Truth Needs No Colour   

Heather McQuillan    

 

 

Truth Needs No Colour 
Heather McQuillan
Cloud Ink Press
Novel, Paperback, 303 pages
ISBN 978 1 7385943 6 8

‘We know exactly who you are,’ the warden said. ‘We’ll be watching you.’

 

It is Mariana’s fifteenth birthday and the first day of her Year 11 course at her new college. A keen artist, Mariana will be in the Artisan Grade at the Apace Senior College, run by the Carapace Corporation. The ‘tipping point’ of climate change has arrived. The devastated South Island has been declared ‘financially unviable’ and is now run by the Carapace Corporation.

 

 Home-schooled, Mariana is surprised by the rigidity of her new school where the lessons are computerised indoctrination. The Civics class motto is ‘Your Civic Responsibility: Control, Obedience, Gratitude.’ An art lesson is mainly colouring-in, and Mariana gets low marks because of ‘unacceptable colour selection.’  Lunch includes Carapace Foodstuffs’ Hexa-Fuel Protein Bars – made from insects. There is a 3-minute limit on toilet visits and her counsellor carries a stun-gun. Not only are the students under constant surveillance; their teachers are too.

Mariana is in trouble from her first moment at school; she is fined because her red dress is not a Carapace-made garment. Carapace has re-introduced debtors’ prisons which double as sweated-labour workshops. Under Carapace, there are strong social divisions. Christchurch has been abandoned and the entitled well-off live in the newly-constructed Te Tahi city.

Mariana, however, lives with her grandparents in the shanty-town of Deans Village not far from the overgrown remains of the botanic gardens. Grandma Isla sews clothes and quilts, while Grandpa Jack is a caretaker. The black market operating from the former Cricket Oval enables them to scratch a living.

 Mariana narrates her own story and the reader quickly realises that she comes from a family with secrets. Her childhood memories gradually build up a picture of her parents as leaders in protesting against Carapace, but her mother was murdered and her father had to flee to Australia. Her grandparents are annoyingly tight-lipped about the turbulent past so Mariana is frustrated and resentful.  Her attention is caught by a bright fellow-student, Filiki, and the pair gradually come to a prickly understanding before events tear them apart.

 There are moments of grim humour. All students’ art work is copyrighted to Carapace, so Mariana finds one of her designs on the cover of a glossy magazine. She gets no acknowledgement. ‘And I’d only got 3/10 for it.’ The college promises that ‘everyone gets treated the same’ but uses this rule to deny aid to those in need of it. For Tulia, a student crippled by rickets, this means she is not allowed to use her wheel-chair in school. When Filiki is caught piggybacking her to a Maths class, he is fined. Is Filiki going to become trapped in the corporation’s ‘school-to-prison’ pipeline?

 

Mariana faces her own challenges with the authorities. She finds that her determination to tell the truth may bring harm to her grandparents and threaten her own future. Then, Grandfather Jack breaks his silence and Mariana faces a terrible dilemma.

 

This highly readable novel has a large cast of interesting characters from a range of backgrounds. The plot moves at Mariana’s lively pace from simple classroom events to a major social upheaval.

 

Truth Needs No Colour can be read as a grim but readable action thriller as well as an unusual teenage romance. Young adult readers will, however, be smart enough to see it, also, as a dark warning about present trends in our society. This is a story which will make young readers think.

 Trevor Agnew 
14 March 2025     [Review 3742]

 

 

 

 

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE:

McQUILLAN, Heather

New Zealand writer, teacher

Heather McQuillan is an award-winning writer, who was born in Kent, England but now lives in Ōtautahi Christchurch, New Zealand. As well as writing for young people she writes short fiction, flash fiction and poetry and has been widely published in Aotearoa New Zealand and internationally. 

She has a Master of Creative Writing with distinction from Massey University and her thesis collection of short stories was published in the United Kingdom as Where Oceans Meet and other stories, Reflex Press, 2019. Many of these stories are ‘flash fiction’ defined as ‘a story between six and a thousand words.’

Heather says of her career, ‘For a long time I was a teacher who wrote. Now I am a writer who teaches. The two roles keep getting tangled.’

In 2005 she won the Tom Fitzgibbon Award and three of her novels for young people so far have been awarded Storylines Notable Books awards. Her previous novels for young readers are:

 Mind Over Matter, Scholastic NZ, 2006
Nest of Lies, Scholastic NZ, 2011
Avis and the Promise of Dragons, Cuba Press, 2019
Avis and the Call of the Kraken, Cuba Press, 2024
Truth Has No Colour, Cloud Ink Press, 2025

Heather is the director of the Write On School for Young Writers, where she works to give agency to young writers.

