BIOGRAPHIES AND FAMOUS PEOPLE

This is a memoir of Gavin Bishop's idyllic childhood days, growing up in Kingston beside gorgeous Lake Wakatipu. It's a gentle tale of a boyhood spent haring around outside, building huts, eating griddle scones, catching eels, watching the train, eating roast mutton, going to school on a horse, arguing with your best mate, eating marmite sandwiches, Guy Fawkes Day - and lots more eating. It's an elegantly written story but it's the illustrations that are the real star of this book. Using two different techniques, Gavin has created ... read more

Nikki Grimes's lyrical text and Bryan Collier's distinctive collages tell the inspirational story of Barack Obama. Raised in Jakarta and Hawaii, Obama has become a force for social change. Like JFK and Martin Luther King, Obama is a link in the long chain of people who have fought so that the United States fulfils the promises upon which it was founded. Just as the baton has been passed to Obama from previous leaders, Obama is already a role model for the young people who will one day assume the mantle of leadership.

Tells the story of Beatrix Potter, the writer and artist who created some of the world's best loved characters including Peter Rabbit, Tom Kitten and Mrs Tiggy-winkle. This book describes her life from her lonely childhood in a big London house, where her animals were her best friends, to her old age as a successful farmer in the Lake District.

Corporal Willie Apiata became the first New Zealander since the Second World War to be awarded the Commonwealth's highest military award for his actions with the NZ SAS in Afghanistan. From his early life in small town East Coast New Zealand to his actions in the deserts of Afghanistan, this is his story in his words. Inspiring, and heart warming, this is the story of an ordinary Kiwi facing extraordinary challenges. This edition has been adapted for young readers.

In the world of New Zealand children's books, the name Joy Cowley engenders enormous respect and affection. She has published dozens and dozens of children's trade books of all kinds, such as the Mrs Wishy Washy series, the award-winning Shadrach trilogy and Hunter. And she has written literally hundreds of readers for the international educational book market. She is constantly in demand as a guest performer and speaker all over the world, but particularly in the US. Joy has also written a tantalisingly small number of very fine a... read more

William Pike, a 22-year-old school teacher from Auckland, came to the attention of the nation on 25 September 2007 when, while tramping on Mt Ruapehu, he was critically injured during a volcanic eruption. William was trapped inside the hut, surrounded by mud and rocks and in freezing temperatures, while his friend went for help. When the rescue team arrived he was suffering from such severe hypothermia he was not expected to survive. Defying the odds, William spent two months in Waikato Hospital, at first fighting for his life, and... read more

FINALIST 2009 NZ POST CHILDREN'S BOOK AWARD On 15 May 2006, double amputee Mark Inglis fulfilled a childhood ambition - to stand on the top of the highest mountain in the world. High-Tech Legs on Everest tells the stoy of how he got there, and then the equally gripping tale of how he got back down again. There are plenty of illustrations and boxed material to enliven the pages of a story that is already colourful. First published 2008.