Charlie, Tam and the Singing Canary

 

Charlie, Tam and the Singing Canary
Bill Nagelkerke

                                                                                     

Charlie, Tam and the Singing Canary
Bill Nagelkerke
Ill. Monica Koster
Copy Press, Nelson (2026)
Dist. Real NZ Books, Nelson
Novel, 215 pages, Paperback
ISBN 978 0 473 78063 0

 

‘I’m an expert at moving,’ says Charlie, who has just arrived in Coalburn on the West Coast, with her peripatetic mother, Izzie.

 

Local girl Tam shows Charlie around her new school, and they learn that they are both from single-parent families. The pair soon become strong friends.

 

Tam, who loves words, is delighted to find that Izzie has taphophilia, a love of cemetery headstones and is keen to write a book about them. When Izzie walks through a graveyard, she ‘feels like she’s strolling through the pages of a book, a colouring-in book that only has the outlines of pictures … She wants to colour the pictures in.’ 

 

Charlie and Tam are intrigued by a neglected Coalburn grave which has only the words ‘Esme 1940 – 1985’ visible, but those people who the pair might expect to provide answers – Tam’s Nan Ngaire and Emma’s former classmate, Ernie the local librarian – remain tight-lipped. ‘Questions asked and unanswered’ spur the girls on in their quest.

 

(Their time spent in the local library does have one positive aspect. It gives Bill Nagelkerke a chance to dispose of an aged cliché. Ernie, the elderly librarian, informs the girls, ‘This is a library. No need to whisper.’)

 

The visits to the cemetery trigger several interesting family discussions of memories and past experiences.  Charlie’s mother, Izzie, starts off with heart-stopping words, ‘Listen, Charlotte, there’s something I have to tell you.’ 

 

Meanwhile Tam’s grandmother reminds her that family stories get passed down the generations. ‘That’s how lives last. Every family has at least one storyteller,’ Nan Ngaire continues, ‘The stories tie us each to the other. Keeps us tethered like mountain climbers roped together.’ Which is a lovely simile but why is it that Tam’s father Matt has no idea who his own father is?

 

‘I tell you it wasn’t easy growing up without a father to my name.’

 

Tam is worried that Nan Ngaire doesn’t like Izzie’s ‘morbid interest in cemeteries … and where that sort of interest might lead.’  Tam wants them both to stop researching Esme since it is disturbing her touchy grandmother. Charlie agrees but at the same time she is convinced that Esme is communicating with her.

 ‘Better that we keep our heads down,’ Charlie says.

But the Esme speaking in her head responds, ‘That’s how you run into brick walls. If you do, you’ll just hit one of those brick walls. You don’t like the thought of that, do you Charlie?’

Charlie’s bursting to tell Tam about what her mother has told her, but not yet. Soon.

 

The girls turn their attention to their upcoming tramp to Midas Hut, a beautifully-described bush walk, with Matt and Ngaire. An unexpected accident, however, brings an even more unexpected announcement from Ngaire of all people, ‘Listen up. Once we’ve eaten, I have a story I want to share with you all.’

 

The best storyteller here is Bill Nagelkerke. Young readers may not spot it but Charlie, Tam and the Singing Canary is a strikingly original narrative. It is told in the present tense, with a discreet eye-of-god narrator dividing their time between the two girls. This means readers get a good insight into each girl’s thoughts and memories, as well as subtle hints from the narrator. ‘She’s bursting to tell Tam what passed between her mum and her. And she will, soon.’

 

This skilful storytelling technique means that when Charlie hears Esme’s voice at Esme’s grave, the reader doesn’t know if it is a real voice or a figment of Charlie’s imagination. (Neither does Charlie.) Tam certainly believes that Charlie is talking to herself.

 

By the end of the story, various strands are tethering the characters together and there is a surprising but enjoyable presentation in the concluding pages.

 

And the singing canary? That’s Nan Ngaire’s story and you’ll have to read this book to learn its significance.

 

This crisply-told story is a richly-detailed celebration of friendship, family and love in a small West Coast town.

 

Bill Nagelkerke’s best novel ever!

 

 

The illustrations and cover are by Monica Koster. She has also created a magnificent aerial view of Coalburn.

 

 

A Name Note:

Interestingly, few of the characters are called by their given names.

Charlie is Charlotte Nowak

Izzie, her mother, is Isabelle Beaumont

Ngaire is Ngaire Taylor, and is also Tam’s Nan Ngaire

Matt, her son, is Matthew Taylor

Tam, his daughter, is Tamora Taylor

 

Trevor Agnew, May-July 2026 [Review 3839]

                        Bill Nagelkerke

Bill Nagelkerke's Emily

 

Emily’s Penny Dreadful 
Bill Nagelkerke

 

Emily’s Penny Dreadful (2016)                
Bill Nagelkerke
Paperback, 146 pages

Penny Dreadfuls were cheap and disreputable fiction magazines, offering lively stories of highwaymen, murderers and other desperadoes, popular among boys and young men in the Victorian times. When the home of Emily’s Uncle Raymond burns to the ground, the only thing the grumpy writer manages to save is a single, 150-year-old Penny Dreadful.
Emily (9) is precocious; she knows this because Uncle Raymond has not only told her so but taught her how to spell it. Emily is also resentful, because she has only had her own bedroom for two weeks. Now she has to move in with her sister Sibbie, to make room for her homeless aunt and uncle. Tensions rise. Emily and Uncle Raymond are soon sparring over grammar, spelling and metaphors. 

