Young son spurs artist’s new tale
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Sparrow Fart By Samantha Laurgesen, illustrated by Scott Tulloch, Luke the Pook Press, $19.95 .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
When Tom wakes up yawning his Nan says he's tired because he woke up at “sparrow fart”. This leads to so many questions for Tom
— what is a sparrow and what does their fart sound like? So when he's supposed to be sleeping he goes in search of a farting sparrow. Great illustrations from Scott Tulloch and a funny ending by author Samantha Laurgesen. This is a great bedtime book that will get the grandsons giggling.
— Ann Kilduff
The Little Yellow Digger Finds Treasure By Peter Gilderdale and Fifi Colsom, Scholastic, $21.99 .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
The Little Yellow Digger is on the beach to help out a truck stuck in the sand.
When it's finally freed there's an unexpected surprise — buried treasure. What will it contain?
This is the fourth Little Yellow Digger book written by Peter Gilderdale, following on from his late mother Betty's series. Nice little Kiwi story and setting. The illustrations are bright and detailed, with plenty for children to look at and pick out. Loved the ginger cat and driver's dog, up to mischief in most scenes.
— Ann Kilduff
Wildlife of Aotearoa Colouring Book By Gavin Bishop, Penguin, $12.99 .. .. .. .. .. ..
This colouring in book features children's book author and artist Gavin
Bishop's detailed wildlife illustrations.
Starting from the sea,
Tangaroa's World, it travels through to the sand dunes and Tane's
World covering our country. Nice for any artistic nature lovers. — Ann Kilduff rom Donald Duck to The Lord of the Rings, Dylan Coburn has been a professional artist since 1995. Drawing storyboards for some of the largest film/tv productions on the planet, illustrating over 30 children's publications, making award-winning original animated and live-action films, and now, writing and drawing his own picture book, Boingo and the Golden Balloon.
We asked him some questions: Tell us about your background — Ever since I can remember I've had a pencil in my hand, drawing. I followed that passion and have been working as a professional artist for 28 years in the film and in publishing industries. Throughout this time I've also worked hard on the craft of writing and it feels great after all this time, to be releasing my first book.
How is it working on major films? Films are incredible collaborative efforts, and every project is always different. The key thread for me is my responsibility tell the story visually and making that experience as rich as possible for the viewer. Every scene has infinite possibilities for how to play it, so designing the visual narrative is always an extremely creative job. However, it's never easy — but as the saying goes, if art is easy then you're doing it wrong.
What inspired you to write and illustrate your first book? The picture book medium has always been one of my favourites. Working as an illustrator was enough for a while, but eventually I knew that I had to do my own book rather than illustrate other people's manuscripts. A successful fusion of words and pictures needs a back and forth between those elements throughout the crafting of the book to make the book the best it can be. I knew I could do that well, so I needed to make it happen. Why did you create
? My son had just started school, so for the 5 years preceding we had been discovering some of the very best books together, every single night we'd read together. Within the pages of our favourite books we found a peaceful sense of joy, a genuine empathy with the needs of little kids, and often opportunities to learn new things without pressure. The desire to create this feeling in a book of my own was the main inspiration for creating the story of The Golden Balloon, and eventually the character of Boingo.
How long did it take you to create
The first draft manuscript of The Golden Balloon was done in 2017. Boingo and the Golden Balloon was completed in June, 2022.
What do you hope people take away from the book? The last page is the best page. The kids will love it for its mischief, and it should get a good laugh. Laughter and joy is the main take away! Understanding the concept of adding numbers 1-5, and the theme that the journey can be more rewarding than achieving the goal, is nice to have — but secondary in importance to laughter and joy.
Tell us what you are currently working on — I'm writing Boingo animated shorts. It's going well, very much in the style of the Sesame Street shorts — super useful for toddlers and preschoolers to spend time with Boingo, to learn and have fun, and doesn't demand a whole lot of screen time or long bouts of their attention. The shorts are punchy, simple, clean concepts for wee ones to sponge up and store it in their incredible brains and move on.
What is next on the horizon? I expect to have a solid concept ready for a new Boingo book very soon . . . currently at the conceptual stage on a few ideas.
The Crate By James Norcliffe, Quentin Wilson Publishing, $27.50 .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
Daniel and Amy are staying at their granddad's bach with their dad and cousin Jack. Then a mysterious deliveryman arrives with a crate. Told not to open it by their dad, of course the trio do open it to find — nothing, except a bit of weed from the lake. Then later that night there's a stranger and wet footprints leading to the crate. It's the start of a puzzle they and another teen from the area struggle to unravel. This ghost story is for children and young adults. It's got plenty of mystery but is not too scary for its audience. Award winning author James Norcliffe is a writer with 14 children's novels to his credit. — Ann Kilduff