Keith Goes Glam  Elaine Bickell

                                                                                         

Keith Goes Glam
Elaine Bickell
Ill. Minky Stapleton
Scholastic (2026)
Picture book
24 pages, Paperback
ISBN 978 1 77543 976 9

  

Keith Goes Glam is a companion volume to Keith and the Kitten (2025). Keith is a self-centred chihuahua, whose life is made miserable when his owner, known as Mama, acquires a feline named Queenie. Mama assumes the pair will get on like a brother and sister – which shows that she knows nothing about sibling rivalry. Keith and Queenie fight like cats and dogs. Keith Goes Glam sees the conflict spread into the world of canine fashion!

‘Their Mama loved dressing her little Keith up.
Queenie cat teased, “What a widdle pup.”’

 Elaine Bickell tells the story in cute rhyming couplets, which are neatly matched by the beyond-cute illustrations of the amazingly amusing Minky Stapleton.  A clever montage shows Mama taking a series of fashion shots of Keith in different outfits she has purchased for him. Pom-pom, bows and a top hat are key elements along with a double helping of sequins and pearls. His expressions in the photos are priceless. Queenie loves every moment of Keith’s chagrin.

‘Mama’s big weakness was sparkly clothes,
glittery booties and collars and bows.’

 Worse follows when Mama buys a hot-pink carry-bag for her dog. It matches her hot-pink shoes and goes nicely with the hot-pink bow Keith is forced to wear. With his head sticking out of the bag, Keith is a picture of canine fury and embarrassment, as Mama carries him up the street.

‘Down at the shops, he was patted and poked.
“Awww, he’s adorable,” everyone joked.’

 Then Keith sees his chance to get his revenge on the smirking Queenie. A shop is offering ‘a double pet bag, just perfect for two.’ With lots of barking and yapping he draws Mama’s attention to it. She buys the glittery golden backpack model. (And Keith gets a matching glittery gold ribbon, collar and K badge!) Keith is delighted because Queenie is about to find herself being carted around in the bag. Several pictures shows him smirking at the prospect of his revenge.

 

Into the bag goes Queenie and, too late, Keith realises his mistake.

‘”Uh-oh,” said Keith. He’d not thought of that.’

Young readers will have spotted the drawback in Keith’s cunning scheme long before Keith did and will enjoy the final pages even more. A thoroughly unhappy ending is had by all.

 

Trevor Agnew
23 July 2026  [Review 3854.]

 

 

 

 

Dawn Raid: The Apology

 

Dawn Raid: The Apology                            

Pauline (Vaeluaga) Smith
with Brooklyn Taylor
Ill. Minky Stapleton
My New Zealand Story series
Scholastic (2026)
Novel, 168 pages
Paperback
ISBN 978 1 77543 981 3

  

“I thought diary writing was going to be boring but so far it’s been okay.’ 

Jeremy McRae starts writing his diary in Invercargill in March 2020 as a school exercise but he quickly finds it a pleasure. ‘My grandmother Sofia (a.k.a. Granfia) always talks about the importance of keeping a record of our experience.’ Jeremy finds plenty to record because the Covid-19 epidemic has just reached New Zealand. Dawn Raid: the Apology, the latest addition to the My New Zealand Story series, thus records not one but two key events in our recent history.

 Covid becomes personal for Jeremy when Southland cases are reported and one of the infected men has children at Jeremy’s school. The next few pages give a vivid account of how the Covid lockdown changed people’s lives, especially when Mum has to have a test. Jeremy gives each day’s entry its own heading and two of them really hit home: PANIC! and LOCKDOWN!. Jeremy’s parents decide they will all move in with Granfia and Grandpa in their ten-acre block, just out of Invercargill, forming a larger family ‘bubble’ for the next four weeks.

