Wrapping Things  

 Linda Burgess  

Hilary Jean Tapper

 

Wrapping Things (2025)
Linda Burgess, Illustrator: Hilary Jean Tapper
Allen and Unwin
Picture Book, Paperback, 32 pages
ISBN 978 1 991142 00 9 

 

‘Rosie wraps Rabbit in the blanket she had when she was a baby.’

Linda Burgess has spotted a useful metaphor and turned it into a splendid story. Rosie enjoys wrapping up her toys and crayons. We see her helping her mother wrapping a parcel for Granny.

 ‘Rosie helps her wrap the box in brown paper.’

When Rosie has a bath, her father wraps her in a towel and carries her to where her pyjamas are warming by the fire.

(There are hints in the illustrations that Rosie’s mother is pregnant, but the focus in this beautifully-told story concentrates on Rosie and her feelings.)

Rosie is delighted when Granny comes to stay and the story’s mood of comfortable warmth is emphasised when she and Rosie make muffins. ‘They cover them with a clean cloth to keep them warm.’

When Rosie realises that her parents have suddenly gone away, her Granny comforts her and soon has her wrapped up in Granny’s bed for a warm hug.

Next morning Granny takes Rosie (clutching carefully-wrapped flowers) to the maternity ward where her mother shows her a baby wrapped in a blanket.

‘”Hi Bella,” says Rosie.’

Hilary Jean Tapper, already acclaimed for her illustrations to Joy Cowley’s At the Bach (2023), has excelled herself in Wrapping Things. Her beautiful watercolour illustrations capture the domestic life of a small family as well as providing touching cameos of the main characters. The most skilful portrayal has gone into every illustration. Particularly impressive is the scene where Rosie is woken by the car leaving and realises her parents have left her behind. Our view is from outside, with Rosie (and her kitten) pressed up to the window. Rosie is sad; her cheeks are red and she is about to start crying. Behind Rosie, her Granny stands, well aware of how Rosie feels and knowing exactly what needs to be done. Or, as the text puts it, ‘My bed, I think.’ Warm blankets await. A perfect match of pictures and words.

The items shown in the pretty endpapers can all be identified by young readers.

 

This is an ideal book for reading to children when a baby is on the way. Or at any other time.

 

Trevor Agnew 

25 Sep 2025 [Review 3798]

 

 

Meri Kirihimete, Kererū    Juliette MacIver   Daron Parton

 

Meri Kirihimete, Kererū  (2025)  
Juliette MacIver,  Illustrator: Daron Parton  
Allen and Unwin
Picture book, paperback, 32 pages
ISBN 978 1 991142 30 6 

 

Meri Kirihimete, Kererū translates from Māori as Merry Christmas, Wood Pigeon. Juliette MacIver has written a cheerful Christmas story making full use of her usual witty phrases and clever rhymes.   The animals of the bush are all busy preparing for Christmas, and each has a wish.

‘Kiwi has a secret wish: she’s always longed to fly.

But Tuatara only wants a safe warm place to lie.’

Centipede has musical hopes, Bat wants better eyesight and Kea dreams of car parts. [The world’s only mountain parrot, the kea is famous for amusing itself by damaging tourists’ cars. Windscreen wipers are favourite targets.]

Kererū the wood pigeon, however, is quietly despairing:

‘She yearns to sing like Tūī does, a silver, trilling flute.

But Santa can’t change who she is. All he’s got is fruit.’

Each of the bush creatures receives a Christmas present from Santa that meets their needs, so Bat gets spectacles and Kea gets a windscreen wiper! But poor Kererū is disappointed. Then her friends gather and co-operate to bring her dearest wish to fruition. Tuatara has worked out that since Kererū can only coo, ‘we’ll host a Christmas COO-ALONG.’ And they form a choir.

‘And oh! The coo of Kererū is sweet as any dove,

and all the bush resounds at last with Christmas joy and love.’

 

Daron Parton’s colour illustrations are a perfect match for this warm-hearted tale. He even manages to make the centipede look adorably cuddly. Each picture creates attractive shapes and bold colours as well as matching the mood of the story. The portraits of the various animals are delightful. Santa Claus has dressed appropriately for the summer season, arriving in jandals and shorts.

With its touching conclusion and smooth rhythms, Meri Kirihimete, Kererū is a pleasure to read aloud. 

