My Brother’s War by David Hill is a finalist in the Junior Fiction category of the 2013 New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards. This was one of the books that I hadn’t read at the time it was released, but I read it recently as part of my challenge to read all of the 2013 finalists.
My Dear Mother,
Well, I’ve gone and done it. I’ve joined the Army!
Don’t be angry at me, Mother dear. I know you were glad when I wasn’t chosen in the ballot. But some of my friends were, and since they will be fighting for King and Country, I want to do the same.
It’s New Zealand, 1914, and the biggest war the world has known has just broken out in Europe.
William eagerly enlists for the army but his younger brother, Edmund, is a conscientious objector and refuses to fight. While William trains to be a soldier, Edmund is arrested.
Both brothers will end up on the bloody battlefields of France, but their journeys there are very different. And what they experience at the front line will challenge the beliefs that led them there.
My Brother’s War is a compelling story about two brothers who have very different opinions and experiences of the First World War. William feels very strongly that he needs to play his part in the war and so he enlists in the army. The people in his town commend him for being brave and doing his part. He believes he is doing what is right to protect his country and the people he loves. He can’t understand his brother and thinks that his refusal to enlist is ‘wrong and stupid.’ His brother, Edmund, is a conscientious objector who believes it is wrong to go to war and kill other people. The story switches between their two points-of-view so you see the huge differences in their experience of war. The story is mainly told in the third person, but each of the characters write letters to their mother which gives more of an insight into their thoughts and feelings.
You experience the build up to the fighting and the horrible conditions of the battlefield through William’s story, but it was Edmund’s story that shocked me. I knew a little about conscientious objectors before reading this book but Edmund’s story really opened my eyes to how horribly they were treated. Conscientious objectors like Edmund were labeled cowards and treated like second-class citizens. Edmund constantly refuses to obey army orders, but in the end really has no choice. He’s put on a boat and taken to France where he is forced on to the battlefields. In the training camps he is locked away with little food and water, and he also faces excruciating punishment for not following orders. Edmund is incredibly strong-willed though and stands by his principles.
A quote from Edmund towards the end of the book sums up war perfectly , ‘I never knew some men could do such dreadful things to one another, and I never knew some men could be so kind and brave.’
Chris Coloumbus is the writer and director of some of my favourite movies, including Gremlins, The Goonies and Home Alone. He’s a gifted storyteller for the screen who has now delved into the world of children’s books. His first children’s book is House of Secrets, co-written by Ned Vizzini, and I was interested to see if his books were just as good as his movies.
A secret history… A mysterious family legacy… Dark magic of untold power… And three kids who will risk everything to bring a family back together. The Pagett kids had it all: loving parents, a big house in San Francisco, all the latest video games … But everything changed when their father lost his job as a result of an inexplicable transgression. Now the family is moving into Kristoff House, a mysterious place built nearly a century earlier by a troubled fantasy writer with a penchant for the occult. Suddenly the siblings find themselves launched on an epic journey into a mash-up world born of Kristoff’s dangerous imagination, to retrieve a dark book of untold power, uncover the Pagett family’s secret history and save their parents … and maybe even the world.
House of Secrets is an action-packed blockbuster of a book about three children who are transported into the world of fiction. There’s something in this story to appeal to all kids – adventure, mystery, magic, witches, giants, warriors, pirates, and fictional characters coming to life. Most readers have wanted to actually be in the world of a story at some stage, and this is exactly what happens to Cordelia, Brendan and Eleanor (even if it was the last thing they wanted).
Chris and Ned have said that the story was originally going to be a screenplay for a movie, but they thought it would be too expensive to make so they adapted it into a book. I thought this came through quite clearly as the story really reads like it should be a movie. It’s quite fast-paced and there is lots of action so it will definitely keep kids’ attention. I can see why it would have cost so much to make this story into a movie, because it’s quite epic and there would be huge special effects involved. The house that the children find themselves transported in is much like the Tardis (‘it’s bigger on the inside’), with lots of hidden passageways, and it gets battered about by witches, giants and pirates. There are many different fictional worlds, filled with different creatures and characters.
