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Ages 9-12
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Boorkewers
Boorkewers (Borer Beetles) is the second book I wrote for the Rimpelstories series published by Maskew, Miller, Longman.
It was about two children who go to stay with their Grandparents in Cape Town, and visit the house their grandparents used to live in, before they were forced to move by apartheid.
They see the old fig tree in the garden which looks healthy, but is riddled with borer beetles, which are eating the tree from the inside out.I used the borer beetle as a metaphor for the way apartheid ate away and destroyed communities.
Luckily for these children, their grandparents survived the destruction of their community, and took root in new soil. They survived terrible suffering and remained strong because of their love for each other and their family.
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Carmen Toetoeka en die vloek van Isis Huis
Hanneke is in gevaar. Haar gunsteling-onderwyser het spoorloos verdwyn en die nuwe biblioteekonderwyser probeer haar vermoor. Maar hoekom?
Hoe nader Hanneke daaraan kom om die duistere geheim te ontrafel, hoe gevaarliker word dit. Wanneer daar nie meer omdraaikans is nie, leer Hanneke egter meer van haarself, haar familie en die vloek van Isis Huis | >> tell me more |
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Carmen Tutuka and the Curse of Isis House
I loved writing this book. I got to research all sorts of gruesome facts about ancient Egypt. I also got to wreak vengeance on a couple of librarians who had annoyed me. I based Hannah and Hugh Greathead on two children I was teaching at the time, and got to invent a perfect teacher, Miss Cherry.
Originally the evil librarian, who is actually the ghost of a mummy, was called Carmen Tutu, but I added the Ka out of respect for the Archbishop who had been my husband's boss.
When my eldest child Peter was a toddler, I read to him all the time. One day I was showing him a book on Tutenkamen. A few days later Archbishop Desmond Tutu came to visit us. He made a big fuss of Peter, and obviously made an huge impression because a few days later Peter asked me to read the book on Carmen Tutu. I stored the name up for future use, but it was fifteen years before I got around to using it. | >> tell me more |
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Double-cross
This is the second in the new series of values based books. This one deals with forgiveness. Daniel's father cannot control his anger, and it is slowly destroying the family. Daniel is caught shop lifting, and his father beats him so severely that his mother sends him away to stay with his sister on a farm in Franschhoek, and insists that his dad gets help.
On the farm, Daniel discovers a forty year old murder, and locates the murderer, an elderly man still living on the farm. Brought face to face with the murderer, he discovers just how anger and resentment destroy families, and just what happens if you don't forgive.
But he can't forgive without real change on his father's part. His father arrives near the end, and asks for his forgiveness, but Daniel doesn't trust him until his father proves that he has really changed. They almost lose their lives as the murderer turns on them, but make it in the end. For the first time Daniel feels loved and accepted by his father.
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Fly Cemetery and other Juicy Tales
Of all my books for children this has been the one that is most remembered and enjoyed. Its a collection of 8 quirky, sometimes gruesome short stories. Themes are universal archetypes - the little guy getting revenge on the big mean guy. But the contexts are whacky. A girl who hates her father's self absorbed girlfriend, a mad hairdresser who steals cute kids in shopping centres, mad wolves inside the TV, and the best story, how they really make boerewors.
This collection has been used extensively in schools as a second language reader at Grade 7 level. It's just been reprinted in English. It's also available in Afrikaans as 'Kry 'n Vlieekoekie en ander krakerige stories.'
ISBN 0798139870 or 9 780798 139878 | >> tell me more |
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Kry 'n Vlieekoekie en ander Krakerige Stories
"Ek voel die naar in my keel opstoot. Mevrou Flocker hou my nog steeds vas. Ek sprei die dubbelsjokolade-melkskommel oor haar gesig. Klonterige stukkies loop voor by haar rok in...
'Hierdie snuiter is g'n stuk oulik nie,' gil sy. 'Kry hom hier uit.'
Sou jy van die kranksinnige haarkapper kon ontsnap?
Vra Jouself...
Kan 'n speelgoed-dinosourus jou pa se meisie opvreet?
Watter gemene gedroggies skuil in jou penneblik?
Sal jy wegkom van die waansinnige wolwe in jul TV-stel?