 It is against the background of the lockdown that the diary now takes a fascinating turn. Jeremy helps Granfia to bring some stored boxes down from the loft, for sorting in the garage. ‘Old people collect A LOT of stuff,’ Jeremy writes, promising himself that he’ll never ask his grandkids to eat so much dust. ‘We got sidetracked with boxes of photos.’ Mullet hairdos, crocheted tank tops, Chrysler Valiants, go-go boots and other artefacts of the 1970s appear in the photos, along with a picture of people protesting.

 ‘Granfia pointed to a young girl and very casually said, “That’s me.” Wow. She was famous.’

 As Jeremy brings down more boxes, he finds that ‘Granfia really does get more interesting each day.’ He gets a crash course from Sofia in protest movements, including Bastion Point, the Springbok Tour and the Dawn Raids. The kids have heard about the Dawn Raids at school but Sofia surprises them all by reading aloud, from her 1976 diary, the account of her father and uncles being arrested. This is a jaw-dropping moment for readers who suddenly work out that Granfia is short for Grandma Sofia, who was Sofia Savea, the 13-year-old protestor hero of Dawn Raid (2018).

  Just as she did in the original novel, Dawn Raid, author Pauline (Vaeluaga) Smith, creates a lively family atmosphere, even in the claustrophobic days of the Covid lockdown. Every page of Jeremy’s diary is fascinating. His teacher notes, when she assesses his efforts, that each entry records, ‘vivid details that create clear images in the mind of the reader.’

 Communication was important during the lockdown and so Jeremy’s friends text him, Granfia learns to use Snapchat and Auckland Aunts Nina and Alice use Face Time to help judge the family’s cooking competition. The most interesting link-up is when Granfia talks to the early members of the Polynesian Panthers about their plans to mark the fiftieth anniversary of their movement.  And Jeremy is allowed to sit in.  ‘I expected them all to be in their berets and leather jackets, but they were just in regular clothes like trackpants and sweatshirts.’

This culminates in the truly moving public ceremony, so aptly described in the title: The Apology.

 The striking cover portrait of Jeremy McRae, with its dramatic background using traditional Samoan designs, is by Minky Stapleton. It is also a neat companion to Minky Stapleton’s portrait of Jeremy’s grandmother, Sofia Savea, on the cover of Dawn Raid (2018).

As usual with the My New Zealand Story series, there is a lively and useful Historical Note at the end of the story, including contemporary photographs and a truculent letter from Robert Muldoon. More palatably, Granfia’s Famous Recipe for brandy snaps is also included.

 

Note: Co-author Brooklyn Taylor is Pauline Smith’s grandson. The publishers note that both ‘Pauline and Brooklyn found hanging out together to learn, research and create this book, side by side, a deeply enriching experience.’

Young readers and adult readers alike will find that entering this book is also a deeply enriching experience.

 

Trevor Agnew
10 June 2026  [Review 3844]

Dawn Raid 
Pauline (Vaeluaga) Smith

Review by Trevor Agnew 
in Magpies magazine, May 2018

Dawn Raid (2018)
Pauline (Vaeluaga) Smith                            

Scholastic NZ
My NZ Story series
Paperback
ISBN 978 1 77543 475 7   

 

I find myself in the embarrassing position of reviewing a historical novel, which deals with a period that I remember. Those two words ‘dawn raid’ have a grim resonance for those of us who lived through the period of the overstayer controversy. The novel Dawn Raid is the latest in Scholastic’s My New Zealand Story series, so it has the familiar format of a diary kept by an observant teenager during interesting times.

 

The first thing to be said about Dawn Raid is that, despite its serious theme, it is an enjoyably amusing family story. Sofia Savea is a lively enthusiastic person, who writes with verve about her family, particularly her disaster-prone younger brothers, Ethan and Tavita. Her diary begins in June 1976 on her thirteenth birthday, when the big news is the opening of New Zealand’s first Macdonald’s in Porirua.

 

It was certainly a different age. Sofia’s milk delivery job means she can buy View-Master reels and go-go boots, and she pays little attention to the developing tension over unemployment rates and overstayers. Sofia looks up to her older brother Lenny (17) and is impressed by his school speech about the Hikoi and Maori land rights.  Interestingly it is Lenny’s friend Rawiri who first expresses concern about the rights of Pacific Islanders and dawn raids by police.  (“Me and Lily didn’t know what they were talking about,” writes Sofia, although she soon learns more.) The connection between Maori and Pacific Island communities’ response to these civil rights issues is well brought out.

