Margaret Mahy Book of the Year Award

Prize winning author Margaret Mahy has New Zealand's top book prize for children named for her. 

The New Zealand Post Children's Book Award is being renamed the Margaret Mahy Book of the Year Award.

"Margaret Mahy is one of the world’s best and most famous authors for children and young adults. She was born in Whakatane in 1936, and wrote her first story at the age of seven. She won numerous honours for her books, including the Carnegie Medal (twice), and the Hans Christian Andersen Award for her “lasting contribution to children’s literature”.  Her works have been translated into more than 15 languages. Margaret lived in Governor’s Bay until her death in 2012."

Read more at www.booksellers.co.nz/awards/new-zealand-post-childrens-book-awards

The Commandant: The Rudolph Hoess text edited by Jurg Amann with an afterword by Ian Buruma

As we remember the sacrifice of our soldiers, we often question the necessity of war. The unsparing true account by Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Hoess, in his own words, gives us a stark reminder of the inhumanity that totalitarian regimes can produce.

Hoess was the most efficient concentration camp commander of the Nazi regime. At his trial for war crimes in 1947, he openly admitted that he was responsible for the deaths of over 2 million people. While in prison and waiting for his own execution, Hoess wrote his autobiography to explain to the world that he was not evil or a bloodthirsty beast; that he had a heart.

In this slimmed down and edited version, Amann presents the essence of Hoess. In an eerily detached and objective manner, Hoess gives a brief summary of his earlier life and his earnest desire to fulfill his duties as Commandant to his upmost. Glimpses of the family man are interspersed with details of the technical problems he encounters, as well as his repeated refrains that he was disturbed by aspects of his work.

This terrifying depiction gives an insight into the mind of a war criminal capable of destruction on a devastating scale.

Reviewed by Spot

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The Commandant by Rudolph Hoess, 2012

Rudolph Hoess’ grandson speaks about the guilt that has always been with him since he found out who his grandfather was at age twelve: The Telegraph

The One Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared

Phew, quite a title.   Written by Jonas Jonasson and translated by Rod Bradbury, this satirical novel has been described as "eccentric, unusual and far-fetched in the best possible way" (The Bookseller).

It is available both in the library and as an eBook on ePukapuka.

"After a long and eventful life Allan Karlsson is moved to a nursing home to await the inevitable. But his health refuses to fail and as his 100th birthday looms a huge party is planned. Allan wants no part of it and decides to climb out the window... Charming and funny; a European publishing phenomenon.

Sitting quietly in his room in an old people's home, Allan Karlsson is waiting for a party he doesn't want to begin. His one-hundredth birthday party to be precise. The Mayor will be there. The press will be there. But, as it turns out, Allan will not . . .

Escaping (in his slippers) through his bedroom window, into the flowerbed, Allan makes his getaway. And so begins his picaresque and unlikely journey involving a suitcase full of cash, a few thugs, a very friendly hot-dog stand operator, a few deaths, an elephant and incompetent police. As his escapades unfold, Allan's earlier life is revealed. A life in which - remarkably - he played a key role behind the scenes in some of the momentous events of the twentieth century.

The One Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared is a charming, warm and funny novel, beautifully woven with history and politics." From the Publishers

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The One Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared 

Read this book as an eBook on ePukapuka Overdrive

About the Author

Jonas Jonasson was born in Sweden in 1962. A former journalist and media consultant, he is now writing his second novel.

Read an interview with Jonas Jonasson

Reading Group Notes

Allen & Unwin have provided Reading Group Notes

The Woman Who Changed Her Brain by Barbara Arrowsmith-Young

Imagine going through all your school years with a constant sense of frustration, failure, and fear. Barbara Arrowsmith-Young vividly describes the impact of her multiple undiagnosed learning problems and the extreme measures she used to scrape through the education system in The Woman Who Changed Her Brain. 

Back in the sixties, no one really knew about learning disabilities. Barbara spent plenty of time in the school toilets, hoping to escape unfathomable lessons in basic reading and maths. School reports from fourth grade mention “trying hard to overcome counting” and 39 days of “illness”. Clawing her way through high school and university meant continuous late night study and averaging four hours of sleep a night.

There are plenty who still stuggle like this. They are often average or above average in intelligence but have unexpected difficulties in areas like reading, maths, understanding directions, communication, movement, or planning. They are told compensation strategies, adaptive technology or extra tuition are options, but there is no cure.