Waarvan word boerewors nou eintlik gemaak? | >> tell me more |
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Len & Ben en die Groot SeerowerRedding
Two pirate boys, Len and Ben, run away to sea to save their father. They have wild adventures under the sea and on the Isle of Just Dessert before they rescue him and bring about the destruction of the baddies. | >> tell me more |
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Not Again Gogo
This book is part of a series of readers around the subject of HIV-AIDS. I wanted to write about someone unexpected who has contracted the virus. A colleague lost her elderly father to AIDS, and because of his age and race the hospital did not even think of testing for AIDS until the family insisted. This gave me the idea of writing about an elderly white man dying alone because his family have rejected him. (something which did not happen in my colleague's case). I wanted to juxtapose the warmth of the little girl's family with the coldness of the family who have rejected the old man. I based the grandmother on my own grandmother who became senile in her last years and lived with us. I was a teenager, and found it very hard to cope with. AIDS is never an easy subject to write about, and I found writing this story a sad process, as I wished I had been kinder to my grandmother in her last months, and less irritated by her. | >> tell me more |
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Oupa se Kajuit
I wrote Oupa se Kajuit, and Boorkewers at a time when I was exploring my dark places in therapy. They both deal with loss and grieving.
Oupa se Kajuit (Grandpa's cabin) is about a little girl trying to win an art competition. At first she tries to copy other artist's work. But when she comes to terms with her grief over her beloved grandfather's death, and uses her pain to direct her art, she produces a beautiful picture that wins her second place. Pippa Lugg's illustrations are full of emotion, and capture the mood of the story perfectly.
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Rockslide
I always like writing books that hook children into reading, especially if they are slightly older and have not yet discovered that reading for pleasure really can give pleasure.
I approached Lux Verbi publishers with this concept late in 2006. They are a Christian publishing company, and I thought they would be the right people to initiate a series of books that explore the values that underlie Christianity as well as all the major religions of the world, without specifically pushing any particular religion. This way children would think about issues using the religious tools their community and family had made available to them, without alienating any group of readers.
My plan was to write a gripping adventure story or thriller, which would hook readers, especially boys, but at the same time explore the values and ethical issues that modern children have to confront.
Rockslide is the first in the series. It deals with sibling rivalry and issues of trust in a family of children who never stop arguing. When they are thrown into deadly danger as their holiday cottage is caught up in a series of natural disasters, they are forced to put aside their differences and to rely on each other.
It was a hard book to write as the storyline scared me so much, and I was devastated when Lily, the youngest child, is washed away in a flash flood. It ends happily, at the insistence of the class of children I tested it on.
Because I hope it will be used in schools as part of the Life Orientation and English lessons, I have made a free Teacher's Guide available to download. | >> tell me more |
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Rotsstorting
Tim se pa is vasbeslote: Die kinders moet wegkom van alles - die TV, selfone en rekenaars. 'n Egte gesingvakansie in 'n verafgelee huise in Wildernis is net wat hulle nodig het. Dalk sal Tim en sy suster dan ook leer om beter met mekaar oor die weg te kom.
Dinge loop egter gou verkeerd. Dit reen sonder ophou. Die rivier oorstroom sy walle en die brug word weggespoel. Wanneer Ma val en haar been breek, moet Pa gaan hulp soek. Maar die reen het die rotswand laat loskom, en die huis begin stadig teen die heiling afgly. Gaan hulle hierdie rottstorting met Tim in beheer oorleef?
Die eerste in 'n reeks opwindende avontuurboeke vir vandag se jong lesers. Die boek is geskik vir kinders tussen die ouderdom van 9-12. | >> tell me more |
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The Button Bottle
An overanxious boy worries that his spendthrift mother and sister will lead them to financial ruin. He discovers a button that he is convinced is valuable, but how does he wrest it from the hands of his annoying sister and artsy mother?
I really liked writing this story. I based it on something I saw on Antiques Roadshow - both the button and the owl statue that ultimately saves them. I liked the sibling rivalry and the things the boy does to ensure his mother doesn't blow her salary on lottery tickets. | >> tell me more |
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Tweegesig
Dewald moet sy vakansie op 'n plaas in Franschhoek deurbring. Hy ontdek 'n ou brief wat die geheim van 'n moord wat veertig jaar gelede plaasgevind het, verklap. Hy ontrafel die raaisel en identifiseer die moordenaar. Maar kan hy die noodsaaklike bewysstuk vind voordat die moordenaar weer toeslaan - en Dewald vir ewig stil maak?
Hierdie spannende riller is die tweede in 'n reeks opwindende avontuurboeke vir vandag se jong lesers. | >> tell me more |
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Who's afraid of Spiders
This is the first book I had published. It is an exciting adventure story about children tracking down crayfish smugglers on the West Coast. It's currently out of print, but I am hoping to get it out in a new edition soon.
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Will and Joe and the Great Pirate Rescue
This is a fun story about two pirate lads who run away to sea. It's a fantasy adventure, full of wordplay and strange events and characters. Kids from around 8 upwards will enjoy reading it themselves, and younger children will enjoy having it read to them. | >> tell me more |
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