Bestselling New Zealand Duo Secures Simultaneous Worldwide Release for Latest Laugh-Out-Loud Picture Book

 

New Zealand author-illustrator duo Dawn McMillan and Ross Kinnaird will see the latest in their bestselling series of hilarious ‘bum’ children’s picture books release simultaneously in North America, the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand at the start of 2021.

 

New York-based Dover Publications and London-based Scholastic UK jumped at the opportunity to purchase rights for My Bum is SO NOISY!  from originating publisher Oratia Books, after previous titles I Need a New Bum and I’ve Broken by Bum achieved bestseller status internationally.

 

Packed with laugh-out-loud rhymes and zany illustrations, their latest creation follows our hero on comical adventures caused by his bum and the astounding and uncontrollable noises it makes, building to a crescendo of hilarity. 

 

The first print run for My Bum is SO NOISY! will be over 120,000 copies globally.

 

“Now more than ever, we could all do with a laugh – and Dawn and Ross’ books bring laughter in abundance,” says Fiz Osborne, Editorial Director, Illustrated Books for Scholastic UK. “We can’t wait to share My Bum is SO NOISY! with readers next year.”

 

Dawn McMillan conjures up the storylines of the Bum books from her coastal home outside Thames, and Ross Kinnaird brings them to life from his waterside studio on Auckland’s North Shore. 

Dawn McMillan and Ross Kinnaird
 

"It's been wonderful to see the series reach so many readers worldwide, and we hope that My Bum is SO NOISY!will bring more fun and laughter to kids and adults alike," they say. 

 

Oratia publisher Peter Dowling reports that CITIC Press also plans to publish the new book in China in early 2021.

 

“We’re thrilled to be part of Dawn and Ross’ international success, which proves the appeal of Kiwi creativity worldwide,” he says.

Publication: early 2021  |  ISBN: 978-0-947506-81-0 | RRP $19.99 Paperback, 230 x 215 mm portrait, 32 pages, colour

Motoring memories and photos live again in Life with Cars

Life with Cars: New Zealanders’ motoring memories 1950s–1980s

Stephen Barnett

Ordinary Kiwis share stories and pics of their cherished cars in an age of easy motor travel

 

In these pandemic days, when Kiwis are rediscovering road trips and domestic travel, the golden age of motoring depicted in Life with Cars serves as a timely reminder of the joys of life on four wheels.

This colourful collection harks back to an age when a vehicle was part of the family — pairing cherished personal photos from the 1950s to the 1980s with the words of the contributors, as told to author and auto enthusiast Stephen Barnett.

 

Life with Cars tells of holidays at the beach, breakdowns in the middle of nowhere, evading the law, Sunday drives and of course posing on, beside or in the beloved four-wheeled family members.

Underpinning the stories are relationships — between owners and their cars, but also between parents and children, partners in life, and young people and their peers — all during a time when cars had character, roads were quiet and petrol was cheap. 

Here we are pictured happily alongside our pride-and-joys — British Vanguards, Austins and English Fords; American Chevrolets, Fords and Pontiacs; Australian Holdens, Falcons and Valiants; European Peugeots, Fiats and Citroens; and, from the mid-1960s, the first Japanese models on the scene. 

Complete with an appendix profiling all the cars, this is a book that will resonate as Kiwis get in the car and drive this summer. 

 

The author

Stephen Barnett works as a writer and editor. He has written books on social history, popular culture, natural history and children’s fiction published internationally. Steve has a long love affair with cars, travelling many kilometres in his own old car, a 1964 Rover. He lives in Auckland.

Publication: 4 November 2020  |  ISBN: 978-0-947506-74-2  | RRP $49.99 Paperback with flaps, 240 x 250 mm landscape, 168 pages, colour

Whakarongo ki ō Tūpuna wins te Reo category at NZSA Heritage Book Awards

Ngā mihi nunui ki a te kaituhi Darryn Joseph rāua ko te kaiwhakaahua Munro Te Whata, kua toa kōrua i ngā NZSA Heritage Book Awards mo te pukapuka tamariki pai ake i te Reo, i panuihia i te pō o Rāpare kei Ōtautahi.

