A tui in our teapot, a takahe by the toaster ... and that's just the start

Children’s author Dawn McMillan and illustrator Nikki Slade Robinson hit it off after meeting on a school tour last year — and decided they must work together. 

The result is the uproarious kids' story There’s a Tui in our Teapot, rendered into te Reo Māori by distinguished translator Ngaere Roberts in this bright, bilingual birdy book.

Tui has made it into Nan’s teapot, takahe is by the toaster, kaka is tucking into the kiwifruit, kereru is starting on the apples, and that’s just part of the mayhem when the menagerie gets into the kitchen. 

Still, all ends well when Nan comes in to get the family their breakfast.

There’s not only vivid illustration, hilarious text and a fine Māori translation — but also a fun spread at the end that shares facts about the 16 native birds featured.

There's a Tui in our Teapot is out today in a smart hardback edition. 

It will be launched officially on NZ Bookshop Day, 27 October, at Books for Kids in Hamilton.

Dawn McMillan is an internationally recognised writer of children’s books who lives north of Thames. Among her many popular works are I Need a New Bum!, Why do Dogs Sniff Bottoms and Colour the Stars. Nikki Slade Robinson is an award-winning children’s illustrator and author who lives in Opotiki, known for titles such as Muddle and Mo and The Seven Stars of Matariki. Translator Ngaere Roberts is a teacher and expert in te Reo Māori.

Dawn McMillan

Nikki Slade Robinson

Publication Date: 16 October 2018 |  ISBN: 978-0-947506-47-6 |  RRP $24.99

Hardback, 270 x 210 mm, 32 pages colour

Putting food on the map, globally and locally

International bestseller featuring Australia, New Zealand and Fiji comes Down Under through Oratia Books ...

Publishing in Oceania on 3 October, this is a visually stunning, content-rich book that once you pick up, is hard to put down.

Anzac biscuits, beech honey, Bluff oysters and boil-ups are just the first of an array of foods on the New Zealand map inside international bestseller Food Atlas.

The Australia spread covers an array of foods and features, including Granny Smith apples and macadamia nuts, Fairy Bread and the Pie Floater, plus gourmet entries like Australian wine.   

Sampling foods and ingredients around the world, this big, beautiful atlas guides young readers and adults on an illustrated world voyage, with a smattering of cultural and geographical information thrown in.

Hand-illustrated maps show in detail the most typical fruits and vegetables, meat, fish and cheese, cereals, beverages, herbs and spices for each region. 

The contents page of Food Atlas

One country at a time, the world of food takes shape, bringing to life the gastronomical wonders of the Earth while celebrating our different tastes and creations.

First published last year by Dalcò Edizioni – which is appropriately based in the Italian foodie haven Parma —Food Atlas has already been translated into 18 languages and sold over 150,000 copies worldwide.

Peter Dowling, Publisher of Oratia Books, closed the deal for Oceania rights with Paolo Dalcò, Publisher of  Dalcò Edizioni, at the Bologna Children's Book Fair in late March (pictured).

Paolo Dalcò (left) with Peter Dowlng at the Bologna Children's Book Fair 2018

Oratia has checked all the excellent material that the authors researched for Oceania.

Author Giulia Malerba lives in Parma, where she works as an author and editor of food books. Illustrator Febe Sillani is the celebrated author of over 80 children's books, many published internationally; she lives in Trieste, Italy.

Giulia Malerba

Febe Sillani

Now readers Down Under can also savour the tastes of the world: from cloudberries to tomatillos, samosa to quesadilla, and Baklava to Bløtcake. 

Publication Date: 3 October 2018 |  ISBN: 978-0-947506-51-3 |  RRP $39.99

Hardback, 370 x 270 mm, 72 pages colour

Scottish Granny’s reading of I Need a New BumI cracks 330,000 views in under four days

MEDIA RELEASE

26 September 2018: For immediate release

The Scottish Granny Janice Clark has scored another New Zealand hit with her online reading of bestselling picture book I Need a New Bum!

The Brisbane-based Scottish gran has had 330,000 views and more than 6,500 shares on Facebook since posting a video on Saturday evening reading the book to grandson Archer — and sales are on a roll.

The Scottish Granny cracks up on reading I Need a New Bum!

Video of the Scottish Granny reduced to gales of laughter has made this already the second-most popular post by the Scottish Granny, in the wake of another Kiwi children’s hit, The Wonky Donkey. 

