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Recommended reads

Scary books loved by Team Wardini

At Gecko Press, we aren’t scared of scary books like Wolfy, Inside the Villains and The Yark. And keep your eyes open for another frightening treat coming later in 2019…

We asked the team at Wardini Books what they recommend to anyone who is ready for a good scare.

Pigs in books

Pigs can’t fly. They can’t run fast. But they make life peaceful and merry. I hope everyone can enjoy some wonderful pig books in this year of the pig.

8 books about grannies from booksellers (plus one encyclopedia)

Encyclopedia of Grannies by Eric Veillé. A book for kids published by Gecko Press

This month we release Eric Veillé’s Encyclopedia of Grannies, a book that recognises that grannies come in all shapes and varieties and celebrates them all. Every page brings something unexpected: granny yoga positions, playing hide and seek at granny’s place, how to cheer up a sad granny, knitting ideas, hairdos, staying up late to view… Read more »

French Language Day at Gecko Press

My Pictures After The Storm, Childrens book New Zealand

It’s French Language Day, a good day to share the books Gecko Press has translated from French and to acknowledge our French translators, who work hard to make every word perfect. This is a particular challenge with books using word play or rhymes like the pun-filled My Pictures after the Storm by Eric Veille and… Read more »

Waitangi Day reading

This book is one of the most important in New Zealand’s book history.

The best kids’ books of 2018, chosen by top authors and illustrators

For BookTrust, Emily Drabble asked authors and illustrators including Michael Morpurgo, Cressida Cowell, Patrice Lawrence, Julia Donaldson, Alex T Smith, Nick Sharratt and Jim Kay the impossible question: pick just one out of all the jewels published in 2018. From board books to novels, 50 authors and illustrators picked their favourite kids’ book of the year…… Read more »

Best Illustrated Books of the Year by The New York Times/New York Public Library

Since 1952, the New York Times and the New York Public Library convened a rotating annual panel of three expert judges, who consider every illustrated children’s book published that year in the United States. They select the winners purely on the basis of artistic merit. This year, the judges were Leonard Marcus, a children’s literature… Read more »

Eirlys Hunter favourite children’s books

Alice in Wonderland & Alice Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll Lewis Carroll’s masterpieces.  Among the first books ever published to entertain rather than instruct children, they’re a brilliant child’s-eye view of the nonsensical adult world. And as for the language… Twas brillig and the slithy toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe…   Winnie… Read more »

Every Time We Say Goodbye (picture books for tough times)

Granpa by John Burningham (Red Fox, 2003) A dialogue between grandparent and child that covers all the important business and lasts until Granpa’s chair is (heartbreakingly) empty. The Sad Book by Michael Rosen and illustrated by Quentin Blake (Candlewick Press, 2005) Michael Rosen’s son died, and it hurt this much, which is to say almost… Read more »