Arrowsmith-Young, however, believes that the brain can change itself. Combining research about the plasticity of the brain, experiments in improving her own cognitive abilities, and decade’s worth of experience helping the learning disabled, she has formulated series of cognitive exercises that isolate and strengthen areas of the brain. She claims that, as specific areas of the brain are ‘worked-out’, the associated area of learning becomes easier. This change in functioning then gives the person a chance to learn the content that they have previously been unable to grasp.

The Woman Who Changed Her Brain includes many stories of children and adults who have successfully remediated their disabilities after doing the Arrowsmith Program. Unfortunately, scientific research to back up the impressive claims is currently not available.

Does it really work? Neuroscientists and educationalists haven’t traditionally communicated well together and there is widespread scepticism about quick fixes and misapplication of isolated research findings. What is agreed upon is the need for quality independent assessments and interventions which are targeted and intensive enough in repetition, frequency and difficulty. The Arrowsmith Program does show promise in these areas but, until it is rigorously evaluated, parents are still taking a leap of faith.

This book contains lots of accessible information on brain functioning and the potential for improvement and is recommended reading for parents, teachers, and all those adults who struggled through school and wish they could do the things others find so easy!

Reviewed by Spot

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The Woman Who Changed Her Brain


The Arrowsmith Program is not currently available in New Zealand. Read about the controversy its arrival in Australia had: Sydney Morning Herald, Nov 2012

Watch this video by educational psychologist Howard Eaton (45 mins)

House of the Hanged by Mark Mills

Mark Mills’ latest novel poses the question: can a spy ever retire? Tom Nash leads a cushy life on the Riviera, writing travel books and entertaining friends. These include his old boss Leonard and his goddaughter Lucy, now grown up and turning heads. It’s all cocktails on the terrace and tennis parties until one night Tom wakes up to find an intruder breaking into his bedroom intent on killing him.

Could it be that his old life in the British secret services has come back to haunt him? Tom must revisit his days as an agent in Russia, not long after the revolution. His investigation leads him to question those living around him – it seems he has been betrayed by someone he thinks of as a friend. Refusing to go into hiding, Tom knows he is a dead man walking unless he can stop whoever is behind this attempt on his life.

House of the Hanged is a pacy read, packed with excitement from page one. But it is also an evocative description of the South of France between the wars and the idle pleasures of the well-to-do who spent their summers there, while in the background the rumblings of World War II could be heard. The characters and dialogue are nicely put-together and Tom is one of those old-fashioned heroes that make for a great protagonist – a man of action both good-looking and sensitive, yet doomed to disappointment in love. Recommended.

Reviewed by JAM

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House of the Hanged by Mark Mills, 2011

 
About the Author

"Born in Geneva, I grew up on a farm on the South Downs in Sussex. I was educated at Lancing College, near Brighton, where the Careers Officer suggested to me in my final year that I become an actuary. An actuary, I have since discovered, has something to do with calculating risk for insurance premiums, which I can only imagine requires a certain degree of numeracy. Given that I then went on to fail my Maths A Level (with a now-defunct 'O' grade), the insurance industry is surely better off without me."

Read more at the author's website - www.markmills.org.uk/about.shtml

Mark Mills lives writes in the cold but inspiring Old School House in Oxfordshire

All the Nice Girls by Barbara Anderson

On hearing of Barbara Anderson’s recent death I sought out the bookshelves of the local library to see whether there was anything of hers I hadn’t read and found All the Nice Girls.

Set in Devonport in the 1960’s it surely must be a classic portrait of New Zealand life, particularly New Zealand life for a young naval officer’s wife of the time. With its “shops closed on Sundays” and “the good wife’s duties: supporting the husband’s career and bringing up the children while he’s away at sea” themes.

With Anderson’s keen character drawing you can just see the other naval wives and town inhabitants mentioned. A not too predictable tale with an ending which is also not overdone confirming what I believe is Barbara Anderson’s high position in the New Zealand writing scene.


Posted by Catherine

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All the Nice Girls by Barbara Anderson

About the author

Barbara Anderson was one of New Zealand’s foremost fiction writers. Her short stories and novels were published to national and international acclaim. While her writing featured in journals, on radio broadcasts and in magazines, her first published collection wasn’t released until 1989, when Anderson was in her sixties. Her memoir Getting There: An Autobiography was published in 2008. She wrote numerous novels and short story collections, and many publications have been reprinted due to popular demand.