Hearty congratulations to author Darryn Joseph and illustrator Munro Te Whata, whose book Whakarongo ki ō Tūpuna/Listen to your Ancestors won the best children's book in Te Reo at the NZSA Heritage Book Awards, announced on Thursday at a ceremony in Christchurch. 

Darryn, who is a lecturer in Māori at Massey University, Palmerston North, wrote this moving story in te Reo and then translated it into English, and Auckland-based illustrator and animator Munro brought it to life in images. 

We salute Darryn and Munro for their achievement, and also acknowledge the fine work of editorial director Carolyn Lagahetau and designer Cheryl Smith in creating a book that has touched many readers young and old. 

The story follows a beloved teacher giving her pupils and grand-daughter guidance by directing them to follow the examples of Māori gods and ancestors.

Whakarongo ki ō Tūpuna teaches the values represented by Māori gods and ancestors, and provides a much-needed tool for reading in te Reo. But at its heart this is a story of love and respect, harking back to the friendship that inspired its writing. 

Darryn Joseph

Munro Te Whata (left) with the book's editor, Carolyn Lagahetau

Publication: 10 September 2019  |  ISBN: 978-0-947506-62-9 |  RRP $25.99

Paperback, 270 x 21o mm, 32 pages colour

Exhibition of Italian children's book illustrators open in Auckland

The Illustrators for Gianni Rodari exhibition is now on in Auckland. 

From today until Sunday 25 September, drop in between 10.00 a.m. and 4 p.m.

The Oratia Books team joined a preview event last night, along with guests from the local Italian and publishing communities.

The Oratia crew with Lindsey Jones (third from right), Honorary Consul for Italy, Auckland. From left: Belinda Cooke (sales & marketing consultant), Frances Chan (editor), Peter Dowling (publisher), Alessandra Zecchini (media director), Lindsey Jones, Carolyn Lagahetau (editorial director), Ross Kinnaird (illustrator)

Brought together to mark the centenary of the birth of the great Italian children's writer Gianni Rodari, the exhibition showcases illustrations from 21 leading artists who have illustrated his books.

Professor Bruno Ferraro (left) will join a presentation about Rodari on Sunday 18 October

A selection of the Rodari books on display from Edizione E/L, Italy

Congratulations to exhibition curator Nicoletta Benella, and all who have made the exhibition possible.

Tomorrow morning (18 October) at 9.30 a.m., Nicoletta will join Professor Bruno Ferraro in a discussion about Rodari's life and work, and the artists who have accompanied him.

Our thanks to NEWMARKET and the Dante Alighieri Society of Auckland for hosting the preview, including some tasty piadine and San Pellegrino soft drinks.

For more about this unique exhibition, click on this link. Ci vediamo lì!

New book ensures the Musket Wars will not be forgotten

The Forgotten Wars: Why the Musket Wars matter today

Ron Crosby

Distinguished author outlines why this crucial phase of New Zealand history matters and should be taught today

 

Ron Crosby couldn’t believe his eyes when the Ministry of Education released its draft curriculum for compulsory teaching of New Zealand history. 

 

Subjects to be covered included initial contacts between Māori and Europeans, and early colonial history — but not the Musket Wars. 

In The Forgotten Wars, Crosby sets out to ensure that readers will be able to appreciate just how much of an omission that was.

 

For, as he describes in the book, these conflicts between 1806 and 1845 were the longest period of continuous warfare in Aotearoa, and laid the basis of relationships between iwi and hapū ever since — not to mention featuring endless cycles of utu and feats of bravery, including the campaigns of Hongi Hika and Te Rauparaha.

Muskets, potatoes and other introductions fundamentally altered the balance of power in 19th-century Aotearoa, leading to inter-iwi conflicts that claimed tens of thousands of lives (killing, wounding or displacing up to half of the Māori population).

 

Drawing on his seminal The Musket Wars, this concise work breaks the wars down by region and tribe, with stunningly detailed maps and illustrations that will help to ensure these epochal conflicts are no longer forgotten.

