Showing posts with label Craig Smith. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Craig Smith. Show all posts

Thursday, 18 April 2024

 Craig Smith performs for School Holiday 

Craig Smith, of Wonky Donkey fame was busy entertaining a large audience in Christchurch's Northlands Mall this week.



Monday, 9 March 2015

Square Eyes: book review

Square Eyes

Book review by Trevor Agnew


Square Eyes (2014) Craig Smith (NZ), ill. Scott Tulloch, Scholastic, 32pages, paperback  ISBN 978 1 77543 269 2  


 
He gets no exercise because he’s got square eyes.’

The text of this picture book is an original song by Craig Smith, the New Zealand performer and lyric writer, famous for his performance of The Wonky Donkey (2009).  This time his subject is the need to stop watching so much television. The suggestion is that there are other things to do:

Listen to some music, dance your way to fame,
read a book, invent a new game.’

Various animals are shown exercising, swimming, reading, and even doing their chores.

Scott Tulloch’s watercolour illustrations are witty accompaniments to the song. He has shrewdly chosen a diverse group of animals to illustrate the various activities, many of them with large (square) eyes like the owl and lemur. At the centre of most pictures is a marvellous TV-addicted panda who has dark square markings around his eyes. Sharp-eyed readers will also spot a bumblebee which takes up music in the style of Bob Marley.

A CD of the song, performed by Craig Smith (with a strong Caribbean flavour) is included

 

Trevor Agnew 

10 Oct 2014  


 

Tuesday, 17 September 2013


Spring 2012 New Zealand Picture Books
By Trevor Agnew

Mister Whistler  Margaret Mahy, ill. Gavin Bishop, Gecko, 32 pp, hb, NZ$34.99
ISBN 978-1-877467-91-2

The Word Witch  Margaret Mahy, ed Tessa Duder, ill. David Elliot, HarperCollins, 168 pp, pb, NZ$39.99  ISBN 978-1-77554-001-4

The Man from the Land of Fandango  Margaret Mahy, ill. Polly Dunbar, Frances Lincoln, 28pp, hb, NZ$29.99  ISBN 978-1-84780-220-0 
 
Mangu & Ma  Megan Bowers-Vette, HarperCollins, 18pp, board book, NZ$14.99
ISBN 978-1-86950-995-8

ABC, Colours, Counting, Little Fronds: books for kiwi babies  Matthew Williamson, ill. Fraser Williamson, Puffin NZ, 20pp, board books, NZ$12.99
ISBN 978-0-143-50555-6
ISBN 978-0-143-50554-9
ISBN 978-0-143-50556-3

Kiwi Play With Me: A Kiwi Count-Along Book  Helen Taylor, Puffin, 32pp, pb, NZ$19.99
ISBN 978-0-143-5049-5
 
Kaha the Kea  Craig Smith, ill. Bruce Potter, Craig Smith Publishing [PO Box 330, Queenstown 9348], 32 pages, pb, NZ$26.    ISBN 978-0-473-21350-3

Slinky Malinki, Early Bird  Lynley Dodd, Puffin, 32 pages, hb, NZ$24.99
ISBN 978-0-149350546-4

The Frog Footy Player  Chris Gurney, ill. John Bennett, Scholastic, 24pp
hb, NZ$18.50, ISBN 978-1-77543-057-5

The Three Little Pigs  Roger Hall, ill. Errol McLeary, Scholastic, 48 pages, pb, NZ$19.50
ISBN 978-1-77543-095-7

 Born to Fly    Julian Arahanga, ill. Andrew Burdan, Huia, 40pp, Pb, NZ$25
ISBN 978-1-77550-004-9

Victory at Point 209  Kawata Teepa, ill. Andrew Burdan, Huia, 40pp, pb, NZ$25
ISBN 978-1-77550-005-6
 

New Zealand Picture Books for the Young of All Ages
By Trevor Agnew

 In the year Margaret Mahy was born (1936), only four books for young readers were published in New Zealand.  During her lifetime she saw a marvellous blossoming of locally-produced children’s books, much of it due to her inspiration and effort. In the literal sense Margaret Mahy died this year (2012) but, for her readers, she will be alive whenever one of her books is read. Meanwhile, because of the mechanics of publishing, new books by Margaret Mahy will continue to arrive for some time.

Margaret Mahy saw the proofs of Mr Whistler before she died, and they were also on display at her memorial service, where her family insisted that Gavin Bishop do a “product placement” for the forthcoming book. Having a picture book promoted during a funeral was a magnificently Mahyan moment, relished by all present.  

Mr Whistler is the story of a young man with such music in his soul that he dances in his sleep and dances as he dresses in the morning. He also dances while he waits for his train but then he finds he has mislaid his ticket. Young eyes will soon spot the missing ticket but Mr Whistler removes his clothes, item by item, searching for it. “Suddenly people were clapping and cheering. ‘What dancing!’ they cried. ‘What energy! What grace!’” Mr Whistler has more misadventures with his ticket before the train leaves but, thanks to his skilful dancing, all ends well.

