.

A 12 year old boy Jack Cory, whose parents have been killed by a robber in the Dark Forest, comes into the story and befriends Beatryce when the Abbot slings her out of the monastary because he is scared of what the king will do.

A showdown with the king is inevitable but there is much adventure to go through first. You will have to read it to find out what happens.

Beautifully written in simple text and short chapters comprising six books within the story. All are beautifully illustrated by Sophie Blackall who capture all the characters perfectly especially the goat.

There is a strong message of knowing who we are and being true to yourself. Easily the best children’s novel for primary and Intermediate children, this year. Answelica the goat is a sensation.