Winter 2025 Book Reviews with little Unity in Auckland

Short Stories from the World of His Dark Materials

If you love the magical world of His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman you shouldn’t ignore the four companion novellas. These stories offer a peek into different details of the world and characters we love from the trilogy. I’m a sucker for completing a set and these are four adorable, small hardbacks. As well as expanding on the HDM world they are superb storytelling, charmingly illustrated/engraved, offer the extra details we get from letters, maps and diagrams, and as one reviewer commented, “everything Pullman has to write is worth reading”. There are definite nods to Edgar Allen Poe in one of the stories, another reads like an arctic western and for me engaging again with the characters I love, Lee Scoresby and his daemon Hestor, and the armoured bear Iorek Byrninson, is such a pleasure. These are delightful ways back into HDM with the same perfectly formed mystery and magic. / Roger Christensen

A Guide to Rocks

I love what these two do and in this guide they manage the complexity of dealing with your emotions with the same wit and charm of Dazzlehands’ Disco Pig championing their own style and The Bomb’s young boy putting his own stamp on the dive-bomb. The message is delivered with a real sense of fun and the text and illustrations sit seamlessly together on the page. This is a celebration of New Zealand culture to boot. The kiwi BBQ serves as the initial setting for young Charlie to confront his dad about the weight he’s recently been feeling on his shoulders, the rocks that just won’t go away. Dad is in a quandary and consults his guidebook – this is a reminder of a 1960’s Esquire Magazine book I picked up second-hand titled What Every Young Man Should Know – full of the so-called authoritative and informed opinion that would have us stockpile those rocks rather than share the burden. / RC

Gnomes

Gnomes is a classic for a reason; this stunning book is one to come back to over and over again. There’s an enormous amount of detail to pore over – both the illustration and text is done in a scholarly, encyclopaedic tone with rich diagrams and “scientific” words. It covers everything from a gnome’s anatomy to their architecture, medicine and education. Oddly perfect for lovers of Tolkien or Ursula Le Guin, authors who don’t just create plots but immerse us in complex worlds, cultures and systems of language. It’s still a picture book, playful and imaginative with rosy cheeked, red-hatted gnomes, standing alongside spotted toadstools and actual toads. It serves as a rare middle ground for kids with wild imaginations and those who prefer their reading to be rooted in fact and structure. Full of whimsy but enough realism to make you wonder if Wil Huygen knows something we don’t … / Elka Aitchison

Is there Anyone Better than Henrietta?

Ah! Henrietta (or Henrietta P. Hoppenbeek the First, as she calls herself), has two white mice, two green socks with toes, and four wonderful stories to tell in this book. The narrative voice is very true to a child, full of curiosity, excitement and a sense of discovery. The visual elements are so wonderful, from the character’s clothes and expressions right down to the layout; Henrietta and the words themselves cartwheel and leap across the pages. It’s brimming with fun, silly characters like Henrietta’s best friend Olive who’s defining characteristic is that she loves pickles, her mad brown dog Madge, and a monster that makes her say “Sheezamageeza!” A fantastic book for those who see themselves in Eloise from the Plaza or Pippi Longstocking – the storytellers and mischief makers. / EA

Max in the House of Spies

Max is an irresistibly likeable protagonist along with his magical pixie sidekicks that sit on his shoulder and nobody else but him can see or hear. He has reluctantly been sent on the last kindertransport from Germany to live in London by his parents, in the lead up to WWII and Nazi rule in Germany. Max is desperately homesick to be back in Germany and his determination and charm lifts this historical novel into an utterly thrilling adventure and spy tale, despite the very real prejudice and violence that is erupting around him. You are with Max all the way and even though this is set in a dark time in history there is much humour and celebration in this story. And there is the second book in this duology to get excited about, due later this year. / EA