Heather lives with her teacher husband and their two boys in Sumner, Christchurch, where her writing loft in the roof of the family home gives her wide open views of the hills and sea. ‘It’s a small space but it’s a gorgeous space.’

 Heather McQuillan's Awards:

Tom Fitzgibbon Award (2005) Mind Over Matter

Storylines Notable Books Award (2006) Mind Over Matter

Storylines Notable Books Award (2012) Nest of Lies

Storylines Notable Books Award (2020) Avis and the Promise of Dragons

Otago University College of Education/ Creative New Zealand Writer in Residence (2021)

 

Website: https://www.heathermcquillanwriter.com/

 

 

 

The Terrible Trio: the (not so) Superheroes  
Swapna Haddow  Minky Stapleton       

The Terrible Trio: the (not so) Superheroes  

Swapna Haddow, ill. Minky Stapleton    
Scholastic (2025)
Graphic novel, paperback, 192 pages
ISBN 978 1 77543 897 7

 

Swapna Haddow, creator of Dave Pigeon and Bad Panda, has created three very ordinary heroes for her new series, The Terrible Trio: the (not so) Superheroes (2025). Barry is a ring-tailed lemur. Zeb is a zebra. And then there’s the penguin.

‘I’m Margarine.’

‘Margarine? Don’t you mean Marjorie?’

‘Nope. Margarine. … I was named after my mum. Her name was Marjorie On Toast.’

Young readers will enjoy feeling smarter than Barry, Zeb and Marge (as her friends call her).

These three meet up in a long, long queue of animals, waiting in line to be given their superpowers. (Yes, all animals have superpowers.) Unfortunately, the allocation has been delegated to a squirrel who has run out of ideas and wants to get home to catch his favourite TV series, Watching Paint Dry.

As a result, the trio are given a mix of very odd (and very funny) superpowers. No spoilers, but they end up working at a café. Barry and Marge are delighted to be using their special powers in creative (and amusing) ways. Zeb, however, is reduced to being the ‘guy who folds the napkins.’ He feels inadequate, under-appreciated and desperately in need of a way of using his talent.

Then (avoiding spoilers again) an emergency arrives where Zeb’s special talent saves lives and makes him a hero. It also makes young readers laugh, which is the whole point of the series.

Because so much of the story is carried by the discussions between the characters, it is important to note how witty Swapna Hadlow’s dialogue is.

Zeb: ‘Oi! I don’t want to disturb this riveting chat about paint drying, but what do you mean you’re all out of powers?’

Squirrel: ‘He’s a little rude, isn’t he?’

Marge: ‘You get used to it. He just really wants a superpower.’

 The visual appeal of The Terrible Trio is provided by Minky Stapleton’s funny black-and-white illustrations. With the dual role of illustrator and designer, she has created a fast-flowing visual treat. The stylised creatures in her illustrations are simply hilarious. When the characters shout (and there’s a lot of shouting with super-powerful animals around), their words leap out of the pictures.  This makes The Terrible Trio a great book to read aloud.

 Trevor Agnew
19 Sep 2025 [Review 3794]   

 

 

 

The Terrible Trio: The Day the Mac ‘n’ Cheese Ran Out   
Swapna Haddow  Minky Stapleton

 

              

The Terrible Trio:
The Day the Mac 
‘n’ Cheese Ran Out   

Swapna Haddow
Ill. Minky Stapleton
Scholastic (2025)
Graphic novel
Paperback,192 pages
ISBN 978 1 77543 900 4 

 

‘What is the use of a book without pictures or conversations?’ thought Alice.

Alice would have loved The Terrible Trio series and not just because it has more talking animals than Wonderland. It also has hilarious conversations and equally hilarious pictures.

Swapna Haddow was the creator of this pixilated world where all the animals have been given superpowers. Of course, the three friends of the title were at the back of the queue when the superpowers were handed out. [See Vol 1, The (not so) Superheroes] This meant the trio received some very odd talents indeed.

Zeb the excitable zebra can blend into striped surfaces. Barry the cool lemur has nice handwriting and a special way to clean blackboards. Margarine (‘Marge’) the gloomy penguin has the power to create macaroni-and=cheese with the flick of a flipper.

Zeb’s most terrible day ever begins when his superpower prank with a zebra crossing enrages a lion. As an alternative to being eaten, Zeb promises to cater a mac ‘n’ cheese party for the lion’s whole pride.

Unfortunately for Zeb, Marge has just discovered that her secret power is not working. So, the restaurant has had to close and Zeb is about to become lion fodder. The conversation which follows typifies the incisive debating style of the three animals:

‘Why did you promise him mac ‘n’ cheese?’

