Grandma has been busy over the past few years. She's starred in three bestselling picture books already - her adventures during her first week off were followed by a stint with the All Blacks and then her old friend Father Christmas needed her help, which saw her standing in for him, delivering toys to the world's children. So it's about time she had another holiday, and this time she's taken her cat, Scratch, with her to London. Naturally she meets the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, and in no time at all she's helping out at the Palace.
A delightful romp through the sights of London with our favourite Gran as the tried-and-trusted combination of Helen McKinlay and Craig Smith takes us on a trip to meet the Queen, and show her how to make marmalade.

Author Helen McKinlay lives and works in Christchurch and has been a professional mediator,  midwife, piano teacher, rural librarian and lifestyle farmer.

Illustrator Craig Smith lives and works in Victoria, Australia, and is the illustrator for the successful Emily Eyefinger series.

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Pony Club Secrets Victory and the All-Stars Academy

Issie has won a place in the National Junior Team and is selected to compete in an international eventing competition abroad! There are lots of riders and horses training together and Issie makes new friends... and enemies. She must bond quickly with her loan horse, Victory, but can she befriend the inexperienced chestnut pony in time to come out on top?

About the Author:

Stacy Gregg grew up training her bewildered dog to showjump in the back yard until her parents gave in to her desperate pleas and finally let her have a pony. Stacy’s ponies, and her experiences at her local pony club were the inspiration for the Pony Club Secrets books and her later years at boarding school became the catalyst for the Pony Club Rivals series.  When she’s not writing, Stacy is riding her beloved Dutch Warmblood gelding, Ash. She is a board member of the Horse Welfare Auxiliary.

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Kids tell it like it is. And they know some very useful stuff indeed. Such as the fact that you can’t hide a piece of broccoli in a glass of milk. Or it’s never a good idea to try to baptise a cat. You just can’t argue with these things.

Our children are bursting to share commonsense advice that will help us grown-ups get through the day with a smile on our faces. Smart, warm, telling and funny. THE WORLD ACCORDING TO KIDS captures a beautiful sense of the world seen from knee height.

Some of the contributors to this book have just learned to talk, others have been at it for a decade or so, but they all have something to say that will brighten your day. The sayings here will make you smile - and laugh out loud. Along with plenty of laughs there are grains of true wisdom about friendship and caring, pain and joy.

These quotes have been submitted by parents worldwide - because the wisdom of children is universal.
This book is fantastic light hearted reading and we highly reccomend it.

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Mr Stink February 16th 2010



"Mr Stink stank. He also stunk. And if it was correct English to say he stinked, then he stinked as well…”

Chloe sees Mr Stink every day, but she’s never spoken to him. Which isn’t surprising, because he’s a tramp, and he stinks.

But there’s more to Mr Stink than meets the eye (or nose) and before she knows it, Chloe has an unusual new friend hiding in her garden shed.

As Chloe struggles to keep Mr Stink a secret, and her dad tries to hide a secret of his own, the stage is set for an epic family confrontation. But there's one other person with a an extraordinary secret - Mr Stink himself…

This fantastic book is hilarious it would be a fantastic scratch and sniff book but the smell would be so bad you would have to put it in the bin and then bury the bin.

Written by David Williams best known for his work in Little Britain and illustrated by the fabulous QBE Quentin Blake

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Kids Can Clean  February 2nd 2010

It’s true -- kids CAN clean! And if anybody knows how to make it happen, it’s the Domestic Guru, Shannon Lush.
This illustrated book for children covers everything from removing the squashed banana in your schoolbag, to tidying up your bedroom, personal hygiene (or why you should take your finger OUT OF YOUR NOSE), to cleaning up after your friends.
Cleaning can be fun with Shannon Lush and her simple but effective tips for children of all ages.

About the Author:

Never stumped for an answer to a domestic disaster, this ABC Radio personality, wife, mother and grandmother became a ‘surprise’ celebrity in late 2005 with the publication of her first book SPOTLESS, co-written with Jennifer Fleming.
Shannon is now a household name. She appears regularly on Channel 9’s THE TODAY SHOW and radio programs in every state plus New Zealand’s Radio NZ and she contributes advice columns to several newspapers and magazines.

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About the author

Susie Cameron and Katrina Crook are not experts by any means: they're not nutritionists; they're not early childhood specialists; child psychologists; gourmet chefs or food stylists although some of the above have all helped on the book but they are mums. In a previous life, Susie specialised in marketing and PR in the entertainment industry. Katrina was an assistant cinematographer on feature films and is a professional photographer (Puberty Girl, Allen and Unwin and A Teenager's Survival Cookbook, Pan Macmillan

 True Green Kids 20th December 2009
100 things you can do to save the planet !

