This is a memoir of Gavin Bishop's idyllic childhood days, growing up in Kingston beside gorgeous Lake Wakatipu. It's a gentle tale of a boyhood spent haring around outside, building huts, eating griddle scones, catching eels, watching the train, eating roast mutton, going to school on a horse, arguing with your best mate, eating marmite sandwiches, Guy Fawkes Day - and lots more eating. It's an elegantly written story but it's the illustrations that are the real star of this book. Using two different techniques, Gavin has created both colour and black and white illustrations that bring the story to life and give a great sense of nostalgia to it. This also includes a glossary that explains things like box brownie, tilly lamp, coronation, mutton birds, melting moments and brylcreem.

Author Biography

Gavin Bishop is a renowned children's book author and illustrator. His book Weaving Earth and Sky won the non-fiction section and the Book of the Year Award of the NZ Post Children's Book Awards 2003; Taming the Sun was shortlisted for the same awards in 2005, Riding the Waves in 2007; and Rats! in 2008.