Review of Chugga Tugga Tugboat – Sally Sutton; illustrated by Sarah Wilkins

Chugga tugga tugboat, chugging out to sea,

Can’t you, won’t you, play with me?

No, I’m too busy with this tanker.

Splish splosh, wish wash,

TOOT TOOT TOOT!

Chugga tugga tugboat, chugging out to sea,

Can’t you, won’t you, play with me?

No, I’m too busy with this cruise ship.

Splish splosh, wish wash,

TOOT TOOT TOOT!

From cruise ships and tankers to yachts and barges, readers will love exploring the gorgeously detailed port and water scenes over and over again.

Sally Sutton knows the subjects little children love to venture out and explore in the world around them, and she also always knows just how to bring them back home again, safe for a snuggly goodnight. Her bouncy rhymes are huge fun to read aloud, and are so catchy that kids will quickly learn the words by heart.

Teamed with Sarah Wilkins’ stunning illustrations depicting a little boy at play at home, along with a bustling busy and a variety of vessels and water activities visible through the windows, Chugga Tugga Tugboat is a gorgeous companion to Crane Guy.

Chugga Tugga Tugboat

Sally Sutton

illustrated by Sarah Wilkins

Picture Puffin

Supplied by Penguin Random House New Zealand

Reviewed by Jan Butterworth

A little boy stands at a window in his home watching a tugboat hard at work. The boy keeps asking the tugboat to play but he has to say no every time as he’s busy. There is an incredible variety of tasks this tough tittle tugboat performs; everything from guiding huge ships in to port, to rescuing yachties in stormy weather, even fire-fighting blazes on boats! The little boy is shown playing by mimicking the each of the tugboats duties until the tugboat is finally free to play with him…..

A delightful book with a cute story and lots of fun to read aloud. The text has a rhythmic beat and repetitious while sharing different things a tugboat does. The font is clear and easy to read, and the illustrations are bright, vivid, and very detailed. Perfect for toddlers fascinated with boats, this book is filled with many sailing vessels and has numerous water scenes to explore. A great addition to any toddler’s library.

Review of Butterfly Girl – Ashling Kwok & Arielle Li

Butterfly Girl is a charming and sensitively illustrated book about friendship and making space for animals, even in an urban environment. Olivia, who loves butterflies, has to leave her home in the countryside and move into a city apartment. Feeling lonely without her fluttering friends, she realises she needs to transform her bare balcony if she wants her friends to visit — and that turns out to be a great way to meet her new neighbours!

Butterfly Girl
Ashling Kwok & Arielle Li

EK Books
Supplied by Fantail Communications
Reviewed by Jan Butterworth
Olivia has an idyllic life out in the countryside with unlimited space and her butterfly friends that come when she sang and danced and whirled and fluttered and twirled. Then her parents spilt up and Olivia and her mother move to an flat in the city. Leaving her butterfly friends behind makes Olivia sad but her mum is positive that she will make new friends in the city. So they move to the new place and Olivia waits for new friends to find her. She waits and waits and waits some more.

On her balcony, Olivia tries singing to her butterfly friends and she danced and whirled and fluttered and twirled but they stayed away. Realising her drab, colourless garden had none of butterflies favourite things, she created a little garden to attract them. She then sang and danced harder and waited and waited and waited. Still they stayed away as the city was too drab and colourless for them.
Then a neighbour asked Olivia for help in planing a garden. Soon, she was helping more and more of her neighbours to pant gardens. Their building became a sea of vibrant colour in the drab, colourless city. Olivia now had many friends – but would her butterfly friends come back?

This is a charming story about perseverance and how sitting back and waiting doesn’t work; you need to work to make things happen and magic happen anywhere with a bit of imagination. It also shows that the smallest person can make a huge difference to the environment and the lives of others. The artwork is amazing; soft and restful colours and the illustrations tell the story well. There is a handy guide to creating your own butterfly garden in the back of the book. It has tips and tricks on how to attract butterflies. A cute story that has valuable lessons without being preachy.

Review of The Tw*t Files: A life of mistakes – no regrets – Dawn French

A hugely relatable, funny, honest and inspirational ‘memoir of sorts’ in which Dawn celebrates what it means to be gloriously, messily human.

When I was younger I wanted to be an interesting, sophisticated, semi-heroic, multi-layered person.

BUT. That kind of perfect is impossible. Being an actual twat is much more the real me. Sorry to boast, but I am a champion twat.

