Ten Tuatara

Summary: Ten tuatara try to find safe places to hide. A counting story in rhyme
New Zealand author; New Zealand illustrator

The Story of Pinocchio

 Other Title: Pinocchio
First published: 2005
Summary: 'Only good sons have the chance of becoming real boys', warns the wise cricket. But, try as he might, Pinocchio the puppet just can't stay out of trouble. Treasure hunts, false friends and funfairs lead him far from his poor, lonely father. Is Pinocchio doomed to be wooden forever? (Publisher)

Alphabet Squabble

New Zealand author; New Zealand illustrator
Summary: All the letters of the alphabet live in one place and argue about who are the most important letters. The more popular letters gang up on the letters X, Y and Z, but X teaches them a valuable lesson about prejudice. (Publisher)

Monkey Puzzle

Monkey has lost his mother, so Butterfly offers to help him find her. But in spite of Monkey's detailed descriptions, somehow Butterfly keeps getting it wrong. Will Monkey ever find his mum? Suggested level: junior

Charlie Cook's Favourite Book

Summary: A circular tale in which each new book character is reading about the next, beginning and ending with Charlie Cook. Suggested level: junior, primary. 

Freddie and the Fairy

Freddie is delighted when he meets a fairy who offers to grant his every wish. But Bessie-Belle can't hear very well, and all Freddie's wishes come out wrong. Whatever can they do?

Goat goes to playgroup

Summary: There's a commotion in the classroom as Goat and the other animals spend the day at playgroup. The musical instruments and the dressing up box are lots of fun, but - oh dear! - Goat gets into a muddle or two. Luckily, it's not long before everything is all better

Toddle Waddle

There's a hullabaloo at the seaside when a toddler takes his frineds on astroll to theend of the pier

Wake Up Do, Lydia Lou!

Summary: A little ghost tries to give Lydia Lou a scare... but he can't even wake her up. Maybe his noisy animal friends can help

Moon Cow

'Milly knew the moon must be lonely, floating in the cold bight sky. It had nobody to talk to, and nobody to share its secrets.'

So Milly decides to keep it company. But how do your share secrets with something that is so far away and so silent?

The Gruffalo

A clever mouse uses the threat of a terrifying creature to keep from being eaten by a fox, an owl, and a snake, only to have to outwit that creature as well. Suggested level: junior, primary

The Gruffalo's Child

The Gruffalo said that no gruffalo should 
Ever set foot in the deep dark wood.

But one wild and windy night the Gruffalo's Child ignores her father's warning and tiptoes out into the snow. After all, the Big Bad Mouse doesn't really exist... does he?

The Snail and the Whale

Summary: Wanting to sail beyond its rock, a tiny snail hitches a ride on the tail of a humpback whale. Together they travel the oceans, visiting places all over the world, until one day the whale becomes stranded in a bay and it’s the snails turn to ensure the whale gets rescued. Suggested level: junior, primary. 

The smartest giant in town

Summary: George the giant, known for wearing his old patched clothes, finally buys new ones, but then gives them away to some needy animals. Suggested level: junior. 

Tabby McTat

Summary: Tabby McTat is a busker's cat and they sing happily together in the street all day long. But when Fred chases a thief and ends up in hospital, the two friends lose each other. Will they ever find each other again

The Gruffalo Song and other songs

Contents: The gruffalo -- Funny face -- The hare and the tortoise -- Handy -- A squash and a squeeze -- Keep on the go -- The wind and the sun -- Steering a great big trolley -- Monkey puzzle

Jack and the Beanstalk : the graphic novel

Stone Arch fairy tale
Based on the English folktale
Summary: When Jack sells his family's cow for magic beans, his mother is anything but please. Soon, however, the beans sprout into a towering beanstalk. It leads to a castle filled with gold and other treasurers. Jack's family will be rich, if he can sneak pas the man-eating giant!

Graphic Novel

Do Not Push

Summary: "Always obey the rules" Cam's mum tells him, but when he finds a big red button in the forest marked "DO NOT PUSH", he pushes with all his might. The consequences are that his mum, dad, teachers, in fact everyone is behaving as if there are no rules to obey. After a frightening day Cam is only too happy to go back to the forest and pull the green lever that says "PLEASE PULL". Will this make everything go back to normal? Does he want everything to go back to normal
New Zealand author; New Zealand illustrator