 

Trevor Agnew 

25 Sep 2025 [Review 3799]

 

 

 

Kuwi the Kiwi Treasury   Kat Quin           

 

Kuwi the Kiwi Treasury  (2025)
Author and illustrator: Kat Quin  
Illustrated Publishing (Te Awamutu, NZ)
Picture book, hardback 200 pages
ISBN 978 1 7385904 9 0 

 

This handsome hardback picture book, with a cute kiwi peering through the peekaboo cover, brings together Kat Quin’s first five Kuwi the Kiwi picture books in a single volume.

The stories included are:

1.     Kuwi’s First Egg (2014) where Kuwi’s egg survives disaster and little Huwi hatches out.

2.     Kuwi’s Huhu Hunt (2015) where picky chick, Huwi, explores bush cuisine with his mother.

3.     Kuwi’s Very Shiny Bum (2016) where Kuwi creates appropriate Christmas presents for her friends.

4.     Kuwi’s Rowdy Crowd (2018) where Kuwi seeks peace and finds noisy friends.

5.     Kuwi’s Fluey Huwi (2024) where Huwi has the sneezes and Kuwi seeks a cure for him.

The writer-illustrator, Kat Quin, has also included an illustrated account of how Kuwi was created, complete with concept sketches. Kat Quin’s illustrations for these books often include amusing details. Her creatures furnish their homes with Tiffany lamps and classic paintings ranging from Vermeer’s Weta with a Pearl Ear-ring to Leonardo’s Mona Kiwi. Among the Quin family photos included is one of artist Dick Frizell looking at a sweetly satirical rendering of his iconic Tiki to Mickey as Tiki to Kiwi! 

Treasury is the right word. These five books in one are as much fun to look at as to read.

 

Trevor Agnew 

29 Sep 2025 [Review 3801]

 

 

 

 

 

The Curioseum: Collected stories of the Odd & Marvellous

 

The Curioseum: Collected stories of the Odd & Marvellous (2014)           
Editor: Adrienne Jansen; Illustrator:Sarah Laing
Te Papa Press (Wellington, NZ)
 

‘All the stories in this book started out as objects in a museum.’
Editor Adrienne Jansen assembled this collection of 22 stories and poems of the ‘odd and marvellous’ in an odd and marvellous way.  Twenty-two odd and marvellous writers looked at the public displays and poked through the back rooms of Te Papa, New Zealand’s national museum. Inspiration was created by everything from a beaded purse (carried by a refugee) to a heavy suit (made for a shipwreck survivor).
Barbara Else brings the hat collection to life, while Joy Cowley’s story combines an adventurous cat and Te Papa’s giant squid exhibit.
The short stories are:
Joy Cowley, Puss, Puss, Puss
Jo Randerson, Things from Other Places
Ant Sang, Samurai Takeshi’s Return
Marisa Maepu, The Saurus
Mandy Hager, The Beaded Purse
Paora Tibble, Kiore Whispers
Elizabeth Knox, A Doll for the Captain
Phillip Mann, Sa-Li
Raymond Huber, Spineless
Kyle Mewburn, The Fold-Away Boy
John McCrystal, A Dog’s Tales
Dave Armstrong, Soldiers
Anatonio te Maioha, Puki, Mum and Me
Barbara Else, The Flyaway Hat
Moira Wairama, Rupe and the Kurī
Emily Hunter, Bear Diaries
Tusi Tamasese, The Demon in the Village
 
The poems are:
Frances Samuel, Monster Fish
Tusiata Avia, Who Am I?
Margaret Mahy, The Fantail.
James Brown, Te Papa Bike Makeover
Bill Manhire, Magnitude
This is a high quality collection of prose and poetry, with authors aiming to inspire a sense of curiosity in their readers. The line illustrations are by Sarah Laing who is also the designer.
Recent edition info:
Publisher name:                      Te Papa Press
Binding                                   Paperback
ISBN [13]                               978 1 877385 92 6 
Trevor Agnew 
23 Sep 2025 [Review 3797]

 

 

The Paradise Generation Sanna Thompson

 

The Paradise Generation (2024)
Sanna Thompson, The Paradise Generation
umop apisdn Press [Upsidedown Press] Wellington
346pp, Pb, ISBN 978 1 067037 30 7

 

                                   

‘Weren’t we glad we were the Paradise Generation, and didn’t have to live through wars or plagues or internet disintegration or rapid sea rise like the generations before us …’

The narrator, Kieran Xu (16), is a member of the Paradise Generation but he dozes through his teacher’s reminder because he is exhausted. At night he slips out to visit his comatose cousin Lucas (20) in Wellington Hospital.

‘He hasn’t spoken in four years.’