The plot races along right to the end and leaves the story hanging for the next book in the series. I’ll be looking forward to discovering what comes next for the Walker children.
I promised I would tell you a bit more about some of the fabulous children’s writers who appeared at Word Café with me. But before I do that, I have to put right a terrible oversight…
I woke up in the middle of the night last night and realised I had forgotten to mention something, or rather someone very important in my last post. Can you guess who?
Winnie the Pooh of course! Now the Winnie the Pooh story’s not about poo at all, but Pooh Bear himself has got to be the all-time most famous poo of all, and terribly lovable and funny to boot, so I was sorry that I had forgotten him.
But now that I’ve remembered him, I might just reread his story, and his second story The House at Pooh Corner, and also some of his poems, my favourite of which goes:
Wherever I am, there’s always Pooh,
There’s always Pooh and Me.
Whatever I do, he wants to do,
“Where are you going today?” says Pooh:
“Well, that’s very odd ‘cos I was too.
Let’s go together,” says Pooh, says he.
“Let’s go together,” says Pooh.
Do you know it? It’s called ‘Us Two’ and it’s from A.A. Milne’s book Now We Are Six. A.A. Milne is the author of all of the Winnie the Pooh books, but the stories will always belong to Pooh.
Speaking of authors, I had the good luck at the Word café festival to present a workshop with a very talented author called Andre Ngapo who also lives in Raglan, like me. Andre won the Sunday Star Short Story Competition in 2008 for his story ‘Te Pou’. The story isn’t a children’s story as such, but it is about a child. After that, Learning Media contacted Andre and he has been writing stories for the School Journal ever since. Keep an eye out for him. He has a story out this month, and several more in the pipeline.
I also did a reading with another clever Raglan local, Margery Fern. Although she was reading her books, Margery is the illustrator, rather than the author. The author is her sister Jennifer Somervell who lives in Oxford in Canterbury (they’re the ladies in the picture: Margery is on the left). Together they produce a series of picture books, called Tales From the Farmabout their amazing childhood growing up on a farm in the Hawkes Bay.
There’s a funny one about their father blowing up the cowshed with gelignite (a true story) and another about an old truck that they had in shed, which is now the only working truck of its kind in the world. Their next one, Josephine, is about an amorous pig (I hate to think) and then they have a book planned about an eel hunt. Now I happen to love eeling (I don’t kill them; I just haul them up on a piece of string to get a closer look at them), so I’m really looking forward to that.
The last children’s author who was there was Tui Allen. Tui doesn’t live in Raglan, but she lives in Te Pahu at the foot of Mount Pirongia, which is close by. Tui’s written lots of books for children, but her best known is probably Captain Clancy and the Flying Clothesline, about a city clothesline that escapes its city existence to live on a tropical island. Although Tui published it nearly 20 years ago, the story is still a favourite on National Radio’s story time.
For Word Café we asked all three of these wonderful storytellers what their advice was for aspiring writers and illustrators (that may be you). Here’s what they said:
Andre
Write from your experience, from what you know, where you’ve been — not necessarily physically — cover the emotional landscapes you’ve traversed. Write from the heart.
Margery
Practise, practise, practise! Team up with a writer, trial create a book together and just give it a go!
Tui
Find a great critique group. Either in the flesh or online. Make full use of it. Do your share of critiquing and develop trust within the group. Listen to them, especially their criticisms. The most important thing you want to hear is what’s wrong with your work – not what’s right with it.
What a fantastic time I had at the Word Café Raglan writers and readers festival at the weekend. Books are so much fun! And so interesting. And so are the people who read and write them.
Around 35 people came along to the workshop that Andre Ngapo and I ran on getting started in writing for children. (Andre’s in the picture, doing his stuff on the day: I’ll tell you more about him in my next post.) That’s 35 avid writers and readers of children’s fiction all in one room. It was electric.
