Over a thousand years ago, the wind, sea currents and stars brought people to the islands that became known as Aotearoa, the land of the long white cloud. Navigate your way through this sumptuously illustrated story of New Zealand. Explore the defining moments of our history, captured by celebrated children’s book creator Gavin Bishop, from the Big Bang right through to what might happen tomorrow. Discover Maori legends, layers of meaning and lesser-known facts. A truly special book, Aotearoa- The New Zealand Story deserves a space on every bookshelf, to be taken off and pored over, thumbed and treasured, time and again.
Oceania
Materials from Oceania
Room On Our Rock
Two seals are perched on a rock. When others need shelter, do they share it? Room on Our Rock celebrates the truth that there are two sides to every story. This clever picture book has one story that can be read two different ways.
Eee-Moo
Mistakenly believing himself to be an emu, a newly-hatched platypus sets out on a long journey, using various forms of transportation and aided by new friends, to reach Australia.
The Underhills
With their parents off on an urgent molar pickup, April and Esme are ready for a cozy overnight at Grandma and Grandpa’s teapot house by the airport fence. There will be fairy cakes to mix, pancakes and syrup for breakfast, a chocolate on each of their pillows. But then a call comes in about a small girl in a red coat, arriving from Ghana with a baby tooth somewhere in her pocket. Could this be a job for April and Esme, tooth fairy sisters? As always with Bob Graham, the beauty is in the details: Grandpa working out with a giant teabag-turned-punching-bag; fellow winged creatures hovering above the airport terminal (cupids to help people meet and angels to comfort the sad arrivals). Merging humor, poignancy, and a bit of heart-fluttering suspense, Bob Graham turns a familiar moment of childhood independence into a thing of magic.
Song of the River
In this resonant story, Cam the mountain boy follows the river from its trickling source in the mountain snow all the way to the coast. The river leads him through forest, farms, and towns to the salty wind of the sea. Dramatic landscape illustrations evoke a North American landscape and are packed with detail to explore the world of the river.
Saving The Tasmanian Devil
In this addition to the critically acclaimed Scientist in the Field series, Dorothy Patent follows the scientists trying to put a stop to a gruesome disease before it’s too late. Tasmanian devils are dying at an alarming rate from a type of tumor that appears to be contagious. What scientists are learning while researching the Tasmanian devil has potential to affect all animals, and even humans, as they learn more about how to prevent and hopefully eradicate certain genetic diseases.
Window
Chronicles the events and changes in a young boy’s life and in his environment, from babyhood to grownup, through wordless scenes observed from the window of his room.
Cicada
Cicada is overworked, under appreciated, and generally discriminated against–but after seventeen years, it’s time for a change.
Patron Saints of Nothing
When seventeen-year-old Jay Reguero learns his Filipino cousin and former best friend, Jun, was murdered as part of President Duterte’s war on drugs, he flies to the Philippines to learn more.
Featured in WOW Review Volume XIII, Issue 4.
The Sloth Who Slowed Us Down
When young Amy brings a sloth home for a visit, her family, the speediest in town, learns how to slow down to talk, play, and laze.