‘Because he was HUNGRY.’

‘Couldn’t you have offered him your bike?’

‘I don’t think he would have wanted to eat a BIKE.’

‘BESIDES, I DON’T HAVE A BIKE!’

‘You LOOK like you own a bike.’

With thinking processes like that, the three take a long time (and some strange sidetracks) before they can work out how to save Zeb. The journey is both witty and enjoyable. 

 Minky Stapleton is the illustrator as well as the designer of this series. The visual impact of her work is stunning.  Every animal is carefully realised, with a wide range of expressions and an ability to strike dramatic poses. When they cry, waterfalls pour from their eyes. Each page is full of vitality. The ill-assorted trio make no effort to fit into the standard comic strip panels.  Zeb’s long ears and Barry’s curvaceous tail often pop through the borders. When Marge engages in a lively mac-mixing fandango she dispenses with borders completely.

The lettering also deserves mention. The text is in lower case which helps young readers, while the shouty bits are in block capitals, which helps those doing some reading aloud.

It’s worth noting that rights for The Terrible Trio have been sold (in alphabetical order) to Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Israel, Mongolia, the Netherlands, Portugal, Serbia, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.

 Trevor Agnew 
2 Jan 2026 [Review 3821

 

Swapna Haddow is a talented writer.  Here are a few of her titles.

 Humble Bumble  Miriama Kamo  Craig Phillips 

Humble Bumble (2025)
Miriama Kamo, ill. Craig Phillips
Picture book, paperback, 32 pages
Scholastic
English language pb edition: Humble Bumble: ISBN 978 1 77543 927 1
Māori language pb edition: Te Pī Māhaki: ISBN 978 1 77543 928 8

 

In Humble Bumble Miriama Kamo has written a lovely fable about cooperation and working together.

‘Ko Humble Bumble ahau. I am Humble Bumble.’’

Humble Bumble is a worker bee and so she goes out each morning with the other bumble bees, such as Bumble Pīpī and Bumble Brie, to gather pollen from the flowers.

Unfortunately, Humble Bumble doesn’t live up to her name. When she sees that Bumble Brie has gathered a heavy load of pollen (puehu), Humble Bumble flies back to the nest, shouting, ‘Kia reri koutou – get ready everyone! We’re bringing a lot of puehu.’’ As the pollen is unloaded, Humble Bumble manages to take all the credit, while Bumble Brie has done all the work.

Enjoying the praise of the other worker bees, Humble Bumble tries the same method again when she spots Bumble Whī – the fastest bee – with a heavy load of pollen. By loudly announcing the arrival of more pollen, Humble Bumble gets the credit for Bumble Whī’s work. ‘Poor Bumble Whī was ignored.’

The admiration goes to Humble Bumble’s head. She marks all the flowers in the next field as having been collected, so that she can have them to herself. The other bees have to fly to fields further away. Humble Bumble is proud of what she has achieved.

‘But I am too humble to brag,’ she called out proudly.

Exhausted, Humble Bumble falls asleep in a flower with half the field uncollected. She is woken by Pī Kuīni, the Queen Bee, and the rest of the bumblebees. ‘A field this big needs dozens of bumbles … A whole day of collecting has been wasted!’ Then, through their example, they teach Humble Bumble the importance of working together.

‘Eharu taku toa, e te toa takitahi, engari he toa takitini. My success is not mine alone but the success of many.’

Miriama Kamo has woven several traditional Māori sayings into her text, at appropriate places, to point up Humble Bumble’s behaviour (or misbehaviour). The moral is always clear.

‘Kāore te kūmara e kōrero ana mō tōna ake reka. The kumara never speaks of its own sweetness.’

 

Illustrator Craig Phillips has created a beautiful and colourful world of flowers for the bumble bees. He has also mastered the tricky feat of showing creatures with four arms. While the various four-armed worker bees may look the same in their matching black and yellow stripes, he has given them variations in hair style and antennae so the reader can distinguish them. Humble Bumble has even tucked a little blue flower into her head fuzz just to suggest that, if she weren’t so modest, she’d be the best.

 

This is an illustrated story with lots of words but the text is large and well set out. (Designer: Vida Kelly)

Some common Māori words are used in the text (just as in ordinary New Zealand speech). The traditional sayings are each provided with their own translation when they occur.

A useful Glossary explains the significance of the various Māori phrases and sayings.

A remarkable fact page, Get the Buzz on Bumblebees, provides some surprising facts about Humble and her friends.

A Māori language edition, Te Pī Māhaki, is also available.