“People who write books are always grumpy,” concludes Emily, “They can’t help it. They suffer from brain-strain, Dad says.”

Gradually Emily realises how serious a matter it is for a writer to lose his computer, back-up discs, notes and drafts. Uncle Raymond, of course, is full of self-pity, “I shall very likely never write another word,” he moans.

After Emily borrows the Penny Dreadful, she is inspired to try writing her own. Her first attempts – reproduced in full as a story within a story – are the highlight of this book. Emily calls it The Devil’s Element – a reference to the phosphorus once used for matches – and her first sentence reads, “It was a dark and story night.” Naturally Emily has her own Thurberish justification, “Reading a book in bed means it’s a story night. So there.”

Young readers will enjoy seeing how some of the characters in the tear-jerking saga resemble Emily’s family. The plucky heroine Miley is particularly thinly-disguised. Sibbie is furious when she recognises her own words. The astute reader will also spot that Emily has learned from Raymond’s grudgingly-given advice. In her story, the villainous kidnapper, known only as Pork Pie, pauses to write down new words in his vocabulary notebook. 

It’s all great fun, and Emily is about to rescue Miley from slave labour in a match factory, when writer’s block strikes. Both Emily and Raymond have run out of ideas. Now they are forced to swallow their differences and co-operate to get Miley to freedom and Emily’s book to a happy ending.
The result confirms Raymond’s admission that “All writers are liars and thieves,” (a line possibly purloined from Jack Lasenby) and brings events to a satisfactory conclusion.

Emily’s Penny Dreadful may indeed be dreadful but it is dreadful in a very enjoyable way. Bill Nagelkerke has created a light-hearted book which not only contains a guilty secret and an adventure but also provides a practical guide to young writers who want to tell a story of their own. This book is, in the very best sense, dreadful fun.

Trevor Agnew, 23 December 2015

Emily, the Dreadfuls, and the Dead Skin Gang
Bill Nagelkerke

 

Emily, the Dreadfuls, 
and the Dead Skin Gang                Bill Nagelkerke (2017)
Novel, Paperback, 168 pages

 

“I can read my stories to you,” said Emily…“They’re Penny Dreadful type stories, full of heroes and villains and exciting getaways and things like that.”

Emily is back!
This novel, Emily, the Dreadfuls, and the Dead Skin Gang, sees the return of would-be writers Emily (9) and her grumpy Uncle Raymond, a comical couple, who first appeared in Emily’s Penny Dreadful (2015). Having lost his computer in a fire, Uncle Raymond is still trying to re-start his writing career, while Emily has been inspired by one of his old Penny Dreadfuls (popular Victorian magazines, full of lurid crimes and dramatic escapades) to write her own story, Dead Skin.

Although Dead Skin is supposed to be a co-operative effort by Raymond and Emily, it is Emily who does most of the work. This adds to the fun because both writers are strong-minded and thin-skinned. Chapters of Dead Skin form a story within the story.
“Another audacious burglary!”

The Emily series is constantly amusing as the reader moves from one narrative to another, especially when Emily adapts events around her (and ‘borrows’ ideas from Uncle Raymond and her friends).
Events in the main story quickly turn up in a similar but funnier form in Emily’s hand-written manuscript. After Emily and her three best friends try to form a gang called the Dreadfuls, we see the Dead Skin gang vowing to capture the burglars who “use dust as a weapon as well as dangerous and threatening words.”
The various authors all play fair with their readers. The clues are all present, although craftily concealed, red herrings are seen, and shivers run down spines. Somebody even gets to say, “Beware, this is a trap.”

This story is a cheerful adventure, which gently spoofs both the Penny Dreadful style of adventure and the later efforts of Enid Blyton. It also provides positive encouragement and a good example for young people with writing potential.

Trevor Agnew
31 August 2017

 

 

 

The Ghost House  Bill Nagelkerke

The Ghost House                        

Bill Nagelkerke
Cuba Press (2022)
Novel, 180 pages, Paperback

 

The Ghost House

"He watches the boats and their crews, wide-eyed. He had no idea that all this activity existed so close to home."

This young adult novel will appeal to young readers as a ghost tale but they will also find it a lively story about discovery, memories, gaining independence and awakening to the world.

Told in the present tense, The Ghost House follows young David Parkhouse as he copes with the after-effects of his life-threatening medical condition. Frustrated by the slowness of his return to a normal life, David leaves his home "in a mad run" and finds himself in Christchurch’s Red Zone.

(Following Christchurch’s earthquakes, several unstable areas were cleared of their houses and fences, and now remain as re-zoned urban pockets of open grassland, trees and bushes.)

Bill Nagelkerke has created a carefully constructed world of ambiguity and mystery within the unsettling but familiar world of the Red Zone.

Amongst the greenery near the river, David spots an old house, hemmed in by trees and bushes.

"Indeed, the house is old, splendidly intact, but also splintered, bruised, wrinkled with age."

The house, with its protective screen of trees, seems real enough. "…Kauri weatherboards and rimu panelling, a ceiling with a high stud, a steep front gable… a large but plain bay window patterned with pieces of coloured glass that are held in place by leaded strips… "

Yet David is uncertain. He feels summoned by the house, but he also has some doubts about it, A mirage? A dream? A ghost house?

Fascinated and drawn by the old villa David begins regular forays into the Red Zone, meeting some of the foragers, bee-keepers and community gardeners who frequent the region.

Things begin to change for David when he encounters Agnes Bright, the elderly owner of the house, and a forthright speaker. "Are you a squatter? A vagabond? A prowler? A thief?," she demands of David, "Tell me. I’m curious to know."