Gavin Bishop’s watercolour illustrations add an extra dimension to the story. He has recreated the railways (and men’s fashions) of the early 1950s with loving attention to detail. Mr Whistler’s graceful dance movements reflect the music that twines across every page. The last picture has a bonus for sharp-eyed readers.

The nicest thing ever to happen in Ashburton was the display of David Elliot’s brilliant paintings for The Word Witch, the collection of Margaret Mahy’s poems, edited by Tessa Duder, which has just been re-issued in paperback. This new edition contains a beautifully recorded CD of Margaret reading such favourites as Bubble Trouble and Down the Back of the Chair. Both of these poems have been published as picture books in their own right, illustrated by Polly Dunbar There are plenty more in this rich collection which may yet appear as books.

In fact, The Man from the Land of Fandango is just such a picture book, setting Margaret Mahy’s bouncy words to Polly Dunbar’s equally lively pictures. “Oh whenever they dance in Fandango, the bears and the bison join in, and baboons on bassoons make a musical sound.”  Artists can add a great deal to the stories they illustrate and Polly Dunbar has provided a marvellous framing device for this book. Two children draw their own picture of Mr Fandango, who then comes to life with his light-bulb body, rosy cheeks and stick-like feet. He is a child’s illustration who is free to dance on ceilings and walls, then bounce with kangaroos. The result is a gleeful celebration of the magic of Margaret Mahy’s verse.

Picture books are for all ages to enjoy.  Mangu & Ma [black & white] is a collection of sharply-contrasted black-and-white photos by Megan Bowers-Vette. This ‘first-focus’ board-book, intended for little babies as they develop their focussing skills, has sharp images of familiar objects: buttons, clothes pegs, balls, shells, flowers and, of course, a baby.

A trilogy of board books for slightly older Kiwis to get their teeth into has been written by Matthew Williamson and illustrated by his brother, Fraser Williamson, (known to children for his book and School Journal illustrations and to adults for his milk advertisements). Counting matches numbers with New Zealand birds, from ‘one midnight morepork’ to ‘ten prancing Pukeko.’ ABC provides 26 examples of familiar Kiwi objects including ‘L is for Lolly’ to ‘Q is for quadbike.’ (My favourite is ‘F is for fish. This one is chocolate.’) Colours also uses local examples, so flax is green, pohutukawa is red, paua is purple and you know what is black. Fraser Williamson’s artwork is a delight, and the board books are durable enough to survive heavy use.

Canterbury author and artist Helen Taylor has created a magnificent cumulative story in Kiwi Play With Me. Little kiwi seeks friends to play with and he is soon joined by one kea, two bats, three frogs and so on up to ten snails. Each creature is beautifully delineated and coloured. The concluding picture with all 56 playmates present is a joyous celebration of our wildlife.

Kaha the Kea is a story told in verse (and in song in an attached CD) by Craig Smith (of Wonky Donkey fame) about his youthful encounters with an audacious kea at Arthur’s Pass. Kaha mauls Dad’s Holden Torana and steals Mum’s earrings. Can nothing stop the cheeky kea? Bruce Potter’s splendid colour illustrations provide a very funny kea-stopping conclusion. As well as the CD, there’s also a link to Craig’s kea conservation message on YouTube and an interactive e-book for your iPad.

Another New Zealand creature famed for his impudence is Lynley Dodd’s famous prima donna puss. In Slinky Maliki, Early Bird, the self-centred feline makes an early morning visit to every member of the household. ‘He purred in their ears and he pounced on their toes.’ Lynley Dodd’s witty verse is as skilful as her colour paintings of the grumbling family being roused. The conclusion is irresistibly funny: ‘Slinky Malinki went straight back to bed.’ 

Scholastic’s Kiwi Corkers series of ten poetic parodies of well-known fairy stories is the best picture book value around. The eleventh in the series is by talented wordsmith Chris Gurney who, in The Frog Footy Player, has created a Kiwi version of the classic The Frog Prince.  When Kiri kicks her beloved autographed football into the creek, guess who rescues it in return for a promise of chocolate fish and chance to watch TV? The moral is sound, Chris Gurney’s verses are bouncy and John Bennett’s illustrations capture the fun of the tale.

Roger Hall provides a valuable service with his version of The Three Little Pigs. Not only does he provide an updated story (Mother Pig tosses her three lazy sons out so she can go on a world cruise) but there is a bonus play-script, complete with props list and poster. Errol McLeary’s cartoons look delicious and the wolf, a smooth ‘meal estate agent,’ has all the best lines.