 

Another strong feature is that the characters also learn from experience and develop in the course of the story. This includes Sofia’s hard-working Samoan-born father, Siaosi, who is rigidly authoritarian and has trouble accepting Lenny’s involvement with the Polynesian Panther movement. The cleverest change of attitude comes when Sofia encounters racial hostility from a classmate, Charlotte. Circumstances force the pair together, producing not only embarrassment and some fine comedy but also a mutual understanding.

 

While Sofia is ebullient in her diary, she finds making a speech at school is an ordeal but one of the pleasures of Dawn Raid is watching her rise to the challenge, so that her final speech becomes a rousing appeal for fair treatment of Islanders.

 

For the cover, Minky Stapleton has created an attractive and colourful portrait of a smiling Sofia, showing her surrounded by symbols – milk bottles, placards, white go-go boots – which make sense after you’ve read Sofia’s story. The cover style is very different from the others in the My New Zealand Story series and I hope it attracts readers.

 

Although only four contemporary photos are provided – surely there must be more images available - the author’s Historical Notes are well detailed, drawing connections to real people encountered in Sofia’s story. (Even Che Fu makes a guest appearance as a baby.)

 Some may be surprised by the attitudes shown by the police in the story but the situations depicted are based on real events. At the time Police Chief Superintendent Berriman declared, “Anyone who speaks with a non-New Zealand accent must arouse some query or suspicion.”

 Pauline Vaeluaga Smith has given a new generation an insight into a controversial and shameful period of our past – and she has done it with humour and compassion.

 

 This review first published in Magpies Magazine, May 2018

Trevor Agnew  Christchurch 

 

 

The Terrible Trio: The Mystery of the Lost Cape                                                                               

    
Swapna Haddow
Ill. Minky Stapleton
Scholastic (2026)
Graphic novel, 192 pages                                            

Paperback
ISBN 978 1 77543 901 1

 

We’re three volumes into The Terrible Trio series 
and I hadn’t noticed that the animal superheroes 
all wear capes when they come to the rescue. Yes, there they are: super-spoonbills saving overturned turtles, super-giraffes rescuing kittens from eagles, and super-pythons capturing bank-robbing capybaras. All those heroes wear capes at work.

Yet, our superheroes, Zeb the zebra, Barry the lemur and Margarine the penguin, are never seen wearing capes. Of course, they were right at the back of the queue when the superpowers were handed out. This means, rather disappointingly, that Zeb can camouflage himself on pedestrian crossings, Marge can make mac ‘n’ cheese, and Barry has nice handwriting. Perhaps they don’t need capes.

 

As Swapna Haddow’s latest chronicle of their adventures (and misadventures) begins, the trio are tidying- up at their mac ‘n’ cheese restaurant. The Lost Property Box poses a challenge; most of its contents seem to be Zeb’s rubber ducks. This results in the usual weird conversation which is a cheerful feature of The Terrible Trio:

Barry: ‘Your rubber duck is called Chick Chick?’

Zeb: ‘Yup.’

Barry: ‘You didn’t want to name your rubber duck DUCK DUCK?’

Zeb: ‘Nope. His name is Chick Chick. Marge helped me name him.

 

Barry finds a cape in the lost property and tries it on. He floats to the ceiling. He unties it and falls to the floor. A terrible temptation overcomes Barry. Soon reports are coming in of a masked crusader who has outwitted an entire wolf gang of bullion robbers.

Barry wears swimming goggles to keep the flies out of his eyes, so his friends don’t recognise him as he appears on the TV news using his super-skills to create life-saving notice-boards. Even as the Masked Crusader becomes a cult hero, Zeb is wondering about a very large emu who is offering a very large reward for a missing flying cape.

