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.”’
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.
Trevor Agnew
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