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Welcome to anyone who's interested in children's literature - teachers,
librarians, parents, students, writers, booksellers, publishers, young
readers. When I first began this website in 2000 I was concentrating solely on
recommending top-quality children's books, both New Zealand and overseas.
However over the last few years I have had books of my own published, so
now the website also promotes my books.
Short reviews of my favourite books are still included, along
with news about the children's literature scene in New Zealand and
overseas, and other information relating to writing for children. Visitors from other countries
may be interested in the information about New Zealand children's books. Story-Go-Round is updated regularly.
In case you're confused: www.story-go-round.net.nz
is my domain name and
my preferred URL. However my host and provider, Ihug, also publishes a
mirror image of this website at their Homepages with a different URL.
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My Latest Book
My latest book is a My
Story title, released by Scholastic NZ on 1 March, and
launched by Barbara Murison at the Children's Bookshop in
Wellington.
It is entitled Land of Promise: The Diary of William
Donahue, Gravesend to Wellington, 1839/40. It follows the
fortunes of a family involved in the
settlement of Wellington by the New Zealand Company. After a long,
difficult, and dangerous voyage aboard the Adelaide, the
Donahues arrive at Port Nicholson to discover that the promised
township does not exist. They face further hardships, including
the realisation that the local Maori tribes are most reluctant to
simply hand over their land to the new arrivals.
Land of Promise, as well as all my
other books, are available from good children's bookshops such as Jabberwocky
in Auckland and the Children's
Bookshop in Wellington.
My Next Book
In March 2009 Walker Books Australia will be publishing my
next book - in their
Lightning Strikes series. It's a ghost
story/thriller called Haunted. Georgia and her little
brother Ned meet a strange, old-fashioned girl in a tumbledown homestead. Lily just wants to be friends - but only ghosts can be
friends forever... Georgia keeps telling herself there's an
ordinary explanation for all the weird things Lily says and does.
But when Ned is in mortal danger, Georgia realises she has to find
a way to escape from Lily's garden of fire. Visit the Walker
Books Australia website to find out more about their books and
the Lightning Strikes series.
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Lorraine's Books describes my background and
current activities
as a children's writer.
- My
Books introduces my published books to date.
- The
writing of Cross
Tides (winner of the 2005 Best First Book Award at the NZ
Post Book Awards)
- The writing of A Long Way From
Home: The Diary of Lillian
Glenmore, Warkworth, 1943
- The
writing of Hideout
- The
writing of Land of Promise: The Diary of William Donahue,
Gravesend to Wellington, 1839-40 (includes Selected Bibliography).
Reviews
Introduction introduces four pages containing short reviews of my
favourite recent children's books, organised into categories: Picture
Books, Junior
Fiction, Intermediate, Teenage.
Select Booklist: Books for Boys (supplied
by Wayne Mills; updated June 2008)
Top 100 New Zealand
Children's Books of the Twentieth Century - an annotated list.
News & Views
contains comments about topical issues relating to children's books,
focusing particularly on the New Zealand scene. Current contents:
Links
provides access to my favourite sites relating to children's books, with
annotations.
Story
Corner is for children (and adults who are young at heart) - you'll
find a short fantasy story, plus links to other online children's
stories.
So
You Want to be a Children's Author? Advice for aspiring New Zealand
writers.
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