 

As this superb sf novel begins, a terrifying emergency breaks out in the hospital. Kieran is alarmed because he realises that a Gen-en (genetically engineered human) has escaped and is rampaging through the ward. Kieran’s swift response ensures that he and Lucas survive unharmed. Kieran’s parents, learning of his midnight outings, ground him so he tries to prepare for his exams, but he is also intrigued by a fellow student, Mira Sorenssen, who returns his interest.

 

Kieran’s explanation of the Gen-en is typically laconic, ‘Eighty years ago they were everywhere, but then they decided Earth would be better off without humans and tried to wipe us out. Cue the Great Plague.’ Kieran’s narration drops subtle hints about the conflicts of the past. ‘Gen-ens were the reason Mum never met her grandparents.’

The reader also gains hints of the sort of government set in place to ensure there is a future for Earth’s surviving humans – a mere 72 million. People have coded identity chips in their wrists.  A world genome database enables the Match – a check on the gene pool – for couples. Kieran and Mira fail the Match test. ‘… we have to keep the gene pool moving … If you disagree with your result, well, the re-education workcamps will sort you out …’ Kieran concentrates on Lucas’s grim position. In a few weeks a medical review will decide ‘if he is worth all these resources … You got Allocated four years to recover and prove your contribution to society. After that …’

 

So, what happened to Lucas four years earlier, when Kieran was twelve? Several brief chapters, titled Four Years Ago, are interspersed through the early part of the novel enabling the reader to understand Kieran’s determination to save Lucas. They also include tantalising hints of deeper issues involving Lucas’s technology skills.

Mira plays an important part in the dramatic events which follow and - avoiding spoilers – her interest in law and history proves vital in the exciting events that follow. Kieran’s opportunity comes when he has a student internship at the powerful Genetics Authority and is shoulder-tapped by Edmund Doncaster (112), the man whose cure had stopped the Great Plague. Keiran calls him ‘the closest New Zealand had to a national god.’ Why is Doncaster so interested in Kieran and his Category A genome? What does this mean for Kieran and Mira? And the rest of the Paradise Generation?

What follows is a lively science fiction story, packed with surprises and full of convincing characters interacting in a brilliantly constructed world of the future.

 There is a useful and intriguing map of Pōneke Wellington, which shows the location of the various suburbs mentioned in the story. It also shows such sinister future features as Sea Flood Zones, Consolidation Lines and, beyond them, The Wilds.

 Awards: 

2025: Storylines Tessa Duder Award: Shortlisted

2025: Best Young Adult Novel Award: Winner

 

Trevor Agnew 

23 Sep 2025 [Review 3796]

 

 

Lost World in the City   Bill Nagelkerke

 

Lost World in the City (2025)
Bill Nagelkerke, Copy Press (Nelson), 175pp
Pb, NZ$23, ISBN 978-0-47375-569-0 

Lost World in the City (2025) is the third volume in a series which Bill Nagelkerke began with The Ghosts on the Hill (2020) and continued in The Roar of the Lion (2025). Each novel stands alone but some of the characters reappear as time passes. The saga which began in 1884 has now reached 1914, with war imminent.

 

The narrator is Nell aged eleven. She reads widely and is irritated that all the adventure stories feature men with beards who have all the fun. ‘It’s not fair on girls,’ complains Nell to her brother Sandy, ‘Because there’s never a place for us in their expeditions. We have to wait around at home.’ These two young readers of Verne’s Journey to the Centre of the Earth and Conan Doyle’s The Lost World, live in Christchurch’s eastern suburb of Aranui, near Wainoni Park. Their father travels by tram each day to work in the city library. Meanwhile their mother is concerned that war is about to break out in Europe; she was deeply disturbed by the death of her brother Hugh in the South African War a decade earlier.

Nell and Sandy are sympathetic and ask their father what they can do.

‘We just have to keep on reminding her that she still has us, as well as the new baby on the way, and that it’s possible to be happy at the same time as being sad,’ Papa replies.

‘That’s hard,’ Sandy says.

 

Nell is inspired by attending a public lecture given at the library by a successful adventure story author, Jack Lytle (whose career began in The Roar of the Lion). She persuades her brother to come with her into Wainoni Park in search of a moa. The amusement park has been closed to the public since its owner Professor Alexander Bickerton returned to England but Nell is sure she has heard strange sounds from there.

What they find is much more interesting and puzzling. Can a moa eat a small boy? How can Nell and Sandy have met and talked to Professor Bickerton when he is still overseas? Has Nell possibly found a way of fulfilling her dream of flying over Christchurch?

