![]() ![]() She has also illustrated BatKiwi stories and Matariki Around the World for Scholastic. She specialises in symbolism and metaphor, and her work is influenced by mythology and folk tales, botanical illustrations and life experience. Isobel Joy Te Aho-White is a freelance graphic artist and illustrator of Māori (Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Kahungungu ke te Wairoa), British and Danish ancestry. Next year begins the illustration stage of this project! Please enjoy my depiction of a plot sandwich to tide you over. The series will be based around pūrākau māori of natural landforms in Aotearoa and I worked under the guidance of my kaumātua Darren Rewi to write a collection of short stories that I’m really proud of. My review of Patu: The New Zealand Wars (Penguin)Ģ023 was a year of breakthroughs for me – I’ve been illustrating books for a few years now, but this year I got a publishing deal with Hodder Education in the UK to write(!) my first book. The University of Canterbury, presented him with an HONORARY DOCTORATE in Education in 2016.He has recently been nominated for the 2024 Hans Christian Anderson Award, the highest award for Children’s Literature in the world. In 2018 he was awarded the TE TOHU A TA KINGI IHAKA for a lifetime contribution to Maori Art and culture and in 2019 THE PRIME MINISTER’S AWARD for Literacy Achievement. has won Best NZ Children’s Book of the Year five times, Best Illustrated Children’s Book of the Year five times and Best Non Fiction Children’s Book of the Year three times. He is ready for them and manages to send them on their way by using a variety of monster-conquering techniques made famous by well-known fairy tales. They are nasty and mean but they are not a match for our hero. They all arrive to destroy a small boy’s world. GOTCHA was published in 2022 and it features three monsters, the Hairball, the Stinkwart and the Creeper. They are funny, inventive and subversive with flaps and pull-tabs and interactive surprises – an illustrator’s dream job. They are everything you could possibly want from a big picture book. The other two I have are called THE HOUSE OF MADAME M and INSIDE THE VILLIANS and were first published in French but are now available in English from Gecko Press. I love them. It is another in a series of big picture books by Clotilde Perrin. That is what is says on the cover and it is true. GOTCHA is a funny fairy tale hide-and-seek book’. I have also included two poems from my November challenge (Earth Poems) because the poetry voices of children are so precious. I commissioned two keen young artists, Max and Oscar (aged 12) to create illustrations inspired by 2023 for the feature. Thank you! Such joy to receive your awesome mahi. Such a wealth of publications in 2023, I still have a pile of inviting children’s books I haven’t yet read and reviewed! Our booksellers have been promoting local books, also with dedication and aroha. Our local publishers are publishing books with dedication and aroha. And I still have a pile of inviting books I haven’t yet read and reviewed! I have adored all these new books and illustrations by the Postcard contributors and wish I could sit in a cafe and enthuse and share the supreme joy of reading them with you – but you can read my reviews via the attached links. I suggested they could celebrate or bemoan anything – the space was theirs to fill, in whatever way they liked. I invited authors and illustrators who have inspired and solaced me with new books to write a 2023 postcard. To celebrate the outstanding children’s books that I have read and reviewed on Poetry Box, I have assembled Postcards 2023. Thirdly, Selina Tusitala Marsh’s magnificent Wot Knot You Got? Mophead’s Guide to Life (AUP) is an interactive book, a knot guide, a life guide, even a writing guide. Secondly, local author Raymond McGrath’s Big Little Blue – Rocky Botto ms! (Scholastic) is a little bit hide-and-seek philosophy, a big bit story, with a healthy dose of real, a hearty dose of imagination and a seasoning of humour ( review). Three favourites I reviewed not featured below: Firstly, Begin Again (HarperCollins) by Oliver Jeffers is a glorious heartwarming book of HOPE ( review). So many stellar books do this in creative and inspired ways. This year I’ve been drawn to children’s books that explore human values, questioning and strengthening who and how we are, opening windows onto the past, present and future. ![]() No matter how old or young we are, children’s books are taonga. They might draw upon reality, experience, imagination. ![]() They can advance both reluctant and sophisticated readers. They might challenge, generate hope, belly laughs, word delight. I strongly believe in the power and scope of children’s books to deliver entertainment, offer humour and mystery, sadness and joy. Children’s books that have lifted me out of the mundane, and at times the weight of the world. 2023 has served a dazzling array of children’s books published in Aotearoa. ![]()
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