Agnes doesn’t suffer fools gladly, and she has a poor opinion of young David’s manners.

"Did anyone ever tell you its rude to gawp?, " she snaps at him. Nor is she impressed by his acumen. "Your lack of knowledge in this age of ignorance doesn’t surprise me."

David wonders if Agnes is wacky and worries about his own safety but since he is also very curious about her house, he stays to listen to Agnes’s stories about life in its heyday, with boating parties coming to picnic on the river bank. "Now the land has reverted to what it was before," concludes Agnes, "Earthy and green and empty of houses. A wonderful irony don’t you think?"

There are plenty of ironies in the world David is gradually rediscovering; anomolies created by the quakes. But has he seen everything as it really is? He certainly gains a better idea of himself as he delves deeper into the mysteries surrounding the old house. The alarming list of his symptoms which David compiles at the beginning of the story is amusingly shortened by the end. David also manages to come to a better understanding of his poetry-writing sister, Amber, who resents have to ‘baby-sit’ him.

It is heart-warming to find that Ros and Jamie, two characters from Bill Nagelkerke’s first YA novel, Old Bones (2006), turn up briefly in this story. It was Ros who helped Jamie to find pleasure in boating on the Avon River and, sure enough, the loving couple who paddle up to David in their orange kayak have their own fond memories of the Red Zone to add to the mix.

The conclusion is subtly written and moving but also deeply satisfying.

Bill Nagelkerke’s mastery of words is a constant delight. The authority figures who strike alarm throughout the story are recognised as the lanyard people from the ID tags they wear. It may be the best term from this decade to enter the dictionaries.

The cheerful black and white illustrations throughout the novel by Theo Macdonald do the old house justice.

 

Trevor Agnew

 

Lost World in the City   Bill Nagelkerke

 

Lost World in the City (2025)
Bill Nagelkerke, 
Copy Press (Nelson), 
Novel, 175 pages Paperback
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 [Review 3813]

 

 

The Roar of the Lion  Bill Nagelkerke

                    

The Roar of the Lion
Bill Nagelkerke
Novel 126 pages (2025)
Paperback
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]

The Ghosts on the Hill  Bill Nagelkerke  

The Ghosts on the Hill
Bill Nagelkerke
Ill. Theo McDonald
Cuba Press (2020)
Novel, 81 pages, paperback
ISBN 978 0 995 12336 6

 

‘You can’t really blame the hills for what happened to Davie and Archie.’
,Yes, I can,, says Elsie.
This novel, like one of the writer’s earlier novels Old Bones (2006), is a gentle story of the supernatural. Elsie (12) an imaginative and observant young girl, living in the Canterbury port of Lyttelton in 1884, is fishing off the wharf. She misses the two boys, Davie and Archie, who once fished from the same wharf but later perished of exposure on the Port Hills. Her fishing friend, Mr James, tells how memorials are to be unveiled where the boys died. His wife, Mrs Annie James, was the last to see Davie and Archie alive and she feels guilt about not stopping them going over the hills when bad weather was threatening.
Elsie’s mother has gathered a bag of baby clothes for her sister, Elsie’s Aunt Priscilla who has just had a baby in Heathcoate. Despite her misgivings about the Port Hills, Elsie offers to walk over the Bridle Path to deliver the clothes.
‘I don’t want to keep on feeling scared.’
The landscape of the Port Hills, as seen by Elsie, is beautifully described.
‘A light wind ripples the tawny tussock grasses.’
Elsie has a nap on the way and dreams of the boys walking over the hills. When she awakens, it is late afternoon and clouds of mist have descended. Elsie is confused and panics. She thinks she hears the music of the patupaiarehe, the fairy folk her Maori father, Henare of Rapaki, has told her about. Then, voices from the fog calm her. Elsie recognises the voices of Archie and Davie.
‘Are you ghosts?’
‘I suppose we must be’.
They tell her that, just as Elsie had helped them, they seem to have stayed long enough to help her. They guide Elsie to safety. Later Elsie and Mrs James go to the unveiling of the memorials and find comfort in what they hear and see there.

This is a very readable junior novel, rich in detail, thought-provoking and thoroughly enjoyable.
Extracts from contemporary newspapers are included, and an Author’s Note identifies the historic characters in the story.
The simple line illustrations in the text are by Theo Macdonald.

Note: Characters from this novel also appear in other novels by Bill Nagelkerke: The Roar of the Lion (2025) and Lost World in the City (2025).

The Houdini Effect (2016)

The Houdini Effect (2016)

The Houdini Effect (2016)

Bill Nagelkerke

Print version:
Bill Nagelkerke
196 pages
ISBN 978 1 53049862 8

Electronic version:
238 pages
Smashwords US$5.00
https://www.smashwords.com/

With the world of publishing changing so rapidly, novels for young New Zealanders are becoming an endangered species. Publish-your-own and electronic publishing are two ways being used to keep the genre alive.

The Houdini Effect (2016) is both an electronic novel and a self- published novel by Bill Nagelkerke, an experienced and skilful New Zealand writer.  It is based on the continuing appeal of the intriguing career of Harry Houdini (1874-1926), who achieved world fame as a magician, illusionist and escape artist.

The narrator of the story is Athens, who is doubly burdened by her odd Christian name and the antics of her irritating young brother, Harry. Inspired by Houdini, young Harry works hard to emulate his hero, performing his magic tricks and illusions. Because their parents are pre-occupied with their own activities, Athens and Harry have plenty of scope for their own activities.