We had a wonderful discussion about what makes a great children’s book. It reminded me why I love them so much (and also of all the things I should be doing in my stories to make them even better). Everyone agreed that there needed to be:
lots of humour – kids (and the adults reading with them) love to laugh
a great story – that’s a beginning, a middle and an end, with lots of twists and turns in between
plenty of action – whizz, pow, bang, uh-oh, ah-ha, ahhhhhhh…that sort of thing
fabulous characters – no dull and boring please
not too many messages – the aim is to entertain
a pinch of amazing – that special something that makes a story zing.
Can you think of anymore?
Personally, I think there is one, and it’s a bit of a magic ingredient when it comes to stories. That something is poo.
In the 20-ish years that I have been writing stories, I have noticed that, along with humour, kids love poo. Look at all the books that have been written about it.
For starters, there’s Baa Baa Smart Sheep by talented New Zealand author and illustrator duo Mark and Rowan Sommerset, about a bored sheep that tricks his mates into eating, you guessed it, poo.
Then there’s the hilarious Poo Bum by Stephanie Blake (she’s not a new Zealand author, but her publisher Gecko Press is from here) about a little rabbit who will only say one thing: “Poo bum”. That is, until he gets eaten by a wolf, at which point he changes his tune to…read it and find out.
Then there’s Captain Underpants by Dave Pilky about all things to do with undies, wedgies and toilets (that’s got to count poo). And the all-time poo-topping favourite, The Little Mole who Knew it was None of his Business by Werner Holzwarth, about a mole that is poo-ed on (it lands on his head) and runs around trying to find the culprit (and encountering many and varied poos along the way). It even has a plop-up version!
That’s just off the top of my head (the list that is, not the poo). There’s no denying poo is popular.
So at the moment I am busy writing my own story about poo. I can’t give too much away, except to say that it’s a picture book and it’s about a dung beetle who spends his nights rolling endless little balls of poo (well dung, but it’s the same thing). Until one day he looks up and discovers…
I am busy this week getting ready for Word Café, Raglan’s first ever writers’ and readers’ festival. It is happening this weekend (10 and 11 May) and there is going to be an amazing line-up of writers.
I have been helping to organise the event, and am also presenting a workshop and reading some of my stories. I’m really looking forward to it, but am also a bit nervous. Like a lot of writers, although I love words, I am more comfortable writing them, than speaking them!
Still, getting out and promoting yourself seems to be part of a writer’s job description these days. And I do find that going along to writing festivals, workshops, readings and other bookish events is really good for my own writing.
Hearing other writers talk is very inspirational and gives you a real creativity boost. I always find that my mind is humming with ideas for new stories and ways to improve my old ones after I’ve listened to someone else talking about their work.
There is an American writer, Julia Cameron, who writes books for artists and writers about how to access and boost your creativity. One of her ideas is that you have to pamper your inner-writer (the place where your ideas comes from), so that it remains happy and creative. You have to give it treats and take it for days out to fun places: like writer’s festivals.
I like this idea, especially as the treats can involve fancy stationery (which I love) and chocolate (no comment needed).
I also think it’s important to go along to writing workshops and events, if you can, so you can improve the craft side of your writing. Part of writing is inspiration, but a much larger part is craft (learning how to make and structure a story, the best words to use, how and when etc).
You can learn this, just like any other skill. One way is practice. The other is by seeking out and learning all there is to know, so that when you sit down to write your story, your writing toolbox is full.
This weekend, I am going to be working alongside and listening to some very inspirational children’s writers at Word Café; I’ll tell you a bit more about them next week. After that, the next writing event I’m going to is the Golden Yarns: Children’s Writers and Readers Hui 2013, which is happening down with you, in Christchurch, at the beginning of June. I can’t wait! I wonder when I’ll find time to write?
Andy Griffiths, the author of Just Crazy, Just Tricking, Zombie Bums from Uranus and The 13-storey Treehouse, has just released his book about writing, called Once Upon a Slime. In this very cool book he gives lots of tips about writing and some activities to help you become a better writer. You’re probably looking for something to do in the holidays so why not try an Andy Griffiths writing challenge.
In the box below there is a writing challenge from Andy’s book, Once Upon a Slime. Why not try it out and post your writing here on the blog. Just post your piece of writing as a comment at the end of this post, along with your name and email address. At the end of the week we’ll choose our favourite piece of writing and the author will win a prize pack of goodies from Typo.
