A little delight of a book, with boundless fun and energy.
From the author’s afterword:
[W]e are all connected [land, plants, beetles, etc], living in relationship and in care to one another, in kinship. In Cree, this is called wâhkôhtowin.
I had the privilege to be part of the audience for the inaugural performance of A Guide to Rocks at the Auckland. Claire Mabey, in this article for The Spinoff, wasn’t the only one crying – and wanting the pair to have a recording contract. Like Crissi Blair, in her report, I thought Ice Cream was a hit – I heard it once, months ago, and now my earworm is ‘brain freeze emergency.’
One the face of it, not all of their books are obviously from Oceania / the Pacific region / Aotearoa New Zealand, but there’s a certain quality that infuses them all.
Gavin Bishop is a legend – a taonga (treasure).
Recently, he has been tasked with creating little gems of board
books, perfect for our littlest readers.
Titiro / Look won this year’s Best Picture Book Award in the
New Zealand Books Awards for Children & Young Adults.
As reviewers have noted, it is deceptively simple.
Atmospheric and dreamlike, with a naïveté in the
illustrations that harks back to children’s art.
The plain, stark white pages which are interspersed
throughout, offset the mostly full-page, colour saturated illustrated pages.
There is a longing and pathos, and a yearning, to the text.
There are four books featuring Baby and their family and
adventures in Nigeria. Okay, they may not all be the same baby and family - but I'm pretty sure at least the alphabet ones are.
I love the joy and simplicity of these books – and the love.
So much love. Love for family. Love for the surroundings. Love of life.
Books starring mischievous Baby are: