As part of our coverage for this year’s NZ Book Awards for Children and Young Adults, we asked illustrator and major book-lover Giselle Clarkson to undertake the mammoth task of reviewing all five Picture Book Award finalists, with the help of her nieces and nephew, ages nine, seven and six.
Here, in pictures, are her reviews of Granny McFlitter the Champion Knitter by Heather Haylock and illustrated by Lael Chisholm (Penguin Random House); I am Jellyfish written and illustrated by Ruth Paul (Penguin Random House); That’s Not the Monster We Ordered by Terry Jones and Richard Fairgray (Penguin Random House); The Gift Horse by Sophie Siers and illustrated by Katharine White; and The Longest Breakfast by Jenny Bornholdt and illustrated by Sarah Wilkins (Gecko Press) – otherwise known as The World’s Longest Comic.
Giselle Clarkson
Giselle Clarkson is an award-winning illustrator, author, comic creator and Arts Foundation Laureate. You can find her work in the NZ School Journal, NZ Geographic magazine, on t-shirts and tea towels for RNZ, arts festival posters and Seaweek resources, to name a few. She has been illustrating picture books since 2018, including The Gobbledegook Book: A Joy Cowley Anthology and Egg & Spoon: An Illustrated Cookbook (both Gecko Press). Her most recent publication is The Observologist: A Handbook for Mounting Very Small Scientific Expeditions (Gecko Press, 2023). Giselle's secret talent is rescuing moths from the shower without accidentally drowning them.