Make the unbelievable believable
Add a made-up piece of nonsense to the end of each of the following sentence beginnings.
Scientific studies show…
I heard on the news that…
Recent research findings prove that…
Statistics show…
Experts say…
It’s a well-known fact that…
Nine out of ten doctors recommend…
For more great writing ideas check out Andy Griffiths’ new book, Once Upon a Slime.
Hello and it’s lovely to be here. Well, not exactly here, as I am writing from my desk in Raglan, a little town half up the West Coast of the North Island, but still it feels as if I am down there in Christchurch with you.
I really am very pleased to be part of this wonderful book-fest blog, and especially pleased to be following hot on the heels of David Hill, who is a wonderful and very funny author, in my opinion. So, a double treat.
Unlike David, I am not an established children’s author, but just a beginning one. That’s exciting in itself, as (other than a brief time between the ages of 6 and 9 when I wanted to be a pony), being an author is the only thing that I have ever really wanted to be. So it is wonderful now to have written a couple of books and to be able to do proper author things, like take part in this blog.
I don’t always find it easy, at the moment, to find time to do author things, as I have four small children who are very, very messy, and very, very noisy. Now I know you’re thinking, “oh yeah, everyone says kids are messy and noisy”, but I’m telling you the truth; my kids are extremely, excessively, rampageous-ly messy and noisy.
I think this might be because they have quite a lot of Scottish blood in them, and they have seen too many of those movies where the highland warriors run around the hillsides, wearing kilts and brandishing swords and yelling “Arrrrrgggghhhh”, for extended periods of time. I think they may now be using these as a model for their own behaviour. But I am having difficulty proving it.
Anyway, this shortens my writing time a bit, as I spend quite a lot of the day running around the house with my hands over my ears, tripping over things and dodging sword thrusts. But I have managed to do another writerly thing this week, and that is launch my new website.
I am very pleased with the website, as it is very beautiful, with lots of amazing pictures (taken by a friend of mine) of Raglan, the fabulous place I live. So why don’t you take a look: www.sarahjohnson.co.nz. It also has some information about my books. And if you send me an email to let me know you’ve visited, I’ll post you one of the bookmarks I had printed to celebrate the launch.
Andy Griffiths, the author of Just Crazy, Just Tricking, Zombie Bums from Uranus and The 13-storey Treehouse, has just released his book about writing, called Once Upon a Slime. In this very cool book he gives lots of tips about writing and some activities to help you become a better writer. You’re probably looking for something to do in the holidays so why not try an Andy Griffiths writing challenge.
In the box below there is a writing challenge from Andy’s book, Once Upon a Slime. Why not try it out and post your writing here on the blog. Just post your piece of writing as a comment at the end of this post, along with your name and email address. At the end of the week we’ll choose our favourite piece of writing and the author will win a prize pack of goodies from Typo.
50-word Pet Story
Tell a story about – or describe – a pet you have owned (or would LIKE to own) in exactly 50 words. See how much of your pet’s personality you can convey in those 50 precious words.
It may help to write the story first and then subtract any words that aren’t strictly essential until you have 50. Your title can be any length.
For more great writing ideas check out Andy Griffiths’ new book, Once Upon a Slime.
Andy Griffiths, the author of Just Crazy, Just Tricking, Zombie Bums from Uranus and The 13-storey Treehouse, has just released his book about writing, called Once Upon a Slime. In this very cool book he gives lots of tips about writing and some activities to help you become a better writer. You’re probably looking for something to do in the holidays so why not try an Andy Griffiths writing challenge.
In the box below there is a writing challenge from Andy’s book, Once Upon a Slime. Why not try it out and post your writing here on the blog. Just post your piece of writing as a comment at the end of this post, along with your name and email address. At the end of the week we’ll choose our favourite piece of writing and the author will win a prize pack of goodies from Typo.
Write a TO DO list
Make a list of all the things you HAVE to do in a typical week. Now make a list of all the things you would LOVE to do instead. Combine both lists to create your ultimate TO DO list.