“I am an aspiring writer and writers are as bad, if not worse, liars than magicians,” complains Athens, who narrates this story. She keeps seeing odd visions in the many mirrors that hang in the old house that her family have just moved into. Images of the previous owner of the house appear and vanish, as though someone is flicking through a photo album. At first, Athens blames Harry, who often talks of ‘smoke and mirrors,’ but his interest has now moved to escapology.

“Houdini could escape from anything,” Harry declares, although his efforts with a borrowed strait-jacket always end ignominiously with Athens having to release him. To her surprise Harry enters a TV talent show, where he proposes to perform ‘the Houdini Effect, which is an escape from a chained and padlocked chest. Again, he needs Athens’ assistance. Athens is mortified to find that her role will be to ‘wave and point,’ in order to distract their audience at the crucial moment.

Even as Athens helps Harry to prepare for their public performance of the chest-escape, the strange visions in the mirrors continue to worry her. The tension is carefully maintained even as Athens frets about her relations with her friends, a possible romantic interest and

Athens is a delightful but controlling narrator, who keeps adding explanations in brackets. (‘I’m not only a word freak but also a words-in-parentheses freak.’) Through Athens' exasperated account, Bill Nagelkerke creates an amusing picture of an odd family of slightly obsessive enthusiasts, which is reminiscent of Margaret Mahy’s novels.

 There are plenty of quirky characters and witty comments as well as a satisfyingly dramatic conclusion, which brings together the television performance and the explanation of the images in the mirror. Athens waves and points with great skill, and so her readers are intrigued, delighted, and entertained by an amusing and skilfully-written novel.

Trevor Agnew
(Oct 2016)

 

Note: Both Bill Nagelkerke and Harry recommend the biography Escape!: The Story of The Great Houdini (2006) by Sid Fleischman.

NZ Young People’s Books: Best of 2012

By Trevor Agnew 

Published in Your Weekend Magazine, (The Press, Christchurch, New Zealand, Nov 2012)  

Best Books for Kiwi Youngsters: 2012

Publishing trends 2012
 

By Trevor Agnew   

2012’s most heart-warming publishing event was the return of a once famous imprint. Whitcoulls, under its new ownership, has returned to publishing with a magnificent hardback anthology of New Zealand stories and poems, Read Me Another One, Please! selected by Belynda Smith. Authors include Margaret Mahy, Roger Hall, Joy Cowley and Bill Nagelkerke. The best story is Granny Alex, by Tessa Duder, where a young woman swimmer, training for the Olympics, is encouraged by her grandmother. Satisfyingly, Tessa Duder’s beloved classic Alex (1987) is being re-issued by Whitcoulls Classics.

The darkest aspect of 2012 was undoubtedly the death of Margaret Mahy, a brilliant writer, whose high level of creative genius remains unequalled. Margaret’s unique way with language can be sampled in the new paperback edition of her collected verse, The Word Witch, which has a CD of her reading a dozen of the poems.  

Meanwhile Margaret’s prolific output means that her titles continue to appear posthumously. Footsteps in the Fog is an atmospheric celebration of the senses, with a blind girl leading her siblings to safety through dense fog. Mr Whistler is a gleeful picture book about an absent-minded

dancer who mislays his train ticket and has to undress on the station platform to find it (much to the joy of young readers). Both these books are illustrated by Gavin Bishop. It has been an excellent year for Bishop, whose Counting the Stars: Four Maori Myths has just appeared in paperback, while his 1999 masterpiece, The House that Jack Built, has been re-issued in a sumptuous hardback, a reminder of just how important good illustration and book design are.

 In November 2012, the German firm, Bertelsmann, owner of Random House, took over the British firm Pearson, owner of the various Penguin imprints. The promise is that Random House and Penguin will retain their distinct editorial identities. The concern, however, is that as the big firms swallow each other up, fewer books for young people will be produced. Ray Turton, editor of Magpies magazine, which reviews Australian and New Zealand books for young people, feels that over recent years “big publishers don’t know where their industry is going. They’ve been running round like hens with their heads cut off.” Turton warns that large corporations will always concentrate on mass-market books with larger print runs. “Everyone wants the next Hunger Games or Harry Potter.”

New Zealand has a proud tradition of small publishing firms producing high quality books for the young.  In its thirty years of existence, the tiny Wellington publishing firm of Mallinson Rendell produced only about seven titles a year, but the remarkable quality of publisher Anne Mallinson’s judgement was reflected in book prizes and export orders.  When Mallinson Rendel closed its doors in 2009, its titles were purchased by Penguin. Lynley Dodd’s menagerie of cats and dogs thus migrated to Puffin, which has just issued the witty Slinky Malinki, Early Bird. Yet, even though the future of Hairy Maclary and his friends is now assured, would such a long-running series have been brought into existence and nurtured without the support of a visionary like Anne Mallinson?

Longacre Press, the small Dunedin publisher co-founded by Paula Boock, was another small firm that punched above its weight. Taken over by Random House in 2009, Longacre still appears as an imprint on novels like James Norcliffe’s The Magic Flute, a fantasy that pitches modern Kiwi kids into Arcadia. Another Longacre title is Kate De Goldi’s The ACB with Honora Lee, the superbly-presented story of a girl coming to terms with her grandmother’s dementia.

The good news is that new ‘little’ publishers keep popping up.  Several well-designed picture books have come from the Duck Creek Press, a branch of David Ling Publishing, including the stylish That Dog at the Beach by Janene Cooper and Evie Kemp (a sequel to their award-winning A Dog Like That).