Nell is beginning to believe her Mama’s warning ‘that we get so lost in stories that one day Sandy and I won’t be able to tell the difference between what’s real and what’s not.’  What is certain, however, is that the baby is arriving just as war is declared.  Their harried father sends them out to play in the street. (In those days, we are reminded, babies were usually born at home, and streets were slightly less dangerous places.)

 Of course, Nell and Sandy head straight for Wainoni Park again. What they find there, this time, is truly remarkable.

 

Bill Nagelkerke has written a charming and readable story that recreates the final days of the Wonderland amusement Park created by the talented Professor Bickerton. There is a real sense of wonder as past and present blend. Henry, from The Roar of the Lion, makes a surprising and uplifting appearance. Will he achieve his dream of zoo-keeping, or will he join the army? The differing views towards warfare held during the opening days of the Great War are well conveyed, offering plenty of scope for a sequel.

A Historical Note includes research advice for young readers who want to experience some of the magic of Bickerton’s Wainoni.

 

Trevor Agnew 

Jan 2026 [3813]

 

 

The Roar of the Lion Bill Nagelkerke

The Roar of the Lion (2025) 
The Roar of the Lion Bill Nagelkerke 
Bill Nagelkerke, Copy Press (Nelson), 126pp 
Pb, NZ$23, ISBN 978-0-473-75359-7

 Bill Nagelkerke has a flair for capturing a tiny moment in our history and bringing it to vibrant life by re-examining it from a young person’s viewpoint. The Roar of the Lion (2025) is the second volume in a series which began with The Ghosts on the Hill (2020) and continues in Lost World in the City (2025). Each novel stands alone but some of the characters reappear. The city of Christchurch is, of course, the main character. As the garden city prepares for its first International Exhibition, from 1906 to 1907, wooden towers rise on Hagley Park and two young boys are fascinated by the chance of seeing some exotic animals. 

 The class differences of Edwardian Canterbury are subtly sketched in. Henry Lytle lives with his father, Jack, in a humble boarding house in Cranmer Square and goes to Christchurch East School. Leo Church’s family own a large property in Papanui Road and he attends Christ’s College as well as being a cathedral chorister. Leo has a season pass to the exhibition, of course, but Henry has to find a less costly way in. Excited by rumours of lions being on display, Henry is surprised when he learns from his reporter father that it is actually a group of captured sea-lions which will be on display. 

 Many news items were published about events at the exhibition and some fascinating extracts are included in the text, all of them, naturally, attributed to Jack. ‘A most pronounced odour of the sea pervading portions of the Acclimatisation Gardens, proclaims the temporary abiding place of the oddities of fur and feather brought up by Captain Bollons.’ Young readers will be amused by the pompous style but Henry is a sterner critic. ‘You managed to fit in a lot of ‘ps’ in the first sentence,’ he warns his father. 

Jack is more interested in writing novels than journalism, but will he succeed? Jack’s friendship with William, the Acclimatisation Society’s animal keeper, means that Henry gets a part-time position as assistant caretaker of the wildlife enclosure at Victoria Lake. (William, whose sister Elsie appears in The Ghosts on the Hill, is also able to give Henry a Southern Māori view of the famous pā created for the exhibition.) Henry hopes for a career as a zoo-keeper but he finds life caring for the fish-eating captives is not easy. The names which some of the sea-lions are given - Bumper, Bully and Sneak – hint at their behaviour. 

Henry’s most alarming moment comes when the largest of them, Jumbo, manages to break out of the enclosure. Can Leo and Henry find a way to get him back? Equally daunting are Henry’s visits to his grandmother, who is constantly railing against the decline in modern manners. Bill Nagelkerke has a lovely writing style with a nice touch of humour. Henry finds his chair at Grandma’s New Brighton home very uncomfortable: ‘It was hard and unyielding, much like Grandma herself.’ Henry later takes delight in naming one of his sealion charges Nelly, after her. Jack is horrified, ‘Grandmother must never, ever find out.’ 

 There are also many interesting minor characters including Mr Strong the librarian who dreams of a children’s section, Mr Purfleet the actor who names Leo’s dog Macbeth (because he murders sleep) and Professor Bickerton who is the moving spirit behind the sequel to this volume, Lost World in the City. The Roar of the Lion is an enjoyable historical novel. The author’s Historical Note provides young readers with plenty of ways they can find out more about their own local history. It may even inspire them to write their own stories of the past. 