For more great writing ideas check out Andy Griffiths’ new book, Once Upon a Slime.
Our magnificent May Star Author is New Zealand author, Sarah Johnson. Sarah is the author of Ella and Ob and the winner of the 2011 Joy Cowley Award, Wooden Arms. Sarah has also written books and stories for grown-ups. She loves stories and poems and books, anything to do with words.
Thanks for joining us Sarah! We look forward to hearing all about your writing and your books.
Andy Griffiths, the author of Just Crazy, Just Tricking, Zombie Bums from Uranus and The 13-storey Treehouse, has just released his book about writing, called Once Upon a Slime. In this very cool book he gives lots of tips about writing and some activities to help you become a better writer. You’re probably looking for something to do in the holidays so why not try an Andy Griffiths writing challenge.
In the box below there is a writing challenge from Andy’s book, Once Upon a Slime. Why not try it out and post your writing here on the blog. Just post your piece of writing as a comment at the end of this post, along with your name and email address. At the end of the week we’ll choose our favourite piece of writing and the author will win a prize pack of goodies from Typo.
Twelve Doors
Imagine that you are standing in front of twelve doors. Behind one there is a fabulous treasure. Behind the others are eleven of the most dangerous things in the world. Describe what lies behind each one.
For more great writing ideas check out Andy Griffiths’ new book, Once Upon a Slime.
Want something to do these holidays? Enter the Andy Griffiths writing challenge and you could win a Typo prize pack.
Andy Griffiths, the author of Just Crazy, Just Tricking, Zombie Bums from Uranus and The 13-storey Treehouse, has just released his book about writing, called Once Upon a Slime. In this very cool book he gives lots of tips about writing and some activities to help you become a better writer. You’re probably looking for something to do in the holidays so why not try an Andy Griffiths writing challenge.
In the box below there is a writing challenge from Andy’s book, Once Upon a Slime. Why not try it out and post your writing here on the blog. Just post your piece of writing as a comment at the end of this post, along with your name and email address. At the end of the week we’ll choose our favourite piece of writing and the author will win a prize pack of goodies from Typo.
Write a story starring YOU!
You don’t have to be able to make up imaginary characters or exotic settings to tell a good story. A fast way to create fun, believable-sounding stories is to start with the character you know best in the whole world (YOU!). Choose one of the following scenarios and describe what you would do and what happens next.
You wake to discover that you can no longer speak – you can only bark like a dog.
You are in class. It’s a hot day. Your friend starts taking off their clothes…their shirt…their shoes…their socks…their pants!
You have a strong suspicion that your teacher is a vampire and, worse still, you suspect that they know you have discovered their secret.
New Zealand author, Maria Gill, has written some fantastic non-fiction books for kids. One of her most recent books is the New Zealand Hall of Fame: 50 Remarkable Kiwis, which was recently named a 2013 Storylines Notable Book.
Maria needs your help. She wants to know which sports person would you want to see in her new book, the New Zealand Hall of Fame: Sports Edition. All you need to do is vote for your favourite option in the poll below and this will help Maria decide who to put in the book. Get voting!
I’ve spent quite a lot of time this week working on TWO novels. Does that sound impressive??
First, I’ve been going over the page proofs of a novel that’s coming out in June, called Brave Company. It’s about a teenage NZ seaman, who is on a NZ frigate during battles in the Korean War of the 1950s. Page Proofs are the final stage before the novel is actually published. Everything is set out exactly as it will be on the pages of the book, numbers and illustrations and all, and the author has to go – very carefully – through them, seeing if any mistakes have been made. There hardly ever are any; editors are a very efficient lot. But a final check is always a good idea.
The page proofs come after a series of stages in the making of a book. First, the author writes it. (Easy! Simple!) Then, if the publisher likes it and agrees to publish – and this often doesn’t happen; please don’t think that everything I write gets published – the editor will make suggestions on how to improve the book (add details here; cut bits out there; stop describing so much; stop the feeble jokes, etc) and author/editor work on these till they agree. This part can take weeks. After that, the designers make suggestions about cover, set-out, illsutrations / maps / diagrams, etc. And then come the page proofs.
