world_pictures

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Betty Gilderdale • Alan Gilderdale, ill.
The Little Yellow Digger
Scholastic NZ, 1992 • ISBN 9781869432126
One wet day a little yellow digger gets stuck in
the mud on a construction site and a sequence
of bigger and yet bigger diggers succumb to the
same fate. Two days later when the weather has
eased, it’s only the little yellow digger that can
be manoeuvered and is instrumental in releasing
all the other bigger machines from the viscous
mud. The Little Yellow Digger received the 2002
Storylines Gaelyn Gordon Award for a muchloved
book. Betty Gilderdale, an ardent children’s
literature advocate, and her husband Alan,
have produced other titles featuring the little
yellow digger.
4
Patricia Grace • Robyn Kahukiwa, ill.
The Kuia and the Spider
Penguin NZ, 1982 • ISBN 9780140503876
Two revered Maori artists, writer Patricia
Grace and illustrator Robyn Kahukiwa have
collaborated on this witty tale of an old woman
and spider arguing companionably about
whose weaving is superior. The two decide to
let their grandchildren decide, and while the
spider weaves webs for swinging, climbing and
capturing flies, the kuia (the old woman) skilfully
makes flax kits for gathering food and for gifts
and flax mats for sitting and sleeping. When the
children arrive they are too busy treasuring their
own kits, gathering kumara (sweet potatoes)
and seafood, relaxing and finally sleeping on the
mats and the spiderlings energetically climbing,
swinging and catching flies for a decision to
be made. The Kuia and the Spider was awarded
the New Zealand Government Picture Book
of the Year, 1982
5
Peter Gossage
How Maui Slowed the Sun
Penguin NZ, 2011 (Originally Reed, 2005) • ISBN 9780143505181
When the sun raced across the sky and the days
became so short that there was not enough
time for the people to finish their work, Maui
persuaded his brothers to help him slow it down.
Taking strong ropes they made from flax, Maui
led his brothers to the great pit where the sun
would rise and when he signaled they would
throw the magic ropes to harness it. This story,
first published in 1982, is one of the traditional
Maori legends retold by Gossage and illustrated
in his distinctive style using the Maori colour
palette of red, ochre, yellow, brown and black.
6
Jennifer Beck • Robyn Belton
The Bantam and the Soldier
Scholastic NZ, 1996 (Reissued new cover 2014) • ISBN 9781775432074
100,000 New Zealanders were sent from
New Zealand (population just over 1 million)
across the world between 1914 and 1918 to fight
for “King and Country”. A postcard sent home
from the warfront was the inspiration for this
poignant story of a young soldier adopting a stray
bantam hen, which he named Bertha. Despite
initial derision from the other soldiers, Bertha
was adopted as a mascot, her eggs a solace for
the men coping in treacherous conditions in the
trenches. Robyn Belton’s delicate watercolours
depict both the camaraderie of the soldiers and
the confined conditions of the trenches. The
endpapers have an intriguing array of ephemera
relating to the story. Awarded 1997 New Zealand
Post Children’s Book Awards: Book of the Year.
the world through picture books • 121