Another recent arrival, Dreamboat Press, is a husband and wife operation, based on Waiheke Island. Mark and Rowan Sommerset have only produced five picture books so far but have already won awards. Their latest, I Love Lemonade, has the slightly naughty flavour that young readers adore.

All publishers need a point of difference to survive.  Wellington’s Gecko Press has concentrated on providing English language translations of award-winning foreign titles, both non-fiction, such as the French Small and Tall Tales of Extinct Animals, by Hélène Rajcak, and fiction, such as the hilarious Swedish illustrated story The Best Singer in the World by Ulf Nilsson.

 Huia Publishers focuses on Māori titles, and their young people’s books this year include such lively war biographies as Born to Fly (about Johnny Pohe) and Victory at Point 209 (Moana Ngarimu), both illustrated by Andrew Burdan in war-comic style.  Huia also a shrewdly reversed Gecko’s technique, by producing Te Haere ki te Rapu Pea, a Maori language version of Michael Rosen’s 1989 classic, We’re All Going on a Bear Hunt, evocatively illustrated by Helen Oxenbury.

Some publishers find that series help ensuring repeat custom. Little girls adore Elizabeth Pulford’s Littlest Angel series, where Lily Gets in a Pink Pickle is the sixth volume. Kyle Mewburn’s cheerfully anachronistic Dinosaur Rescue series reached Number 7 with Scuto-Stickysaurus. Meanwhile Chris Gurney’s up-dated fairy tale, The Frog Footy Player is the 14^th in the Kiwi Corkers series.

Some publishers give books special features to encourage buyers. Jenny Cooper’s splendid picture book, Do Your Ears Hang Low?, includes a CD of the Topp Twins performing the song (as a sequel to the same team’s 2011 version of There’s a Hole in My Bucket). Pio Terei is the vocalist on the CD which comes with Stevie Mahardika’s If You’re a Kiwi and You Know It. Several books now offer stuffed toys, like Craig Smith’s Willbee the Bumblebee. The Wonky Donkey meanwhile goes one better; as well as a stuffed toy, it now offers a miracle of paper engineering, The House that Wonky Built. Junior engineers who enjoy the classic, The Little Yellow Digger by Betty and Alan Gilderdale, can now own a trace ‘n’ race excavator toy version, which comes complete with the book. There’s even The Little Yellow Digger Activity Book.

As the publishing market-place shrinks, many frustrated, would-be writers try printing and selling their own books. Some of their efforts are dire but a few are excellent, like Brent Leslie’s self-published Jock Logan and the Sea Devil, a vivid account of a lad’s seagoing encounter with Count von Luckner.  Craig (Wonky Donkey) Smith created his own company in Queenstown to publish Kaha the Kea, illustrated by Bruce Potter. Like many other publishers, Craig feels the need to bring electronic media and the printed page together. Thus purchasers of Kaha the Kea can also enjoy an animated version on their iPad or computer.

And which of this year’s books will the young readers of 2062 be reading with pleasure?  My pick is David Hill’s best novel yet, a powerful story of dissent and its consequences, My Brother’s War.  The year’s best picture book also deals with the First World War: Glyn Harper’s handsome and moving Le Quesnoy: the story of the town that New Zealand saved, illustrated by Jenny Cooper.

Trevor Agnew

November 2012  

Book list: The Best of 2012:

Le Quesnoy: the story of the town that New Zealand saved, Glyn Harper, ill Jenny Cooper, Scholastic, NZ$20

My Brother’s War, David Hill, Puffin, pb, NZ$19.99
 

The Top Two Dozen of 2012:

Slinky Malinki, Early Bird, Lynley Dodd, Puffin, hb, NZ$24.99

Mr Whistler, Margaret Mahy, ill Gavin Bishop, Gecko, hb, NZ$34.99

Kaha the Kea, Craig Smith, ill Bruce Potter, Craig Smith Publishing, pb, NZ$26

If You’re a Kiwi and You Know It, Stevie Mahardika, Scholastic, pb, NZ$21

The Little Yellow Digger Activity Book, Scholastic, pb, NZ$10

Do Your Ears Hang Low?, ill Jenny Cooper, Scholastic, pb, NZ$26

That Dog at the Beach, Janene Cooper, ill Evie Kemp, Duck Creek Press, hb, NZ$29.99

Te Haere ki te Rapu Pea, Michael Rosen, ill Helen Oxenbury, Huia Publishers, pb, NZ$20

 I Love Lemonade, Mark & Rowan Sommerset, Dreamboat Press, hb, NZ$29.99

The House that Wonky Built, ill Katz Cowley, Scholastic, hb, NZ$29

The Best Singer in the World, Ulf Nilsson, ill Eva Eriksson, Gecko, hb, NZ$34.99; pb, NZ$19.99

The Littlest Angel 6: Lily Gets in a Pink Pickle, Elizabth Pulford, Scholastic pb, NZ$12

Dinosaur Rescue 7: Scuto-Stickysaurus, Kyle Mewburn, Scholastic, pb, NZ$12

The Frog Footy Player, Chris Gurney, ill John Bennett, Scholastic, hb, NZ$18.50

Footsteps Through the Fog, Margaret Mahy, ill Gavin Bishop, Puffin, pb, NZ$20

Small and Tall Tales of Extinct Animals, Hélène Rajcak & Damien Laverdunt, Gecko, hb, NZ$37

The Word Witch, Margaret Mahy, ill. David Elliot, HarperCollins, pb, NZ$40

Read Me Another One, Please! selected by Belynda Smith & Dorothy Dudek Vinicombe, Whitcoulls, hb, NZ$29.99