In The Twat Files I will tell you about all the times I’ve been a total and utter twat. The moments where I’ve misunderstood stuff and messed up. My hope is that these stories might fire up yer engines to remind you of just what a massive twat you also are.

Let’s celebrate and revel in this most delightful of traits together. That would be perfectly twatty.

Review of The Tw*t Files: A life of mistakes – no regrets

Dawn French

Michael Joseph

Supplied by Penguin Random House New Zealand

Reviewed by Stephen Litten

Dawn French is an unabashed twat, and not frightened to say so. Most twattery is obvious only in hindsight: blowing vast sums on a vanity piece of clothing that will never fit or wandering around with one’s flies undone. Generally, a twat is blissfully unaware of their blunder (at the time). The ultimate prize winner is Robert Browning, who rhymes bat with twat.

Dawn provides us with numerous examples of her being a twat at various stages of life. The behaviour derives from a variety of reasons, with pride in some manifestation frequently taking the lead. This is sort of a given – this is a book about twattery. The anecdote about Dawn, Lenny and Dustin is truly epic. Three twats in one story. Brilliant.

The Twat Files is Dawn’s attempt to get people to accept that embarrassing blunders are normal. Certainly, they are not mundane. They are the stuff of anecdote and thus should be celebrated.  Especially if the joke is on oneself. Because people are going to laugh anyway. Dawn probably showcased most of this material in her stage show Dawn French is a Huge Twat. Please note the verb: “to be”, not “to have”.

I enjoyed The Twat Files. It’s a glimpse into a celeb’s life with the spotlight on their human frailties. There are a number of delightful line drawings (by Jessica Green) which add to the joy of the book.  Huge thanks to Penguin Random House for the review copy.

Review of Xander and the Pen: The Pen Series #2 – David Lawrence & Cherie Dignam

Xander buys a pen that gives him the power to improve his family’s fortunes, only to discover that power comes with its own problems.

Xander and the Pen is the story of a boy who loves to draw superheroes, and the pen he buys from a mysterious market stall. He soon learns that the pen has a magical whatever he draws, happens! At first the pen helps Xander improve his family’s fortunes, but there are many unintended consequences and soon everybody is angry at him.

\Xander sees that the power of the pen has changed him into somebody his sister and his friends despise. But how else to deal with the bullying Bruise Brothers and solve the mystery of the poisoned llamas? Can Xander win back the respect of his sister and friends without using the pen? Or will he succumb to the temptation of an easy fix?

Featuring hilarious illustrations, and with messages about bullying, family dynamics, disability and the environment, this is fast-paced, entertaining middle grade fiction that will resonate with kids everywhere. After all, who wouldn’t want to fix all their problems with the stroke of a pen.

Review of Xander and the Pen: The Pen Series #2

David Lawrence & Cherie Dignam

EK Books

Supplied by Fantail Communications

Reviewed by Jan Butterworth

Xander is an ordinary kid with two hardworking parents and a sister in a wheelchair after an accident.  The family is scraping by, his father goes fishing to supplement the family food.  He’s also an amateur treasure hunter, scouring beaches with his metal detector and dreaming of the day he’ll strike it rich.Xander loves drawing and he’s really good at it – especially super heroes.  He has two close friends he hangs out with and entertains them by drawing funny cartoons of events that he wants to happen.

Every school has its bullies and the ones at Xander’s are the Bruise Brothers.  One day he draws a cartoon of them being defeated by a superhero and they are furious, waiting till after school to beat him up.  They chase him to a market in town where fog suddenly rolls in, hiding Xander as he escapes them.  He finds some money as he ides and then finds an antique store where he is drawn to a pen.  It’s the exact amount he found and he buys it before leaving the market to head home and try out his new pen.   Unfortunately the Bruise Brothers spot Xander and drag him into the disabled loos, where they beat him up and flush his new pen down the toilet. Once home, he discovered the pen was back inn his pocket and happily went about using it.

Xander soon realised that the pictures he was drawing with the pen were coming true, he decided to draw some good things happening – like his sister running again, his dad finding treasure, himself winning a math competition.  But these good thing had unexpected consequences – his sister moving away, the family letting wealth go to their heads and losing themselves, hurting a friend.  He needs to fix things – mend his relationship with his sister, get his family functioning healthily again, and get his friends back. Xander has to find his way back to who he was before he bought the amazing pen.

This book is an enjoyable read that will appeal to tweens.  The story is illustrated with clever cartoonish drawings of the action – like Xander had done them!  Really looking forward to more of this series!