Oceania

Materials from Oceania

The Lumatere Chronicles: Quintana of Charyn

Separated from the girl he loves and has sworn to protect, Froi and his companions travel through Charyn searching for Quintana and building an army that will secure her unborn child’s right to rule. While in the valley between two kingdoms, Quintana of Charyn and Isaboe of Lumatere come face-to-face in a showdown that will result in heartbreak for one and power for the other. The complex tangle of bloodlines, politics, and love introduced in Finnikin of the Rock and Froi of the Exiles coalesce into an engrossing climax in this final volume.

Hedgehog’s Magic Tricks

Like many amateur magicians, Hedgehog finds that his tricks don’t always proceed as planned. Mouse doesn’t quite disappear, Rabbit (being larger than Hedgehog) is difficult to pull from the hat, and Duckling is not quite brave enough to endure a turn as magician’s helper. But when Hedgehog’s friends see how sad he is, they provide a surprise that results in everyone agreeing that Hedgehog is very good at magic after all. Preschoolers will delight in the sweet illustrations and in seeing what Hedgehog doesn’t — his friends helping to make his day magical.

Wash-A-Bye Bear

Flora loves her Bear dearly, but her mom says it’s time for him to go in the wash. Beautifully imagined scenes show Bear, in the wash, remembering how much fun they had getting grubby in the first place. When Bear is clean, he’s just not the same, so Flora sets out to have some fun and get him back to his dirty but lovable self again. Then, at the end of a long day, it’s Flora’s turn to have a wash–and good old Bear still loves clean Flora just the same.

We Are Their Voice: Young People Respond to the Holocaust

That’s the question that prompted a writing project across North America, Italy and Australia asking young people to write about this time in history. Students wrote short stories. Some read novels and wrote about the messages that they understood from these books. Several interviewed survivors and recorded their impressions. Many talked about this history and how they have tried to make sense of it in the world in which they now live. Children wrote from their hearts with sensitivity, thoughtfulness and great insight. Their teachers saw this opportunity as a gift. Young people can make a meaningful connection to the Holocaust. And perhaps, with that in mind, they will be able to create a more peaceful future. Read their stories. Listen to their perceptions and observations. We have so much to learn from them.

Street Dreams

Tyson Rua has more than his fair share of problems growing up in South Auckland. Working a night job to support his mother and helping bring up his two younger brothers is just the half of it. His best friend Rawiri is falling afoul of a broken home, and now Tyson’s fallen in love at first sight. Only thing is, it’s another guy. Living life on the sidelines of the local hip-hop scene, Tyson finds that to succeed in becoming a local graffiti artist or in getting the man of his dreams, he’s going to have to get a whole lot more involved. And that means more problems – the least of which is the leader of the local rap crew he’s found himself running with. Love, life, and hip-hop never do things by half.

Woolly Jumpers

Mike and Jake’s dad has always wanted to live in the country. Not Mike and Jake. There’s nothing to do, and they do it with lots of energy, until all of a sudden there are sheep and snakes and lizards and chickens and a sheepdog who doesn’t know what a sheep is…

The Web

Jenny loves Violet-Anne, her great-grandmother, and her wonderful house, but Violet is getting old now…A beautifully written and illustrated story for young children about aging and loss, and the joy of living whether young or old.