Born to Fly, Julian Arahanga, ill Andrew Burdan, Huia, pb, NZ$25

Victory at Point 209, Kawata Teepa, ill Andrew Burdan, Huia, pb, NZ$25

Jock Logan and the Sea Devil, Brent Leslie, Brent Leslie Books, pb, NZ$20

The ACB with Honora Lee, Kate De Goldi, Longacre [Random House], hb, $34.99

Alex, Tessa Duder, Whitcoulls Classic, pb, NZ$19.99

The Magic Flute, James Norcliffe, Longacre [Random House], pb, NZ$19.99

South Island Children’s Librarians’ Conference 2008, Day Two

South Island Children’s Librarians’ Conference 2008, Day Two
Some Highlights
By Trevor Agnew

Day 2, Tuesday 18th March 2008:

The Rhythm and Images of Pamela Allen:
“I write and illustrate books for children who cannot read.” Using slides of some of her illustrations, Pamela Allen spoke about her work. “She’s very good at droring,” said her proud mother. Allen was a child in wartime New Zealand, at a time when a piece of paper to draw on was rare. There were few children’s books: Millie Molly Mandy, Peter Rabbit and Winnie the Pooh. After high school, she went to Elam School of Art for a 4 year degree. Married, with four children, she became involved in the play school movement and supported the Birkenhead Play Centre. “Play Centre is very important in New Zealand culture – it shares parenting and enhances parenting for the whole community.”
In the 1970s, with Jan Farr (Gareth’s mother) she created a series of small paperback books for parents to share with their children: Mummy, Do Monsters Clean their Teeth?, Mummy, How Cold is a Witch’s Nose? And Mummy, Are Giants Too Big For Their Boots?. Her illustrations used a single colour. There were only a few New Zealand books around at the time: Margaret Mahy’s Lion in the Meadow, Joy Cowley’s Duck in the Gun and Lynley Dodd’s My Cat likes to Hide in Boxes.
When the family moved to Australia in 1978, Allen asked Ann Ingram of HarperCollins for work illustrating books. Ingram suggested she write the books as well as illustrate them. Allen walked back across Sydney Harbour Bridge saying to herself, “I’m an author.” She studied Rosie’s Walk and decided that she liked the idea of a picture book where most of the story was told in pictures. “I decided Rosie’s Walk suited me.”
As she produced Mr Archimede’s Bath, she worked out her own rules about good writing. She decided to use only words that conveyed the correct meaning. They might be big words, e.g. responsibility, but they must be correct ones. The book’s first line was, “Can anyone tell me where all that water came from?” This was intended to include the reader in the book, and invited them to “be” the story.
Mr Archimede’s Bath won awards and brought her a letter from a child, “I loved your mystery book Pamela Allen.”
“There’s room in the book for you (the sharer), the child you’re reading it to, and the author. So it’s not Pamela Allen’s book any more. It’s yours. It’s the child’s. I envisage the book read aloud.”

Allen read Simon Said. Then she read Fancy That, and talked about its “voice’. Small children get their information through different conduits to adults. It’s not the language but the tone of the voice, the expressions of the face and so on, that they use. So Pamela Allen can reach little children through the pictures of her book, and also through the voice (more than the language) of her book. She used the example of little red hen in Fancy That and the importance of repetition. “Took, took, took,” is the cry of the little red hen. She read it to applause.

“My prime point was to connect to a small child.” Then Allen talked about Mr McGee and the Biting Flea. She showed her rough sketches, which she calls ‘mapping the book’ rather than a storyboard. She uses a ring-binder with 32 sketch-pad pages. She worked out the story – based on a friend’s child being bitten by a mosquito – with the beach-house, the bites and the flea. “It all started there and developed.” Rhyming words like flea, sea and flee were used. She makes up dummies of each book, photocopies them and sends them to her publisher.

She also showed us how she spaces out words to control the speed of the story. E.g. she uses gaps to slow events down.

Bertie and the Bear is a particularly good book for showing the use of noises, sounds, etc, to convey the message in a story. “Pom. Pom.” The Kansas State Reading Circle wrote in 1984 to Pamela Allen’s editor complaining about Bertie and the Bear. They had ‘detected errors’ on the last three pages and didn’t understand ‘danced after the bear.’ They criticised the use of a colon rather than a semi-colon, and expressed doubts over the use of “Pom. Pom.” The author of the letter, E. Pauline Means, wrote that one meaning of ‘pom pom girl’ is ‘a prostitute.’ Pamela Allen replied, “My little child knows what “Pom. Pom.” means. It’s the end of the book!”

She also received criticism over Mr McGee having a penis in one picture. “An insignificant flick of the pen,” was her comment. Pamela Allen sees Mr McGee as being the same age as the 3 year old reading the book.

Once Upon a Time: telling tales before school:
Liz Weir told us that Rhythm, Rhyme and Repetition are the three Rs of pre-school education. She used her mandolin and some perky songs to explain how to tell stories to children. Her closing instruction: “Keep it simple, seweetie!” Good advice.


Tales for Tamariki: bilingual storytimes:
Aurelia Arona and Rona Fatuleai of Christchurch City Libraries then spoke on their experiences in bilingual storytime, using English, Samoan and Maori examples.



Moving to Learn:
They were followed by Gill Connell, Early Childhood Educator talking about Moving to Learn: making the connection between movement, music, learning and play (from birth to 3 years). It was interesting to see the interflow of ideas between these two sessions. For example 3 year olds can’t do the finger movements for Incie-Wincie Spider but they can do the hand and body movements. We also learned about the value of letting babies have plenty of floor time and movement.