Finally Huia Publishers are offering two picture books ideal for boys who think they don’t like reading let alone picture books. Call them graphic novels, call them manga, call them comics; it doesn’t matter. Get those lads a copy of Julian Arahanga’s Born to Fly and Kawata Teepa’s Victory at Point 209 and even if they’re illiterate they’ll learn how to read just to find out what’s going on in these illustrated biographies of war heroes, Squadron Leader Porokoru ‘John’ Pohe and Lieutenant Moana Ngarimu. Andrew Burdan has illustrated both books in the style of the old Commando Comics (currently being reprinted) complete with speech balloons, well-researched uniforms and equipment, dramatic sound effects (Vrowwwl!, Boooom! Ratatatatatat!) and lively action.
Born to Fly details Pohe’s inspirational career as a bomber pilot and one of the 77 involved in the ‘Great Escape’ from Stalag Luft III.  Born to Fly tells how Ngarimu won his posthumous VC in the North African desert. Both men died too young, and these books will help bring them alive for a new generation of New Zealanders. 

That’s fourteen New Zealand titles selected from the picture books alone. Margaret Mahy would have been proud.

 

Trevor Agnew
Spring 2012
 

 First published in Your Weekend Magazine, The Press, Christchurch, New Zealand

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

Saturday, 28 April 2012

Christmas Picture Books

Christmas Picture Books for Young Readers:

A Kiwi Jingle Bells Yvonne Morrison, ill. Deborah Hinde, Scholastic, 30pp, board book, NZ$13.50

My Alfie Collection Shirley Hughes, Bodley Head/Random House, boxed set of four hbs, NZ$19.99

Marmaduke Duck and Bernadette Bear Juliette McIver & Sarah Davis, Scholastic, 32 pp, pb, $NZ19.50

Baa Baa Smart Sheep Mark Sommerset, ill. Rowan Sommerset, Dreamboat Books, , 24 pp, hb, $29.99

All I Want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth by Don Gardner, ill. Katz Cowley, CD by Craig Smith, 24 pages, pb, NZ $26 [inc. CD]

Piggity-Wiggity Jiggity Jig and the Christmas Baby by Diana Neild, ill. Philip Webb, Scholastic, 32pp, pb, NZ$19.50

Kiwi Corkers: The Elves and the Cloakmaker by Chris Gurney, ill. John Bennett, Scholastic, 24 pp, hb, NZ$18.50



I have always argued that books make the best Christmas present because they are easy to wrap. (A cynic would say it’s because they are easy to exchange.) The best books for Christmas giving are ones that will be read and treasured; kept and enjoyed down the generations.

Each of this month’s volumes is a treasure, ideal for Christmas purchase by parents or grandparents, who will then have the added pleasure of sharing in their gift’s enjoyment. Reading aloud is not only desirable; at this season it is compulsory.

A Kiwi Jingle Bells has been re-issued as a board book, to give babies something to get their teeth into over Christmas. Yvonne Morrison has converted James Pierpont’s much-loved song into a celebration of the Kiwi Christmas holiday while Deborah Hinde provides pictures of camping holidays, family picnics and beach barbecues. Baby won’t be able to read the words, which will give the whole family an excuse to sing:
“Christmas in New Zealand on a sunny summer’s day, ay.”

Shirley Hughes not only paints pictures of children who look like real children – wispy hair, rumpled clothes and a tendency towards chaos – but she also writes stories about children who behave like real children. Her four Alfie picture books – now brought together in a boxed set as My Alfie Collection – follow the adventures of a very recognisable three-year old. Alfie is the one who puts his new boots on the wrong feet, takes his security blanket to a friend’s birthday party and knows why his baby sister is crying. Best of all – in the classic Alfie Gets in First – it is irrepressible Alfie who gets locked on the wrong side of the front door, with everyone else locked out. These four warm, funny books may be 30 years old but Alfie’s exploits, and the emotions they generate, are as up-to-date as a new child. This is a set to treasure.

The most dramatic scene in Marmaduke Duck and Bernadette Bear shows an enraged bull rampaging in a honey shop. In the Marmaduke Duck picture book series, Sarah Davis has shown that she can paint any animal but she has never done better than her illustrations of the heart-broken Bernadette Bear looking at her smashed honey jars. (A Christchurch artist, Davis has dedicated this book to the memory of Johnson Brothers’ grocery shop in Colombo St – a quake victim.) Fortunately Marmaduke Duck is not only skilled at making marmalade but also at repairing friendships and restoring business confidence. Juliette MacIver’s cheerful rhymes and bouncy rhythms keep the sticky story light-hearted, making this a perfect book to read aloud.

Everyone should own an improper book, and Baa Baa Smart Sheep is a gleefully improper fable that won the Children’s Choice at the NZ Post Children’s Book Awards. Mark Sommerset’s picture book about a shrewd sheep and a gullible turkey has a cover warning: ‘Contains Mischief.’