A Crack in the Sky

Summary: Nine-year old Conor's day doesn't start well. His right arm seems to be missing, and he appears to have grown horns. Then his mum catches her skirt on a loose spring in the sofa. It's time to replace the sofa, but money is tight. So when Conor sees an old sofa bobbing in the tide as he walks to school, about to strand itself on the muddy shore, it seems like fate is working in his favour. But there's something very strange about this particular sofa
New Zealand author; New Zealand illustrator

Rudyard Kipling's How The Camel Got His Hump : the graphic novel

Other Title: How the camel got his hump
Summary: This graphic retelling of one of  Rudyard Kipling's Just so stories relates how a djinn punished the camel's laziness by giving him a hump

Graphic Novel

Aladdin and the Magic Lamp

Based on a tale from the Arabian nights
Arabian nights

The legendary tale of Aladdin, a poor youth living in the city of Al Kal'as. One day, the crafty boy outsmarts an evil sorcerer, getting his hand on a magical lamp that houses a wish-fulfilling genie! Soon, all of Aladdin's dreams come true, and he finds himself married to a beautiful princess. All is well until, one day, the evil sorcerer returns to reclaim the lamp.

Graphic Novel

Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels

Other Title: Gulliver's travels
Stone Arch classic fiction
Summary: Lemuel Gulliver always dreamed of sailing across the seas, but he never could have imagined the places his travels would take him. His adventures could be the greatest tales ever told, if he survives to tell them

Graphic Novel

Rudyard Kipling's How The Elephant Got His Trunk : the graphic novel

Other Title: How the elephant got his trunk
Summary: A graphic retelling of one of  Rudyard Kipling's Just so stories about a curious young elephant and how he got his trunk

Graphic Novel

Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea

Other Title: 20,000 leagues under the sea
Other Title: Twenty thousand leagues under the sea
Stone Arch classic fiction

Scientist Pierre Aronnax and his trusty servant set sail to hunt a sea monster. With help from Ned Land, the world's greatest harpooner, the men soon discover that the creature is really a high-tech submarine. To keep this secret from being revealed, the sub's leader, Captain Nemo, takes the mend hostage. Now, each man must decide whether to trust Nemo or try to escape his underwater world.

Graphic Novel

H.G. Wells's : The Time Machine

Other Title: Time machine
Summary: Graphic novel adaptation of H.G. Wells' story in which a scientist invents a machine that carries him into the future. While there, he meets a race of gentle humans and evil underground creatures. Even worse, his time machine, his only chance to escape, is trapped deep inside the Morlock caverns

Graphic Novel

The Seven Voyages of Sinbad

Based on a tale from the Arabian nights
Arabian nights

The tale of Sinbad the Sailor, who goes to sea in search of great riches and discovers even greater adventures. On his seven treacherous voyages, the Persian explorer braves a shipwreck, fights off savage cannibals, and battles a giant Cyclops, hoping to survive and tell his legendary story.

Graphic Novel

Rudyard Kipling's How the Rhinoceros Got His Skin : the graphic novel

Other Title: How the rhinoceros got his skin
Summary: A graphic retelling of one of  Rudyard Kipling's Just so stories about how the rhinoceros's lack of manners resulted in his baggy skin and bad temper

Graphic Novel

Outside your Window : a first book of nature

First U.S. edition
Published in the UK as: A first book of nature
Contents: Spring -- Water -- Bulbs -- Listen to the pond -- Catkin song -- Dandelions -- Migration -- Gull flight -- Lambs' tails -- Nesting -- Cherry blossoms -- Rainbows -- Planting seeds -- Making compost -- Summer -- Summer song -- Flowers -- Honey -- Baby birds -- Making hay -- Milking -- Caterpillars, butterflies -- Pond dipping -- Tide pooling -- Shell song -- Tide -- Lizard -- Night -- Five reasons to keep chickens -- Moth -- Growing -- Dens -- Autumn -- Wind -- Leaves -- Geese -- Spiderlings -- Feather -- Acorn -- Worms -- Apples -- Squirrel -- Fungi -- The loaf that Jack baked -- Harvest -- Berry picking -- Winter -- Winter trees -- Starlings -- The horse -- Snow song -- Patchwork pigeons -- Deer in the dawn -- Just ducks -- The stars show -- Beachcombing -- Seed saving -- A bird feast
Summary: This gorgeously illustrated volume - part poetry, part recipes, facts and fragments - sows an early love for nature in all its beauty and wonder. The buzz of bees in summertime. The tracks of a bird in the winter snow. This beautiful book captures all the sights and sounds of a child's interactions with nature, from planting acorns or biting into crisp apples to studying tide pools or lying back and watching the birds overhead. No matter what's outside their windows - city streets or country meadows - children will be inspired to explore the world around them
First book of nature