TRUE GREEN KIDS features 100 simple solutions to the environmental challenges facing kids today. With chapters focusing on the home, school, outdoors, pets and more, this book offers fun and easy ways to make a difference to our local and global environment. Practical tips include planting an organic garden, calculating your familys and schools carbon footprint, and keeping a worm farm. For anyone who wants to help save our planet -- heres your chance

Tollins Explosive Tales for Children  December 6th 2009

Tollins are not fairies. Though they both have wings, fairies are delicate creatures and much smaller.
Tollins are also a lot less fragile than fairies. In fact, the word fragile cant really be used about them at all. They are about as fragile as a housebrick..."

In these three tales, Conn Iggulden introduces the explosive, magical and adventurous world of the Tollins, all beautifully illustrated in full colour by Lizzy Duncan. Complete with thrilling stories of danger and derring-do, glorious drawings, maps and diagrams, this is more than a fantastic fiction debut for children - its also the definitive guide to these remarkable little flying creatures. Just dont ever call them fairies...

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 50 Optical Illusions Flash Cards November 29th 2009

A pack of fifty cards featuring amazing optical illusions to surprise your eyes, taken from the personal collection of Al Seckel, world expert on visual illusions. An optical illusion on each card is accompanied by an explanation of how it works on the reverse. Included is a 'revealer' card, to help check colours and take measurements to show that seeing really is believing.

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Fancy Nancy Splendiferous Christmas November 19th 2009

 Only one word describes how magnificent, joyous, and sparkly Christmas is... Splendiferous!

It’s nearly Christmas Day - the most glittery, sparkly and fabulous time of the year and Fancy Nancy can hardly contain her excitement!

There’s so much she has to do leading up to the big day! Decorating the house from top to toe, baking Christmas cookies, wrapping all her presents in fancy paper and making Christmas cards for all her family...


Choosing and decorating the Christmas tree is top of Fancy Nancy’s list and it has to look just perfect! But in all the excitement disaster strikes and Fancy Nancy’s most special decoration gets broken! What will go on the top of the tree now?


Grandpa steps in just in time and with his help and a LOT of glitter, ribbons and tinsel, Fancy Nancy manages to create a very fancy alternative!


About the Author:
Jane O'Connor has always had a secret fondness for froufrou. An editor at a major publishing house, she has written more than thirty books for children. She lives with her family in the glamour capital of the world – New York City.

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 The ABC Book of Christmas  November 12th 2009

THE ABC BOOK OF CHRISTMAS retells the traditional Christmas story of the birth of Jesus from the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Some of Australia’s best-loved illustrators of children’s books have chosen a page to illustrate,
making this visually stunning collection a delightful addition to any child’s library.

About the Author:

Mark Macleod has been a university lecturer and an award-winning publisher.
One year he did get to be the wise man with the myrrh in the school Nativity play, 
but he wished he was Joseph or the innkeeper -- or even King Herod.

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The Word Witch  November 3rd 2009



Do you know about the Word Witch?
Has she cast her spell over you?

She can lasso with a limerick, haunt with a haiku and wrap you tight in a rhyme, quick as lightning.

Her cauldron is a dictionary, her wand a mighty pen, and she stirs her words at midnight, making tempting treats for children, to please and tease and tantalise them with imaginary treasures and delectable dreams.

She weaves words into adventures, sets verses wildly dancing, makes similes sing and stamp their feet and poems purr like pussycats who’ve eaten all the cream.

Her name is Margaret Mahy.
These are her spells.

About the Author:

Margaret Mahy lives in Lyttelton and is a renowned word witch who has been enchanting children for over forty years with her novels, stories and poems. This is the first collection of her own poetry, edited by Tessa Duder. David Elliot is an award-winning illustrator who lives in Dunedin.

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 The Great Paper Caper  October 19th 2009

When life in the forest begins to change; when trees mysteriously lose their branches, when whole tree trunks start to disappear, when homes are lost, the only course of action for the forest dwellers is to begin a full scale investigation. Alibis must be proved, clues must be sought but even so, blame is never far from anyone's thoughts.

Who is the perpetrator of this heinous crime? Will justice be done?

About the Author:

Oliver Jeffers is a fresh new talent in picture books. He graduated from The University of Ulster in 2001 with First Class honours and has since exhibited his paintings around the world. His outstanding talent has already been recognised by several high-profile awards, including the Nestlé Children's Book Prize Gold Award, the Blue Peter Book of the Year Award and the Irish Children's Book of the Year.

