Gecko Press Blog

Welcome to a combobulation of articles from our favourite thinkers, stories from behind the scenes, lists of good books, Gecko Press news and things that amuse us from time to time.

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Book list: Puberty and bodies

Image of children lined up from Any Body

By Robyn Fausett, CEO at Nest Consulting.

Here follows a list of books by some of my favourite authors for both kids and parents who are navigating the wonderful world of puberty!

Librarian review: Detective Gordon – A Case with a Bang

Dear Detective Gordon, and bright, sweet Buffy, you will be sorely missed.

This fifth and final in the Detective Gordon series written by Ulf Nilsson and illustrated by Gitte Spee has recently been released by Gecko Press, and it is a real gem.

Book list: Creative and imaginative play

We asked Chandra Littlewood from Moriah Kindergarten in Wellington for a list of books she likes to recommend that foster imaginative and creative play for pre-school age children.

The House that Jack Built in Aotearoa New Zealand schools

House That Jack Built 3 Gecko Press

This picture book tells the story of colonisation in Aotearoa for our tamariki and our rangatahi.  They can look at and see and feel–what happened here, what was the impact, what changed in Aotearoa from page one to the end of the book? This book is a huge asset as a launch pad for deeper learning for our students.

Free book offer during April

To add a little bouncy joy to your April, we’re offering a FREE book with every order from our website throughout the month.

Just add the code FREEGIFT at checkout.

We’ll select the most age appropriate free book based on your order.

An English version as entertaining and easy as the original

The Moon Is a Ball Dutch cover

My primary task as a translator was to reproduce the flow and fun of the stories, making the English versions as entertaining and easy to read as the originals. Of course I didn’t try to do this by simplifying Panda and Squirrel’s plans, but by taking slight liberties in the literal content to maintain clarity.

A Bird Day: Q&A with Eva Lindström

Eva Lindström ALMA

The idea came from driving on small roads in the country where there are often one or two birds pecking and walking around on the road in front of the car. When I get dangerously close to them, they fly away. It is as if they are playing a game with me.

Serendipity—one reason we attend the Bologna Children’s Book Fair

The Bologna Children’s Book Fair is a cornerstone of the Gecko Press business, and it was magnificent for me and Julia to be back under the porticos in Italy this March—four years since the last visit!

The many wisdoms of Detective Gordon

We frequently follow Gordon’s policies on small cakes, namely to introduce one to a situation wherever possible. To mark the final book in this junior fiction series, we collected five of our (other) favourite wisdoms.

Tickle My Ears to every toddler in Scotland

The Scottish Book Trust has selected Tickle My Ears by Jörg Mϋhle for their Bookbug Toddler Bag for 2023. These are given to every child in Scotland to help them develop a love of stories and reading from an early age.

Over 40,000 copies will be sent out to toddlers throughout Scotland this year, along with a couple of other books and learning materials.

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