Lost and found in Translation:
After lunch Bill Nagelkerke (a writer who also translates books) introduced Julia Marshall who set up Gecko Press in 2004 to publish good foreign titles for children in English. “What an amazing and brave thing to do,” said Nagelkerke, who used skilful questions to create a lively discussion of translated publications.
Julia Marshall described the origin of Gecko Press as “a happy mixture of coincidences”. She worked in Sweden for twelve years as a journalist on multi-language magazines. Back in New Zealand she worked in publishing with Bridget Williams, before returning to Sweden. There she had the idea of publishing English translations when she found that Can You Whistle, Johanna? by Ulf Stark had been published in twenty-five languages - but not in English.
“That seems odd.”
“Not odd but normal,” said a Swedish publisher.
Julia Marshall did the translation into English herself and Can You Whistle, Johanna? was an early Gecko Press success.

When she went to the Bologna Children’s Book fair, she found that publishers were excited about getting an English language edition of their books. The challenges she faced were those of setting up a new business. She had the benefit of not knowing what she was letting herself in for.
She held up a copy of Donkeys, by Adelheid Dahimène, illustrated by Heide Stöllinger, and translated by Catherine Chidgey – now a popular silver wedding present in New Zealand. The conference audience all said, “Aaaah!” The Austrian publisher of Donkeys said Marshall didn’t have to pay in advance. There was lots of goodwill, but she was also warned that she had little chance of making a profit. Very few books are being translated into English; this is especially so with children’s books.

Julia Marshall gave her rules for the books she chooses to have translated.
1. Look for award-winners, especially children’s choice winners. (But note that some winners are weird.)
2. Ask yourself: “Would I hate it if someone else published this book?”
3. Does it have heart? She likes books that contain feelings.

Of the international publishing scene, Marshall said that the Australians are easing off on picture books, which suits her; she’ll fill the gap. Overseas, they have blockbusters just as here, but they also have their well-written steady sellers. When visiting schools, she always asks children if Gecko books, like Who’s Driving? are New Zealand books and the kids always say ‘No’. She particularly likes Swedish books because they are always written in the voice of the child.

“A bad translation is like looking through a dirty window. With a good translation, you don’t even know the window is there.” – Julia Marshall.

Should the names of characters be changed in translations? Marshall outlined the case for and against. She also discussed the merits of moving from a literal translation to a freer translation which captures the spirit of the story. For example, in translating I am the King, by the Belgian author-illustrator Leo Timmers, Bill Nagelkerke’s choice was between a blue car and a blue limousine. The final choice was limousine “because it is such a lovely word.” In the same author’s Who’s driving?, the Belgian jeep makes a Belgian sound – chuck, while the fire engine’s noise was translated to a New Zealand type sound.
Gecko has published one book by locals: Snake and Lizard, written by Joy Cowley. Julia Marshall raised a good laugh when she asked the audience, “Who illustrated Snake and Lizard?” A loud shout came from a side row, “I did!” Gavin Bishop was in the audience.

Eye Magic: storytelling in another dimension:
The next speaker, Gavin Bishop, used videos to demonstrate the features of 3-D interactive electronic books. He wrote and illustrated the world’s first: The Giant Jimmy Jones in 2003, with Eye Magic. The video showed how the system works, with a computer holding a range of 3-D images. Each page of the book has a marker which triggers the software to release about a minute’s worth of computer animation. All the characters were originally sketched in detail, with all dimensions, etc and then modelled for the computer by One Glass Eye Co. He created colour swatches for the characters’ clothes and other features. These were then scanned and used to cover the skeleton figures. When ‘pasted on’ they looked just like Bishop’s original water-colours.
Now Bishop is working on a second book, an electronic version of his House That Jack Built (Scholastic NZ, 1999). Its full title is THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT: BEING the ACCOUNT of JACK BULL Esq. who SAILED from these SHORES to a LAND FAR AWAY to LIVE there and TRADE with the NATIVES of that said land 12th DAY of SEPTEMBER 1798.
We were given a glimpse of the electronic 3-D version, with specific sounds linked to such features as horse, cat, dog, church bells and whales. In this book, the markers are worked into the pictures as electronic cues. The house and the church can be opened-up and examined inside and out. Again the great surprise for the reader/viewer is seeing the picture rear up and become three-dimensional. The work continues.

Children’s Literature in Film:
Dr Anna Smith of the University of Canterbury, a lecturer on children’s literature, gave an illustrated talk on the relationship between some children’s books and the films made from them. She discussed selecting the book to be filmed, the scriptwriting process, deciding on images, the cutting and editing, as well as the later marketing. All this is the framing of the story.
“What does ideology have to do with children’s film?”
“Nothing is free of ideology, not even the film critic.”
Children’s classics have become commodities in the global economy. Dr Smith compared the BBC version of The Borrowers to the US-made movie version. She also looked at treatments of Tom’s Midnight Garden, by Philippa Pearce, a 1921 Disney Laugh-o-Gram cartoon version of Cinderella. Films like Wind in the Willows and Mrs Doubtfire often seek dual audiences for children’s films, so they can be watched by adults as well as children. Time constraints left many in the audience wanting more; they may have to enrol for a paper in the children’s literature course.

Bob’s Books:
Bob Docherty of the National Library's Christchurch branch, [and a regular book reviewer on National Library's Create readers blog] finished the conference by speaking with passion and enthusiasm about the good books available now for young people. “The best writing in the world is being done for children’s books.”