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The Dark Blue 100 Ride Bus Ticket   October 3 2009





When Carlo and his mother, Jessica, accept a free bus ticket from a strange old woman in the supermarket, they are really only being polite. Secretly they think she must be slightly batty, with her talk about hundred free bus rides to the supermarket at the end of the world. How absurd! And yet, right outside their supermarket, which is of the most ordinary, everyday kind, a Number 13 bus pulls up . . . dark blue and with gold stars, just like the ticket.
Feeling suddenly adventurous, Jessica and Carlo take their seats . . . and nothing turns out the way you would expect.
Because the wonderful supermarket is real - but so are the horrible Dowlers, who are plotting and scheming to destroy it. What begins with fun and laughter becomes violent and dangerous, and the courage of a pair of resourceful children will be needed if the horrible, howling Dowlers are to be defeated.

About the Author

Margaret Mahy is one of the world’s best-loved authors, writing wonderfully funny and imaginative children’s poems, stories and picture books as well as ground-breaking novels for young adults, thrilling readers for more than forty years. A member of the Order of New Zealand, an Honorary Doctor of Letters and twice winner of Britain’s Carnegie Medal for Children’s Literature, she has also been honoured by the Arts Foundation of New Zealand as a Living Icon, received the Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement in Fiction, and been awarded the Hans Christian Andersen Medal for her outstanding contribution to children’s literature.

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Pinkalicious September 22nd  2009

Pink Pink Pink

Pink, pink, pink. More than anything, Pinkalicious loves pink, especially pink cupcakes. Her parents warn her not to eat too many of them, but when Pinkalicious does . . . she turns   pink! What to do? This sparkling picture book, filled with such favourites as pink bubble gum, pink peonies, pink cotton candy, and pink fairy princess dresses, celebrates all things pink while showing that being yourself is best of all.

About the Author

Victoria Kann's award-winning artwork has graced the covers and pages of many magazines, newspapers, and books. She is the illustrator and co author with Elizabeth Kann of Pinkalicious and Purplicious, which were both New York Times bestsellers. They also wrote Pinkalicious: The Musical, which premiered in New York City to sold-out audiences. Victoria teaches at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Recently she built a tree house for her Princess Pinkerbelles. She often hears galloping in the house and wonders if it's Goldilicious or just her Pinkerbelles.


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The WotWots  

 The delightful adventures of two soft, puppet-like aliens who come to explore planet Earth in their steam-powered spaceship and land in a local zoo. This colourful scrapbook is an introduction to the world of SpottyWot and DottyWot - who they are, where they live, their likes and dislikes and some of their favourite stories taken from the TV series. There are also activities, comic-strips and stories for parents to share with their children.

The WotWots television series begins screening 16 April 2009 on ABC TV and screens in New Zealand on TV2.

Its no wonder that The WotWots have so quickly found a huge audience with pre-schoolersthey have big hearts,take great care of each other and are not afraid to show the affection they have as brother and sister. And for parents the core values of kindness and cooperation and the delight in learning new words and exploring creativity through drawing is recognised and embraced.

The WotWots with Martin Baynton and Richard Taylor, will be attending the Auckland Storylines Festival Family Day on Sunday, 30th August

About the Author:

From the creative minds of the Academy Award-winning Weta Workshop (LORD OF THE RINGS, JANE AND THE DRAGON), THE WOTWOTS is a series celebrating the joy of discovery and the strange and extraordinary diversity of life on planet Earth, as seen through the innocent eyes of SpottyWot and DottyWot.

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Its the best day ever Dad !        Brooke Shields

Wake up, Dad! We've got a big day ahead!
Frankie and her little sister, Violet, are excited to be out and about with Dad! From pancakes to puppies to a super-duper surprise, the order of the day is F-U-N.
The gifted actress, author, and mother Brooke Shields pairs with the delightful Cori Doerrfeld for this joyful book about dads and daughters and the love they share.

About the Author:

Brooke Shields is an actress, author, and mother. She has appeared in more than fifty films and television shows and is  is currently starring in NBC’s Lipstick Jungle. Her best-selling book Down Came the Rain chronicled her journey through pospartum depression, and her first picture book, Welcome to Your World, Baby celebrated the fun of being sisters. She lives in Los Angeles, CA, with her husband, Chris Henchy, and their two daughters, Rowan and Grier.