 Trevor Agnew 

 Jan 2026 [ Review 3814]

Beneath Our Feet Jack Hartley

Beneath Our Feet (2025)
Jack Hartley 
Scholastic NZ
Novel, paperback, 256 pages 
ISBN 978 1 77543 919 6

  Christchurch, 23 February 2011. That’s a date many of us will never forget but Alfie has a double reason to remember it. Not only was that the day when he was caught up in Christchurch’s worst earthquake, but it was also the day (and the reason) that a heart became available for Alfie’s badly-needed heart transplant. The story begins as Alfie, recovering from his heart surgery, tries to resume a normal life in a disrupted Christchurch. ‘

The heart was a perfect match,’ enthuses his mother, but Alfie feels challenged. ‘I hate that I’m weak now.’ 

 Back at school, Alfie encounters the novel’s second narrator, Dani, who has the same cancer that killed her mother. Dani has just learned that her own cancer is fatal, and so she is drawing up her bucket list. Because of their heightened emotions, Alfie and Dani each spot the symptoms of sadness in the other. Their first encounter is mutually embarrassing, but the pair’s desperate need to have someone to talk to means they are soon deep in serious conversation. 

 At this point the story takes a brilliant imaginative leap. Dani persuades Alfie to come with her into the cordoned-off central city so she can return to the spot in Latimer Square where she first learned of her late mother’s cancer. They find the area strangely quiet but a good place to talk. Later they realise that something remarkable happened when they slipped through the fence. Time stopped around them while they were inside the cordon. They experiment and find that they can move through the CBD while, beyond the barricade, people, birds and vehicles appear motionless. When they come back out, movement resumes and no time has passed. They have a world of their own inside the cordon barricade. What follows is a poignant love story. 

Alfie hopes that Dani can live inside the CBD cordon, ‘not feeling the pain waiting for her in the outside world.’ Dani is more realistic, ‘I’m Stage 4, Alfie, it doesn’t work like that.’ Alfie has difficulty accepting Dani’s fate, but he helps her complete her bucket list. Dani has written her wish that she wants to ‘leave my mark.’ In the few hours they share together, Alfie finds a way for her to fulfil this wish. 

 Jack Hartley has written a brilliant novel, creating two convincing 18-year-old narrators, each with their own distinctive voice. Despite the serious problems these young adults face, it is also understandable that they behave in adolescent ways sometimes. Alfie hotwires a car to demonstrate drifting to Dani and there is a drunken teen party that is every mother’s nightmare. The parents in the novel are sympathetically shown, even as they irritate their offspring by being over-protective. 

 The atmosphere of post-quake Canterbury is well captured with period touches, such as the army patrols and the sharing of surviving school buildings. There is also a great deal of wry humour, including a genteel looting expedition to Christchurch’s poshest shop. A street map is included to enable non-Cantabrians to follow events. Particularly enjoyable is the skilful portrayal of the touchy relationship between Dani’s father and Alfie, which makes the uplifting conclusion of this tragic romance even more moving. 

Jack Hartley has created a YA romantasy, a love story that is both readable and thought-provoking. For people not familiar with Christchurch’s CBD, Jack has drawn a sketch map. Be warned, there is some strong language in this novel; the nastiest words are Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma and Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy. 

 Trevor Agnew, 

25 Sept 2025 (Review 3800)

Duck’s New Words Juliette MacIver Carla Martell

Duck’s New Words Juliette MacIver Carla Martell Title: Duck’s New Words. Author: Juliette MacIver. Scholastic (2025) 24 pages, Paperback. ISBN 978 1 77543 916 5

Duck’s New Words: ‘Duck’s a duck and sure of that But Duck is also quite the cat!’ Raised by a hospitable mother cat, Duck (a little yellow duckling) has a singularly feline view of life celebrated in the earlier picture books, Duck Goes Meow and How to Be a Cat. Now Juliette McIver’s clever verses stop Duck playing with balls of wool and send him off exploring the farmyard. As Duck meets new animals, he finds brand new words to try out. ‘OINK! Says Duck and Pig’s impressed.’ Horse is thrilled when Duck says, ‘Neigh!’. Duck has a linguistic problem, however, when he meets four ducks in a pond They say, ‘Quack.’ And Duck thinks, ’What on earth was that?’ What follows is hilarious as Duck fails to quack but succeeds in teaching the ducks to say words like ‘MEOW! And OINK!. Before long there is a complete foreign language school running in the farmyard. Duck, of course, has the last word. ‘Purr.’ As always, Juliette MacIver’s verse has perfect rhythms, which make it a delight to read aloud. Carla Martell’s bold, colourful illustrations include large speech balloons for the animal noises – an invitation for young readers to join in. This is a perfect book to read (or quack) aloud. Trevor Agnew, 29 Sep 2025 (Review 3804)