Donovan Bixley has two books in the finals of the 2022 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults. Photo / Supplied
Donovan Bixley has two books in the finals of the 2022 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults. Photo / Supplied
Taupō authors Donovan Bixley and Rebekah Lipp are finalists in the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults.
The awards celebrate the contribution authors and illustrators make towards national identity and cultural heritage.
Rebekah's book is How Do I Feel? A Dictionary of Emotions for Children. It was illustrated by Craig Phillips. The pair jointly own Wilding Books.
Donovan wrote and illustrated Draw Some Awesome, and illustrated Ki te Moe Aotearoa with text created by Darryn Joseph after reading Donovan's text for the English version The Great Kiwi Bedtime Book.
Ki te Moe Aotearoa is up for the Wright Family Foundation Te Kura Pounamu Award for books written entirely in te reo Māori, and Draw Some Awesome and How Do I Feel? A Dictionary of Emotions for Children are finalists for the Elsie Locke Award for Non-Fiction.
Donovan says Ki te Moi Aotearoa is an off-to-sleep book for parents to read to their little ones, with readers flying all around the country to say goodnight to different animals.
He says it is a thrill to be in the finals.
"One book at any stage is amazing but to have two books in one year is very exciting."
The 2021 publication date coincided with the birth of his first grandchild Fuu (meaning gentle breeze) Kambayashi.
"There are four adults to one child in our house, so she gets a lot of attention."
Donovan says Fuu loves books and is fascinated with the detail in illustrations.
Draw Some Awesome is full of tips and ideas for budding artists. For more than 20 years he toured schools to promote literacy and kids would always ask him the same questions: "How do you draw a dinosaur? How do you draw expressions and faces? Where do you get your ideas from?".
"Through a bit of trial and error I've learned how to simplify complex ideas, and this book is the culmination of all those years."
This year another "30 years in the dreaming" project comes to fruition, with the launch of a book for teenagers and adults about Leonardo da Vinci, A Portrait of Leonardo, at 5.30pm on June 9 at the Taupō Library.
Rebekah Lipp's book How Do I Feel? A Dictionary of Emotions for Children is in the finals for the 2022 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults. Photo / Supplied
Rebekah, 44, says her book contains important information for children that she didn't find out about until she was in her 20s undergoing mental health therapy at the Taylor Centre in Auckland.
It discusses 63 emotions in detail and covers 200 emotions in total. She says the book is unique because other children's books show an animal feeling sad but says kids don't necessarily relate.
"Naming the emotion you are feeling is so important. It's empowering. It's the first step to healing.
"A child may be feeling shame but it manifests as anger. A child may be exploding all the time and parents may find that what's underneath is anxiety."
Rebekah and illustrator Craig have been blown away by the public response since the book was published nearly a year ago. She says it has been bought by parents, teachers, therapists, counsellors and psychologists all over New Zealand and the world.
Many adults got in touch to say the book has helped them.
"One says she now knows the feeling she has is melancholy. An autistic man messaged to say he now understands what autism is."
There have been many requests for the book to be translated, especially into German, Spanish and Ukrainian, and Rebekah says this is quite a challenge when publisher Wildling Books is run by just two families, but the book will be translated into te reo Māori.
Rebekah dropped out of school because of unresolved mental health issues and to be nominated as a finalist is a thrill.
The 2022 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults attracted a record-breaking 199 entries, with 28 titles announced today and judging taking place in August.