The second book I’ve been working on is one I wrote over the winter / spring / summer. It’s about a NZ teenager in the 1970s who somehow gets involved in French nuclear tests in the Pacific. How? You’ll have to read the book – if it ever gets published. If that does happen, it won’t be till next year. I researched it, I wrote the first draft. I wrote the second draft. I wrote the third….. And now I’m going over and over it, taking out a sentence on Monday, putting half of it back on Tuesday, getting the book as good as I can before I submit it.
So that’s what the author’s life can be like. It can also be full of pleasure. When you write anything – a book, a story, a poem, a letter – you make something that never existed in the world before. It’s special. It’s unique. And that’s something that nobody can ever take away from you. So the very best of luck with your own writing and reading.
I took a day off during the week. Yes, authors are allowed to take time off, especially when they’re as lazy as I am. My wife Beth and I (I write about my dear wife a lot in my short stories for adults; I also write about my kids and grandkids in my children’s stories – but I always change details so they don’t recognise themselves and beat me up.)
I’ve lost track of where that paragraph was going……Yes, my wife and I rode a golf-cart along a railway line for 120 km. You know those funny little motorised carts that you sometimes see golfers trundling around golf courses in? A tourism business in Taranaki where I live has converted some so they run – very slowly – on railway lines, clattering along past farms and through tunnels. We rode in one from Stratford to Whangamomona and back. Isn’t “Whangamomona” a brilliant name? It’s right in the middle of inland Taranaki; it has no shops; one hotel, a population of about 20 people, 200 dogs and 2000 sheep. I may write a travel article about it.
I’ve also been trying to write a story about when I was learning to ride a bike for the first time, years and years (and more years) ago.
I’m a great fan of writing about your embarrassments and disasters and mistakes. Other people always enjoy reading about them, and you always feel much better after you’ve turned them into a story or poem or play. So I’m writing about how I could never stay upright on the bike; how I’d manage to pedal for a few metres only, then I’d start wobbling or leaning over to one side till I fell off. I just couldn’t seem to learn how to keep moving and stay on the seat. To make it worse, there was a guy who lived along the road from us, who was really good at sports and anything that involved being fit and confident. He could ride a bike and do no-hands tricks on it, and stuff like that. Every time he saw me trying to ride, he’d sneer and yell sarcastic comments.
Then one day I could ride. Just like that. My Dad had taken me down to a rugby field where nobody was playing, and he’d walked along beside me, holding the bike while I tried to pedal. Suddenly his voice sounded distant, and I realised he WASN’T holding the bike any longer. I was riding by myself.
I still fell off a few times, but I’d learned the trick. And a couple of days later I was riding (very carefully) along our street and met that other guy. I’ll never forget the amazed look he gave me. So that’s what I’m trying to write a short story about, and I think that in the story, I’ll make him so amazed that he falls off his bike into a hedge. That’s another thing I sometimes enjoy writing about: getting revenge on people…..
Are you a huge Skulduggery Pleasant fan? Well here’s the competition for you.
This is a new competition that HarperCollins and Derek Landy are running for all Skulduggery fans, to celebrate the release of The Maleficent Seven. There are some awesome prizes up for grabs and it’s super easy to enter. Read all about it below and enter your masterpiece.
INTRODUCING EXQUISITE CORPSE
“There are things, pieces of artwork, stories… creations. Objects that burn with an inner light. These things have power. They are fused with the magic imbued in them by their creators. They are fragments of their creators’ minds, of their very souls, fragments taken and cut free, wrenched loose, torn from them for all to see and then stitched together to form a patchwork world, a collage of dreams… an Exquisite Corpse.” Your Golden God, Derek Landy
Exquisite Corpse is our very first fan works competition!
We know you’re awesome. You know you’re awesome. We know that you know that you’re… you get the idea. But the thing is, sometimes it’s not enough to just know, sometimes you have to show everyone else. So, this is your chance. We’re looking for fan works, created by you, inspired by the Golden God himself. Derek, that is. And we’re going to have a theme. This month, unsurprisingly, the theme is Tanith Low. We love her. You love her. Get to it!
