War Stories

Iris and Me

Iris and Me

Ahoy! Cuba Press, 2023ISBN 9781991150844Runner-up, NZSA Laura Solomon Cuba Press Prize 2022Winner, Young Adult Fiction Award, NZ Book Awards for Children and Young Adults 2023 Longlisted for the ARA Historical Novel Prize 2023Storylines list of notable books for 2023 The story behind the story Two different strands converged to create this book. One goes back…

The Water Bottle

The Water Bottle

Oratia Books, 2022Illustrated by Burak AkbayISBN 978-1-99-004215-7 The Water Bottle is a picture book set in two countries (Turkey and New Zealand) and two time frames (1915 and today). I hope it’s a story about how today’s young people can build friendships with others who may at first seem “different”, and learn how to look…

The Other Sister

The Other Sister

Pipi Press, 2021ISBN 9780473579579Highly commended, Storylines list of notable books for 2022 This book is a sequel to The Telegram (Pipi Press, 2019) –  but you can also read it on its own. It is set in the same town and contains many of the same characters, as well as lots of new ones. January…

This is Where I Stand

This is Where I Stand

Scholastic, 2021Illustrated by Kieran RynhartISBN 9781775433842Shortlisted for the Children’s and Young Adults Book Awards 2021Storylines list of notable books for 2021 A beautiful story centred around the statue of a World War One soldier. The statue describes his own memories of the war, as well as what he has seen from his pedestal as the…

The Telegram

The Telegram

Pipi Press, 2019ISBN 978047346282Shortlisted for the Children’s and Young Adults Book Awards 2019Fiction Special Mention, NZ Heritage Book Awards 2019Storylines list of notable books for 2020 Fourteen-year-old Beatrice Thomas lives with her widowed mother and younger sister, Tilly, in a small New Zealand town overshadowed by the events of World War One. Many of the…

The New Zealand Wars

The New Zealand Wars

New Holland, 2018ISBN 9781869664787Shortlisted for the Children’s and Young Adults Book Awards 2018Storylines list of notable books for 2019Rev ed: White Cloud Books (an imprint of Upstart Press), 2023ISBN 9781990003936 The New Zealand Wars is a fascinating look at a part of New Zealand’s history and culture that many people feel they don’t know enough…

Best Mates

Best Mates

New Holland, 2014Illustrated by Bob KerrISBN 9781869664114 The three young soldiers in the story are best friends from school, and they leave New Zealand together to go and fight at Gallipoli. Landing first in Egypt, they travel by ship to Anzac Cove and dig into trenches to fight the Turkish troops holding the peninsula. Conditions…

Anzac Day: The New Zealand Story

Anzac Day: The New Zealand Story

New Holland, 2013ISBN 9781869663803Shortlisted for the NZ Post Book Awards 2014Shortlisted for the Lianza Book Awards 2014Storylines list of notable books for 2014Rev ed: White Cloud Books (an imprint of Upstart Press), 2023ISBN 9781990003943 The New Zealand Story, what it is and why it matters.The 25th of April is a very special day for New…

Lighthouse Family

Lighthouse Family

Scholastic, 2013ISBN 9781775431473Storylines list of notable books for 2014 For Frances and her family, living on a lighthouse, the war is both far away and scarily close. There are rumours of submarines in the Pacific. The Japanese have attacked Pearl Harbor, taken Singapore and bombed Darwin, so what’s to stop them invading New Zealand next?…

Top Secret

Top Secret

Gilt Edge Publishing, 2006ISBN 187740425X In 1940, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill established a secret organisation “to set Europe ablaze!” Discover how the work of British secret agents changed the course of World War Two. Excerpt The SOE (Special Operations Executive) designed and built a whole range of gadgets for their secret agents to use…

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