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| Happy Birthday to the boy in the red pants! |
I Need a New Bum! — Dawn McMillan and Ross Kinnaird's zany tale about a boy who discovers his backside has a crack — turns 10 years old today.
Published on 20 September 2012, the picture book was well received locally and shown to the world soon after during New Zealand's Country of Honour programme at the Frankfurt Book Fair (where publisher Peter Dowling donned the first of what would become a number of New Bum t-shirts).
In September that year, a Facebook reading by Janice Clark ('the Scottish Granny') made our 'red pants boy' into an Internet sensation, and editions followed from Scholastic UK, Midnight House (Korea) and Adriano Salani (Italy).
Now, after 10 years, the boy trying to find a new bum has cracked up millions of readers worldwide, appeared in board books and noise books and collections, featured on TVNZ's Seven Sharp, become a favourite in Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's household, and is soon to star in a 'find the new butt' game (to be released by Spin Master in early 2023).
Along the way he's created a whole family of books — now extending to I've Broken My Bum!, My Bum is SO NOISY!, My Bum is SO CHEEKY! and My Bum is so CHRISTMASSY!
It's all a long way from its origins in Dawn's head, on a road trip to Rotorua — and the trip goes on (as Dionne Christian summed up so well in her recent article on Kete Books).
To celebrate the 10th birthday, Stephanie Huriana Fong has translated the book into te reo Māori — Kia Hou Taku Tou! hit the bookstores of Aotearoa at the start of September, in time for Te Wiki o te Reo Māori. (See this coverage on Te Ao Māori News.)
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| Dawn McMillan and Ross Kinnaird |
Publication: 20 September 2012 | ISBN: 978-0-947506-18-6 | RRP $19.99
Paperback, 230 x 215 mm portrait, 32 pages, colour
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