You can submit anything… well, anything you’ve created. It could be a poem, a drawing, a short story (under 1,000 words, please, we know how prolific you all get, and Derek needs a little time to, you know, finish Book 8), it could be a Haiku, a clay model, a photo montage. Anything you like, as long as it was inspired by Tanith.
Simply email it – or a picture of it – to us at skulduggery@harpercollins.co.uk.
Derek will judge the entries, and then one lucky fan will WIN the chance to be featured in our newsletter and on the Skulduggery Pleasant website, as the creator of the Exquisite Corpse Work of the Month! Everyone who enters will get an exclusive The Maleficent Seven themed poster, plus we’ll also send the winner a signed copy of The Maleficent Seven.
I’m one of those authors who likes to try different types of writing, and I’ve been spending part of this week writing a long (1750 word) book review of some YA novels. They’re all by New Zealanders, and the are all GOOD.
So do try David Hair’s Ghost’s of Parihaka, a funny and frightening story of modern kids who keep being pulled back into the past where scary things are happening. And Anna MacKenzie’s Cattra’s Legacy, her novel of a young girl in a lost kingdom who has to save her people from a dark, advancing enemy. And Des Hunt’s Phantom of Terawhiti, in which the paw prints of a strange beast are found on the coast near Wellington. And R L Stedman’s A Necklace of Souls, the first novel by this Christchurch writer, in which a girl of high birth and a boy from the humblest of backgrounds unite to face a frightening foe.
I’ve also been away for a day – flying up to Auckland to visit St Kentigern College, where I was teaching a writing workshop and talking to some of the classes who have read my books or stories (poor things). I had to get up at 5 am – not good – to catch the plane, but it was brilliant watching the west coast of the North island crawling along below us, with the low morning light making long, dark shadows across the land. The waves on the coastline looked as if someone was lifting up the edge of a duvet to show its white underside.
In the writing workshop, I suggested that the best way to become a writer is to STEAL: to watch and listen, to get ideas from what people say and do; from what you read. We talked about topics, and the very nice kids tried a piece of writing about “A Moment You’d Like To Go Back To” – a moment in sport or performance, or with an animal, or at a special place, that was so brilliant, you’d like to relive it. OR that was so embarrassing or disastrous, you’d like to go back and change it, or stop it from happening. They came up with some terrific ideas.
I’ve finished the story that I mentioned in my last blog, about the kid who likes making terrible jokes, though I’ll probably go back and add some more jokes later. And I’m waiting for the page proofs of my newest novel to arrive from the publisher, so I can check them one last time. It’s called BRAVE COMPANY, about a teenage NZ sailor in the Korean War of the 1950s. It’ll be in the shops about…..May or June. I hope.
I guess the main event for me during the first week of April has been that I’ve been lucky enough to be short-listed for the NZ Post Children’s Book Awards. My novel My Brother’s War is in the Junior Fiction section, so you all have to rush straight out and vote for me!
Authors are always asked “Where do your ideas come from?” and the idea for My Brother’s War came from my Uncle Fred.
The book is a story of two NZ brothers in World War 1. William can’t wait to enlist in the Army, and experience the thrilling adventure of war. Edmund however is a Conscientious Objector: he believes that all war is wrong, and he refuses to enlist. So he’s arrested and sent to prison. In different ways, the two brothers are sent to the terrible battlefields in France. What happens to them? You’ll have to read the book to find out, heh, heh.
Anyway, my Uncle Fred was my father’s eldest brother, much older than my Dad. He was a gentle, white-haired farmer, always shy and quiet. I never took much notice of him. Then Dad began telling me about him – how he’d been in WW1; how he’d fought in France and been badly wounded by shell fragments; how he had nightmares for years afterwards, and ended up totally opposed to war. So the book really began because I wanted to honour someone who mattered to me. A lot of what I write starts that way.
I don’t expect to win in the Awards, by the way. There are wonderful books by other authors. Do read Kate de Goldi’s The ABC with Honora Lee, or Mandy Hager’s The Nature of Ash, or…or ANY of the other finalists.