 

Trevor Agnew 

12 Sep 2025 [Review 3795]

 Leonardo’s Dragon: Five Far-Flung Dragon Tales  
Donovan Bixley

Leonardo’s Dragon: 
Five Far-Flung Dragon Tales  
Author and illustrator: Donovan Bixley 
Upstart Press (Auckland) 2025
Picture book, paperback, 80 pages
ISBN 978 1 77694 071 4  

 

‘Come with me, Caterina. Come and meet the dragon.’

This handsome picture book is a companion to the artist-author’s equally handsome A Portrait of Leonardo. Donovan Bixley was so intrigued by the tale of Leonardo da Vinci’s pet dragon that he has written an account of it and linked it with four other dragon tales.

The connecting character in these stories is Caterina, a bright young servant girl who works with her mother in the kitchens of the Vatican’s Belvedere Palace, where Leonardo da Vinci is a guest artist. Caterina has an enquiring mind, so she is intrigued by rumours of Leonardo’s dragon. Her determination to see if the beast really exists brings her into contact with some widely-travelled dignitaries. She is told (or sometimes eavesdrops on) several dragon stories before the truth is revealed.

Giovanni of the Mirrors tries to tell Caterina his version of the Polish legend of the Wawel Dragon of Krakow, although Caterina persuades him to turn the dragon’s nemesis into a bright young girl. She stands alone against the dragon which threatens the city.

‘Its teeth were as sharp as daggers, its scales like armour and its hunger was endless.’

In her dreams, Caterina becomes a sea-going dragon – a sea serpent perhaps – which guides a double-hulled voyaging cane through a stormy crisis. (Kiwi readers will have no trouble identifying the voyagers.)

Next day, Caterina is serving at a papal banquet and overhears the Ottoman ambassador telling dragon tales. His story of ‘The Unfortunate Soldier and the Dragon’ shows how dragons may seem savage and threatening but they also respond well to fair treatment.

In the Vatican gardens, gathering herbs, Caterina literally bumps into a kindly old man. ‘It was as if someone had finally seen her, the Caterina who was sharp and inquisitive, and not just plain old Caterina the kitchen lass.’  (Readers will spot his identity quicker than Caterina does.) He tells her his own hilarious version of the story of Saint George’s encounter with the dragon (or rather Donovan Bixley’s version of Kenneth Grahame’s version).

After this, Caterina finally meets Leonardo’s dragon, the beast which has been terrifying some Vatican dignitaries. This meeting brings a perfect conclusion to her dragon quest.

Because the illustrations are by Donovan Bixley, it goes without saying that they are elegantly designed, richly-coloured and craftily detailed. He has brought to vibrant life not only the myths but also the dragons. Each dragon is depicted completely differently, matching the theme of its particular story. 

The best picture shows a Japanese flying dragon carrying an unfortunate soldier – a deeply alarmed samurai – high above the mountains.

As a bonus, Donovan Bixley has followed Leonardo’s example and included a few of his preparatory sketches. Donovan Bixley’s fans will be pleased to find that, as with all his other books, he has neatly carved (or, in this volume, embroidered) his initials into one of the pictures.

This book is a pleasure to read and a joy to look at.

 

Trevor Agnew 

22 Sep 2025 [Review 3792] 

 

The Hatchling  Suzanne Main        

 

The Hatchling Suzanne Main         

Dogbox Press, Auckland (2025)
Young novel,
Paperback, 201 pages
ISBN 978 0 473 74948 4  

 

Willow and Hunter are twins who live with their grandfather in the coastal village of Seaview. From near their home, an archipelago, a chain of several hundred islands, reaches far out into the ocean.

‘It was one place Willow had vowed never to go.’

Willow is an eager star-gazer and map enthusiast, so it is a mystery why she shuns the Conundrum Isles. Even more mysterious are the strange noises from the locked attic, but their increasingly forgetful grandfather can’t find the key. An ex-sailor, he is so absent-minded that he even forgets the twins’ birthday. Does he have Alzheimer’s disease?

When the twins finally manage to get into the attic, they discover that a large egg has hatched. The creature which emerges has blue-green scales and stubby wings which makes Hunter think of a baby dragon.

‘Do dragons hatch from eggs?’

‘In st-stories they do.’ (Bullied at school, Hunter stutters when nervous.) 

Willow feels a mental bond with the creature, which they name Monty. She can tell when Monty is hungry. There are some amusing moments as the twins sort out Monty’s feeding and toilet arrangements, while Monty sorts out learning to fly. Hunter is worried that Monty may also have sorted out the neighbour’s cat. Another worry is the possibility of Grandpa being put in a nursing home. Will the Family Service put the twins into foster care?

