Marmaduke Duck and the Christmas Calamity by Juliette MacIver and Sarah Davis.
Marmaduke Duck and the Christmas Calamity by Juliette MacIver and Sarah Davis.
DO NOT OPEN THIS BOOK by Andy Lee and Heath McKenzie (Upstart Press, $25) There's a profoundly simple concept driving along this story from Aussie comedian Andy Lee. One odd-looking character spends the whole book imploring the reader not to turn the pages. My kids loved it - for the first reading, theyhonestly screamed with delight from the thrill of doing something they had been told not to do ("PLEASE DON'T TURN THE PAGE!"), aware on some level of the contradiction between the naughty thrill of disobeying the character and the accepted fact that pages are there to be turned. The thrill fades with subsequent readings - but boy, what a buzz on first hit! Winston Aldworth
JINGLE BELLS, RUDOLPH SMELLS by Deano Yipadee and Paul Beavis (Scholastic, $21) Like many parents, we're fighting a losing battle to get our kids to drop the toilet talk. It's difficult. On the one front, society accepts a line like Steve Hansen's "flush it down the dunny" into the common vernacular, then on another front a book about Rudolph powering Santa's sleigh purely on the energy generated by his farts enters your house. With the sleigh and reindeer stuck, Santa asks: "Rudolph, with your pong so strong, won't you pull the sleigh along?" The kids, of course, love it. W.A.
MARMADUKE DUCK AND THE CHRISTMAS CALAMITY by Juliette MacIver and Sarah Davis (Scholastic, $19) Picture book authors would be in serious trouble if the Santa-can't-deliver-the-presents meme should ever be banned. In this instance, the bearded galoot and his elf chums have all fallen head first into a crevasse and are so buried in snow that Marmaduke Duck has to round up a rag-tag team of misfits to get the delivery job done. "Substitute reindeer! Hitch to the sleigh," cried Marmaduke Duck, "then it's up and away!" It's all very fast moving and just bonkers enough to make sense. W.A.
Capsicum, Capsi go by Toby Morris.
CAPSICUM, CAPSI GO by Toby Morris (Beatnik Publishing, $18)
And getting away from the Christmas-themed books, meet Capsicum, who's one very cool vegetable. Auckland illustrator Toby Morris brings us this tale of a cheery red pepper heading away on holiday. You'll fire through the pages pretty quickly but there are a heap of touchstones kids will recognise from their own holidays.
W.A.
THE BEACH AT NIGHT by Elena Ferrante (Text Publishing, $24) And here's one for kids - probably older ones, - who are fascinated by the morbid, the macabre and the ever-so-slightly strange. Inspired by Elena Ferrante's novel, The Lost Daughter, this fable is narrated by a doll called Celina who's left on the beach overnight by her human, Mati, to face perils both natural and manmade. Mati is so taken by a new kitten that she forgets Celina, who vows revenge - should she make it through the night. Mara Cerri's full-colour illustrations are bewitching; the story has poignant moments and, thankfully, a happy ending - Dionne Christian