Anyway, I’ve also been writing during this week. I sit at my untidy desk, in a little room between the kitchen and the back porch, in a small side street in new Plymouth, and I mumble to myself and scribble and scratch on the paper. I’ve been writing some book reviews, plus a small story about a kid at a new school who wants to seem special, so makes up all sorts of stuff about herself, and gets into a real tangle. It’s full of terrible jokes. I like writing terrible jokes……
The finalists in the 2013 New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards were announced this morning. There is a great selection of books this year, by some of our best authors and illustrators. I think that the picture book and junior fiction categories are particularly strong and the judges have got a huge job ahead of them. I’m aiming to read all of the finalists before the week of the Festival this year so I’ll be sharing my thoughts on each book here.
Have you read any that you really love?
Picture Book
A Great Cake, written and illustrated by Tina Matthews
Melu, written by Kyle Mewburn and illustrated by Ali Teo and John O’Reilly
Mister Whistler, written by Margaret Mahy and illustrated by Gavin Bishop
Mr Bear Branches and the Cloud Conundrum, written and illustrated by Terri Rose Baynton
Remember that November, written by Jennifer Beck and illustrated by Lindy Fisher
Junior Fiction
The ACB with Honora Lee, written by Kate De Goldi and illustrated by Gregory O’Brien
The Queen and the Nobody Boy by Barbara Else
My Brother’s War by David Hill
Red Rocks by Rachael King
Uncle Trev and His Whistling Bull by Jack Lasenby
Young Adult Fiction
Earth Dragon, Fire Hare by Ken Catran
Into the River by Ted Dawe
The Nature of Ash by Mandy Hager
Reach by Hugh Brown
Snakes and Ladders by Mary-anne Scott
Non Fiction
100 Amazing Tales from Aotearoa by Simon Morton and Riria Hotere
At the Beach: Explore and discover the New Zealand seashore by Ned Barraud and Gillian Chandler
Kiwi: the real story by Annemarie Florian and Heather Hunt
Taketakerau, The Millenium Tree by Marnie Anstis, Patricia Howitt and Kelly Spencer
It’s practically the end of the month and I have just squeaked in my fourth book by a New Zealand author, which means I have reached my NZ Book Month reading target! Released in print only last week, the final book on my list is a high fantasy tale called Guardians of the Shimmer: DreamTime and is the first of a new trilogy by Tauranga writer Garth Lawless. Garth works in computers, but he’s not your typical office worker: I once saw him out and about in Tauranga dressed in a cape. So definitely someone with an penchant for fantasy! I wonder if he spends a lot of time daydreaming?
In any case, Garth tells me that releasing Guardians of the Shimmer has been a dream of his, and the enthusiastic reaction he has received from readers has been a dream too. Garth says, “I was inspired to write from all the reading I had been doing and thinking ‘I’ve got a story to tell that I’d like others to read, too.’ And I like writing for the 10-14 age group as they have really have great imaginations. And they like adventure, excitement and action in their stories, just like the ones I like to read.” Garth’s story includes all of those things. It’s a young adult novel featuring Cole and Lily Fletcher, a couple of Kiwi kids who are on their way home from a camping trip with their parents when an accident catapults them into DreamTime, the place where people’s dreams exist. As if that isn’t enough of a shock, they then discover that their parents are part of the Blue Ghost, long time Guardians of the shimmery barrier that separates reality from dreams. The Guardians serve to protect sleepers, ensuring that they return safely to their RealTime selves. The only problem is the VELI, dark and sinister monsters of nightmare, who are no longer prepared to dwell in the shadows. Well, that, and the fact that nobody seems to want to tell Cole and Lily what’s going on! An atmospheric story which hurtles along, this is a wonderful debut and a great read for fans of fantasy. Why not ask your librarian to reserve you a copy?
And if you haven’t made your four target books yet, there are still a couple of days left in March and the Easter break is here, so it’s not too late to get cracking. Of course, there’s nothing stopping you extending your NZ Book Month reading into April and beyond; there are so many great Kiwi writers to choose from.
My Dear Mother,