Read more about Barbara Anderson

The Flight of Gemma Hardy by Margot Livesey

The Flight of Gemma Hardy, by Margot Livesey, is a kind of reworking of the classic novel, Jane Eyre, this time set in 1950’s Scotland. It follows the fortunes of Gemma, a hard done by orphan who is hated by her step-family. She is sent to a boarding school where she is treated as a servant, before taking up a position as nanny to a young girl whose wealthy uncle is both attractive and moody, with a dark secret or two. Sound familiar?

Gemma is a great character: small and insignificant on the outside; but inside, she’s smart, resourceful and impulsive, and ready to stand up against any injustice. Her story is one of running away and it is no coincidence that she is fascinated by birds, as when the going gets tough, Gemma takes flight – abandoning her family, school, and relationship problems. The dramatic landscape and weather of remote parts of Scotland provide an evocative backdrop.

Somehow the story sticks pretty much to Charlotte Bronte’s original, with a few changes to suit the times, and it’s an enjoyable novel, the writing nicely judged, and the characters interesting. But Jane Eyre this is not. Lacking is the intensity of style, the passion and drama which made the original work so well. Maybe I miss the bleak north of England landscape. I certainly miss the Victorian setting where a bit of melodrama fits in so well. And while Jane and Mr Rochester make such a great match, I couldn’t quite say as much for Gemma and Mr Sinclair. All the same, The Flight of Gemma Hardy makes for a pleasant read; it just isn’t a gripping one.

Reviewed by JAM

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 The Flight of Gemma Hardy by Margot Livesey, 2012

About the Author

Margot Livesey is a Scottish born writer. She is the author of six novels, numerous short stories, and essays on the craft of writing fiction. Livesey came to North America during the 1970s where she worked to get her fiction published, reportedly because her boyfriend at the time was also a writer. Livesey's work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, and a number of literary quarterlies. She is also the Fiction Editor at Ploughshares, a renowned literary journal. She currently lives in the Boston area and is the writer-in-residence at Emerson College. Fantastic Fiction

Ladies a Plate by Alexa Johnston

I have always known that Kiwis are really clever people - that good old No.8 wire attitude, the way we make the most out of whatever is available and grab on to opportunities in life.

This is how I see Alexa Johnston. She is, quite simply, an inspiration. Not only does she have a Masters in Art History, and about 20 years as a professional Curator, she has provided us with three fabulous books celebrating New Zealand's culinary history. By taking her hobby, baking, and utilising her skills and knowledge as writer and historian she has made them more than just recipe books; they are a slice of New Zealand history.

Ladies, a Plate (2008) was followed by A Second Helping (2009) and What's For Pudding? (2011). A beautiful hardback collectors' edition of her baking recipes is also available, Ladies, a Plate: The Collection (2012).

These books are not only a joy to read and use, they bring alive the childhood memories many New Zealander's have; the smells wafting from the kitchen when your mum or nana was doing the weekly baking, the simple yet messy joy of licking the bowl, that first taste of a warm cookie  (or perhaps the sting of the wooden spoon on knuckles if you didn't ask first), the pride of baking your first cake...

Hmm, yummy...

Posted by Cookie Fan

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Ladies a plate by Alexa Johnston

Alexa will be in Hawke's Bay June 14-15 for the Hawke's Bay Readers and Writers Festival

 

PM's Awards for Literary Achievement

Here's your opportunity to nominate your favourite New Zealand writer .   Nominations are now open for the 2013 Prime Minister’s Awards for Literary Achievement.

There are three categories: non-fiction, poetry and fiction with awards valued at $60,000 for each.  

Nominations close on Friday 3 May at 5pm. 

Read more at  www.creativenz.govt.nz/en/news/prime-minister-s-awards-for-literary-achievement-nominations-open

Life after life by Kate Atkinson

Ever had that feeling of déjà vu? Atkinson’s latest wee gem of a novel explores that sense of re-living past events, or past lives, in the present.

Middle class Ursula Todd is born near London in 1910 (several times, in fact!), and lives through the Second World War. Or does she? Throughout the many re-runs of her life something happens that enables her to start again and we see the impact of her making different choices and sometimes influencing events or people around her in ways that she was unable to the last time around. She often experiences that sense of knowing something, without understanding how or why she knows it. As the reader, we understand both how and why she experiences that sense of déjà vu. Atkinson’s skill as a writer is that these re-runs of Ursula’s life don’t feel artificial, or tedious – in each scenario Ursula’s character development is consistent and satisfying.

Before you think of Audrey Niffenegger’s The Time Traveller’s Wife, this is nothing at all like that - for a start, time is comparatively linear and one-dimensional. In Life after life, Ursula constantly re-lives her life to get past the point which she stopped living last time. The different choices and her vague awareness that she has been here before give each life a richness and intensity and sustain our interest to see how things will pan out this time around.