What follows is comic mayhem, especially when the emu is revealed to have a second super power, in her ability to kick bottoms.

 Swapna Haddow’s secret super-power is writing crazy conversations but she has the additional ability to construct running gags that recur throughout a story, ensuring a good time is had by all readers.

Minky Stapleton’s super-power is creating animal illustrations that show a flying lemur finding a way to rescue a sky-diving elephant who has become hooked on a steeple – and making us believe it could really happen.

 The Terrible Trio series is proof that humour is alive and well and living in New Zealand.

The series so far:

The Terrible Trio: the (not so) Superheroes (2025)
The Terrible Trio: the Day the Mac ‘n’ Cheese ran out (2025)
The Terrible Trio: the Mystery of the Lost Cape (2026)

Teaching Notes are at: the-terrible-trio_teacher-notes_final.pdf

Trevor Agnew

10 June 2026  [Review 3843]

 

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.  Check this photo for a few of her titles.

 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] 

The Grumpy Mole gets a Digger John Evan Harris Minky Stapleton Author: John Evan Harris. Illustrator: Minky Stapleton. Roiall Emerald Publishers (2025) 32 pages, Paperback ISBN 978 0 47373 080 2

The Grumpy Mole gets a Digger. ‘The mole had his friends come to afternoon tea, fairies and butterflies, beetle and bee.’ The main character of The Grumpy Mole (2024) is now the ‘once grumpy mole’ which is why he is cheerfully hosting afternoon tea for the fairies, mice, elves, butterflies and beetles who are his forest neighbours. Mole’s underground home proves too small for the crowd and some fairy folk have to sit on the bed to eat their cake, Out shopping later, Mole is amazed to see a big yellow digger for sale. He saves up in his piggy bank and then rushes to buy the digger. Brushing aside the sales-squirrel’s offer of driving lessons, Mole sets off home in the digger, ‘Driving a digger. How hard can it be?’ Of course, the short-sighted Mole is soon in trouble with his digger, much to the alarm of the fleeing forest folk. ‘Stop! Please – don’t dig any more!’ they shout. The chaos which follows Mole’s attempt to enlarge his burrow is very amusing, as his tiny friends scatter from around the rapidly growing hole. Then a beetle is trapped and Mole finds that his old reliable claws are more trustworthy than his digger. ‘What a wonder to watch as his claws dug the clay. The fairies cried out with a “Hip Hip Hooray!”’ The text is well set out and readable, especially the Mole’s cry of ’GROOAAR!’ Minky Stapleton has not only provided the colour illustrations but she has also designed the book. The resulting fantasy forest world is beautifully realised. A mouse wears a fair-isle pullover and spectacles, beetles have backpacks and the centipede can carry two cakes in his four hands. Tiny details are always fascinating, so sharp-eyed young readers will spot the portrait of Mole’s mother on his wall, not to mention the fob watch in his waistcoat pocket. When Mole first lays eyes on the big yellow digger, his pupils become heart symbols. The Grumpy Mole gets a Digger is one to read (and sometimes SHOUT) aloud. Trevor Agnew, 20 October 2025. (Review 3810)

The Great Aotearoa Puzzle Book

 

The Great Aotearoa Puzzle Book

Barbara Telfer, ill. Minky Stapleton

Scholastic, 96 pages, paperback

ISBN 978 1 77543 659 1

 

This is a lively little book which deserves to be a birthday bonus or a stocking-stuffer at Christmas. 

Barbara Telfer has created 96 pages of interesting questions all related to New Zealand, with a cheerful emphasis on native plants and animals, familiar places and faces, and traditional Māori culture. Anagrams and code-crackers abound. Kiwi general knowledge is well tested and you’ll be surprised at how much te reo you have at your fingertips. 

Some of the questions are hilarious. I had no idea that the LINE that runs across Gisborne’s airfield is the RAILWAY!

Minky Stapleton has done a superb job of creating attractive framework illustrations for the various puzzles. The result is simply enjoyable good fun.  

Trevor Agnew

 1 Sep 2020