The Bear in the Cave by Michael Rosen

$12.00 NZD

Category: Picture Books | Reading Level: very good

A very happy bear hears the sounds of the city from his quiet home by the sea and decides to find out what city life is like. Buying the ticket and travelling on the train is all very exciting. And so is the city! But after a while the bear finds the city a little too noisy and a little too busy - and p eople are beginning to laugh at him. He feels very sad and alone - until four children find him and show him the way home, with much fun along the way. This is a perfect book for reading aloud, with just the right amount of excitement before a wonderfully calming ending - just right for reading before bedtime! Accompanied by Michael Rosen reading the story on a wonderful bonus audio-CD. First published 2007. ...Show more

Say Hello to Zorro! by Carter Goodrich

$10.00 NZD

Category: Picture Books | Reading Level: very good

Mister Bud is a dog of routine. He has wake up time, nap time, rest time, dinner time, etc. And everyone knows to follow his schedule. Then disaster strikes. A stranger comes home at "make a fuss time" and throws everything off! Zorro is little bit bossy and Mister Bud wants nothing to do with him. But when the dogs discover they like the same things (like chasing the cat and napping), everything becomes more fun. As long as everyone follows the schedule. ...Show more

Tales From Outer Suburbia by Shaun Tan

$16.00 NZD

Category: Picture Books | Reading Level: very good

Breathtakingly illustrated and hauntingly written, Tales from Outer Suburbia is by turns hilarious and poignant, perceptive and goofy. Through a series of captivating and sophisticated illustrated stories, Tan explores the precious strangeness of our existence. He gives us a portrait of modern suburban existence filtered through a wickedly Monty Pythonesque lens. Whether it's discovering that the world really does stop at the end of the city's map book, or a family's lesson in tolerance through an alien cultural exchange student, Tan's deft, sweet social satire brings us face-to-face with the humor and absurdity of modern life. ...Show more

Digging Up the Past - Archaeology for the Young & Curious by David Veart

$20.00 NZD

Category: Children Non-fiction | Reading Level: near fine

After noticing his dad's plough kept pulling up interesting stones and bones on their Wairau Bar farm, a 13-year-old boy named Jim Eyles, armed with a potato fork and a piece of number-8 fencing wire, set off one day and dug up a giant moa egg. He kept digging and found Maori adzes and the bones of exti nct birds until he was being visited by leading museum directors from around the country. Through a lot of digging, a pile of curiosity, and often a bit of number-8 wire, archaeologists in New Zealand have been digging up the past beneath our feet for many years. In Digging Up the Past, archaeologist David Veart introduces young and curious readers to the story of New Zealand - from Pacific voyagers to contemporary crime scenes - that those archaeologists have discovered. Along the way, readers will learn about what archaeologists actually do - from digging up shell middens to testing ancient DNA. You'll even learn how to do a little archaeological research in your own rubbish bin (WARNING: stinky work ahead!). And readers will uncover amazing facts about our past: How Maori used kuri, the native dog, as a four-legged fridge; how warplanes were hidden deep within Devonport's North Head (or were they?); how DNA has revealed the number of people who first settled Aotearoa; and much, much more. Illustrated with archaeological evidence, scientists at work, and reconstructions to show what these lost worlds actually looked like, Digging up the Past will soon have readers out on their knees digging around with a piece of wire and a pound of curiosity. ...Show more

John Patrick Norman McHennessy - The Boy Who Was Always Late by John Burningham

$14.00 NZD

Category: Picture Books | Reading Level: very good

First published in 1987, this classic tale of how childish wisdom triumphs over grown-up foolishness is back in this brand-new package. Full color.

The Tale of Tom Kitten by Beatrix Potter

$5.00 NZD

Category: Picture Books | Reading Level: very good

Once upon a time there were three little kittens, and their names were Mittens, Tom Kitten, and Moppet. They had dear little fur coats of their own; and they tumbled about the doorstep and played in the dust. But one day their mother--Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit--expected friends to tea; so she fetched the ki ttens indoors, to wash and dress them, before the fine company arrived. ...Show more