Adults of a certain age will flinch at the memory of sentimental recordings of All I Want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth but fear not. Craig ‘Wonky Donkey’ Smith has recorded an unsentimental version of Don Gardner’s lyrics that children can sing along to. There is also a monkey version, with ‘ook-ook’ sounds replacing the lyrics. This CD ties in nicely to the accompanying picture book, in which Katz Cowley has created the world’s cutest monkey - minus, of course, its two front incisors. Young readers will enjoy joining the Tooth Police in their search for the missing choppers and sharing in the happy ending of the final picture. Craig’s CD also includes a lively performance of Craig’s own dental-care ballad, Toothless, with its unforgettable lyrics: ‘It’s good to brush your teeth; it’s bad to shave your cat.’ Percussion by Craig’s teeth.

Picture books have two ways of approaching Christmas; one is to treat it as a secular festival, the other is to acknowledge its Christian significance (like Piggitty below). Lindy Kelly’s Christmas in the Bush follows the former template. Like so many children, Josh has parents who have separated. Spending Christmas with Dad on his back-country farm worries Josh; there is no sign of presents or Santa, and Dad keeps handing out tasks. Then, while he’s picking peaches, Josh spots a note, ‘If of surprises you are fond, you will find one in the pond.’ A series of notes take Josh into the bush, gathering little gifts – barley sugar, pocket knife, compass – until finally he discovers that his father has arranged the perfect Christmas present. This is a delightful story where Josh’s tensions are built up then quietly released as he realises just how much his father loves him. Lyn Kriegler’s illustrations of the bush setting have never been more brilliantly coloured.

Diana Nield’s bouncy verse tales of the Jig pig family from Karori have become an annual event; her sense of rhythm makes them a delight to read aloud. The fifth instalment, Piggity-Wiggity Jiggity Jig and the Christmas Baby, has the family staging a Christmas nativity play. Bossy sister Emma is the director and young Piggity-Wiggity Jiggity is naïve enough to believe her promise of acting glory:
‘“Piggity, you have the leadity-role!”
She announced in a manner exuding control.’
Dreaming of being a prince or a pirate, Piggity is appalled to find that as baby Jesus, he will be wrapped in swaddling clothes and stuffed into his old baby cot (with holes drilled in the footboard for his hocks). Theatrical disasters, familiar to directors of nativity plays, ensue but – since this is Christmas – there’s a happy ending, captured in Philip Webb’s splendid water colour illustrations.
‘Then accolades poured with a standing ovation
For nine special pigs, and their fine adaptation.’

There are now 12 titles in the Kiwi Corker series of re-told classics, with their popular motto of ‘Hardbacks at paperback prices.’ Chris Gurney has re-cast the Brothers Grimm tale of the poor cobbler as The Elves and the Cloakmaker, as a New Zealand tale told in verse tale. A pair of over-worked Maori cloak-weavers is visited late at night by a helpful band of patupaiarehe – the fairy folk of Maori legend – who finish some incomplete cloaks, ‘weaving in feathers of red, green and blue.’ John Bennett’s colourful illustrations match the fun and help give a modern twist to the old tale. Finally the happy (and now prosperous) couple reciprocate with gifts of tiny clothes.
‘Gifts were given, good deeds done.

Merry Christmas, everyone!’

- Trevor Agnew, Nov 2011


[This review was first published in The Press, Christchurch for Christmas 2011.]

FULL PUBLISHING DETAILS:

A Kiwi Jingle Bells Yvonne Morrison, ill. Deborah Hinde, Scholastic, 30pp, board book, NZ$13.50
ISBN 978-1-77543-045-2

My Alfie Collection Shirley Hughes, Bodley Head/Random House, boxed set of four hbs, NZ$19.99
ISBN 978-0-370-33209-3

Marmaduke Duck and Bernadette Bear Juliette McIver & Sarah Davis, Scholastic, 32 pp, pb, $NZ19.50
ISBN 978-1-77543-033-9

Baa Baa Smart Sheep Mark Sommerset, ill. Rowan Sommerset, Dreamboat Books, PO Box 700, Onerua, Waiheke Island, 24 pp, hb, $29.99
ISBN 978-9864668-1-6

All I Want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth, by Don Gardner, ill. Katz Cowley, CD by Craig Smith, 24 pages, pb, NZ $26 [inc. CD]
ISBN 978-1-77543-058-2

Piggity-Wiggity Jiggity Jig and the Christmas Baby, by Diana Neild, ill. Philip Webb, Scholastic, 32pp, pb, NZ$19.50
ISBN 978-1-77543-038-4

Kiwi Corkers: The Elves and the Cloakmaker, by Chris Gurney, ill. John Bennett, Scholastic, 24 pp, hb, NZ$18.50
ISBN 978-1-77543-004-9