I Need a New Bum! is already a bestseller, having sold over 50,000 copies in New Zealand since publication in 2012. On Monday Whitcoulls again named it among its annual Kids’ Top 50.

Author Dawn McMillan has been dazzled by interest following the Scottish Granny’s reading, saying: “I’m just thrilled with the success of this book and reaching kids and adult readers around the world.”

Sales spikes are on the cards for the US edition (I Need a New Butt!), plus the Chinese — helped by illustrator Ross Kinnaird’s promotional visit to Beijing last week. 

Promotional poster for a bookshop appearched by Ross Kinnaird in Beijing on 16 September 

New Zealand publisher Oratia Books is planning a hurried reprint of I Need a New Bum! to meet demand. 

The book shows the imaginings of a boy who discovers his bum has a crack and sets out to find a new one. 

ENDS

The Scottish Granny reads I Need a New Bum!

Facebook phenomenon The Scottish Granny has done it again! Her reading last night of I Need a New Bum!, the bestseller by Dawn McMillan and Ross Kinnaird, was a crack-up – and has caused a surge of interest from around the world. 

Her reading of Craig Smith's Wonky Donkey led to a massive spike in book sales, so it's lucky that we have a decent stock of books in the warehouse.

Click below to see the Granny and grandson reading I Need a New Bum!

Seals, sunsets and taniwha

Yesterday's launch of The Taniwha in our Backyard was a game of two halves — a guided walk around places in Muriwai that feature in the book, and then kai and korero back in The Surf Club at Muriwai.

The Surf Club at Muriwai provided a superb venue for the launch

A group of keen walkers gathered at 5 pm to follow author Malcolm Paterson in a tour of the area, in brisk weather with the sun about to go down off Auckland's spectacular West Coast.

Malcolm Paterson (centre) guides the group around heritage sites  in Muriwai

When the group returned by 6 pm, one guest summed it up enthusiastically as "seals, sunsets and taniwha" — after seeing a fur seal, beholding a spectacular sunset, and entering a cave inhabited by one of Muriwai's taniwha (supernatural creatures).

Meeting a Muriwai local – a fur seal in its element

Ngāti Whātua o Kaipara leader Margaret Kawharu initiated formalities at the launch with a mihi that acknowledged the ancestors and history of the south Kaipara, and reflected on the initiative and dedication that Malcolm has shown in connecting children to their local history via his books. 

Ngāti Whātua representatives led by Margaret Kawharu (right) join in a waiata

Margaret Kawharu initiates the launch with Oratia Books publisher Peter Dowling (right)

Malcolm spoke of his journey from initiating the Sharing our Stories project as part of a Future Auckland Leaders programme through the Committee for Auckland, to the present day when the third book in the series has been published.

Author Malcolm Paterson 

He paid tribute to the support of iwi and whānau, including his sister Mihera (who created one of the stories in the book) and wife Lavinia (whose Malaysian whānau inspired the character of Aunty Mina), and endorsed the message of strength in diversity that the book seeks to represent.

Martin Bailey talks of bringing his own backyard to life in the new book

Muriwai-based illustrator Martin Bailey then talked of his pleasure in being able to bring to life the environment around his home, before Mihi Blair of Ngāti Whātua (who is also a Future Auckland Leaders alumnus) closed the speeches with a karakia

Mihi Blair (left) sums up proceedings on behalf of the mana whenua and also Future Auckland Leaders

It was immensely satisfying to witness the support from the local community for the work that Malcolm and Martin had undertaken, and particularly to see children getting absorbed in the book.

The Taniwha in our Backyard was supported by Whiti Ora o Kaipara Charitable Trust through a grant form the Auckland Diversity Project Fund (funded by Creative New Zealand and Foundation North).

The book is available from all good booksellers or via the Oratia Media website:

https://www.oratia.co.nz/product/the-taniwha-in-our-backyard/

And listen out for Malcolm's interview with Dale Husband on Radio Wātea after 11 am on Monday 17 September.

Photographs by Carolyn Lagahetau (who also edited the book!)

Launching a Taniwha for Te Wiki o te Reo Māori

Māori Language Week/Te Wiki o te Reo Māori begins today, with the theme ‘Kia Kaha te Reo Māori’— ‘Let’s make the Māori language strong’.

Helping to make te Reo strong and connect our tamariki with the land and history around them is the kaupapa of Sharing Our Stories, a series of books by Malcolm Paterson (Ngāti Whātua). 

The Taniwha in our Backyard, the third in the series, will be launched at Muriwai this Thursday. 

