THE TRACTOR HAS A WOBBLY WHEEL
by Tim Saunders & Carla Martell (A&U, $22.99)
Warning: if you couldn’t stand the Wonky Donkey series you may find this a little too much in the same vein, but we like the veracity of Manawatū farmer and performance poet Tim Saunders’ tractor with its thumps, bumps, squeaks and leaks. Kids whose mums or dads have fixed bike punctures will love the image, by Auckland-based illustrator Carla Martell, that shows the tractor turned upside down for its wheel replacement. The seasoned illustrator and animator’s collab with Juliette McIver won Best Picture Book at 2023′s NZ Children’s Book Awards, perhaps because her animals manage to stay on the characterful, rather than clichéd, side of the cartoon divide.
MY PATH
by Jana Curll (Nosy Crow, $27.99)
Canadian west coast illustrator Jana Curll is another creative who manages to avoid the formulaic: her take on the classic journey begins at the child reader’s level, with her snail character emerging from a drain pipe just as the sun rises. Such a viewpoint allows her narrator to explore all the silvery trails a real snail might take with or without company, up, down, sideways, in circles (around a tree trunk) – even over a cliff. Taking a rest is important, as is asking for help. Philosophically, she decides “nowhere is somewhere too” – and that the sun will rise again …
THE HUMONGOUS HUMDINGLE FAMILY AND THE TINY HOUSE
by Michelle Wilson & PJ Reece (Exisle, $29.99)
Tiny houses are the thing, but what if your family includes three generations? With only one couch, one car, one television, one table, one bicycle (albeit a four-seater), and perhaps worst of all one toilet, this whānau is squeezed, even at bedtime as there’s only one bedroom, too. One day – as if in answer to Mama’s wish – a humongous house drops from the sky … and they each discover the downside of what they wish for. Squashy and noisy their tiny home may be, but it’s never boring.
TAILS OF TANGLEBY GARDENS 3
by Sue Heazlewood & Jane Smith (Auckram, $49.99)
A Beatrix Potter homage or a recipe book for kids? Actually, it’s a bit of both. The Ohoka, Canterbury, author’s Tails of Tangleby Gardens 2 won the Oceania Children’s Book prize at the 2023 Gourmand World Cookbook Awards (one of her adult cookbooks won another category) and she and her Tasman Bay-based illustrator are already working on volumes 4 and 5, so there are loyal fans out there. Kid-friendly recipes arising out of the expanding menagerie’s adventures range from easy – Chocolate Strawberries, Beach Jellies – to more complicated: Bacon and Egg Pie, Creamy Lemon Orzo Chicken.
INKBOUND: Meticulous Jones And The Skull Tattoo
by Philippa Leathley (HarperCollins, $19.99)
This debut fantasy novel, the first in a planned series from a young Yorkshire writer, introduces the feisty Metty, from a Welsh family distinguished by adjectival first names beginning with M (all amusingly abbreviated). The fate she is assigned (and tattooed with) on her 10th birthday – a black skull in a violet glove – is one she fears revealing to anyone, especially once her sea-captain dad, Captain Moral Jones, disappears. When her first attempt at magic goes wrong, Metty is rescued by her Aunt Mag(nificent), who sweeps her away to her home in New London – one of a growing network of floating cities connected by magical aerial gondolas. Her long estranged mother keeps some rather dodgy company, including members of the infamous Black Moth movement. With a younger boy, Sundar, she escapes into less salubrious parts of the city, through which flows the river of ink that gives the series its name. The Hull-based author’s childhood summers spent with grandparents near (old) London lend substance to this highly entertaining new magical world.
CHARLIE TANGAROA AND THE GOD OF WAR
by TK Roxborogh (Huia, $25)
Meanwhile, back in Aotearoa, the old world of the atua, the Māori gods, breaks through into present day Ūawa/Tolaga Bay in this welcome sequel to TK Roxborogh’s 2021 Children’s Book Awards Margaret Mahy Book of the Year winner, Charlie Tangaroa and the Creature from the Sea.
Charlie and his half-brother Robbie are caught up in a confrontation at the famous Tolaga Bay wharf when he challenges a visiting boy who throws a plastic bottle into the sea. When Charlie is knocked into the water, the scene is set for a replay of the ongoing tussle between Tangaroa and Tane. Skilfully blending the supernatural with the everyday, calling on all the mātauranga Māori she’s researched on her way to a PhD in the subject, this born storyteller lines up a convincing cast of colourful characters, Māori, Pākehā and supernatural, right down to a dog called Jackson – all caught up in the town and local iwi’s ongoing battle against forestry owners, and a newer mining consortium backed by a businessman PM with an interest in the rare metal at stake.
