Bubbles the Zooting, Tooting Manatee by Minky Stapleton (Scholastic) I have to admit I'm not a great fan of farting books, but this one is very cute. For starters, who doesn't love a Manatee? They're so ugly, they're adorable. And a Zooting, Tooting Manatee is next level. Bubbles lives in a peaceful river inlet with all her whanau. "All day long they move slowly around the bay, grazing on seagrass and mangrove leaves." Because, "In Manatee Society, the slower you move, the more elegant you are." And the secret to floating elegantly is "flatulence (a fancy word for farts)". While practicing th ..read more

How to be a cat by Juliette MacIver & Carla Martell (Scholastic)  Author Juliette MacIver was inspired to write this story after seeing a furry-friendship develop between a mother cat and a little duckling.  In the story, Mama cat has three babies - two kittens and one yellow duckling. The little duckling says, 'meow' like the kittens but does other kitten behaviour her own way. When they wash with their paws, Duckling bathes in a pond. When they climb a tree, she flies up. But there's somethings she can't do. However, Mama cat loves her just as much as her two kittens. When thr ..read more

Ariā and the Kūmara God: The Rising of Whānui by Witi Ihimaera, illustrated by Isobel Joy Te Aho-White (Penguin) Ariā and the Kūmara God is a sequel to The Astromancer that came out in 2022. In the Astromancer the heroine is apprenticed to Te Kōkōrangi to learn the knowledge around the Matariki stars when planting kūmara. In this sequel, Ariā and her friends and her faithful dog must put their new knowledge to use.  Witi says that Ariā and her friends could be any young New Zealander living today. "The world is full of change and it is not always easy to strategise about how to overcome ..read more

Because I'm Māori: He Māori ahau by Nicolla Hemi-Morehouse, illustrated by Story Hemi-Morehouse (Bateman Books) This story started off as a song. Nicolla was a semi-finalist with an Honourable Mention in the International Songwriters Competition in 2023 with 'Because I'm Māori: He Māori ahau'. Her daughter Story Hemi-Morehouse was already a successfully published illustrator with nine books already to her name and at some stage they must have said, 'Hey, let's do a book together.' This book was the obvious choice. It's a picture book about being proud to be Māori. It loosely uses the pepeha a ..read more

The Dream Factory by Steph Matuku, illustrated by Zak Ātea (published by Huia) The Dream factory stood at the end of town. In the evenings, when the sun sank behind the hills and the townspeople were in bed, the dream machine switched on. Lights flashed. Cogs turned. Belts whirred. Screens beeped. And the nearby townfolk were gifted with wonderful dreams. They dreamt of riding unicorns, and swimming with mermaids and other wonderful dreams. It made the townsfolk creative, happy, and made their dreams come true. But one day a freak accident stops the dream factory from working. The townspeople ..read more

Xandar and the Pen by David Lawrence, illustrations by Cherie Dignam  (EK Books) Xandar draws in response to the world. Funny sketches are his specialty, so when classmate Timmy is picked on by the school bullies – the Clagg brothers – he draws a sketch of Timmy as a superhero reducing the brothers to ‘toast’ in a fight. The sketch cheers Timmy up, but is the gateway to trouble for Xandar after it falls into the Clagg brothers’ hands. They want revenge and set out to get it. So begins the fast-paced adventure of Xandar and the Pen. It is while Xandar is being pursued by the Clagg brother ..read more

Butterfly Girl by Ashling Kwok and Arielle Li (EK Books) Two Rabbits by Larissa Ferenchuk and Prue Pittock (EK Books) My Heart by Katrina McKelvey and Deb Hudson (EK Books) Nova’s Missing Masterpiece by Brooke Graham and Robin Tatlow-Lord  (EK Books) A quartet of new picture books by EK Books (an imprint of New Zealand publisher Exisle Publishing) share several things in common. EK Book’s mission is to publish “Books with Heart on Issues that Matter”. Its books unpack “complex issues, making them engaging and memorable for even the youngest readers”; books that “other publishers fear to t ..read more

The Antipodean Express: A journey by train from NZ to Spain by Gregory Hill (Exisle Publishing) I inquired about traveling on the Trans Siberian railway many years ago. I can't remember the reason why I didn't use it to travel to China (just after it opened up to foreigners in the early 1980s). The price wouldn't have been the problem because it was very cheap back then. Instead I flew into China from London and I've always regretted not doing the Trans Siberian rail trip.  The author of 'The Antipodean Express' opens with how he had always wanted to do that trip after hearing about it w ..read more

Creative Writer's Sourcebook by John Gillard (Exisle Publishing) What a treasure this is! It includes 50 world-famous authors and 175 writing exercises. It's the perfect book for people wanting to develop their own creative writing skills whether you're a children's author, social commentary writer, magical realism writer, fantasy/sci fi/horror writer, southern gothic, modern/beat writer, experimental/existential writer, postmodern writer, or a postcolonial writer. That's quite a wide coverage of writing styles and authors. Usually children's/YA writers are left out of these type of books but ..read more

The Resilience Toolkit: A proven four-step process to unlock your true potential by Dr Alia Bojilova (Harper Collins) After our numerous disasters over the last couple of years, the word 'resilience' has become better known. We now know that it is a skill we can develop to help us overcome problematic and stressful times. Dr Alia Bojilova, a peak-performance psychologist has drawn on her work with the SAS, Olympic athletes, modern leaders and successful entrepreneurs to write this practical handbook. It will help you build and sustain resilience, get beyond basic recovery following a setback ..read more