This is no hard-going treatise on reincarnation, but a thoroughly enjoyable, even humorous, novel featuring a well-developed and constantly evolving main character, supported by well-drawn characters and scenarios from the period. It gets a big thumbs-up from me!

Posted by Flappy Jandals

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Life after life by Kate Atkinson, 2013

About the Author

Kate Atkinson won the Whitbread (now Costa) Book of the Year prize with her first novel, Behind The Scenes At The Museum and has been a critically acclaimed international author ever since. Her bestselling novels featuring the former private detective Jackson Brodie, Case Histories, One Good Turn, When Will There Be Good News? and Started Early, Took My Dog, have been adapted into a successful BBC TV series. She was appointed MBE in the 2011 Queen's Birthday Honours List. From the Publishers

Kate Atkinson's official website www.kateatkinson.co.uk

La's Orchestra Saves the World by Alexander McCall Smith

La’s Orchestra Saves the World is a stand-alone novel by Alexander McCall Smith, who is more widely known for his quirky mystery series, The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency and  Isabel Dalhousie. Set during and after World War 2, it is the story of Lavender Stone - La to her friends - a widow who escapes blitz-torn London for a village in Suffolk.

La has a lot to put behind her, her marriage was not a happy one, and so she busies herself with village life and the war effort. It occurs to her that music is uplifting in times of stress and decides to start an orchestra. One of the players is Feliks, a Polish airman and refugee, with whom she quietly falls in love. But is Feliks all that he seems, or could he be a German spy?

La’s Orchestra Saves the World is a slow burner of a novel about the difficulties faced by hopeful, ordinary people living in a world turned on its head. It is a book about love, betrayal and putting on a brave face, told in the author’s inimitably charming style.

Reviewed by JAM

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La's Orchestra Saves the World by Alexander McCall Smith, 2008

About the Author

Visit the world of Alexander McCall Smith - www.alexandermccallsmith.co.uk/about-the-author

Local author finalist in the New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards 2013

Exciting to see that Mary-anne Scott is a finalist in the Junior Fiction section of the New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards with  Snakes & Ladders.

_____________________________

A diverse range of themes and styles - but where are the heroines?

 

An impressive variety of books make up the finalists of this year’s New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards.  And Chief Judge Bernard Beckett says it suggests we have a group of New Zealand writers who are confident enough to pursue their own interests.

In all, 19 books have been selected as finalists across four categories:  best picture book, junior fiction, young adult and non-fiction.. The winners from each category will be announced in June.

See list of finalists at the Booksellers NZ website...

War was a dominant theme among this year’s entries - a year before the centenary of the start of the First World War.

Bernard said: “As judges, we were pleased to see coverage given to conflicts less likely to be known to young readers such as The Boer War or the conflict in Malaysia. Prominence was also given to the bravery of those who resisted armed conflict, both in World War One and at Parihaka – that strikes us as tremendously important.”

The finalists were chosen from hundreds of entries read by the panel of three judges - children’s literature expert and author Eirlys Hunter, presenter of Radio New Zealand’s Arts on Sunday programme, Lynn Freeman and author Bernard Beckett. 

The judges said it was a privilege to read and assess New Zealand’s best books for children and young adults in 2012.

However, the judges raised concerns over the many entries that had great potential but didn’t meet the standard required to become a finalist.

“A large number of books were crying out for a more considered editing or design process:  books with clear potential that needed only another careful draft; delightful children’s stories let down by the illustrations or design layout. To see such possibilities unrealised was a clear frustration for us.”

“We were also surprised to see how few strong female characters there were in these pages. Young girls are in danger of seeing themselves once again as serving only decorative roles in stories, and we hope this is more a blip than the beginning of a retrograde trend.”

School-aged children and young adults can now vote for their favourite books from among the finalists for the coveted Children’s Choice Award - this option will be available later today. 
  
[Image & news release via Booksellers NZ]

We are One!

Happy Birthday to us!  Our HDL Readers' Blog is one year old - mere toddlers!

Have posted images of cake everywhere - hint, hint. 

Thanks for all your reviews everyone and for providing some great books for theTo Read list - a list that never finishes!

Some confessions of a book lover:

• I read in the bath - but not library books, promise!
• I am a book hoarder
• I skim over the boring bits, feel like I'm cheating, then go back and read them just in case I miss something.
• I go to the dentist or doctor's to read in the waiting room but then, drat it, get called in for the appointment. 
• And, of course....