With text in te Reo, English and Malay, and superb illustrations by Martin Bailey,The Taniwha in our Backyard strengthens understanding of Māori language and culture, as well as the multiple cultures that make up contemporary Aotearoa New Zealand. 

 The publication has been supported through the Auckland Diversity Project Fund (Creative New Zealand and Foundation North).

Publication Date: 12 September 2018  | ISBN: 978-0-947506-46-9 |  RRP $21.99

Paperback, 284 x 208 mm, 32 pages colour

Archibald McIndoe's extraordinary Guinea Pig Club

Out in its New Zealand edition this Tuesday 14 August with a new foreword by HRH Prince Harry, The Guinea Pig Club tells the story of New Zealand surgeon Archibald McIndoe and his amazing work with scarred airmen in the UK during the World War II. 

Plastic surgery was in its infancy before World War II. The Allies were tremendously fortunate in having McIndoe operating at a small hospital in East Grinstead in the south of England. 

From Dunedin, McIndoe had studied at the University of Otago and relied on the mentorship of that other great pioneer of plastic surgery, fellow Kiwi Harold Gillies, to cope with the extraordinary demands placed by the casualties of the air war. 

Archibald McIndoe (centre) in theatre; his skill with the scalpel was legendary but no less extraordinary was his understanding of the psychological scars faced by disfigured airmen 

McIndoe set up a revolutionary treatment regime for survivors of plane crashes — a group dubbed the Guinea Pig Club — innovating not only in physical treatment of their injuries but also in the psychology of rehabilitation of disfigured airmen back into society.

For the first time, official records have been used to explain fully how and why this remarkable relationship developed between the Guinea Pig Club, the RAF and the Home Front — and how the experience inspires today’s victims of war.

A revised edition of the book The Reconstruction of Warriors, this joint UK-Canada-NZ publication now includes a section on McIndoe’s New Zealand origins. 

You can hear author Emily Mayhew interviewed by Wallace Chapman on Radio New Zealand on the morning of Sunday 26 August.

Dr Emily Mayhew is a military medical historian specialising in the study of severe casualty. She is the historian in residence in the Department of Bioengineering at Imperial College London and a research fellow in the Division of Surgery. She is the author of several other books in her field of expertise, including the Wounded trilogy of books.

Publication Date: 14 August 2018  | ISBN: 978-1-784383-21-3 |  RRP $39.99

Paperback, 234 x 156 mm, 240 pages black & white

International Publishers Association gives glowing report to PANZ International Conference

The Publishers Association of New Zealand (PANZ) was honoured to welcome top-notch international speakers at our biennial conference at the end of June.

Headlining the event was Hugo Setzer, current Vice-President of the International Publishers Association (Hugo is standing to become President at the IPA's General Assembly in October).

Hugo's report on the conference has appeared in the latest IPA newsletter – with some keen insights on how New Zealand fits into the global publishing scene (read the report here).

Hugo Setzer delivering the opening keynote at the PANZ Conference: Why Publishing Matters

As the current PANZ President, it was a great pleasure for me to host Hugo in Auckland and to strengthen bonds between PANZ and our international body. 

Nanny Mihi is back to stay for the school hols

In a series of picture books published by Reed up until 2006, writer Melanie Drewery and illustrator Tracy Duncan developed the world of the warm and wise Nanny Mihi. 

The late John McIntyre of the Children’s Bookshop in Wellington was among a number of book lovers who lamented the end of the series.

So when Melanie Drewery approached Oratia with a new Nanny Mihi story, we leapt at the chance to remake this beloved kuia (grandmother). 

Melanie resumed her collaboration with artist Tracy Duncan (both live in the Nelson area), and a fresh look and feel for Nanny and the books emerged.

Nanny Mihi and the Bellbird thus marks both a return and a new departure — in time for the winter school holidays. 

In this colourful picture book, Nanny Mihi welcomes her grandchildren to stay with her during every school break. 

On one holiday Nanny introduces her mokopuna to the beautiful melody of a visiting bellbird, and they even teach him to sing a song they have created!

However, bellbird does not visit them on their next holiday with Nanny. Where has he gone?

When the bird returns to sing with some babies along, Nanny explains: “He is a she and she has come to show you her tamariki’.

Their song will live on forever, and we hope the same will be true for Nanny.

Melanie Drewery

Tracy Duncan

Publication Date: 10 July 2018 |  ISBN: 978-0-947506-36-0 |  RRP $19.99

Paperback, 230 x 215 mm, 32 pages colour