The Magic of Reality by Richard Dawkins

$14.00 NZD

Category: Children Non-fiction | Reading Level: very good

"What are things made of? What is the sun? Why is there night and day, winter and summer? Why do bad things happen? Are we alone? Throughout history people all over the world have invented stories to answer profound questions such as these. Have you heard the tale of how the sun hatched out of an emu's egg? Or what about the great catfish that carries the world on its back? Has anyone ever told you that earthquakes are caused by a sneezing giant? These fantastical myths are fun but what are the real answers to such questions? The Magic of Reality, with its explanations of space, time, evolution and more, will inspire and amaze readers of all ages young adults, adults, children, octogenarians. Teaming up with the renowned illustrator Dave McKean, Richard Dawkins answers all these questions and many more. In stunning words and pictures this book presents the real story of the world around us, taking us on an enthralling journey through scientific reality, and showing that it has an awe-inspiring beauty and thrilling magic which far exceed those of the ancient myths. We encounter rainbows, earthquakes, tsunamis, shooting stars, plants, animals, and an intriguing cast of charact ...Show more

Egypt by Joyce Tyldesley

$5.00 NZD

Category: Children Non-fiction | Series: Insiders | Reading Level: good-very good

The Arthur Rackham Fairy Book - A Book of Old Favourites with New Illustrations by Arthur Rackham

$16.00 NZD

Category: Fiction | Reading Level: good-very good

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

$7.00 NZD

Category: Fiction | Reading Level: very good

Huckleberry Finn-- the casual rebel, the homeless waif, the sometime liar and thief, the boy nobody wanted-- finds, for the first time in his life, a sense of responsibility, acceptance, and love when he befriends a runaway slave named Jim. Fleeing down the Mississippi on a raft, Huck courageously viola tes social convention rather than betray the person who needs him most. In this American classic, Mark Twain's themes of identity and racism are now more relevant than ever. ...Show more

The Secret Commonwealth by Philip Pullman

$20.00 NZD

Category: Fiction | Series: The Book of Dust 2 | Reading Level: near fine

It is twenty years since the events of La Belle Sauvage- The Book of Dust Volume One unfolded and saw the baby Lyra Belacqua begin her life-changing journey. It is almost ten years since readers left Lyra and the love of her young life, Will Parry, on a park bench in Oxford's Botanic Gardens at the end of the ground-breaking, bestselling His Dark Materials sequence. Now, in The Secret Commonwealth, we meet Lyra Silvertongue. And she is no longer a child . . . The second volume of Philip Pullman's The Book of Dust sees Lyra, now twenty years old, and her daemon Pantalaimon, forced to navigate their relationship in a way they could never have imagined, and drawn into the complex and dangerous factions of a world that they had no idea existed. Pulled along on his own journey too is Malcolm; once a boy with a boat and a mission to save a baby from the flood, now a man with a strong sense of duty and a desire to do what is right. Theirs is a world at once familiar and extraordinary, and they must travel far beyond the edges of Oxford, across Europe and into Asia, in search for what is lost - a city haunted by daemons, a secret at the heart of a desert, and the mystery of the elusive Dust. The Secret Commonwealth is truly a book for our times; a powerful adventure and a thought-provoking look at what it is to understand yourself, to grow up and make sense of the world around you. This is storytelling at its very best from one of our greatest writers. ...Show more

The Lost Ryu by Emi Watanabe Cohen

$7.00 NZD

Category: Fiction | Reading Level: very good

In this middle grade fantasy set in Japan, ten-year-old Kohei teams up with his new neighbour to search for the truth, both about Kohei's family history and the disappearance of the giant dragons that fought in the war. Kohei Fujiwara has never seen a giant dragon in real life. The big ryu all disappear ed from Japan after World War II, and twenty years later, they've become the stuff of legend. Their smaller cousins, who can fit in your palm, are all that remain. And Kohei loves his ryu, Yuharu, but ... Kohei has a memory of the big ryu. He knows that's impossible, but still, it's there, in his mind. In it, he can see his grandpa - Ojiisan - gazing up at the big ryu with what looks to Kohei like total and absolute wonder. When Kohei was little, he dreamed he'd go on a grand quest to bring the big ryu back, to get Ojiisan to smile again. But now, Ojiisan is really, really sick. And Kohei is running out of time. Kohei needs to find the big ryu now, before it's too late. With the help of Isolde, his new half-Jewish, half-Japanese neighbour; and Isolde's Yiddish-speaking dragon, Cheshire; he thinks he can do it. Maybe. He doesn't have a choice. From debut author Emi Watanabe Cohen comes a story of magic, a mysterious family legacy and the lengths to which we'll go to protect the people we love. 'An extraordinary book filled with dragons big and small.' Carole Wilkinson, multi-award-winning author of Dragonkeeper ...Show more