Death

Rahui

This picture book is about cousins’ holidays in a rural Maori community having adventures and fun together – playing in the bush, riding horses, fishing, eeling and swimming at the beach. During the holiday, a death leads to a rahui being placed on the beach. After a year, the rahui is lifted, and they return to the beach full of life and with their cousin in their hearts. The feeling of the book is joyous and wistful, and the illustrations richly evoke the atmosphere of the setting and people.

Featured in Volume VI, Issue 2 of WOW Review.

Penguin Island

This book tells the story of Little Penguin, a fairy penguin who lives in Port Phillip Bay, and what happened when oil was spilt into the Bay. Fortunately for Little Penguin, there are people who gather the dying birds, clean away the oil pollution, and care for them until they are able to be returned to their island home.

Bheka ukuthi ngubani okuthandayo!/Look Who Loves You!

bhekaThis book is for young children (birth to 3) dealing will death in the family. It is written in a rhythmic manner using some phrases from a traditional lullaby indicating to a young child how her family loves and cares for her, despite the fact that her mother passed away.

World’s Greatest Lion

Perhaps the most recognizable Hollywood animal–outside of Lassie–is “Leo the Lion,” MGM Studios’ famous mascot. For decades his image introduced hundreds of motion pictures, and Zamba the lion acted in dozens more. But he wasn’t always a Hollywood star, and he certainly proved to be much more.

This real-life story of Zamba, told by world-renowned animal behaviorist Ralph Helfer and Caldecott Honor recipient Ted Lewin, follows the famous lion from an orphaned cub in Africa to iconic Hollywood actor. But Zamba’s greatest role wasn’t scripted and it certainly wasn’t captured on film. In 1969, the canyon that housed Ralph Helfer’s animal ranch was ravaged by floods. As death claimed many of the animals, dozens were led to safety by one heroic lion.

Rage Within

After the apocalypse wipes out most of the world’s population and unleashes an ancient evil, murderous Baggers begin to create a new world order and teenagers Aries, Clementine, Mason and Michael must learn how to trust and rely on each other in order to survive.

 

 

Blood Runner: The Long Race to Freedom

Samuel’s parents and young sister, innocent bystanders during an uprising, are killed by South African police. Samuel is sent to live with his uncle, a tribal chief in the Bantu homeland, while his brother vows to join the African National Congress armed struggle and avenge his family’s deaths. In the homeland, Samuel discovers he can run faster than anyone and before long begins to train under his English-educated uncle. Years later, after the end of Apartheid, Samuel is selected as the token black South African athlete to run in the Olympics. President Nelson Mandela is there when he wins his gold medal, and Samuel dedicates it to ‘a very special man… I was running for the President. I was running for my country. This powerful and moving story portrays what it was like for blacks growing up in South Africa aunder Apartheid and the different ways in which they struggled to gain their freedom. For some, like Samuel’s brother, it was an armed struggle, but for Samuel it was the opportunity to prove he could run better than any white man.

Taking Flight

When his mother tries to commit suicide, 15-year old Declan Kelly is forced to move from a Belfast housing estate to the glamorous home of his aunt Colette and cousin Vicky. Declan is a troubled young man and terrible student who responds to his problems with violence. Vicky is a spoiled young woman, hard-working student and accomplished rider who loves horses. She is having trouble dealing with her parents divorce, and her father’s new family.