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 How to talk to Dads    25th July 2009

Want to know how to stay on dad’s good side? Nine-year-old Alec Greven has some advice for you:

•When you meet a new person, shake their hand and look them in the eyes. Dads get upset when you don’t look people in the eye.
•Don’t pull the “Mom lets us” trick.
•Use caution when tattletaling.
•Usually you can weasel about 70% of stuff out of Dad.

Readers of all ages will go back again and again to this guidebook on father-child relationships from this 9-year-old guru. Alec’s hilarious insights into Dad, as well as his advice for what to do (and not do) to make him happy are right on target. And of course, everyone will want to give this to the dad in their family!

 About the Author

Alec Greven is nine years old and is in the fourth grade. He has appeared on the Ellen DeGeneres Show and on CNN. He loves to read and write. His first book, HOW TO TALK TO GIRLS, comes out in Fall 08, and his second book, HOW TO TALK TO MOMS, is on our Winter 09 list. Alec lives in Castle Rock, Colorado with his family. See him on Youtube

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Miss Dahls Voluptuous Delights  15th July 2009




Sophie Dahl has been both round as a Rubens and as sylphy as a sapling, through trial, error and an episode in India which needn't be discussed in detail with anyone.

She lived out the latter part of her adolescence in public, and so her puppy fat, which should have been a tender family joke, became fuel for national debate. At the time this was crippling to her, and one of the reasons she moved to another country. Flirting with every food fad from Atkins to raw food, she has had both misadventures and victories in her quest to have a sound healthy relationship with food.

Now in her twenty-ninth year it is suddenly simpler: Sophie cooks and eats, and does both with gusto. It can be lonely and confusing navigating food, particularly with the standards of beauty and weight that are thrust upon us by advertisers. Sophie aims to debunk some of the horrible punishing diet myths, and replace them with compassionate common sense, anecdotal stories and a lashing of healthy recipes. This is a book that doesn't encourage guilt or monastic deprivation, but celebrates the joy in food and eating.

Original, funny, quirky with a bit of whimsy, this glorious book is full of wonderful anecdotes and delicious recipes and scattered with Sophie’s own lovely Matisse-like line drawings that slope off the page.

About the Author

Sophie Dahl was born in London in 1977. She was immortalised as the orphan Sophie in the beloved children's classic, The BFG, by Roald Dahl, her grandfather. She began modelling in 1996, after being discovered by fashion maverick Isabella Blow outside a bookshop. Her first novel, Playing With The Grown-Ups was published in October 2007 following her best-selling novella, The Man With The Dancing Eyes. Dahl is a contributing editor for Men's Vogue, and her work has been published in American Vogue, The Guardian, The Telegraph Magazine and The Spectator. Dahl has recently moved back to England after an eight year sojourn in New York.

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Whale Pot Bay   |    1 July 2009

At first it seemed the baby whale was dead. There was no sign of movement. But then its eye opened for a moment. It was alive, but only just

Jake and his father live in a female-free zone in a remote part of the Wairarapa, where he can surf and watch the whales feeding as they pass up and down the coast. It’s paradise - and that’s why international rock celebrity Milton Summer has built a private retreat next door.

Milton treasures his privacy as much as Jake loves being free to do what he pleases. So when Jake’s dad begins a relationship with a new partner, who moves in with her daughter, Stephanie, at the same time as a local photographer starts stalking Milton, Jake’s peaceful life erupts in violence and deceit.

And when a whale and her calf get into trouble on the treacherous coast, the history of Whale Pot Bay seems tragically doomed to repeat itself, unless Jake, Milton and Stephanie can survive the deadly tide.

About the Author

Des Hunt specializes in action-packed adventures set in the natural landscapes of New Zealand. This is his seventh novel, two of which have been finalists in the NZ Post Children’s Book Awards. Des lives on the Coromandel Peninsula.

Fancy Nancy   |   27 May 2009

Meet Fancy Nancy, who believes that less is definitely NOT more, when it comes to dressing up and being fabulous!

From the top of her tiara down to her sparkly studded shoes, Nancy is determined to teach her family a thing or two about being fancy.

How Nancy transformers her parents and little sister for one enchanted evening makes for a story that is funny and warm - with or without the frills.

About the Author
Jane O'Connor has always had a secret fondness for froufrou.
An editor at a major publishing house, she has written more than thirty books for children.
She lives with her family in the glamour capital of the world - New York City.

Robin Preiss Glasser, who habitually sports glasses and jeans, discovered her "inner Nancy" while illustrating this book.
Wearing lace-trimmed socks helps me draw better," she says.
She has illustrated many books and lives in Southern California with her family and tiara collection.

Thanks