An award-winning collection of the best New Zealand poems for children, edited by star New Zealand poet Paula Green and illustrated inventively by Jenny Cooper.
Paula Green (Author)
Paula Green is one of New Zealand's most highly regarded poets,
having published a number of poetry collections of her own for both
adults and children and edited several anthologies. With Harry
Ricketts she wrote the critically acclaimed 99 Ways into New
Zealand Poetry (2010), which was shortlisted for the NZ Post Book
Awards 2011. She lives in west Auckland with her husband, the
painter Michael Hight, and two daughters.
The Otago Daily Times wrote of her poetry collection The Baker's
Thumbprint, 'There is a glowing, throbbing beauty in this one. This
little book seems to pulse with warmth and sense of calm, comfort
and joy. Green this time around has blown open the doors and taken
an endless rainbow of excitement and imagination. All the way
through you think, "Wow, wonder what's coming next?" Green once
said "There is a magical reaction between something I see, hear,
experience, feel or remember and the words in my head. In that
magical moment, I find the seeds of a poem. And it is of course
completely unpredictable." The Baker's Thumbprint is neat.
Jenny Cooper (Illustrator)
Jenny Cooper is an award-winning and prolific illustrator of
more than 70 children's books, and says she finds each new title
"completely different and a new adventure". Noted for being an
exceptionally versatile, characterful and exuberant illustrator,
the judges of the 2015 LIANZA Children and Young Adult Book Awards
praised Jenny for the "multitude of talents in her basket of
goodies . . . she is able to draw a variety of animals convincingly
well; her command of emotional drawing is also superb. The depth of
feeling in the faces of her characters brings tears to the reader's
eyes. She is surely envied by other illustrators." Jenny's recent
work includes a series of critically acclaimed First World War
picture books with text by Glyn Harper - Roly, the Anzac Donkey,
Jim's Letters and Le Quesnoy- The Story of the Town New Zealand
Saved - and the beautiful A Treasury of New Zealand Poems for
Children edited by Paula Green. In 2015 Jenny was honoured as one
of New Zealand's foremost illustrators with the presentation of The
Arts Foundation Mallinson Rendel Illustrators Award. The award's
patron Ann Mallinson declared her the "perfect recipient", saying
that "Whether a pencil sketch or a realistic, photographic based
style, Jenny's illustrations jump out of the page with an
invigorating spirit . . . Jenny is a greatly admired and very
experienced artist who has illustrated a large number of picture
books. Her work is always of the highest standard. She can tackle
any subject, and if it requires more than her wonderful
imagination, she will do thorough research." In August 2015 Jim's
Letters, Jenny's and author Glyn Harper's memorable depiction of a
World War One correspondence between two brothers, one a soldier in
Gallipoli and the other at home on their Central Otago farm, won
the Picture Book category of the New Zealand Book Awards for
Children and Young Adults. Jenny has also won a number of
Storylines Notable Book Awards - for A Treasury of New Zealand
Poems for Children edited by Paula Green (2015); Jim's Letters with
Glyn Harper (2015); Ria the Reckless Wrybill with Jane Buxton
(2011); A. W. Reed's classic Illustrated Myths and Legends of the
Pacific (2008); The Mad Tadpole Adventure with Melanie Drewery
(2008); Duck Walk with Joy Cowley (2003); The Great Pavlova
Cover-up edited by Jo Noble (2002); and The Wooden Fish with Tim
Tipene (2000). Jenny lives in Amberley, near Christchurch.
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