At this moment of domestic crisis, Monty makes a brief but dramatic appearance on the evening TV News, causing neighbourhood panic. Then a mysterious, but strangely familiar old woman makes a surprising entrance into the twins’ lives and everything changes.

Suzanne Main keeps her narrative rolling along, with oily villains, high-speed chases and plenty of surprises, even if there is a bit too much telling and not quite enough showing.

Holly makes a resourceful heroine and there is even a movie joke which young readers will appreciate.

This is an ideal story for any child who has ever wanted a pet dragon.

The intriguingly mysterious cover illustration is by Jenny Cooper.

 

Trevor Agnew 

28 August 2025 

[Review 3791] 

 

 Keith and the Kitten   
Elaine Bickell Minky Stapleton

Keith and the Kitten
Vol.1 Keith vs Queenie
Elaine Bickell
Illustrator: Minky Stapleton
Scholastic (2025)
Picture book, paperback, 24 pages  
ISBN 978 1 77543 930 1 

 

‘A charming Chihuahua, whose name was Keith,

Had big bulgy eyes and sharp little teeth.’

Keith is a lucky dog. He is spoiled by his owner, given fine foods and cute clothes. He is even allowed to sleep in her bed. Then comes a shocking new arrival: a kitten!

‘It’s your new baby sister – come and meet Queenie.’

Keith thinks his comfortable lifestyle is threatened by Queenie. The reader soon realises that, although tiny, Keith is also a bully. A cunning bully. He damages furniture and blames Queenie.

Unfortunately for selfish Keith, his owner adores Queenie:

‘Move over Keith, Queenie’s sharing our bed.’

Keith’s sneaky effort to destabilise the sleeping arrangements backfires and he is exiled to his own uncomfy plastic basket. Meanwhile Queenie is queening it in the owner’s bed. Keith has got what he deserved.

Young readers will soon spot that Elaine Bickell has created a crafty parable about the arrival of a new sibling.

She also tells a good story in rhyming couplets. The text is easy to read and the verse scans well. Key words are printed in bold type for emphasis.

Artist Minky Stapleton has created striking illustrations of the two combatants. Keith may be small and cute but we can also see his sharp little teeth. Queenie has huge eyes and a fluffy silhouette, but closer examination shows a pair of vampire style fangs. Their desperate manoeuvres as they fight their cat-and-dog battle battles are hilarious.

A second volume is promised.

 Trevor Agnew 

29 Sep 2025 [Review 3790] 

 Nee Naw’s Cracker Christmas   Deano Yipadee  

 

Nee Naw’s Cracker Christmas  
Deano Yipadee
Illustrator: Bruce Potter
Scholastic (2025)
Picture book, paperback, 32 pages
ISBN 978 1 77543 929 5

 

‘Nee Naw! Nee Naw! I’m a little fire engine. Nee Naw! Nee Naw! I’m happy I’m me.’

Deano Yipadee (the pen name of Mosgiel’s Dean O’Brien) writes his Nee Naw stories in verse and sings them as well. This means that young readers may sing along to the choruses in this Christmas tale.

Nee Naw’s Cracker Christmas involves all of the firefighters and both of their regular customers, Granny and Farmer Tom. The entire firefighting team is invited to a grand outdoor Christmas celebration at Granny’s country home. As usual a comic emergency erupts. This time, the culprits are her ill-behaved goats, Plinky and Plonky, who steal a large Christmas cracker. The goats are so surprised by the resultant explosion that they knock over Granny’s full-sized Christmas tree. Nee Naw, the little fire engine, sees that the disaster can be remedied if all the fire crew and their machines cooperate, and so he signals for aid. Soon, Dusty the Digger and Toot the tow truck get the tree securely back into place while Moto Mike strings up the lights.

Ellie Copter is involved too. ‘Nee Naw said, “We need you to fly to the top of the tree and place the star up high.”’

 As always, the rescue operation is followed by a celebration, which finishes with everyone singing the Nee Naw song, just as Santa arrives.

Bruce Potter has succeeded well in the difficult task of illustrating this mayhem. This is the fourth of the Nee Naw series he has illustrated, following on from Paul Beavis. Bruce Potter has maintained the pictorial styling and character personalities created by Paul Beavis. This is a remarkable feat, so skilful that most young readers will not even have noticed the change of artists.

 Deano Yipadee writes and sings, so interested young readers can stream or download the song Nee Naw’s Cracker Christmas available ‘from all good digital sites.’ Deano Yipadee’s website is at www.yipadee.com.

 

Trevor Agnew 

29 Sep 2025 [Review 3803]