“Conference ends, and all the librarians live busily ever after.” – Louise Easter


These notes on The South Island Children’s Librarians’ Conference, March 17-18th 2008, held at the Copthorne Hotel, Durham Street, Christchurch, New Zealand, were made by Trevor Agnew.

Please feel free to post corrections or clarifications.

The next South Island Children’s Librarians’ Conference will be held
in Greymouth on the 5-6 March 2009. A real West Coast welcome is promised.

Action, emotions and history for teens

Playing for Keeps Denis Martin, Puffin, 172 pages, paperback, $17.95.
ISBN 0-14-330305-3
Hideout Lorraine Orman, Longacre, 223 pages, paperback, $18.99
ISBN 1 877361 81 4
Sitting on the Fence: The Diary of Martin Daly, Christchurch, 1981 Bill Nagelkerke, Scholastic (My Story series), 215 pages, paperback, $16.99
ISBN 1 86943 748 0

Three Good Teen Novels

These three novels indicate the wide range now available for New Zealand teenage readers: an action thriller, an emotional crisis and a pivotal moment in history. The common factor is that all are well written.
“A raw-edged fireball seared upwards from the marina, black smoke curling away from its centre.” Denis Martin has a flair for creating fast-moving thrillers where Kiwi teenagers find themselves unexpectedly confronted by menacing situations. Like his first novel Face It (2006), Playing For Keeps is set in the Marlborough Sounds, where young Rikkers enjoys fishing trips with Old Charlie. Rikkers is attracted to Pip, a new girl on his school bus, but her father’s unexplained death in a fishing boat explosion makes him aware of the danger that faces her. A drug deal gone wrong means that some very unpleasant people are seeking answers, and soon Rikkers and his friends face violence and the threat of death. The characters are well-sketched, there are nice touches of humour, the tension builds up well and the story fits comfortably into the familiar but suddenly threatening landscape. Give it to a male who thinks he doesn’t like reading.

“Big sister Roz knew what was best for her. Duh. How wrong can you be?” Hideout, Lorraine Orman’s latest novel for older teens, is a skilful first person narrative where impetuous actions lead to major upheavals and a heart-warming discovery. When Roz (15) realises that her mother’s boyfriend has begun making sexual approaches to her young sister Dawn, she moves fast. She sweeps Dawn away from their alcoholic mother, to hide out in an empty holiday house in Pukerua Bay, where Roz hopes that they can work out what to do next. Although Roz’s intentions are excellent, her plans soon unravel and she has to face up to hard realities. Help comes from an unexpected quarter and what at first appeared to be loose strands in the plot tie themselves up very convincingly.
Orman avoids clichés and makes it clear that there are no quick solutions to complex emotional problems; the support of family and friends prove vital. Landscape is important in this novel and so is the power of telling stories, so that Kapiti Island almost becomes a character. This one is for teens interested in people and how they feel.

“My big sister…was one of the people who proposed the idea, once the rally was over, to occupy Latimer Square and declare an independent No Tour State.” Sitting on the Fence by Bill Nagelkerke is a novel written as a diary of events in 1981, the turbulent year when both a pope and a US president were shot and the Springbok Rugby Tour divided our nation. Martin Daly’s Christchurch family is divided too. His rugby fanatic father thinks all protestors are communists; his older sister Sarah is strongly opposed to the tour and his mother has gone strangely quiet. Martin, observant but uncertain, is accused of sitting on the fence but a new school friend, Pete, a member of HART (Halt All Racist Tours), soon has him painting banners. Martin’s diary records his shift from observer to participant to committed protestor: “We can’t move back any further. We watch the blur of batons coming down.” There are fascinating details of events and attitudes in Christchurch and beyond, supplemented by photographs and posters. Martin’s diary may be fiction but it brings to life the year that changed New Zealand forever.

This review by Trevor Agnew was first published in The Press, Christchurch, New Zealand on 14th April 2007.

Old Bones

OLD BONES Bill Nagelkerke

OLD BONES 
 Bill Nagelkerke  
Scholastic (2006)
219 pages, paperback 
ISBN 1-86943-725-X

Old Bones is a completely different and very impressive fantasy novel, set in Christchurch. It uses a skilful double narrative to bring together a present-day boy, Jamie Clarke, reluctantly moving to a riverside suburb and Charlie Patterson, a seventeen year old farm boy who drowned in the Avon eighty years ago. Their meeting place is the former farm-house, Cloverly, where Charlie’s spirit settles in God’s Eye, the witch’s-hat tower above his old bedroom which later becomes Jamie’s room.

Jamie hates rivers, having seen the family farm destroyed by three consecutive floods. He also resents his father’s new (and pregnant) partner Sue. Even though he draws up a huge list of grievances, Jamie is actually an agreeable and positive boy and he soon becomes intrigued by Cloverly’s unusual history and by Marion, an old lady who lives next door. He even finds himself persuaded by young Ros to come rowing on the river with her.

Charlie’s spirit, meanwhile, has been active and the reader gradually realises that this is a love story rather than a ghost story. Jamie and Ros find themselves recruited to help Charlie in a way neither of them had expected, making an exciting boat trip during a dangerous storm. “Water raced from the tunnel mouths. It would meet the boat head on and swing it round in a vortex. They’d overturn. Be swallowed by the water. Drown.” The river, seen both as a threat and as a source of life, is a recurring theme in this story. The ending skilfully allows readers to draw their own conclusions and assemble their own version of events.
Already well established as a writer for young people, Christchurch author Bill Nagelkerke has excelled himself here.

Trevor Agnew