 

The author

Ron Crosby with his wife Margy

Ron Crosby burst onto the New Zealand book scene in 1999 with The Musket Wars (still in print through Oratia Books), and has followed that with a range of other titles including NZSAS: The First Fifty Years. Formerly a barrister specialising in resource management and iwi claims, Ron was appointed to the Waitangi Tribunal in 2011. He lives in Blenheim with his wife Margy (Te Rarawa, Te Aupouri). A keen tramper and hunter, Ron and family  have walked and visited many of the sites and trails featured in this new book.

Publication: 14 October 2020  |  ISBN: 978-0-947506-79-7  | RRP $39.99

Paperback, 240 x 160 mm portrait, 208 pages, b&w with 16-pp colour

 

New biography sheds light on the private side of the legendary Bernard Freyberg

Freyberg: A Life’s Journey

Matthew Wright

Biography out tomorrow (6 October) focuses on Bernard Freyberg the man to reveal the reality behind a towering 20^th-century hero

The name Freyberg appears all across New Zealand, in streets, parks, schools, buildings, public spaces, pools and more. 

For much of the 20th century Bernard Freyberg was a household name: a swimming champion, an action-hero, military commander and Governor-General —a physically imposing figure known to most Kiwis as ‘Tiny’, following his childhood nickname. 

 

Freyberg receiving support as he attempts to swim the English Channel

Now in this new, concise biography, prolific author Matthew Wright reveals the complex man behind the myth for 21^st-century readers less familiar with Freyberg — tracking his personal journey from lower middle-class Wellington to his death in London as Lieutenant General The Right Hon. Lord Freyberg. 

Bernard Freyberg with son Paul during the Allied advance in Italy, 1944 

Who was this man, who presented initially as innocent and vague, yet showed a sharp intellect to those who knew him? How much of his action-hero status came from an effort to validate himself? 

Being sworn in as Governor-General, 1946

Why was he so ferociously private he did not even have a photographer at his own wedding? Why did he try to keep his 1914 adventures during the Mexico Revolution secret to the point of having his biographies censored?

Freyberg Beach, Wellington – one of many places named after the man

Freyberg: A Life’s Journey is the most accessible and revealing  Freyberg biography yet, with numerous photos. 

 

The author

Matthew Wright is one of New Zealand’s most published historians and writers. His work includes more than 600 articles, papers and reviews, and over 60 books on topics from biography to military and social history. His other Oratia books are The New Zealand Wars (2014) and The New Zealand Experience at Gallipoli and the Western Front (2017) (see matthewwright.net).

Publication: 6 October 2020  |  ISBN: 978-0-947506-72-8  | RRP $45.00

Paperback with flaps, 234 x 153 mm portrait, 232 pages, b&w

 

Sir Singlet wins the battle for comfy underwear

An hilarious new tale about following your heart, from the authors of international bestseller I Need a New Bum!, is out now.

Zany rhymes and crazy illustrations have become the staple diet for fans of Thames author Dawn McMillan and Birkenhead illustrator Ross Kinnaird. 

 

Their newest collaboration, Sir Singlet, continues in that funny vein with its colourfully illustrated story of a knight who can’t stand the sloppy underwear he wears under his armour.

 

Narrated by his nephew, the story celebrates special talents:

 

Sir Singlet is clever with needle and thread.

See all the cushions he’s made for his bed?

Sir Singlet’s solution to his problem is to design his own line of comfortable, and colourful ‘knightwear’. But before he can launch the product, the king gets in the way by declaring war.

 

Wearing his new undergarments, Sir Singlet wins the battle, not using hand-to-hand combat — but by scaring his enemies away when he displays his wonderful wearable creations!

 

The king is so pleased that he … well, you’ll have to read the story to find out how it all ends up. 

The authors

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! and Dr Grundy’s Undies. Ross Kinnaird is an illustrator and graphic designer whose books have been published in many countries, often in collaboration with Dawn. He lives near the sea on Auckland’s North Shore.  

Publication: 2 October 2020  |  RRP $19.99  |  ISBN:  978-0-947506-75-9

Paperback, 230 x 215 mm, 32 pages, colour