BISHOP, Gavin Bruiser & the Big Snow Random House, 2013 unpaged NZ$21.00 pbk ISBN 9781775534860 SCIS 1634378
Younger children living in the deep south of New Zealand will relate well to stories of snow falls and all the trouble and chaos that a cold southerly from Antarctica can bring. But it will be children with a love of machines that will really get hooked in by this story of Bruiser, a grader that enjoys the challenge of mid-winter rescues. Be it buses full of people or SUVs that are stuck, and indeed even tricycles that are lost and alone, Bruiser has the heart and strength to do what graders need to do. The illustrations here are also an opportunity to explore visual language; especially the use of font as an artistic tool. Stark lines and shapes that have a minimum of detail but through colour and exaggeration of size and scale also have a high degree of drama. JMcK
